Wild Alchemy Lab is a resource for seekers, makers and imaginators. We are a multi-sensory publishing platform and global collective of artists, academic researchers and occult practitioners. Our transdisciplinary practice explores nature, science and esoterica at the intersection of plants, planets and people.
Alchemy is the arcane art of transformation, the physical and psycho-spiritual practice of turning the basic elements of our existence into a unified field that is aligned with nature and the cosmos. It is an incremental process of recalibration that supports and informs how we are able to digest our experiences and consciously navigate the future. Wild Alchemy Lab evolved out of experimental botanical studio
Mama Xanadu, founded by author and practitioner Jemma Foster, as a vehicle for distilling our experience in a time of crisis. We view creative expression, immersive experience and community action as an alchemical process that can lead to more valued ways of being.
The classical elements of earth, fire, water, air and aether provide a lens through which to investigate how both we place ourselves, and are placed, within our environment. These fundamental forces exist in the physical and non-physical worlds; the seen and unseen. In becoming apprentices to the wild and integrating the ancient wisdom and practices of our ancestors, we look towards our past in order to guide our future. We take up the macro-microcosmic vision of the Hermetic axiom ‘as above, so below’ – that everything in the universe is interrelated, nothing exists in isolation. By observing this phenomenon, we are able to work towards diffusing the myth of separation.
We prioritise real human connection to nature but also accept technology as part of our evolutionary road map and as a tool for expanding the horizons of our creative potential. If emergent digital platforms and innovations are co-created with nature as guide and medium, this can positively enhance, rather than distract, from our embodied experience and assist in our quest for future-facing solutions and inner expansion.
