The Transmutation Of Iron Into Tin

The transmutation of iron into tin is the fifth stage of the Katabasis. This process is a process of softening. The hard edges of iron soften to become the smooth edges of tin. The colour doesn’t change, and neither does any subtle quality, because this transformation is primarily a physical one. This makes it easy for others to notice and understand.

In everyday terms, this transmutation is usually the result of becoming lazy. If the descent from mercury and silver down to copper and iron is a matter of losing the spark, the descent from iron to tin is a matter of losing the drive. The get-up-and-go is gone. A character descending to tin will lose the raw, vital energy that characterises the warrior class.

The frequency of a character undergoing this transmutation is the frequency of a character deciding to take it easy. It’s the energy of kicking back with a cigarette and a pina colada, listening to lounge music and watching golf or cricket on the television. It’s the energy of Dionysus in his role as the Grand Daddy of Festivities. It’s McDonalds on a Saturday morning with a hangover.

In descending from iron, tin becomes fat and slow.

Being a chiefly physical transmutation, the softening to tin is readily noticable to all other characters, even children. A formerly fit character will become fat, whether through gluttony, inactivity or a combination of the two.

There is a strong metaphorical connection between tin and fat. The well-shaped man of iron, in becoming a man of tin, becomes physically shapeless. His physical centre of gravity becomes much lower.

In this physical realm, a stark loss of energy is also noticable. The character of iron can bound up a set of stairs; the character of tin huffs and puffs. Where the man of iron or copper wants to push on, the man of tin wants to stop and have a rest. It’s not just that characters of tin are unfit – by descending from iron to tin, they also lose the will to remain fit, and become easily-satisfied slobs.

Gluttony is the chief vice of the realm of tin, and a character of iron can come to descend through becoming gluttonous. Perhaps they trained hard for a specific sporting event – a league final or a regional tournament – and now, without a particular reason to stay physically disciplined, they pig out.

The descent from iron to tin, and the gluttony associated, doesn’t only apply to food. A character who decided to consume enormous amounts of alcohol or cannabis, such that they became a slob, would also fit the pattern of iron descending to tin. The key element of this transmutation is overconsumption.

Socially, this transformation often occurs immediately after marriage. Many a person will make a special effort to stay trim and fit only as long as they’re trying to attract a romantic partner. Once that partner’s loyalties are secured the blobbening begins. This is similar to the transmutation of iron up to copper in the sense that the priority shifts away from physical fitness. The difference is that, in transmuting to copper, iron concerns itself with higher matters, whereas in transmuting to tin it concerns itself with lower ones.

Mentally, this transmutation is marked by excuse-making. A character descending to tin becomes soft in the head as well as in the body. As the sharp edge of iron is lost, the sharpness of decision-making is also lost. So as a character descends to tin, they start to dither and hesitate. This is, to a major extent, the result of increased levels of fear in comparison to the level of iron.

Putting everything off for another day, and neglecting one’s physical duties, is typical of this transformation. If the descent from copper to iron is marked by a character neglecting their social duties, the descent from iron to tin is marked by a neglect of physical duties. This doesn’t so much refer to personal hygiene (loss of hygiene falls under the final stage of the Katabasis) as neglect of duties such as keeping one’s house clean.

Occupationally, a character might descend to tin when they decide they don’t really care any more. A character who manages a bar might decide, after repeated harassment from local authorities, that they no longer care about obeying alcohol licensing laws. Iron is usually seen as honourable but, from the perspective of tin, it can be seen as rule-bound and rigid. In descending to tin, a character might feel motivated by a will to relax and let go of the stresses of trying to conform to a higher frequency.

This transmutation could also be reflected by a change in occupations. A soldier might decide to become an innkeeper. A hitman might decide to become a musician. A professional boxer might decide to become a chef. In any case, the character would give up a job involved with domination and take on a job concerned with sensual pleasure.

A sudden physical trauma can set in motion the transformation from iron to tin. A major injury, such as a broken leg, could precipitate a mental and spiritual change from an active person to a passive one. The time spent recovering from an injury could make anyone physically soft, but if that time makes the character mentally and spiritually soft as well, then a transition to tin is underway.

