The Alchemy Of It All
The Alchemy of It All is a podcast about transformation in every sense of the word. Host Fiona Meiklejohn explores how human beings across cultures and centuries have turned the raw material of life into something greater, through psychology, spirituality, philosophy, science and all forms of art.
From the myths of creation to the music of the spheres, from medieval mystics to modern neuroscience, every fortnight Fiona dives into the ideas, stories, and practices that have shaped how we change, grow, and make meaning.
This is a space for listeners who crave depth, context, and wonder. Each episode is an invitation to explore the human story as alchemy in motion, and is a reminder that transformation is always possible, and is the one true constant in our shared human experience.
I acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the unceded land on which I work, learn and live, and pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Always was, always will be.
The Alchemy Of It All
The Magnum Opus, Stage One: Nigredo - The Dark Night Of The Soul
Welcome to the first episode of a new four-episode arc exploring the Magnum Opus, the famed Great Work of the ancient alchemists.
Over the next four weeks, we’ll journey through the four classic alchemical stages: Nigredo (Blackening), Albedo (Whitening), Citrinitas (Yellowing), and Rubedo (Reddening); tracing their echoes in personal transformation, psychology, and collective myth.
In this opening episode of the Magnum Opus series, we descend into Nigredo – the dark night of the soul.
This is Stage One of the alchemical journey: a place of dissolution and shadow, of surrender and death.
Through the story of my own journey through Nigredo, I explore how resistance can be a threshold rather than a wall, and how the darkness itself becomes a teacher. This is the stage where everything familiar dissolves: identity, momentum, illusions, the stories we’ve built around who we think we are, our ego.
Nigredo is the beginning of the Magnum Opus: the necessary descent that gifts us with the first embers of alchemical transformation.
Music: Hungarian Charade by Magnus Ludvigsson
You’ve been listening to The Alchemy of It All with Fiona Meiklejohn. If this journey resonated with you, please share it, subscribe, or simply carry the conversation forward in your own life.
You can find me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/wolf_and_birch/ where you’ll discover links to my fortnightly newsletter, free meditations, health guides, and my eBook The Art of Self-Empowerment.
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