The cover of Spiritual Alchemy by Jenny Tyson published by Llewellyn Worldwide in 2016.

Spiritual Alchemy by Jenny Tyson is a very unusual book. Its book in two parts: part one is a journal following the author through her journey of relative spiritual ignorance to increased alchemical enlightenment, and part two covers practical application of what she learned after a few years of practice. Further, it is a communication of some rather advanced magical and alchemical material by a beginner medium.

In part one, the reader tags along as Tyson discovers her way through communicating with spirits, ancestors, and deities. At times I was as frustrated with her slow progress as she was! One has to trust that she will get back on the path to discovery beyond her setbacks. It gets exciting when the spirits instruct Jenny to quit taking the decongestants and prescription painkillers she was on cold turkey for her initiation. As you can imagine, the withdrawal symptoms she experienced were quite traumatic!

Unfortunately, throughout the text Tyson, does not make it clear that those feverish deliriums and pain are known withdrawal symptoms for this kind of medication. Her Kundalini healing progressed as she was bedridden and riding out hallucinations, terrible pain, and illness. I also experienced my first spirit initiations when I was suffering a serious illness, and I could partially relate to her spiritual experiences. It was clear in the telling that Tyson had responded to shadow advice from her own unconscious and not to wisdom from the spirits when she took the dangerous approach of home rehab. Tyson risked her life, and we would be wise to be more careful and learn from her mistakes. The choice to stop any medicationsmust be made with your medical professional and done according to a safe schedule.

Thankfully, on the other end of it, Tyson discovered her body no longer needed the painkillers and decongestants she had been reliant on, and she became healthier. The messages Tyson received and her experiences introduced her to new spiritual heights and gave her spiritual abilities she had not had before.

Part two, Practical Applications, is my favorite part of the book. Tyson covers auditory scrying in great detail. I have been very curious about auditory scrying because it is something I figured out on my own, and I hadnt seen much material about spirit listening. She used a lot of different technologies like radio scanners and random sound generators to train her ability. Through the machines, Tyson was able to communicate with John Dee, William Kelley, the Archangel Gabriel, and others. My preference is to listen for spirit voices speaking directly in my environment, and she covered that kind of scrying too.

I found Tysons advice on ritual preparations like diet considerations and environment very wise. Certain foods cause distracting digest effects like gas or fatigue. Heavy foods, sugars, and beans are best avoided prior to meditation. I was also impressed with her methods for making seal and sigil parchments and plates. Her section on mirror scrying was excellent. Tysons approach is similar in some ways to how I mirror scry, but she had a number of techniques new to me that I look forward to trying. I really did appreciate her narrative information about homunculi and I wish there had been more information on them.

I recommend Spirit Alchemy as a testimony of an initiatory experience. Following Tyson through her struggles to learn mediumship skills, heal her heart center and meet the gods was fascinating. I was very interested in Tysons techniques of using radio scanners and mirror scrying. Tyson really did end up better off for her trials and efforts and I look forward to what she writes next.

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Star Made Witch: Spiritual Alchemy by Jenny Tyson - Patheos (blog)