Sexual Alchemy


Study notes

Sexual power and mental power are different results of the same energy. The difference is given by its use. To concentrate the strength on a particular function (activity of sex or thought) means to reduce the action of the other. For this reason the process of transformation is based on the arrangement of the strengths, where balance is very important. We know methods for strengthening sexual or mental activities and we can resume them in the sentence: “transfers of energy”. The ability to move energy is the heart of the system; once this is clear, everything comes as a consequence.

To understand the idea of ‘energetic transfer’ we can consider money.
Money is concretized energy able to move events, materials and people. We all have a certain quantity of it and we use it as we think best. We won’t discuss the opportunity of this use, because we are not talking about morality.

Let’s imagine the money contained in a wallet. The owner freely decides who or what to use it for (see Freedom of choice). The balance consists in its distribution; if he spends too much for something he won’t have enough for the rest. Therefore when he decides how to use it, he determines his priorities which will give the balance or unbalance of its distribution.
However it is used, money can run out, leaving him penniless (al verde in Italian) (see symbology of the US Dollar). In this case the unbalance is given by the fact that he hasn’t been able to foresee its exhaustion. If we compare economical and physical exhaustion, we will see that the waste of energy becomes exhaustion of physical and immune resources; without a suitable recovery action, it turns into a physical disease or a psychic breakdown.

The core of the matter is that energy must be moved rather than transformed; it must be distributed with measure from a function to another. Its concentration in the new center will cause its change, through a will that at first is only instinctive and therefore it is expressed as a wish.
If we consider the extremes, we’ll find that on one hand energetic concentration can be moved by the wish for meaningful sexual performances, on the other hand by the wish to become mentally active.
At the most advanced stage, the ‘wish’ to strengthen our mind must be replaced by the will to do so, refining the discipline that rules its ‘transfer’ to the mental faculties. We must remember that by strengthening the brain’s functions we turn it into a proper energetic center.

Mental Alchemy studies measure the stages of ‘transport’ (from a center to another, from a pole of attention to another) of the sexual energy in order to strengthen the higher psychic centers. Transferring energy from the genitals to the head and concentrating it on the activity of thought is a well known practice. It happens gradually in the same way used to increase physical resistance; although on different levels, it requires the same procedure of adaptation.
By concentrating our attention (mental concentration is the first sign of will) the common thought becomes reflection, then deep meditation (analysis). The common look turns into conscious observation and then visualization.

As we will see further on, visualization is necessary to see, feel, taste and touch what we think. Visualizing our sensations develops the subtle counterpart of the physical senses. Visualizing thoughts, moods and emotions prepares the mind to an extraordinary communication, which neophytes confuse with magic. Indeed, although it is latent, it is one of the natural faculties inborn in Man.

Before concluding we must insist on a fundamental concept.
Initiatory work doesn’t consist in simply applying certain techniques, which will be explained in purpose-written works. It is based on recognizing the intentions that focus on one or the other function and affect their characteristics. This allows us to understand why there are things that we need to do and others that we don’t; things to improve and others to reduce.
This operation is widely disregarded by researchers; without a precise sense of discrimination nothing happens, even with the best technique. It is extremely important to learn how to turn desire, even when sacred, into Act of Will. This is the highest initiatory task: to transform the physical thought (desire) into Fire that torments, purifies and exalts. If Man is the living Athanor (see living Athanor), all that he contains can be transformed only through Fire; without it we would only be humid and passive forms (see symbology of the humid and the dry path).

Mental Alchemy helps understanding where it is and how to revive it.

By Athos A. Altomonte