The Alchemy of Menopause: Nigredo.

In alchemy the Nigredo is the initial stage of the Magnum Opus, it is a process of disintegration, and decomposition, a return to primordial matter from which something new is created.

The term Nigredo was first used in 16^th century alchemical texts- it means “blackness”. The Rosarium Philosophorum instructs alchemists to “rejoice” when they see their substance turn black, as it marks the beginning of the alchemical work. In this post, I draw parallels between the alchemical Nigredo, and the stage of a woman’s life known as peri- menopause and menopause.

What if menopause, as much as a biological transition in the life of adult women, is also a psycho-spiritual initiation, an opening into the inner planes of the psyche. What if menopause, the blackening, or the dark night of the soul is in fact the beginning of the alchemical work, (your personal alchemical work), and that it has the potential to midwife the woman you were always meant to be.

In standing on the threshold of menopause we enter the inner temple of ourselves; all that we have lived so far provides the “prima materia” necessary for the creation of a transformed, refined, more authentic version of ourselves.

In the darkness of the unconscious, old material and structures belonging to previous versions of ourselves rot and decay, providing fertile compost from which new life will spring. And while this is not new life in a biological sense, it is the renewal of the spirit. The child is the divine child, the syzygy, or marriage between previously unknown (or unaccepted) subconscious material and a newly emerging consciousness.

Though menopause might feel like a psychological breakdown, the suffering, chaos, sleepless nights, and lack of patience (to name but a few symptoms), are in fact guides highlighting ways of being that simply no longer serve us in our journey to wholeness.

Maybe this becomes obvious in our partnerships, work, relationship with the world, or with authority figures. Perhaps we begin to hear the call of an inner voice that is familiar yet remote to us, and which will no longer be silenced. It could be that gifts and insights, skills and talents that are inherent to us yet latent within us suddenly need to be expressed. Emotional outbursts and “out of character” behaviour are signifiers of a profound spiritual transformation and not just hormonal crankiness.

During this phase, depression, confusion, lack-lustre, or shattered illusions can cause discomfort and desperation. We may feel like a shadow of our former self, when in fact that shadow is part of us that is seeking to be integrated. Menopause is not just a service, or time out, we don’t just need to rest and take it easy for a while, it is the hospicing of the old self along with all the grief that brings, and the midwifing of a new, more authentic version of ourselves. This requires surrender. If we can tolerate the discomfort and lean into the associated feelings, we learn to embrace and accept the changes. In viewing menopause only as loss (the loss of one’s youth and fertility) and  we set about trying to recreate and hold on to previous versions of ourselves, we miss an opportunity for soul growth. When the fires of menopause die down, hopefully we are left with a brightly burning inner spark. Menopause is a doorway; on the other side there is potentially a lot of life still to live. Alchemically there are still a few stages of the process to go before realising the “Great Work” of our lives. The great work need not be anything grand, just real…the creation of a life that you call your own.

In the Nigredo phase the shadow comes calling, and the need to integrate shadow aspects becomes more apparent. This can be hard. If when reflecting on the life you have lived so far, you feel remorse, regret, shame, pain, or an inability to accept or admit certain things, leaning into the discomfort and accepting that our lives have unfolded in the unique way that they have- warts and all- for a reason is the beginning of self-acceptance. From there, we might begin to nurture a reverence and gratitude for all that we have lived, even the most difficult of circumstances. The centaur Chiron, known as the “wounded healer” is at this time of a woman’s journey facilitating deep healing of the soul.

Another important aspect of the Nigredo is the taking back of projections that we have cast into the world or onto others, whether positive or negative. Projections are unowned parts of ourselves that we have assigned to others. The Nigredo, the blackening, or the dark night of the soul, provides fertile conditions to go within and sit with the lost and rejected parts of ourselves. Now is a good time to do some inner child work.

Calcination is the alchemical operation that is active during the Nigredo phase, this is when the intense fire of purification breaks down existing forms and structures. This undifferentiated chaos is the rich raw material of the psyche that undergoes transformation to be later formed as the “lapis philosophorum” (Philosopher’s Stone). The inner alchemy of menopause gives rise to the integration of unconscious material, now in a new form, a more balanced, more authentic, more complete version of you.

Scorching waves of heat that rip through the menopausal body therefore have a biological and spiritual purpose. Calcination (the purifying fire) is the destruction or blackening of what is ready to be transformed. The Greek word kaqaroß (Katharos) means purification by fire. It means free from admixture and what is false, it means genuine. In becoming more genuine, some may appreciate the changes, while others may not. It depends on what dynamics, consciously and unconsciously, have been operating in those relationships.

The intensity of the heat of calcination is so strong that it can burn away even the hardest, most calcified aspects of our psyche. These hardened parts could be linked with our ancestral lineage, things that have felt beyond our control or which we inherited from birth. I have worked with women who, during a shamanic journey, reported feeling that they were encased in this calcification even while in utero- that the womb itself felt hard and shell-like. The power of the inner alchemy that occurs during menopause is strong enough to transcend perceived or experienced limitations that have previously felt insurmountable.

 A painful stage of the Nigredo is the separating and dissolving of the elements of the prima materia. Bonds we have made, allegiances formed that may have served us at some point that have now become redundant or destructive must now stand the baptism of fire. Deep ties of karma, things our soul has clung to- possibly through-lifetimes is likewise presented for review. Some ties are so strong that they feel hardwired in our soul, but this clinging will not facilitate our growth. From an evolutionary soul perspective, it is possible that we have been trapped by these contracts for many lives. Evolutionary Astrology can offer clues and indications of these patterns.

There is a secret order to the chaos of menopause.

Jung says, “In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”

The fact that this order is secret means that to the outside observer it may look as if we have lost the plot, and perhaps we have, but which plot, and in whose play, and what roles did we perform. Those around us, even those whom we love and who love us, try as they might, cannot understand the alchemy that is at work in our soul.

This chaos is the primordial void, the pre- cosmogonic state before differentiation, the cosmic womb. It contains both chaos and order, light and dark, life and death. It is feminine in nature; I think of it as the workings of the dark goddess. Jung noted that the prima materia is often referred to in feminine terms- Virgo, Foemina, Bride, Spouse, Mother, Eve, Venus, Milk of Virgin, the Serpent… It is the eternal feminine from which all life arises and to which all must return.

In working with the alchemy of menopause I use dream work, astrology, visualization, shamanic journeying, sound, voice, journalling, inner child work, breathwork and movement. Archetypally, Circe, Medusa, Sekhmet, Kali, and Lilith (to name a few), and their myths provide rich material to connect with the unconscious. An invitation of this part of the menopause process is integrating the shadow and accepting all that we have lived until this point (as the prima materia of our lives) and listening to the true voice rising from the depths of our being. From the primordial void of menopause comes the gift of creating an authentic life from the rubble and the ashes of our former selves. Far from being just a biological process to be fixed, modified, or pathologized, the potential of menopause is nothing short of a resurrection.

If you would like to find out more about how I am working with the alchemy of menopause and would like to join me for a free introductory talk on 7^th October, with a view to taking part in on-going workshops both online and in person, please send me a message through this website, otherwise send me an email to- karenmullensmith@gmail.com

You can read a previous blog post- The Alchemy of Menopause: Calcination, on this website by typing the title into the search bar.