Art Alchemy — Calcinatio:

My process is stream of consciousness: This is my second experiment. My prima materia is what is holding me back as an artist to rise to my greatest potential. This project is also of form of ritual/ a marker of my transition to LA. As I will moving there in seven weeks.


I found out from my first art work that I am tied up about some preconceived notions of what it means to be an artist in this world. My next experiment Calinatio-fire I for several nights burned seven candles on the top of the canvas. At one moment I used some iron oxide paint on the top the surface. I decided to bind the surface again as I still bound up by something that gets it my way. The next step was some automatic abstract painting. The amazing thing is my dreams have been on fire and I found myself really engaged within my holistic self--mind, body, and spirit. More reflection is needed. Currently, I am working on the next experiment DISSOLUTION.

Tradtionally
Calcinatio is considered the first of the alchemy procedures. It has to do with burning, subjecting the prima materia (basic material) to intense heat. The desired result is a burning away, a drying out, a process that drives away all alien substances leaving only the purest of substances, a whitened ash.

What this Means Psychologically
What this means psychologically is that through analysis the client is allowed to burn, metaphorically speaking, to become emotionally intense in a way that both dissolves and dissipates anything but the truth of the client’s psyche. Anger can often arouse the state of calcinatio and under controlled circumstances is a useful means of burning off the false and leaving the truth of an experience. With the calcinatio exerience what remains is the true psyche of the patient, released from all of its complexes, affects and distortions.