Spiritual Awakening: How to Make It a Simple Practice

The alchemical process of turning lead into gold consists of four stages, and each stage represents a step toward spiritual awakening — the simple practice you’ve been waiting for. And it goes a little something like this.

• Black Stage — Black is the first color lead turns when it’s heated. During this stage, also called the Death Stage, all of the elements that are not necessary to create the philosophers’ stone are burned off. As it relates to a spiritual awakening, this is the stage of the practice where you have to let certain parts of the person you present to the world (your persona) — along with your preconceived notions of the world — die in order to create new life. You burn the masks you’ve been wearing, so to speak, and you’re left with your authentic self.

• White Stage — Yes, you guessed it, after the lead turns black, it turns white. White represents the Purification Stage. In this stage, you have to face what you’re left with — the parts of yourself that you’ve been hiding from the world behind your persona. Carl Jung would call these parts your shadow. You face your shadow by accepting it. Only then can you release the guilt and moral judgment you feel toward your shadow and forgive (i.e. purify) yourself.

• Yellow Stage — Yellow represents the Dawning of Consciousness Stage. Now that you’ve let your persona die and have come to terms with your shadow, you’ll be open to a  higher level of consciousness — a higher level of awareness of yourself, the world, and the role you play in the world. You’ll see the world through a totally different lens. This awareness will raise you to the final stage . . .

• Red Stage — Red is the Philosophers’ Stone Stage or the Masterpiece Stage. At this stage, you are spiritually awake because you have realized your full potential, just as the lead did. You are now able to turn anything into gold, so to speak. You are able to take whatever life throws at you and turn it into something valuable and rare.

That’s it. Simple, right? Maybe you’re shaking your head, but, like I said before, the simplest things in life are typically the hardest to achieve. And, if you read back through the four stages, this really is a simple practice, but it’s not an easy practice by any stretch of the imagination.

And that’s the whole point! It’s not supposed to be easy. Not everyone is supposed to be able to do it. It’s a practice that should take the better part of your life, if not your entire life, to complete. But it’s something worth trying to achieve, isn’t it? 

Now it’s time to see if we can find a practical way to use these vague concepts in our everyday lives.