Summer Solstice: Secrets of Alchemy and Sublimation

“The traditional literature of all countries contains innumerable legends and accounts of mythological battles between the forces of light and darkness. On about June 21, with the Summer Solstice, we enter the period in which light triumphs over darkness, and a few days later on June 24th, we celebrate the feast of St John the Baptist. On that date it is customary to light fires that burn all night. The Summer Solstice is ruled by the Archangel Uriel who is an archangel of light: his name means ‘God is my light’. The feast of St John coincides with the moment when the sun enters Cancer- the sign in which Venus is in exaltation- and this is no chance coincidence, for the feast of St John is the feast of fire, the feast of the summer heat which ripens fruit and all other things in nature, But this fire is also the fire of physical, sensual love and it is well known that, in some countries, the night of St John was the occasion for all kinds of sexual excesses.

In the Sephirotic Tree of Life, Uriel is the Archangel of the Sephirah Malkuth, the Earth. As such he is in communication with the inner fire of the planet, and some of the angels under his command work with the metals and precious stones of the earth. This is the work that the Greeks attributed to their god Hephaestus (the Roman Vulcan). Hephaestus, or Vulcan, used fire as he worked with stone and metal, for fire is the only force capable of melting stone and making them malleable…

If men and women are conscious and attentive during this period of the Summer Solstice, when light is at its most powerful and the forces of night and darkness are retreating, they will receive the power to launch an attack on their own inner darkness- and they will have a good chance of being victorious. When the nights are growing longer and the light fading, when the vital currents in the world are beginning to contract and slacken under pressure from contrary forces that are gaining in vigor, it is not the time to undertake this kind of work. Conditions, both within and without, no longer lend themselves to the task. In a period in which light is triumphant, however, men and women who are truly desirous of doing some important work for the world can do so in good conditions; if they have already settled their own personal problems, they have the right and even the duty to go further.

Since Uriel is the archangel of fire, he has ties, not only with the physical terrestrial fire, but also with the fire of that tremendous sexual energy constantly simmering within human beings. It is for this reason that it is essential to learn to work with the archangel Uriel: because it is essential to learn to work with fire in order to sublimate all these energies. What exactly is sublimation? It is the passage from one state to another, and it is heat that effects this passage, When the temperature is below zero degrees, water freezes and becomes solid; if you heat it slightly to 1 degree it melts and becomes liquid again. Heat it even more, to 100 degrees  and it changes into steam. And if you want to separate the oxygen from the hydrogen contained in steam, you will need even more heat. The only problem for engineers who use very high temperatures in transforming certain gases or liquids is that of finding containers and tubing made of suitable heat- resistant materials.

But all these modern techniques that science is learning to apply in dealing with matter have been known to esoteric science from earliest antiquity. The initiates, who have an intimate knowledge of human nature, have known for a long time that man’s body is equipped with a network of circuits, ducts and ramifications that permit the circulation and transmutation of very potent elements. I am not talking about the circulatory system, although the capillaries are extremely fine blood vessels, or even about the finer fibres of the nervous system. I am talking about another, even subtler network which enables humans to transmute and sublimate matter and raise it to the etheric state. This process is constantly taking place in our bodies, thanks to the extremely complex and subtle networks with which the human lungs, heart and brain, and above all, spinal column, have been equipped by Cosmic Intelligence.

These transformations take place in all human beings, but to a greater or lesser degree and, very often, without their knowledge. An unconscious work of spiritual alchemy is constantly going on in our souls and bodies; the important thing, now, is to become conscious of it, knowing that we are equipped with the network of channels we need to sublimate raw matter and transport it to ever subtler regions. How can we best prepare ourselves for this work of sublimation? By living a life of purity and harmony and by consciously opening ourselves up to the powerful currents of light from heaven.”

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov  The Fruits of the Tree of LIfe:-The Cabbalistic Tradition

The video Surya Yoga Meditative Practices at Sunrise has extracts from the master on meditating at sunrise during the Spring and Summer months. This practice is called Surya Yoga

For more on the transforming power of fire :   Sacred Fire of Divine Love