The darkness before change — what the alchemists knew about depression, breakdown and rebirth

We tend to think of alchemy as medieval pseudoscience, the folly of deluded hermits obsessed with turning lead into gold. But what if these early experimenters were onto something – not about chemistry, but about human nature itself? In this first of three videos on psychological alchemy, Hazel Gale braves the darkness of the Nigredo, the first stage of the path to forging your inner philosopher’s stone. Brought to you by the creators of Betwixt, the mental health game. This is Part 1 of 3 in the Alchemical Journey series. Hit Subscribe for Part 2: Albedo – The Whitening. Topics include: 🖤 Why the film Groundhog Day is an unlikely lesson in psychological alchemy 🖤 The ancient esoteric Egyptian texts that have inspired generations of artists, poets … and psychiatrists 🖤 The alchemist’s three-stage journey to creating psychological gold 🖤 A deep dive into the first stage, the Nigredo, in which everything has to die 🖤 The temptation to use positive thinking to avoid difficult emotions, and why this is a trap 🌱 Like the idea of story‑enriched self‑reflection? Download our app Betwixt – an interactive adventure that helps you reconnect with yourself. Find it in the App Store, on Google Play, or at https://www.betwixt.life/ Join the conversation! 💬 What masks or identities do you maintain that might be ready to die? Let us know in the comments. 🎮 Join the Betwixt Discord community to explore wellbeing and storytelling among likeminded people. 🔔 Subscribe for new videos on psychology and stories every two weeks. 👍 Give us a like if you think we deserve it! References: 🔹 Gale, Hazel. The Mind Monster Solution (2018) 🔹 Hauck, Dennis William. Complete Idiot’s Guide to Alchemy: The Magic and Mystery of the Ancient Craft Revealed for Today (2008) 🔹 Hillman, James. The Dream and the Underworld (1979) 🔹 Hillman, James. Alchemical Psychology: Uniform Edition of the Writings of (2010) 🔹 Jung, Carl. Psychology and Alchemy (1944) 🔹 Jung, Cark. Mysterium Coniunctionis (1955–56) 🔹 Masters, Robert. Spiritual Bypassing: When Spirituality Disconnects Us from What Really Matters (2010) 🔹 Wolkstein, Diane; Kramer, Samuel Noah. Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer (1983) 🔹 Groundhog Day, directed by Harold Ramis (1993) #alchemy #groundhogday #mythology #mentalhealth #lettinggo #rockbottom #visualisation #nigredo #philosophersstone #inanna #spiritualbypassing