Social traumas causing a character to fall down the Mithraic Ladder are generally the preserve of the descent from copper to iron. But, in extreme cases, they can ruin a character’s will, such that they give up and allow themselves to become gluttonous. Getting kicked out of a sports team might be the catalyst to a bout of prolonged gluttony, but a social trauma that led to a descent into the realm of tin would usually be a major one, such as a divorce.

Spiritually, this transmutation can occur when a character stops appreciating the value of action. In successful cases of turning inward, a character might develop higher, spiritual qualities and transmute into mercury or gold. In unsuccessful cases, a character might develop lower, more bestial qualities and transmute into tin. These unsuccessful cases could involve a character taking massive action, only to fail, hence the loss of motivation.

From a literary point of view, this transmutation is understood by all. Everyone who reads your story will be able to understand the basic dilemma of fitness vs. laziness. Stories about this transmutation can therefore have a wide range of themes: they could be moral fables about laziness for children, or grim dissections of a mind falling to pieces for adults.

One of the best-known depictions of this transmutations in popular culture is that of Rocky in the Rocky series of films. As is ever the case, this transmutation need not imply a straight course to the bottom of the Mithraic Ladder. As Rocky was fit, then got fat and lazy, then got fit again, a character who transmutes from iron to tin can always transmute to iron again.

This is an excerpt from Vince McLeod’s The Alchemy of Character Development, the sixth book in VJM Publishing’s Writing With Psychology series. This book will show you how to use alchemy to create deep, realistic and engaging characters for your creative fiction.

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The Rise Of Leftist Nationalism In The 21st Century

For all the furore about right-wing nationalists gaining power in recent European elections, some other phenomena have been less noticed. One of those was the fact that women are now turning nationalist in places like France. Another is the rise of left-wing nationalism, something believed by many to be a contradiction in terms.

Because of World War II, right-wing nationalism is the biggest bogeyman in the West today. It’s such a bogeyman that it has soured people’s attitudes to nationalism itself. Right-wing nationalism, we are told, is the greatest evil imaginable, and all social problems have their roots in it somehow.

Right-wing nationalism is very masculine, and can easily be masculine in such a way that it turns many people off (especially women). Heinrich Himmler warned against a particularly aggressive and boorish type of masculine nationalism that drove decent people away. The emphasis on exclusion of outsiders can also turn away sophisticated people. Thus, there are several fair reasons not to like it.

Right-wing politics also tends to have theocratic sympathies, and so tends to want religious-based restrictions on things. The idea of banning abortion, and thereby forcing raped women to carry to term, seems appalling to most, but it’s a common theme in right-wing politics. Cannabis prohibition, likewise, seems like a relic of a bygone age to most people, but not to the religious right, who are happy to keep destroying the lives of cannabis users. The suggestion often made by Kanye West and Nick Fuentes – that non-Christians should be barred from public office – turns a lot of people away.

Leftist nationalism offers most of the same benefits as right-wing nationalism without the paranoia, aggression and control freakery.

Sooner or later, someone in every country is going to realise that a lot of people want nationalism but don’t want authoritarian restrictions on civil liberties or more Jesus rammed down everyone’s throats. These someones will find themselves being the only ones in a very large niche – that of leftist nationalism.

Sahra Wagenknecht’s recently-founded leftist nationalist movement in Germany is an example of what is now becoming possible. Wagenknecht has recognised that working-class Westerners no longer feel represented by the discourse of the left. This has caused them to turn to protest movements.

Because the left is so cosy with the political establishment all over the West, protest movements tend to be right-wing. This has meant that a large number of protest voters in the West have found themselves tied up with unsavoury religious authoritarians and other loonies of the extreme right. The mainstream left has mostly sneered at these people and called them deplorables and racists. Moreover, the political establishment has exhausted its anti-nationalist ammunition by firing it all at the right-wing nationalists. All of this has created great opportunities.

Wagenknecht’s movement is the first of what will be many: 21st Century leftist nationalist movements. Already it is recording 8-9% in some national polls, and almost twice that in some state polls.

Many other Western countries will soon discover that nationalism does not necessarily imply support for right-wing stupidities such as reducing investment in young people, rolling the social development clock back 1,000 years or banning everything.

