As above so below

As above, so below. As within, so without. What do these ancient sayings mean to you?

Legend has it that Hermes Trismegistus inscribed these words, in Phoenician, on The Emerald Tablet, somewhere between 1,200 and 38,000 years ago. Yes, you did read those dates correctly. No, no-one knows where the tablet is now, or whether Hermes Trismegistus was a real person, a God, or a group of scholars, but The Emerald Tablet has been variously translated throughout the centuries, and much debated. The text sets out the seven principles of alchemy, the main one being, As above, so below.

Alchemy is a secret language, not what it appears to be. It’s a symbolic language, speaking, for example, of transforming base metal into gold as a symbolic way of speaking about transforming base human consciousness into the gold of spiritual enlightenment. It’s about keeping the magic in the hands of the masters, or protecting secret knowledge about sacred laws and the workings of the universe.

One of the meanings of As above, so below, is that the universe is reflected in everything, so that man, for example, is a microcosm of the universe. The argument goes that you cannot study man without studying the universe, and you cannot study the universe without studying man, but that because man generally lacks deep awareness of his inner world (self), he can gain insight into his being by studying the heavens (cosmology, astrology, philosophy, God).

I was reminded of As above, so below recently when I was having a conversation with someone about dreams and alchemy. I’m not an alchemist. I’m a dream alchemist, meaning that after I’ve analysed a dream and helped the dreamer understand more about her inner world (inner self), I create, if desired, a dream alchemy practice to help her transform any limiting unconscious beliefs into new beliefs that support her in growing and thriving.

In modern day terms, dream alchemy is a process of rewiring the brain, or reprogramming the unconscious.

In more exotic terms, the process works like magic, and the alchemists of old might liken it to the alchemical quest of transforming base metal into gold.

In poetic terms, I take the elements, symbols, and emotions of a dream – or nightmare – and spin and weave and polish them into a more positive, gleaming, picture. I help the dreamer create a new dream (seen and felt in her mind’s eye ‘within’) that results in a more positive, gleaming, experience of waking life (‘without’). As within, so without.

If that sounds reminiscent of NLP or the law of attraction, it’s neither. The law of attraction is about creating a literal picture of what you would like to attract into your life, perhaps your ideal house, job, or relationship, and then focussing on this picture until it (perhaps) attracts said house, job, or relationship. NLP is also about working with the conscious mind. Dream alchemy is about working with a dreamer’s unconscious mind, and with her dream symbols. It’s getting down deep into the guts of the mindset, doing the rewiring by speaking the same language the unconscious used to express itself in the dream – the dream symbols and dream story.

Step back now to the basics. What is a dream? A dream is the experience you have while your brain and mind are processing your conscious and unconscious experiences of the last 1-2 days, trying to make sense of your world. Your dream might not look anything like your last couple of days, but if you take a closer look, you’ll see correlations. For example, you’ll see metaphors: maybe a death dream when it feels like something is ending in your life, or a car without brakes when you feel things are getting out of control, or a house with an extra room when you’re feeling expansive or finding more room in your life. Come to think of it, your dreams might be seen as a secret language, like alchemy, a microcosm reflecting the macrocosm. As without, so within.

Dreaming is a two-way process. You dream to process your waking life experiences, to build a personal picture of the world as you uniquely perceive it, and then you wake up and experience waking life according to the personal picture that you have just laid down. As without, so within. As within, so without.

But life is not, as it turns out, one long Groundhog Day. Things shift and change, subtly or dramatically. A surprising or traumatic waking life experience that shifts your perception is processed in your dream and your personal picture (mindset) changes accordingly, and then you wake up and experience waking life according to the new personal picture that you have just laid down in your dream. As without, so within. As within, so without.

And so we each dream our unique path through life, crafted by our unique perceptions of our experiences. And we each have the opportunity to wake up to our dreams, to know ourselves more deeply within by studying our dreams, and, in so doing, to begin to see through the illusions of waking life to the true nature of the self and the universe.

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