Alchemy as continuing wonderment...💫

An update on my alchemical journey with Suleika Jaouad

If you take a look into my archives, you’ll find some essays sparked by prompts from Suleika Jaouad’s The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life. This has been my ongoing personal project this summer— committing to write 100 of my own essays in response to the 100 prompts by those inspiring authors in the book.

Expecting the Equinox 30x22” mixed media on Arches paper. 2015 © Karen Rand Anderson (private collection)

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It’s the Autumnal Equinox 🍁, one of my absolute favorite times of the year. Although, let’s be honest— the Vernal Equinox 🌱 is a rival, and what about the Summer Solstice🌞? Aha! Can’t forget The Winter Solstice❄️! I’m in love with all of them. (Then there are the important cross-quarter days, which come halfway in between each of them.)

Four turning points. Each one brings the birth of a new cycle, then the rise to its midpoint (the cross quarter day), its ending, and then the beginning of the next one. (Brings to mind Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 taxes 😩)

I’m not talking about business, though. I’m talking about cyclical alchemical transformation—the underlying, elemental, important shifting that is continually taking place within and around us, even though we may not be paying attention to it.

So— alchemy. If you’ve followed my posts, you might have seen that I had set a 100 day project goal this summer to write 100 essays by September 21st, the Fall Equinox, prompted by the authors in Suleika Jaouad’s Book of Alchemy.

My Alchemy book and journals..

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Alas, I’m close, but not quite there yet! I still have about 9 more days to go. I’ve been savoring the journey, rather than hastening it. Reading the essays and writing my own has been, and continues to be, a transformative journey. It’s been especially helpful to me during these past dark, upsetting months, when every day brings new horrors, unbelievable actions and more draconian decrees that infringe on our freedoms, our lives, and our way of being in the world from this hateful and frightening administration governmental regime that has taken hold of America.

What is happening is beyond comprehension. It is terrifying, and I believe that it will get worse as this fall turns to winter. It’s thirst for power is unquenchable. We don’t know how far it will go to exact vengeance and cement total control, but the writing is on the wall.

I pray (in my own alchemical way) that the evil will be brought to heel, that reason, justice and empathy will somehow prevail. I don’t want to dive into pessimism, but I actually fear the worst. (I am grateful for the keen minds and caring souls that are helping us navigate through it. Thank you,

Heather Cox Richardson

and so many others.)

But I’m not here to rip about the awful stuff. It is in every corner, we can’t hide from it. Enough.

I’m here to share another little essay with you, my response to the prompt from Erin Khar’s essay “First Lines”, from chapter 1, “On Beginning”, p. 29.

Here is the prompt:

“Choose a line from a book— grab the nearest one and flip it open to a random page, or pick an old favorite you’ve memorized by heart. Whatever grabs your attention; whatever intrigues. Use it as the opening sentence for today’s journal entry, and let the words flow from there.”

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“Epiphanies are hidden in the most extraordinary of moments: the casting of a shadow, the smell of a match igniting, an unusual phrase overheard or misheard.” Rick Rubin

And it is true.

Like this exact moment, in picking up this one book— Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being. It jumped out at me from my bookshelf as I was seeking the right phrase, the right book, the right line. I opened it and here it is, that one line, as an epiphany, just for me. I realize I can utilize any and every ordinary moment to gain some sort of truth, understanding, or insight. It’s up to me to find the value in that moment.

The challenge is in making it count— what can I do to share the value, to pass on an experience, awareness, knowledge, epiphany?

Words. Words help, if they are read, or heard, or listened to. Or maybe art. I am an art maker, and I strive to imbue meaning and resonance into my art, with the hope that others will create their own value from it.

Or maybe it’s enough just to drink in the experience of an epiphany, like seeing the great white egret perched on the dead tree tonight at the edge of the river, and knowing that I was meant to see it.

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If you made it to the end of this post, THANK YOU for reading! Maybe you’ll want to play with this little prompt yourself.

An addendum: perhaps you’ve noticed I’ve begun to include images of my artwork in my posts. While at present I’m focusing on my writing and not painting, I still want to share my other life as an artist. It’s all related.

p.s. Happy fall Equinox!

Clicking on the 💜means the world to me, sharing or restacking this post is even better, and leaving me a comment would make my day! Stay tuned for more occasional wonderment…

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