REMIX: Alchemy

Date: Thursday, May 7 @ 7:00pm
Location: Strange Craft Beer Co.
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83219357817
Curriculum: www.brewtheology.org/weekly-meetings/2026/4/30/alchemy
Password: brew

Join us this week as we Remix: Alchemy. We had a vibrant and wide ranging discussion last week and are looking forward to digging into alchemy again! Please join us to learn about this idea that's been around for centuries.

Alchemy can be understood most simply as the practice of transformation—of matter, of perception, and of the self—through physical, symbolic, and spiritual means. Maybe there are even ways to make beer out of water :)

At its most literal level, alchemy aimed at transforming substances—most famously turning base metals into gold or discovering the elixir of life or a universal panacea. But like many pre-Enlightenment natural philosophies, it was also a way of understanding the structure of reality, divine order, and human development.

Over time, alchemy came to function as a symbolic and psychological language. In the 20th century, figures like Carl Jung interpreted alchemical imagery as expressions of deep psychic processes, particularly the movement toward individuation. Similarly, thinkers like James Hillman emphasized not a return to literal alchemy, but a restoration of its imaginative mode—a way of speaking about embodied, transformative experience.

Today, the term “alchemy” is often used loosely, stripped of its historical and symbolic depth. You will see it in businesses, book titles, and wellness paradigms but often it is used to give a sense of mystery or magic to an otherwise everyday thing. In Jungian, mystical, and esoteric traditions however, it remains a rich framework for understanding transformation not just of substances, but of the soul.

So join us at Strange Craft as we learn about Alchemy. We may be in the beer garden if the weather is nice.