Natural Alchemy

Natural Alchemy is transforming our caverns of trauma into pathways of exploration.

trauma and life

The cavernous hollows of our nervous system are built to be filled with the authentic expressions of our deepest selves. Nerves are meant to fire and surge along communication pathways with the intent of knowledge, creation, action, and witness like Mother Nature watches her creatures evolve.

But trauma fills it with garbage. Instead of walkways solid enough to hold our footsteps, shaded with trees to protect us from the elements, and surrounded with wildflowers, creatures, and seeds to nourish and delight us…

We get:

• the dumpings of the projections from our abusers.
• the scraps of nourishment from whatever our clan leaves for us
• the to-do lists to be good enough to join them at base camp
• the rotting garbage of their trauma thrown at us to hold for them
• the heavy cloaks and daggers we carry to try and survive in brutal decay

Trauma leaves us with pathways filled with shit instead of food.

• But we can turn that into manure to fertilize the earth
• We can build walls so no one can toss garbage onto us again.
• We can grow the seeds tossed out
• Clean up the debris
• Remove the cloaks and reshape the trees.
• Invite the creatures to return and water the wildflowers.

We can return our caverns into valleys of growth.

With hard work and a fighting spirit to keep the predators out, we can make a home in the once-void caverns of our nervous system to become one of glorious explorations.

That is the work of natural alchemy.

Alchemy

Men of the past loved to work in labs to attempt turning lead into gold. Today’s therapists help us heal trauma with strategies to release the burdens and install healthier programming. Energy workers will dive into our stickiest vibrations and allow them to flow more easily. Religious leaders preach the word of a land so far up it is beyond the trials of humanity. And witches explored the shadow side of life, from wounds to moods, to discover their gifts for women to live by that are shunned by society.

Across history, humankind plays with alchemy with passion and despair to ease their pain.

I would love to see the return of this phrase, natural alchemy, as it reads more powerful than sin-to-saint, sick-to-healthy, survivor-to-thriver, and failure-to-success. It has an air of magic. I love that. It feels more like play than work.

It is said that to learn something new, thousands of repetitions are required except when at play. Then it is just a few. So why not play with our trauma instead of working at it? Play is the antithesis of trauma. Play is natural alchemy when discovery is the purpose rather than a specific endpoint to attain.

Maybe I should add this to my website. Hmmm….

I’m not just a trauma survivor. I’m a natural alchemist.