Creating the Container

The Alchemy: The Vessel

Welcome to the Laboratory!

“You are the laboratory; you are the vessel and the stuff going through the cooking.” (22)

This is not a metaphor to be admired from a distance. It is an instruction. You are not observing the alchemical process from the outside. You are in it. You are the container and the contained, the fire and the thing being heated, the cook and the meal. The question then becomes the one James Hillman poses with such burning specificity:

“How to build the heat that can dry up the soggy, soggy dew, melt the leaden oppressions, and distill a few precious drops of intoxicating clarity?” (23)

This is the alchemical invitation we carry into our year together. Can we jump in the pot and do some marinating to brew up a few little drops of clarity? And it begins with the most foundational question of all:

• What is your vessel?
• Does an image emerge?
• Is there a card already in your deck?

Who is the Alchemist?

Hillman is clear about who this work belongs to:

“Alchemy is the profession of marginals; those at the edge. Those who live from their own fires, sweating it out, self-sustaining their own temperatures which may be at variance with the collective climate.” (23)

If you have found your way to this work: SoulCollage®, depth psychology, the images that find voice from the soul, then you already know something about living at a different temperature than the world around you. This work does not ask you to lower your heat to match the room. It asks you to become the keeper and tender of your own sacred fire.

The Vessel is the First Tool

“Whatever we deal with has to be held in some way. Even oceans have their shores.” (39)

Before weapon and tool, before the hunt or the harvest, there was the vessel. The basket. The gourd. The pot. Human beings have always been keepers, shapers of the space in which life is held and transformed.

“Vessels come in every sort of shape and size… Some vessels are quick to heat but crack easily. Some are opaque, others transparent; some flat and open to allow evaporation, others tightly sealed to intensify the pressure. Vessels: methods of containment. Can you take the heat?” (39-40)

The question is not only what you are holding but how you are holding it in your vessel.

The Tarot: The Magician

Is The Magician the Vessel Maker?

The Magician stands at his table with one hand raised to heaven, one pointing to earth. He is not performing. He is creating space. That gesture: As Above, So Below separates heaven and earth just enough for life to breathe between them. For the work to begin.

On the table before him lie the four elements. They are separated, named, held. What was jumbled in the Fool’s bag has been given form. Is this the moment the container is made? Is The Magician the one who makes it?

The Literature:

• A Rilke poem from Robert Bly
• “I live my life in widening circles” by Rainer Maria Rilke
• The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

The Ponderings:

• What is on your table right now? Is it named, separated, held ? and/or what is still jumbled in your Fool’s bag ready for the journey?
• Are you circling something right now without yet knowing its name? In this season of your life are you a falcon, a storm, or a great song?
• What does it mean to pay attention – fully, sensually, without agenda – slowly, tenderly, bodily – to your own one wild and precious life?
• What is your vessel? Does an image emerge? Is there a card already in your deck?

Bonus Reading: Chapters 1 and 2