Neither does it imply support for militarism – Wagenknecht is among Germany’s biggest critics of escalating the war in Ukraine. Leftist nationalism has the same concern for children and vulnerable people as ordinary leftism – it just doesn’t have the globalist concerns for e.g. defeating Russia on the battlefield or for building a worldwide dictatorship of the working class.

In fact, left-wing nationalism can offer many of the same advantages that the leftist establishment can (or used to). Left-wing nationalists understand as well as anyone else that money invested into the first 24 months of any child’s development will pay great dividends to the nation later on, and that such considerations are more important than the endless bleating about tax cuts that characterise right-wing discourse.

The major consequence of the rise of left-wing nationalism will likely be a further normalisation of nationalism. If the presence of left-wing nationalism proves that nationalism doesn’t need to be xenophobic, paranoid, aggressive, nasty etc., then many people will no longer object to it. If it can avoid all of those things and also provide an alternative to globalist economic desolation, then great!

One of the eventual consequences of this rise will be the associated rise of centrist nationalism. Inevitably, as the right-wing nationalists provide an alternative to the right-wing establishment, and the left-wing nationalists likewise, a centrist nationalism will rise in an effort to pull together the other nationalist blocs against the establishment itself.

What the continued rise of left-wing nationalism will mean is a broad challenge to the globalist status quo over the next 20 years.

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The Transmutation Of Gold Into Mercury

The first step of the Katabasis is the transmutation of gold into mercury. This involves imperfection, as the substance of the highest stage of the Mithraic Ladder must descend into the material world, and the world of petty human concerns. Thus it becomes human. This transmutation is therefore that of divinity into corporeal form.

Understanding the nature of this transformation is very difficult. As with the reverse transmutation, from mercury into gold, extremely subtle energies are involved. These energies are so subtle that the vast majority of people, in their ordinary lives, will never experience them. Thus, the nature of this process is difficult to write about.

The primary motive for becoming imperfect is boredom. This boredom is chiefly driven by the loneliness of divinity.

Most people don’t understand that living for eternity in perfect bliss eventually becomes agonisingly boring. Infinitely boring. So much so that consciousness is literally willing to dream up every conceivable type of suffering in order to avoid that boredom. No suffering is so great that it weighs heavier than boredom for eternity. Thus, the entire Great Fractal is created.

What an eternal, infinite, all-powerful and all-knowing consciousness would dream up for the sake of entertainment would be limitation – or at least the illusion of it (infinite consciousness could never really be limited). An example of that limitation would be incarnating as a human being on this planet.

Thus, consciousness would split itself up into an infinitude of fragments, each of which lived a different life (i.e. set of limitations) at any one time. Taken individually, each one of these lives represents an extreme limitation: from the all-knowingness of divine consciousness to being restricted to the sensations and perceptions of one body only.

One way to conceptualise this would be to imagine a white light and perfect bliss. After enough time, when such perfect bliss became boring enough, one might imagine that consciousness chose to temporarily forget its ultimately blissful nature about half of the time, such that the white light seemed to blink in and out of existence. Now there was an oscilliation between white and black – much more interesting than just white.

Imagine then that half of the white light darkened, but only slightly, and that half of the black light lightened, but only slightly, such that there were now four different shades, each blinking in and then out of existence in turn.

Then imagine that each of these four shades were split into a good half and an evil half, which wasn’t immediately obvious from just looking at them but which was felt after experiencing each of them for long enough. Thus these three divisions created both a good and an evil version of each of white, light grey, dark grey and black light.

These eight different energies could be themselves tell an interesting story, if they were rotated through in the right order. Imagine that when the stories of those eight energies get boring, they’re split up again into sixteen, and then again, and again and again, until consciousness has dreamed up everything that it’s possible to perceive, conceive, imagine or sense. All possible lives that can be lived, in all possible worlds, in all possible historical eras.

All of these lives are imperfections in the sense that their boundaries are defined by the limitation of divine perfection. Thus, in willing to incarnate in a physical form in the Great Fractal, consciousness experiences an impulse towards imperfection. This impulse is the basis of the Katabasis, and is similar to the Undergoing Will in Elementalism.

