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 Two: Albedo - Purification & The Dawn Of Clarity
Welcome to the second episode of a four-episode arc exploring the Magnum Opus, the famed Great Work of the ancient alchemists.
During this series, we are journeying 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 episode of the Magnum Opus series, we move out of the darkness of Nigredo into Albedo, the first light of dawn, the first silvery shimmer of a new consciousness.
This is Stage Two of the alchemical journey, where we are no longer what we were, yet not fully what we will become.
In this episode, I explore how clarity can be both a revelation and a reckoning, and how Albedo's light is not salvation, but a pathway to integration.
This is the stage where what remains after dissolution is gently washed clean: where honesty replaces illusion, and the self begins to see without the distortion of the ego. Albedo is the quiet renewal that comes when we stop striving to rebuild and instead learn to listen to what is being born in the silence.
Music: Dawning Light by Victor Lundberg
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.
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