November/December 2002 Featured Stories
The Alchemy of Wisdom

by Nicki Scully

Is the accumulated wisdom of mankind only that which is written and passed on through oral traditions? Or, does each individual have access to all knowledge, including that which has not yet been put into words? On one hand, language helps us comprehend information by enabling us to communicate our insights. On the other, language is limiting. It corrals our ideas and slows down our ability to make mental leaps. So how can we have both?

Simultaneous access to infinite wisdom would appear chaotic and confusing, like having an entire library dropped on you when you may only need a page or two from one book. How can we enhance our retrieval capabilities so that we can distinguish the specifics that apply to whatever we are working on at the moment?

The method I propose is alchemical, in that it involves a transmutation of the circuitry in our brain. When we take the following journey, what we perceive with our inner sensitivities transforms the structured thinking process that already exists in each one of us. The increase in our proficiency in learning becomes evident according to the attention we pay, both in the journey and in our future experience. The main requisite, as in all metaphysics, is presence. When we are present the physical and mental structures that enclose and limit us dissolve. Our consciousness expands to include not only increased physical awareness, but also the intelligence available in the diversity of nature that surrounds us. With continued focus, doors open and allow our perception to penetrate multiple and parallel dimensions that give us access to unforeseen possibilities.

Following is a visualization inspired by my recent pilgrimage to Egypt. Its purpose is to provide an experiential metaphor, a unique method for accessing the deep well of knowledge within. If you are not very experienced with shamanic journeying, you might have someone read this to you, or choose to make a tape and play it back to yourself.

Journey to access new pathways to knowledge:

Ground and center yourself . . . Take some deep grounding breaths and focus on your heart . . . Find the eternal flame that dwells within your heart, and direct love to your heart flame . . . As the flame brightens, it spreads warmth and light throughout your being . . .

In the light of your expanded heart flame, you find yourself standing on the balcony of your room in an elegant, exquisitely appointed palace, under a clear, bright sky. The palace represents the kind of life you would live if you limited yourself to your life experience to date, and the structured lineal thinking that we are moving beyond. As rich as your life is, you know that there is more . . . In front of you stretches the blue waters of the Red Sea, the unknown.

Make your commitment to leave the palace . . .

Gather up your snorkel, facemask and fins and walk away from the palace. On the beach there is a pier reaching out into the sea. At the end of the pier there is a ladder. You’ve made a commitment and now all you see is the surface of the water. Slip into the water; it supports you easily. The moment you start floating, everything is different. Put your mask in place and feel your fins. Your face breaks the surface of the water and you look down while you kick your feet. WOW! There is a spectrum of shapes and colors, from muted to neon in the reef that lies below, and a glittering array of textures from the tiniest fish to the largest coral structure. No matter where you look there is something you’ve never seen before, something you couldn’t have imagined. The memory of the palace pales. It seems austere and simple . . . A shift occurs . . .

Off in the distance you see large, shadowy shapes, some stationary, some moving, but you can’t see what they are. Your sense of perception expands so that they are incorporated into your reality and you understand them at a deep, although new, level.

Certain structures are almost recognizable, formations that jog your memory as you adjust your perception of what is already known.

How can you get to the place where new knowledge is revealed?

There are snippets all around you of different thoughts and sometimes it is the interplay between the fish and its background, or the pattern on the fish, or the way it moves that stimulates you. . . Sometimes it is the change in the temperature of the water, or the form of a sea plant or coral and the way the shadows play upon it. There is a momentary sense of order as you remember that you came from this deep place in eons past—You are in the living quarters of your ancestors . . .

Relax the structure of your thinking. Invite this chaos, this explosion of colors and textures and shapes to open new paths in your thinking process. You are increasing the depth of your abilities to perceive your surroundings. When you leave this realm you will take this new way of thinking with you . . .

Enjoy this space for awhile. Solidify the lesson . . .

When you feel complete, swim back to the dock, pull yourself up the ladder, remove your fins and mask, and face the palace . . .

Notice how different it looks from your new perspective. The depth of your perception has been affected by your journey in the water, and you see and know things that were imperceptible before . . .

Ground and center yourself . . . Come back into your physical body and ordinary consciousness . . . Be sure to give yourself time to have your experience of each section of this visualization.

As you move forward from this experience, you will discover that when you are in conversation you can hear more than the words. When you meet someone new, you will know him or her much better than you thought possible. And when conflict arises in your life there will be more choices to help you find resolution.

Nicki Scully is the creator of Alchemical Healing™, a comprehensive healing form that provides ways to weave spirit and matter, to develop communications between divinity and humanity, to retrieve knowledge, and to influence physical reality to achieve healing. Her most recent book is, Power Animal Meditations, Shamanic Journeys with your Spirit Allies, published by Bear & Co. Call for free newsletter, (800) 937-2991. See www.shamanicjourneys.com, or email nscully@shamanicjourneys.com

Nicki will be teaching Alchemical Healing™ in Clackamas, November 23-24, and will present an intro evening, Modern Alchemy—Tools for Transformation, Nov. 20 at Unity Church. Call Sharon Sinclair at (503) 658-8740.