Rooted in the ancient hermetic tradition of alchemy — the science of transformation — these 78 cards speak the language of what it means to change from the inside out. Four suits. Twenty-two passages. One question: what are you ready to understand?
The alchemists understood that nothing transforms without first being broken open. The fire is not the enemy of what you love. It is the only way through.
— On the nature of becoming
Each suit is drawn from an alchemical process — a real stage in the transformation of matter — and reinterpreted as a dimension of inner life.
In alchemy, calcination is the burning of matter down to its mineral ash — what cannot be destroyed. These 14 cards speak to the body, the ground beneath you, your material reality, the things you cannot change and must learn to stand on.
Dissolution is the releasing of rigid structure into fluid. What was solid becomes moveable again. These 14 cards speak to grief, feeling, release, relationship, the depths of the inner world and what lives beneath the surface of every story you carry.
Sublimation is the passing of matter directly from solid to vapour — bypassing liquid entirely. These 14 cards speak to thought, perception, clarity, the stories you tell yourself, and the moment a truth lifts free of the weight that held it down.
Kindling is the moment a spark catches — when potential becomes actual heat and light. These 14 cards speak to action, will, desire, creative force, the courage to begin and the energy needed to keep going when the road is long.
The 22 Passages are drawn from the great hermetic concepts — Dissolution, Distillation, Coagulation, the seven planets, the four temperaments, and more. They name the threshold moments of a healing life: the crossings that change everything.
Hold whatever you are carrying right now. When you are ready, let a card come to you.
Something is waiting.
Draw when you are ready.
Filter by suit, or search by any theme, feeling, or word that is alive in you right now.