Asha ~ On the way to the wedding

'On the way to the wedding' is an instrumental piece by Asha (aka Asha Elijah & Asher Quinn) from his compilation album "Stardance." CD/download here: http://www.ashaquinn.com/stardance.htm

I recorded this in 1995 originally for an album of mine called "The Marriage of the Sun & Moon" released by New world Music. I had read a wonderfully illuminating book by Linda Leonard itself called 'On the way to the wedding,' about the alchemy of relationships. I had qualified by then as a spiritual psychotherapist, and was also actively seeking the adventures that might expand my spiritual awareness.

Some of my special influences in the 1980's & 1990's were George Gurdjieff, the Armenian mystic; Hazrat Inayat Khan the Sufi master; the psychology of Carl Jung; the mythology of Joseph Campbell; the shamanic novels of Carlos Castaneda, the songs of Leonard Cohen and the adventurous instrumental music of Mike Oldfield.

The 'wedding' in question is not conventional marriage, but ultimately it is the union of opposites in our soul, sometimes called 'The Alchemical Wedding' or in older times 'The Chymical Wedding.' In our search for meaning, we embark on a hero's journey from ordinary consciousness to enlightenment; from materialistic thinking to spiritual awareness; from the mortality of the flesh to the immortality of the soul.

This union is symbolised by the marriage of the sun and the moon, the coming together of the solar and lunar forces within; the yin & the yang.

Alchemy is actually an inner process of soul transformation, not an external phenomenon. It is esoteric not exoteric. It is the process of turning the base material of lead (the leaden consciousness) into gold (higher consciousness), through a series of 'firings.' Using Latin terminology there is the negredo (the blackening, or dissolution; the putrefaction); the albedo (the whitening, or cleansing); the coagulatio (the 'cooking'); the rubedo (the reddening, or ripening) and finally the golden state.

What this means in everyday life is that as we develop beyond purely materialistic thinking, we undo our conventional belief systems that serve as our introduction to earthly laws, we let go of co-dependent attachments, and strive for spiritual truth and integrity. This is itself an ordeal; an initiation.

In the blackening we let go of what no longer serves us (it's a kind of inner demolition, often accompanied by images of death and dismemberment); then we encounter the whitening, which is an emotional purification. We grieve what we have lost, and cleanse ourselves in readiness for expanded consciousness (this is often accompanied by images of grief, purification, spring-cleaning and breast-milk!)

In the 'coagulatio,' we are coagulating or 'cooking.' In essence our ego is being spit-roasted by consciousness! Here one can sometimes feel that we've come too far to go back, but that it's also too far to go forward, so a sense of being hopeless and lost can occur (often accompanied by images of planes crashing, or buildings falling. Or, if the 'cooking' is going well, images of cakes in the oven or babies in the womb.This is where the phrase a 'half-baked idea' comes from, if our process is 'undercooked'!)

Knowing something of alchemy, we can make a 'map' of where we are in our process, and not despair. For instance, a 'death' feeling is NOT the apocalypse, but a manifestation of the first preparation stage of alchemy. Or a fear of planes crashing is more about having come so far from ordinary materialistic consciousness, but not yet feeling fully confident of spiritual reality.

There are relative stages of enlightenment, too... fully enlightened; partially enlightened, or just a bit smarter than we used to be!

Jesus said, cryptically, words to the effect of: "I come NOT to bring peace, but to sow dissent between father and daughter; mother and son..." This strange-sounding statement meant that those who undertake the path of consciousness will very likely soon enough find conflict with their loved ones and former teachers, as spiritual awareness transcends materialistic thinking.

So the journey is a true hero's journey; an adventure into the wild unknown, with many thrills and spills, also pitfalls, snares and traps. Jung said that the journey into self-awareness should above all be thrilling!

It can sometimes seem like we encounter an earthquake or a tsunami in the soul as long-held beliefs begin to crumble or are washed away. Or it can seem like dark, occult forces can possess our moods... the more light of illumination we seek, the greater the darkness we have to face. Or we can come face to face with our own primitive animal instincts, just when we thought we were above all that.

Or you can discover that your own Dad is Darth Vader!

In the journey we move from vice to virtue; from judgement to forgiveness; from condemnation to acceptance!

So this is what can happen on the way to the wedding, and this is what I try to convey in this film.

Видео Asha ~ On the way to the wedding канала Asha Elijah (aka Asha & Asher Quinn)