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.

For more of VJM’s ideas, see his work on other platforms!
For even more of VJM’s ideas, buy one of his books!

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

Best VJMP Essays and Articles of 2023
Best VJMP Essays and Articles of 2022
Best VJMP Essays and Articles of 2021
Best VJMP Essays and Articles of 2020
Best VJMP Essays and Articles of 2019
Best VJMP Essays and Articles of 2018
Best VJMP Essays and Articles of 2017

If you would like to support our work in other ways, make a donation to our Paypal! Even better, buy any one of our books!

The Transmutation Of Copper Into Iron

When consciousness descends below the Elemental Horizon, it begins to enter the realm of iron. In transmuting to iron, copper becomes discoloured. This discolouring represents the loss of a kind of basic humanity, the empathy that distinguishes the social from the antisocial. In so discolouring, a character’s consciousness descends to the border between the human and the animal realms.

The general thematic trend of this transmutation is from contentment to anger.

A typical example of a descent from copper to iron is that of the family man who loses everything. In a state of copper, he may have been relatively contented. But something happens to destroy that state of contentment, and in suffering the change the character drops down the Mithraic Ladder. A merchant or a sportsman who loses everything are other common examples.

The breakup of a romantic relationship is a typical way to descend from copper to iron, but this need not mean the death of a partner. It can mean a messy divorce, especially one stressful enough to cause anger to arise. It can also mean a falling out with a family member, old friend or workmate. It could be reflected in a loss of money.

An archetypal way for a family to fall out with each other is when an elder dies and everyone fights over the inheritance. Long-simmering resentments can boil over into drama if one character feels that another is acting selfishly. If one of the brothers or sisters felt that another one had been treated as the favourite, they might get really angry if the elder’s will wasn’t to their liking.

Another character’s successful Anabasis could serve as the trigger for the envy that caused another character to drop from copper to iron. Although envy is usually the preserve of the realm of silver, the lower levels are more than capable of feeling it too. A character of copper who become sufficiently envious could find themselves getting nasty.

If a merchant is your protagonist, that merchant might get robbed, and then have to decide whether to let the money go or to take it back by force. They might not like force – it might be extremely unnatural to them – but Fate compels them to fight in order to maintain their position. This could also be the story of someone forced to steal to support their family.

Socially speaking, the character transmuting from copper to iron tends to lose their sense of humour. This reflects the impatience that can be characteristic of the realm of iron. The phrase ‘hard-bitten’ can become appropriate. This can lead to a falling out with other characters if offence is taken.

Emotionally, a character descending to iron will become more wrathful. This can occur on account of frustrated lusts, which can become resentments. A deeply humiliating experience, or one in which a character is made to feel vulnerable or helpless, could tip a character from the realm of copper into the realm of iron. Revenge, especially physical revenge, is the sort of action a character descending into the realm of iron is liable to take.

Physically, the transmutation to iron brings with it a hardness and a greyness. Grey is usually associated with silver, and the transition to high social status, but it can also represent a fading of spiritual energy. This can be reflected in a sullen, low-energy appearance.

The character making this transmutation might start to dress less to impress women and more to intimidate men. They might start wearing black, shave their head, or even get a tattoo. Their body language might also reflect the change, becoming more tense, more challenging and aggressive. A female character might start smoking cigarettes.

A typical incident that might be emblematic of this transformation is that of a middle-aged man getting into a fistfight on account of some insult that a character on the Anabasis would have ignored. This is perhaps the archetypal fictional example of someone falling out of the realm of copper.

Intellectually, a character undergoing this transmutation will lose some of the wider social vision that had been achieved by reaching the level of copper. Instead of thinking of their family and long-term needs, the character will start to think more about themselves and short-term needs. As with the other steps of the Katabasis, they become more egotistical.

Some of the hobbies or luxury pastimes that a character may have engaged in will be forgotten in the transmutation of copper to iron. Such things might come to seem as frivolities to someone whose focus is tightening and hardening.

This is similar to how a character transmuting from tin to iron loses interest in frivolities, only in a tragic way. The character transmuting upwards from tin loses interest in childish games; the character transmuting downwards from copper loses interest in social obligations. It can thus be said that characters during the Katabasis mistakenly lose interest in their own lives, and this is reflective of the discolouration process.

