Alchemical Processes...

[Mlle Bienvenu]

I was watching some clips from FMA and was thinking, why did Ed and Al burn down their house? Then I was looking over the steps to make a philosopher's stone in historical Alchemy.

The first step in creating the Stone is Calcination, here's an excerpt from a website I saw somewhere....

Calcination

CALCINATION is the first of seven major operations in the alchemy of transformation.

Chemically, the Calcination process involves heating a substance in a crucible or over an open flame until it is reduced to ashes. In the Arcanum Experiment, Calcination is represented by sulfuric acid, which the alchemists made from a naturally occurring substance called Vitriol. Sulfuric acid is a powerful corrosive that eats away flesh and reacts with all metals except gold. This is interesting since, in the transmutation of their mother, Al's body looks like it's dissolved...

Psychologically, this is the destruction of ego and our attachments to material possessions. I'd say being divorced from your body counts as detachment to material possessions...Calcination is usually a natural humbling process as we are gradually assaulted and overcome by the trials and tribulations of life, though it can be a deliberate surrender of our inherent hubris gained through a variety of spiritual disciplines that ignite the fire of introspection and self-evaluation.

Physiologically, the Fire of Calcination can be experienced as the metabolic discipline or aerobic activity that tunes the body, burning off excesses from overindulgence and producing a lean, mean, fighting machine.

In Society, the Calcination is expressed in the lives of revolutionaries, conquerors, and other warriors who try to overthrow the status quo. On the Planetary level, it is the Fire of creation, the formation of a livable environment from molten matter and volcanic ashes.


The Dictionary.com definition of crucible.

cru·ci·ble n.

1. A vessel made of a refractory substance such as graphite or porcelain, used for melting and calcining materials at high temperatures.
2. A severe test, as of patience or belief; a trial. See Synonyms at trial.
3. A place, time, or situation characterized by the confluence of powerful intellectual, social, economic, or political forces: “Macroeconomics... was cast in the crucible of the Depression” (Peter Passell).

If what Ed and Al are going through isn't a metaphorical crucible, I don't know what is...

I think this image of the burning down of their home, sort of frames the whole story.

[Mlle Bienvenu]

Didn't feel like starting a new thread... hehe

The three FMA!Alchemical steps compared to Campbell's major steps in the hero's cycle.

1. Determine the makup
This is the step where you identify and gather together the materials needed to do your alchemical transmutation.
a. Separation
This is the stage where the Hero is identified as special and is gathered together by outside forces to begin the Hero's psychological transmutation.

2. Break it down
This is the step where the gathered materials are broken down into their most basic componants.
b. Initiation
The stage where the Hero's personality is tested and is stripped down to it's basic componants.

3. Reassemble it in a different form
The goal of a transmutation. the starting componants are reassembled into something more useful to the alchemist.
c. Return
The goal of Campbells Hero's Journey. The Hero's personality is reassembled in a way which makes it more beneficial to society. In campbell's words, the Hero returns to the world with a boon to help the society from which it was a part o.

I wonder what that says about Scar, perhaps he is developmentally stuck in step two. He seems to be resisting his own psychological transmutation. He's all broken up from the trial of the Ishbal Rebellion, and refuses to pick up the pieces and shape them into something else.