I’ve learned in various manifestation and alchemy circles of the need for an exchange; essentially that you cannot receive that for which you have not first given.
For almost a year I have come back to deliberating over the two major factors in the alchemical formula, namely:
When I began this journal, my first entry covered the other aspect, which I determined to be the values that would underlie the desires to be targeted. This was on April 28 of 2024, but it was several months of sitting with it before I began to image even these basic fundamentals. Four months after determining the values that should underpin my efforts, I have finally found my first round of alchemical exchanges.
It’s crazy to me, the difficulty I faced in simply determing what I want - and I’m not exaggerating that it took just about a year to find an initial answer.
The thing is, I was looking in the wrong places. I don’t need/want to attract women. I’m not really interested in climbing the corporate ladder. I have all the musical instruments I could possibly want and, although I lack the free time to really explore them consistently, this is because I have kids - kids that I wouldn’t wish away for anything…they are my music. Sometimes it’s a tremendous symphony of love and kindness, and sometimes it’s cacophonic nightmare - but it’s my living symphony and I love it.
…I think the crows may have been the first legitimate desire I could pinpoint, but then there was the question of what I would trade in exchange for the manifestation of this desire…an inquiry of at least equal difficulty to the original question.
Last week I listened to The Power of Concentration (Theron Q Dumont, 1912) probably 10 times through. Some of the exercises/concepts in this short book awakened within me an idea for viewing the alchemical exchange from a new vantage. …what if instead of just cutting bad habits and vices, I used these things as sacrificial lambs in the alchemical formula? In this way, I could also name that which I expect to gain from eliminating each habit as the desire I wish to realize. Thus I’m not just giving things up, but trading them out for higher ideals. This should give my first several alchemical exchanges a little advantage towards success, and help strengthen the development of my sorcery.
| GIVE | RECEIVE |
|---|---|
Another advantage to this method of exchange is the reinforcement aspect. Any time I've tried to give up a vice, there are those times when the desire to succumb to the vice comes back. First of all, without an exchange in mind, there's not really a lot of impetus to deny what feels like a desire from within - so having the exchange in mind helps rectify that...but also I believe this will help by keeping the desired outcome active in my thoughts. For example, now when I think of/crave energy drinks, I will not only have the exchange in mind - that I am giving up energy drinks in exchange for some crow-bros - but also now the actual thought of energy drinks will be replaced immediately with thoughts of how to manifest crow-bros. So often, I find that impactful sorcery and alchemy really boil down to simple mental sciences. Though the means seem simple and ineffectual, working within the mindscape is tremendously powerful.
When it comes to the desires I've selected, I decided that life and health are the most valuable things I can hope to attain. I would rather wake up poor tomorrow with countless days in front of me, than live richly today knowing I would die at midnight - so for me money is not a goal but perhaps a tool to be leveraged in the quest for a high quality/high impact life. Riches and wealth thus have no place on my manifestation list…if I need them to secure those things that I rightfully desire, then they will appear just as scaffolding supports one whose goal is the finalization of a proud edifice.
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