In falling into the realm of iron from a higher frequency, a character can easily forget some of the moral lessons or realisations from earlier in life. In particular, they can forget the long-term value of behaving compassionately. This might have bad consequences for the character, but it can make for some great drama!

This transmutation need not have negative connotations, or at least not extremely so.

A character could, in so transmuting, become highly physically fit, as per the nature of characters of iron. It could be that, in the initial transmutation from iron to copper during the Anabasis, a character became physically soft and didn’t like it. Perhaps they longed to feel physically strong again when they got fat as a wealthy merchant. Viewed through the lens of iron, which prizes physical power above other forms, a fall to iron from copper might actually be a win.

It could also be that, in getting cast down from the level of copper to the level of iron, a character learns the rage that allows them to achieve things they previously couldn’t. This lack of rage may have prevented them from overcoming certain social barriers – and now they can break through them.

At this point it’s worthwhile to restate that the Hero’s Journey, in alchemical terms, need not be linear. The Katabasis refers to a general tendency: downward. But an interesting story will have a multi-dimensional character arc. The lover may be forced to become a fighter, but the fighter can redeem himself.

It’s also worthwhile to restate here that iron, despite being a low level compared to gold, mercury, silver and copper, is not the lowest, and a character of iron still has a lot of honour in comparison to those of lead.

Perhaps the most famous depiction of this transmutation in popular culture is Russell Crowe’s character in Gladiator. A greatly respected leader of men as a Roman general, Maximus Decimus Meridius is betrayed and cast down to the level of a mere gladiator, forced to fight hand-to-hand.

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

If you would like to support our work in other ways, make a donation to our Paypal! Even better, buy any one of our books!

The Transmutation Of Silver Into Copper

The third stage in the katabasis is the dullening, which occurs when silver dullens into copper. Having already deteriorated below the level of spirituality in the previous stage, here a character loses some (but not all) of that pro-sociality which demarcates humans from beasts. Herein the vision narrows further, to the level of simpler pleasures.

This descent occurs within the intellectual or mental realm. If silver is high intellectualism, copper is a lower form. As with the other steps of the katabasis, this transmutation implies a narrowing of focus, in this case from social to sexual. This narrowing of focus comes with an increase in animalistic impulses and sentiments.

For the most part, the descent from silver to copper leads to an obsession with sex. Copper is still a fairly high level of the Mithraic Ladder, so the sexual degeneracy here does not imply crimes. A character descending to copper does not become a rapist or child molester. But it does imply the capacity to be brought low by sexual desire.

One of the most common ways for this to happen is for an intelligent person to develop an obsession with their own sexual value. If they start thinking too much about whether they can attract sexual partners, and too little about their social obligations, they can decline from silver to copper.

Developing habits of constant preening and strutting are typical behaviours for a character undergoing this transmutation. Vanity is therefore a common emotion for characters at this stage. The pro-social engagement of the stage of silver becomes slightly more selfish as it becomes copper. As such, a character transmuting to copper can come to neglect social obligations in favour of opportunities to impress the opposite sex.

As alluded to above, a character who degrades from silver to copper won’t undertake antisocial actions for sex – but they will take plenty of asocial ones. The kind of person who goes to university, and then gives up on taking their study seriously to get laid and to watch pornography, is archetypal of this transmutation.

A pornography obsession is emblematic of this descent, which is why a character making it may come to resemble Coomer from Clown World Chronicles. A strained, dope addict-like stupor, constant enervation and sensory dullness, coupled with an inability to appreciate actual women, are the signs of a porn addict.

Sex obsessions in general are emblematic of this level. A relatively high-frequency character who finds themselves engaging in pestering their wife or husband for sex could be making the descent to copper. This can happen to a character at just about any age. As such, it’s not necessary for a character to be old before it becomes possible for them to make the transmutation from silver to copper.

Characters at this level don’t just become dull spiritually, they become dull to talk to. The obsession with sex leads to the stereotypical “One-track mind”. This is especially true if it takes the place of what would otherwise have been meaningful cultural or scientific considerations. So the socialite of the level of silver, in degrading to copper, becomes boring when they used to be charming.

