Nigredo / Caput Corvi in Alchemy
At the beginning of this year, I pulled some cards from the Wild Unknown Alchemy deck by Kim Krans. I remember being surprised by what I pulled — my mind was expecting a more “positive” spread. But as the weeks went on and I continued to contemplate these themes, it became obvious how they were showing up in my life. The cards, as I have been reminded repeatedly, never lie.
I was particularly drawn to Caput Corvi or the “Raven’s Head.” In the description, Krans writes:
“This card indicates something has occurred (known or unknown) to initiate the spinning of the alchemical wheel. With it’s mighty churning, things are about to change on every level... As you step into the work, travel light. There is no need for additional baggage, literally or metaphorically everything you need awaits within the Alchemical Laboratory.”
Since then — and in conjunction with the acupuncture work I’ve been doing — I entered into some kind of portal: the winter portal. I can’t see exactly where it’s leading (fog) but I know we’re dealing with the darkness of inner transformation (Pluto). It makes sense I’ve been diving back into shadow work, taking solitude, and asking myself difficult questions such as:
Why do I want what I want?
Is this genuinely authentic to me?
Where am I still acting out of the need for external validation?
What identities no longer resonate? What do I need to leave behind in the past?
The Caput Corvi, in alchemy, is associated with the Nigredo phase. This is also known as the “darkening” or “blackening” — it is related to mortifactico (death of the ego), akin to having a “Dark Night of the Soul.” It is an initiatory experience that occurs without your conscious “decision” to begin, like the shaman who must travel first through the underworld in order to awaken.
In this phase of alchemical awakening, we peel back the layers of what is false and inauthentic so we can be reborn as a new version of self. It’s a stripping; a radical clearing; a period of recalibration.
As I have been diving deeper into the concepts of alchemy — and by no means, am I an expert — it really is about individual autonomy, becoming the alchemist of your own life by working with what is currently presenting itself. The “prima materia” are the variables (or ingredients) in your life you get to work with and transform. Each day, contemplate what is showing up in your laboratory: the feelings arising, the current cast of characters, the ways you spend your time, the state of your physical body, the elemental seasons (both external and internal).
I don’t believe the Nigredo phase happens once. I believe we go through it many times throughout our lives, sometimes minor, sometimes major, in spaces of transition. It is the blackness of chaos, the uncertainty of existing in the unknown. But it is from the depths of chaos in which everything manifests into form. The more I’ve leant into this phase instead of resisting it, the more gold it has yielded. Walking through the alchemical fire is the only way to be reborn.