Alchemy is fundamentally the art, the science, and the practice of transformation.  The symbolic transmutation of lead into gold, and the literal change of the base into the divine. It is not a change through time, but a complete break in continuity.  Change through time is no change at all.  Transformation is a radical metamorphosis in which a complete change of being occurs.  This change of being  is outside of time, of cause and effect, and the illusion of becoming, or gradual improvement.

True Alchemy is no pseudo-science, but is a process of consciousness.   It concerns the individual’s effort to transcend all limitation and attain perfection.

This transformation is above all a revolution in consciousness, which is an absolute necessity for each and every human being.   This revolution is the only thing that can end the collective insanity that has lead to a poisoning of the planet and the extermination of millions of humans by their own kind among many other forms of evil.  This affliction not only is expressed outwardly, but inwardly in the conflict and confusion present within the mind of every human being.

Alchemy is the practical way of living in which one dedicates their life and total energy towards eliminating the false in themselves in order to know Truth.  It is the establishment of order, purity, harmony, peace and freedom in the individual and the elimination of all that causes sorrow.  It is the transcendence of all limitation and the discovering of freedom; freedom in itself, not freedom from something.   Alchemy is symbolic of the process of inner transformation, of the complete change of substance and being.  This radical revolution in the mind, the psyche of the human being is the only thing that can solve the individual problem and the problems of the world.

Alchemy and Yoga

It is a way of complete God-realisation, a complete Self-realisation, a complete fulfillment of our being and consciousness, a complete transformation of our nature – and this implies a complete perfection of life here and not only a return to an eternal perfection elsewhere

— Sri Aurobindo Archives and Research, Dec 1982, p.197

All life is a Yoga of Nature seeking to manifest God within itself. Yoga marks the stage at which this effort becomes capable of self-awareness and therefore of right completion in the individual. It is a gathering up and concentration of the movements dispersed and loosely combined in the lower evolution.”

— The Synthesis of Yoga p.47