Alchemy

Who am I?

 

My name is James Collins. I currently live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I hold an Honours Bachelors of Arts in Psychology, a diploma in Social Service Work with high honours, and am currently planning on returning to college for a graduate degree.

     I started my spiritual journey when I was about ten years old. At that age I started showing an interest in metaphysics. So I started a gem and mineral collection, while studying their properties, both physical and how they interacted with the body's energies, if only on a very subtle level.

     A few years later I joined the Rosicrucian Order as a Junior Member. I've been a member since then. A few years after that I turned my attention to Rune Magic, studying that for about a year. Because that topic offered me very little in the way of real spiritual development, I moved on to study other topics such as Hermeticism, crystal healing, Jungian Mysticism (I even taught a course I designed myself through the Rosicrucian Order [RCUI]), and sacred geometry.

Eventually, and partly because my studies with the Rosicrucian Order only focussed on spiritual alchemy, I started my studies in traditional laboratory alchemy. I quickly became enthralled. Now my spiritual development could take a much more balanced approach: Spiritual Alchemy through the Rosicrucian Order, and then more mundane, laboratory alchemy through my own studies. I read every book on it I could get my hands on, and my lab quickly grew in size as I progressed. I can easily say that the biggest help and source of knowledge I've had are the courses designed and taught by the French alchemist Jean Dubuis. I've learned through his material much more than I've learned from any other written source on the subject.

My search for more knowledge on alchemy then expanded to the public, such as online communities and in person. I've had the priviledge of being taught in person by such modern alchemists as Steve Kalec and Patrice Maleze, and they have my gratitude.

Although I have made much progress in my work, I haven't (yet) discovered the Philosopher's Stone (if it can be made at all - I remain skeptical). It's all a matter of patience.