Kristie Knutson
“I was still pretty new to my studies, and the idea of giving a seminar on Alchemical Visualization scared me to death. I had done other seminars, a class on visualization itself, and a fair bit of homework and preparation. Still, I felt the concept of alchemical – as in profound transmutation – was beyond me. As the time for the class drew closer, I kept trying to prepare but nothing happened. Every time I tried to put pencil to paper, there was just nothing there. Curiously, I didn’t feel any concern about this – which was not a normal reaction for me.
Finally, the evening before my flight I was packing, still wondering when on earth I was going to prepare and what on earth I was going to do for the class. It came to me that I should bring a number of books with me, and certain research material, which I did.
The next evening, after I arrived, I unpacked. The class was to start the next morning and I still had no idea what I was going to do. I then found myself asking, “I wonder what we’re supposed to do tomorrow?” Immediately, ideas started coming, and I started writing like mad. I was flipping open books, going over notes from previous classes and pretty soon, the outline for Monday was done. When I tried to move on to Tuesday, nothing happened. For some reason I just wasn’t supposed to do that.
The next morning, I did the usual opening to a class – asking people to introduce themselves, tell why they were there, and what they wanted from the class. There were maybe 30 participants and normally I am terrible at remembering names. However, it was as though I was in a different kind of time and space. Each person was unique, separate, whole and a part of me. At the end of everyone’s sharing, I completely and permanently knew everyone’s name, who they were, and their interests.
During that day, we covered the material that had come to me the night before and the class went very well. That evening, I found myself again asking, “I wonder what we’re supposed to do tomorrow?” And again, there was a flurry of ideas and a knowing that resulted in the next day’s outline. And the same thing happened on Tuesday night for the Wednesday class.
By this time, we had covered all the steps of the principle of visualization and had practiced and explored to our hearts content. But now we were coming to the transmutation part, and everyone was emotionally and psychically prepared for something remarkable to happen. They were counting on me, and I didn’t have a clue. I was really, really nervous. I had no idea how to do this transmutation thing – really, not a clue. So Wednesday evening, I did my usual “I wonder what we’re supposed to do tomorrow?” – but nothing at all came! I kept trying, attempting to write something down, but it was clear that I wasn’t supposed to do that. I was supposed to just trust. So I went to bed, nervous and calm both at the same time.
What’s next; what am I supposed to do?
The next day I wondered what the devil I was supposed to do. Then suddenly it all became clear to me. We conducted an alchemical experiment and as we did so, the participants were amazed to discover that they received exactly what was needed. It was an awesome feeling.
The afternoon was devoted to people sharing their experience. As a result of this sharing, the people in the class, already enjoying and engaging with each other, seemed to bond very deeply. A deep trust and connection grew. At the end of the day, it came to me to ask each student to prepare something for the next day. I felt it was important for them to ground what had happened to them, to bring the transformation they had experienced into their objective world. I told them how they did this was up to them.
That evening, I again sat and asked, “I wonder what we should do tomorrow, the last day of our class?” The answer came that I was done. I had nothing left to do. Boy, this really made me nervous. But it turned out that the entire next day was taught by the participants and it was absolutely stunning.
During the entire week, I felt as though I was indeed in an altered state of consciousness – a kind of grace. It was amazing – energizing, powerful, humbling, and exhausting all at the same time.”
My Thoughts Regarding This Process
This only worked for me when I had done my homework. It’s clear to me that we need to make proper channels of ourselves. We need to fill our consciousness with the ideas, images, feelings, etc. that the Divine can use to communicate the “something new” that is being brought in. Petitioning or asking the question isn’t a way for the lazy to shortcut their responsibilities.
Now that I think about it, every time I used this process, it felt as though I was psychically holding some kind of space open. There was a kind of mental discipline that was required. It wasn’t just wondering or petitioning, then forgetting and having a coke. Pure unattached attention seems to describe this for me.
This process is very similar to visualization, but there exists a subtle qualitative difference that I’m not sure I can define. Both processes function according to a triune system. You set the intent by visualizing the question or petition, and then you remain receptive to becoming conscious of that which is needed for the manifestation. Then you act on the insights that come to you.