The transmutation from gold to mercury will be complete when the character develops an ego. This spiritual imperfection makes them a mere human again. The development of the ego is essentially the story of the Katabasis, as the most egotistical and narcissistic characters will usually find themselves among the lower rungs of the Mithraic Ladder.

The development of the ego will bring with it ambition, which is characteristic of the level of mercury. To fall to this level, divinity must decide that there is something it wishes to experience while incarnated in human form. In all cases, this experience is a subdivine one – and often immoral. Only a consciousness that had become bored of perfect bliss could wish for such.

The first actions towards the end of imperfection come when a character is tempted to behave without rectitude. This can involve almost anything immoral. A typical example is a desire that cannot be fulfilled without causing suffering.

Stylistically, the transmutation from gold into mercury corresponds to the dimming of the Sun. Any time when light falls into shadow reflects the nature of the Katabasis. This transmutation can also be represented by any sudden downgoing, such as a fall down some stairs, or a journey over the edge of a waterfall.

Physically, this stage is marked by the profoundest possible change: that of incarnation. A character will transmute from a potentiality within consciousness to a physical form. It is the overall nature of this incarnation that characterises this transmutation, not the specific form of the incarnation itself. So the specific details are not important here.

Mentally, this transmutation is marked by the shift from desirelessness to desire. In nirvana, the total absence of desire correlates with bliss. But when the desire for something else than eternal bliss arises – i.e., when boredom arises – the transmutation from spiritual gold to spiritual mercury begins (of course, mercury need not be the final stage of the descent).

Mathematically, the transmutation from gold to mercury is equivalent from unity to division. Singularity to multiplicity.

It has also been observed that a vial of mercury will divide into a multitude of smaller blobs if poured out onto a surface. This is analogous to how the gold of Brahman divides into the mercury of every individual Atman. The transmutation from gold to mercury can therefore be understood as a matter of manifesting ego.

This first stage of the Katabasis is probably the least interesting out of all twelve of the transformations in the Heroic Journey. Characters of both gold and mercury can be hard to identify with, given that both levels are far above the frequencies of ordinary people.

However, the nature of the transmutation of gold into mercury is emblematic of all of the stages of the Katabasis. As above, so below: the decay of gold into mercury is, in microcosm, what all of the other decays are in macrocosm. The boredom-induced temptation to place some sensation or perception above the demands of rectitude is behind every step in the descent from spiritual gold to spiritual lead.

Therefore, the transmutation of gold into mercury can serve a powerful metaphorical role.

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The Transmutation Of Silver Into Mercury

The fifth transmutation of the Anabasis is from silver to mercury. This involves the mysterious process of quickening. Silver is quickened to become mercury and, in doing so, develops a divine spark. Thus, the transmutation of silver to mercury involves beginning (but not completing) the process of apotheosis.

In quickening, silver becomes liquid. This liquidity is the essence of the realm of mercury. The character of mercury displays the opposite of the rigid thinking found in the realm of iron. They are the quickest of thinkers, always a step ahead of everyone else. For this reason they evoke a wide range of reactions from other characters. Mercury is therefore unpredictable to the lower elements, hence the term mercurial.

The rigidity of silver means that it cannot flow into certain spaces. Mercury can. Hence characters of mercury can be explorers of the mind and soul as well as of physical or cultural space. A transmutation from silver to mercury might be motivated by a character who has achieved everything possible in their career or business, and started to wonder what else there is to life. For such people, the occult often beckons.

Psychologically, the character of mercury is beyond any character of the previous levels. They are intellectually superior to an extent that is awesome. But they don’t merely intellectualise. The character of mercury is capable of intuiting knowledge in a way that seems psychic to others. They seem to know things that could not possibly be known, as if they had access to another world.

It is said of the brilliant that they can hit targets no-one else can hit, but of the genius it is said that they can hit targets no-one else can see. The transition from silver to mercury is like this transition from brilliance to genius. A character who achieves it will not merely impress others – they will instill awe. Other characters will generally not understand how the transition has been made.

