Circulating the Light

The circulation of mind and light in the Fountain of Fountains is mirrored in the Below in the human body. Chinese alchemists became proficient at this type of Distillation thousands of years ago. Called the "Circulation of the Light," the aspirant is taught to "concentrate on the light of the inmost region and, while doing so, to free himself from all outer and inner entanglements." The first stage of the Distillation is the Mercury or watery phase in which the light is gathered by quieting the body and mind through breath awareness and meditation. The light of the True Imagination is a kind of seed energy scattered throughout the body, and the object is to bring it all together in a stove or athanor visualized in the abdominal cavity just below the navel.

In the second phase of the Circulation of Light, sulfuric or firey conciousness is used to initiate the movement of the accumulated light energy. With concentration fixed at the level of the abdominal athanor, the practitioner wills and feels the light circulate up the "channel of function" through the chest cavity to the "precious cauldron" at the center of the brain. There, the light energy is distilled and accumulated, and any still unconverted energy returns to the navel area via the "channel of control" that runs down the back. The adept repeats the Circulation of the Light daily for months or even years, until enough of the "light" collects to crystillize in the cauldron within the brain. According to Chinese alchemists, the subtle matter distilled through this process congeals into a Golden Pill, which is the adept's passage to perfect health and immortality.

** taken from "The Emerald Tablet, Alchemy for Personal Transformation" by Dennis William Hauck. Page 267 **