Nigredo is the first stage of the transmutation of the philosophers stone.It really isn’t that complicated, yet it takes great suffering, courage, and a profound realisation to get to this stage.Let’s explore this alchemical process which is often represented symbolically by a raven or other dark bird.
Nigredo means blackness, although darkness is perhaps more appropriate. The stone is forged out of what is called the prima materia, or raw substance. This substance is your subjective experience, your perceptions, feelings, thoughts, and consciousness. Before we embark on a spiritual quest, we operate out of a sense of being that is generally ignorant of one’s deeper self.
If we are fortunate, that is, we never really experience failure and enjoy ‘success’ in our life, we may never really need to contemplate our flaws or failings. We might only really think about spiritual matters when we face old age and death. However, for many, there arises a stage when we recognise the sheer unfairness of life, and once this occurs, no amount of material or professional success will nullify our recognition that life, as we know it, is unsatisfactory.
Nowadays, this manifests as some form of neurosis. We either become anxious or depressed, or a combination of both. We might recognise that whilst we have a desire to be a positive individual, we have behaviours, thoughts, and feelings that are at their heart, quite selfish, even destructive. We can be ‘good’, i.e. generous and kind, but also we have a side of us that has greed or anger, which is sometimes called ‘the shadow’. Until we recognise the shadow we ‘project’, that is, we see these qualities in others and often develop ill-will towards them.
Accepting our ‘shadow’ is a painful process. We recognise that the source of most of our misery is ourselves, and no matter how hard we try to identify with our wholesome side, our shadow seems to torment us. We cannot know it at this time, but the answer to this problem cannot be found within us, and we suffer a depressive alienation that leads to despair. This despair ‘peeks’ when we suffer the ‘dark night of the soul’ when we give up trying.
Unfortunately the more capable we think we are, the longer we suffer this torment. We need to recognise that our current ‘mode of being’, sometimes called ‘the vehicle’ is unsatisfactory and no longer useful to our happiness and ongoing development. Only when we accept that the answer cannot lie within us, do we begin our spiritual quest. We then become ‘seekers’ and strive to find a better ‘vehicle of being’ and this becomes our spiritual quest.
Nigredo is the stage when we recognise all of our prior learning and experiences are unsatisfactory and lack the essential wisdom and understanding to resolve our problems. It is a sobering and difficult time. Our raw material of self – the prima materia – becomes darkened, or blackened. We accept that we are neither good, nor particularly bad and that our predominant issue is ignorance. We might reject our concepts of divinity and question why we must suffer. Material wealth and other successes become meaningless and we find normal life bland and worthless.
The philosophers stone, that is, our subjective awareness, exists in a state of confusion and often we lack direction and motivation. We might succumb to addictions as a way to re-experience the joys and connection we once had. Unrecognised, this might be labelled chronic depression and it is only when we embark on a ruthless and honest search for answers do we have any hope of progressing forward.
The fetters.
Taken from Buddhism the ‘fetters’ are mental delusions that bind our mind to ignorance and suffering. There are ten fetters, but for the purpose of this stage we will examine only the first three. These are naturally realised – seen to be delusory, and initially add to the sense of alienation and delusion. It might be that addiction itself might be helpful in realising these delusions, although one would never recommend deliberately becoming an addict for this purpose.
The Fetter of Personality View.
During the dark and depressing experiences that lead to nigredo it is common to no longer know who one is. With a recognition of one’s negative side, the shadow, one seems divided and contradictory. One might try to be kind and generous but increasingly one recognises that at times, one might be selfish and self-absorbed. With addiction it is easy to see ‘the addict’ within whom has desires that tend to be self-destructive and these desires can override ones usual behaviour. Ultimately, one’s true sense of being is recognised to be neither one’s wholesome, nor one’s unwholesome side. Without any formal spiritual training one eventually ceases to identify with any of the previous qualities one might have held.
The Fetter of Rights and Rituals.
During this stage one can feel alienated and exiled from normal society. We can see that many people might act in ways that seem ‘good’, yet, these same people have often secretive behaviours that are toxic and selfish. We realise that those who pretend to be good by doing nice things are still troubled by selfish behaviours. We see this every day when some of our religious or political leaders are caught doing nasty and selfish things.
Initially, when we seek wisdom and guidance we might explore various religious organisations and find inspiration within these communities. However, upon closer examination we discover that this may be superficial and we might become disheartened when we realise that some of these people are as lost as we are.
In addiction and as ‘outcasts’ we tend to see people’s darker sides. Ironically we might find the brutal honesty and selfishness of fellow addicts more realistic and palatable than the falseness of those who remain in the ‘system’ of society.
At this stage we cannot recognise that our dismay is produced by the realisation of these first two mental fetters. We simply feel lost and very much ‘outside’ of our previous society and we can remain dejected and depressed.
The third fetter.
The concept of ‘fetters’ was described by the Buddha and is therefore defined within the dharma of Buddhism. The third fetter is the belief that there is a way out of the sorry state we find ourselves in. I believe that at its simplest, this represents the minimal amount of faith that there might be salvation, although its proper title is something like ‘unwavering faith in the Buddha.’ I don’t think it need be this specific, one simply has to come to the realisation that there might be a better way. This is what one needs to grant the direction one needs to motivate oneself to continue along a spiritual path that one has unknowingly started. For me personally, this was the curiosity that began with the concepts explored in the film, The Matrix. This seems trivial but this is all it really takes. One must be dissatisfied and confused with one’s current understanding and it can be anything that suggests there might be a better way.
Back to the Stone.
The Philosophers Stone is a metaphor for the subjective awareness of what has become a spiritual seeker. Once the first three fetters are realised one is left with the dark truth that the answer one needs cannot lie within. All turns to blackness, in that one recognises that everything one knows or has been taught is not the answer. One’s thoughts, feelings, perceptions and consciousness are all unsatisfactory and not useful in overcoming our current, unpleasant state of living. There is work that needs to be done, the nature of this work is as yet unknown, but at this stage we now have both the desires and motivation to change things.
Eventually, we learn to transform our thoughts, feelings, perceptions and consciousness from this black material, but this represents an active alchemic process. Yet we cannot state this work until we have unified both our deluded personality and its dark twin the shadow, into a singular mass of darkness.
This is Nigredo.