Aldous Huxley once said (maybe) that “an intellectual is someone who has discovered something more interesting than sex.” The character of mercury is entirely capable of having sex and enjoying it – but they are also capable of sublimating their sexual energy into incredible cultural, artistic, scientific or spiritual achievements. If they choose to attempt such a thing, and if they come to value this higher than sex, they will be seen as very strange by most others. Thus, the transition to mercury can only be attempted by those with superior will.

Socially, the transmutation from silver to mercury could see a character go from leading their clan to leading an empire. In some ancient cultures, the king was also the chief judge. If the judges of a nation are those who the villages nominate to resolve conflicts, the king would be the one who resolves conflicts among the judges themselves. A transition to mercury could be made by becoming a king of kings, or an emperor.

The character of mercury, then, is of the highest terrestrial rank. This might not necessarily be evident, especially at the beginning of the story. A transmutation from silver to mercury might occur very early in the life of a character, such that those around them don’t readily recognise the change. They might simply be too young for higher honours yet, despite being spiritually worthy.

Physically, a character of mercury could look like anything. If characters of lead are scrawny, those of tin fat, those of iron muscular, those of copper muscular and fat and those of silver slender, characters of mercury could look like any such phenotype plus others. For a character of mercury, who is beginning to apotheosise, the physical form is almost irrelevant. They may even start to move beyond physical form as they move away from silver.

The transmutation of silver to mercury is a challenge unlike any of the previous four stages, because it’s primarily a spiritual process, whereas the previous four stages deal with physical and mental processes. For the fifth transmutation of the Anabasis to begin, the spiritual realm has to be accessed. This makes the nature of the transmutation much more subtle than any of the previous four.

This can make a character of mercury a highly complex one. They are capable of anything that the lower levels are capable of. The difference is that the lower five elements are somewhat bound to their realm of frequency, whereas mercury can flow readily to any frequency. Thus the character of mercury can party as if tin, fight as if lead, make love as if copper and socialise as if silver. They are not specialised in any one aspect of life but are rather masters of life in a general sense. As such, the transition to mercury requires a certain depth of life experience.

Glory can transmute mere silver to mercury. A character who rises to become a general or warlord might discover, in the throes of victory, a glory that raises them to a place not previously possible. In the wake of a military triumph, a commander might attain realms of consciousness that had otherwise been inaccessible.

A near death experience can also do it. As mentioned above, the process of transmutation to mercury is, at one level, divine. In almost dying, a person sometimes realises that they are more than just their body and mind. When the physical senses are shut off, the soul can make itself present. Many a person has passed over to the other side only to then return and, imbued with occult knowledge from those shadow realms, risen to a position of social prominence.

A psychedelic experience might be another, similar way to achieve this. A character who undergoes a sufficiently powerful spiritual experience though use of a psychedelic might seem, to other characters, to have acquired superpowers. They may also seem to have gone insane: the transmutation to mercury implies that a character no longer cares as much about material concerns such as wealth or social status. This might not be understood or appreciated by characters of the lower levels.

Yet another way might be getting chosen by a secret society for a special role, such as the harbinger of a new age of humanity. A character of silver who is chosen as a special representative by a secret society could begin the transmutation to mercury by way of ritual. Ancient rites intended to drive out weaknesses from lower frequencies could effect the transmutation to mercury.

The ultimate action that transmutes silver to mercury is application of will. It’s ultimately will that overcomes the rigidness of silver and transmutes into something quasi-divine. The rigidity of silver is testament to the extent to which it is programmed by circumstance. The application of will causes a character to rise above circumstance and to define themselves according to their own values. Even the stronghest, the smartest, the richest and the most handsome of men are subordinate to the most willing.

An example of the transmutation of silver to mercury in popular fiction is the film Braveheart. William Wallace starts as a well-respected villager, the son of a well-respected villager, and seemed destined for the realm of silver. But on account of being taught to use his brain properly, he was able to reshape the course of history.

This is an excerpt from Viktor Hellman’s The Alchemy of Character Development, the sixth book in VJM Publishing’s Writing With Psychology series. This book will show you how to use alchemy to create deep, realistic and engaging characters for your creative fiction.

If you enjoyed reading this piece, buy a compilation of our best pieces from previous years!

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