A character making this descent can reveal their degeneracy through an obsession with sexual innuendo and gossip. Where they once focused their minds on intellectual concerns, this discipline appears to falter leading into this stage. In faltering, it becomes degenerate and bestial, but only to a minor extent.

This transmutation can be motivated by a loss of faith in the intellectual world. A character who learns how corrupt academia is might lose their ambitions for intellectual achievement, and might sink that energy into getting laid instead. Another motivation can be a character’s realisation that they will never attain the heights of mercury. A character who understands that they will peak at silver might become resentful, and, in their resentment, allow themselves to slide down the Mithraic Ladder (at least as far as the level of copper).

Insecurity is a feature of all of the levels lower than mercury, and at the level of copper this insecurity typically expresses itself as jealousy. At this level, insecurity is managable but still reasonably powerful. A character of silver who begins to suffer insecurities related to their sexual market value can degrade into copper.

Although silver is generally associated with middle-aged people, this transmutation can easily occur in younger characters. It’s said of many young people that their lives were looking promising until they discovered girls/boys, at which point their academic aspirations were left to decay. This is a typical form of this transmutation.

For middle-aged characters, this transmutation can occur as part of a mid-life crisis. Male menopause can make a character insecure, and that insecurity can find expression in a desire to date younger women. The stereotypical middle-aged man buying a sportscar and trying to attract women in their 20s is probably undergoing this transmutation.

Taking a mistress is a typical example of behaviour at this stage, as is a woman who becomes a cougar and takes on a toyboy. This is doubly true if the relationship with the younger person leads to a loss of social status for the older one.

Another example of behaviour typical for characters making the descent from silver to copper is infidelity. Giving in to one’s lower urges to reproduce, at the expense of one’s marriage and social standing, pulls a character out of the realms of the precious metals and back into the prosaic. In degrading to copper, a character proves that there’s little truly special about them.

Fighting over women is also a feature of this stage, although the fighting tends to be social and not physical. Where the character of iron throws fists, the character of copper tends to throw words. If the transmutations to tin and lead involve major sexual degeneracies, the transmutation from silver to copper is about a large number of more moderate errors.

Herein it must be emphasised that the descent to copper does not imply that a character become a rapist or any kind of sexual abuser. That kind of behaviour is the speciality of the character of lead.

Neither is it even necessary for this stage to involve sexual relations or romance. The transmutation from silver to copper could be made by a character becoming cheap, stingy or miserly for some reason. Alchemical copper generally refers to the affairs of Aphrodite, but the term also covers the crude merchantry of trade.

A character who failed as a scholar and was forced to become a relatively lowly sales clerk could be a story of this level. So could an inventor who sells a fraudulent product, knowing that it isn’t as good as claimed. A lot of story arcs that involve a decent person selling low-quality products, because they need the money desperately, could fit under this transmutation.

One well-known depiction of this descent in popular culture is the character of Glenn Quagmire in The Family Guy. Quagmire is charming, intelligent and usually pro-social, but also perverted. This perversion prevents him from achieving the social status that his intellect might have suggested he reach.

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

If you would like to support our work in other ways, make a donation to our Paypal! Even better, buy any one of our books!

The Transmutation Of Mercury Into Silver

The second step of the descent down the Mithraic Ladder is the transmutation from mercury into silver. This is the opposite of the quickening process: retarding. At this step the high-frequency nature of mercury slows down to the point that it falls into the realm of silver.

If the descent from gold to mercury is the descent from perfection into the world of quantity, the descent from mercury to silver is the descent from the spiritual to the mundane. Silver is still a relatively high level of the Mithraic Ladder, and a character at that level will still be impressive to many others. As such, the nature of this transmutation is a subtle one. The drama of it could mostly take place in the character’s head alone.

The major impact of this transmutation is spiritual.

The transmutation from mercury to silver is chiefly marked by a loss of spiritual belief or faith. In descending to silver, the character of mercury falls out of the spiritual realm, and becomes a materialist again. Thus they lose any divine inspiration or spark they may have once had, and effectively become a high-ranking Normie.

This can come about through an excessive focus on materialist science. Although silver is excellent, and strengthening one’s energy in the realm of silver a worthy endeavour, an excess of it can be possible. This is particularly the case when it distracts a character from spiritual truths. An over-commitment to materialist science could lead to a character losing their faith.

