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Alchemy: the Process of Transformation

Key information

Topic Alchemy: the Process of Transformation
Date 8th and 9th March 2025
Time Saturday and Sunday 10am - 5pm
Cost £250 (Partial bursaries available upon written request in advance).
Lecturer Sarah Thomson, MA (Oxon), Dipls. Psych, Adv.Psych, Spvn, Couple Psych
Who can attend Therapists, educators and lay-people alike.
How to book  Please book in advance by sending us a £100 non-refundable deposit and emailing a completed booking form

This weekend is an opportunity to explore the processes involved in the therapeutic journey of inner transformation.

We shall look through an alchemical lens at the process of bringing together the material and the spiritual in our human experience.  We shall consider how an understanding of the metaphorical and symbolic language of alchemy can help guide us in our own processes of becoming more fully the whole of the person we are here to be; moving towards giving expression in life to the essence of who we each uniquely are.

We shall explore the stages of the alchemical process:Alchemy of Transformation

  • The experience of feeling lost, stuck or unable to see a clear way forward;
  • The stage of beginning to notice glimmerings of life arising, like moonbeams shining through the darkness, and beginning to sense the purity of our soul, our essence and our potential;
  • The dazzling experience, like direct sunlight, of the alchemical marriage; the integration of matter and spirit, and the dethronement of the ego in service to the higher Self; and
  • The long stage of seeking to embody the new understanding, bringing that spiritual awareness back into incarnated form in the earthly realm.

We shall explore also the purifications that we need to undergo as we move through these processes.  We shall explore our experience of the alchemical operations that may wash us, or burn us, or lift us up, or bring us back to earth; and the operations that help us discern clearly what we need, letting go of whatever in us has run its course, making way for what is ready to be born afresh, and for whatever in us needs integration.

As part of this exploration, we shall consider the relevance of the Elements Model of personality in the context of the alchemical process of inner transformation.

This course is recommended for therapists, educators and lay people alike.  You will begin each day with a lecture of 1.5 hours duration introducing the themes of the weekend.  For this you will join the main body of students training with CCPE. After a break you will join a small group for the rest of the day.  This group will be composed of others on the CPD programme and will be facilitated by a staff member of CCPE.

These groups will provide a mix of teaching, exploration and experiential work that are intended to provide a holistic experience of the subject.  All facilitators will be qualified psychotherapists and case material can also be brought and explored through the lens of the transpersonal.

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