Having passed through the ordeals of the “Dark Night”, consciousness rises above the Saturnal state where the reflective nature is dominated by the Earth and arrives at the Lunar whitening Stage of the alchemical process. This stage corresponds to a certain specific charge and luminosity and corresponds to our metal Silver. It is here that our raw psychic energies are purified as the subtle is separated from the gross.

The purified personality and consciousness experiences the whitening process of the purification and the raven is transformed into a white swan. This is our first order of the transmutation of our lead into our living silver. It is here that consciousness becomes conscious of consciousness as we realize that we truly have a very real inner nature. We perceive the light of the self as a rejuvenating and uplifting force that transports us above the ordinary human condition.

The purification of the cold, dark and raw psychic energies becomes the purified and exalted astral body of light. This experience is so profoundly beautiful that alchemists have exclaimed this experience as beholding the “most beautiful body of our Diana”. Meaning that it is a spiritual experience, beyond the physical levels, that is Metaphysical.

However beautiful this state is, it is not the end of the work. Most alchemists fail at this level believing that they have achieved the whole work. As Silver is purified it can also be easily contaminated due to its very reflective nature. Silver tarnishes because it has not the incorruptibility of Gold. The work on this state must continually be one of purification until we achieve the higher fire needed to continue on to the second order of the transmutation of our matter into the incorruptibility and endurance of Gold.