It can also come about by social pressure. If a character of mercury engages socially with a large number of characters of silver, they might find that this social environment starts to affect their own frequency. An office of bureaucrats might strongly discourage any mercurial attitudes, so that any character of mercury becomes forced down to the level of silver to keep the peace.

Much of the drama of this stage is therefore social. In a way, it’s a tragedy – that of the masses pulling a great person down to their common level. Mercury can, in this way, degrade into silver both from internal and external causes. Internally, a character can lose their will; externally, a character can have their will sapped from them by a depressing environment.

Perhaps the most dramatic way for this to come about is through a great tragedy. A character of mercury who loses a child might stop believing in God. Another character of mercury might face a great betrayal from one or more close friends, leading to a humbling. A third might fail to make the intellectual grade at university, getting forced to accept an unremarkable life in an office somewhere.

An act of great intelligence but total absence of spirituality, such as arranging a murder and getting away with it, could reduce frequency in one hit. A great heist or embezzlement that yielded immense material rewards would be the typical example. The more harm this heist caused, the more totally it would cause a descent into the realm of silver.

So in much the same way that ascent to the mercury and gold require great feats of high-frequency action, descent from the mercury and gold require great feats of low-frequency action. This need not involve something as prosaic as a murder but could rather involve the higher machinations of a state. Giving an order to kill can cause such a descent, especially if it turns out to be an immoral one.

Although the nature of this transmutation is primarily spiritual, the Law of Correspondence still applies. As such, the descent to the level of silver is reflected in the grosser realms: it’s psychological, social, emotional and physical.

The nature of the psychological change is to lose ambition and will. A character of mercury wishes to conquer the world. A character of silver might be happy with their simple office as a bureaucrat in the imperial capital. The grandiosity and belief in destiny that characterises the mercury are lost. This loss might go unnoticed among those who observe that the character of silver is still very intelligent. But those aware of the subtler energies of the psyche might observe the difference.

Emotionally, a character descending from mercury to silver not only becomes more anxious but also more rigid. This is emblematic of the fact that silver is a solid at room temperature whereas mercury is liquid. The character descending to silver loses some degree of self-control and ability to author their own future. They they become more predictable.

A narrowing of vision can be found in characters who have completed the descent to silver. They no longer look at the whole of reality as one system, but only at a sub-system. Thus, they give up philosophy for prosaic concerns. Abandoning philosophy and esotericism for a physical science is emblematic of the transmutation under discussion here.

Artistically, a character can lose inspiration to create at this stage. Writer’s block is a typical experience for someone falling out of the realm of mercury and into the realm of silver. The inability to come up with new ideas is a consequence of no longer being able to see the World of Forms, a privilege reserved for the characters of mercury.

Physically, the change is noticed primarily in the gaze. It’s no longer the long-sighted gaze of the conqueror, but the near-sighted one of the scholar. The character of mercury looks for allies to conquer the world with – or foes to destroy. The character of silver looks to avoid the gaze of the character of mercury.

It can also be noticed in the bearing. The character of mercury carries themselves as a challenge to those around them; the character of silver carries themselves as if they have work to do. Anxiety is therefore the typical body language expressed by those descending from mercury to silver, and neurosis the typical attribute. The self-assurance of mercury is one of the first things to go as a character descends into the mundane.

In the sense that mercury contains all of the positive qualities of the lower metals, descending the Mithraic Ladder is a matter of losing those qualities, one by one.

Just because the character of silver is a step down from mercury and two steps down from gold, doesn’t mean that a character of silver is bad or low in any sense. Silver is still a precious metal, and the characters of silver still play important roles in society. Thus, this transmutation is far from a matter of falling out of society. It’s more of a personal transmutation that’s hard for outsiders to notice.

Perhaps the archetypal depiction of this transmutation in fiction is that of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment. Raskolnikov begins the novel a rampant egoist, believing that he has the moral right to assert his will on the world no matter who suffers, and he ends it an utterly broken man. The character of silver need not be broken in comparison to the character of mercury, but they are definitely more humble.

For more of VJM’s ideas, see his work on other platforms!
For even more of VJM’s ideas, buy one of his books!

If you would like to support our work in other ways, make a donation to our Paypal! Even better, buy any one of our books!