Join us for this IAAM session with Brian Cotnoir as we explore the alchemical mystery of the Black Sun and the transformative power of Nigredo, discovering how its symbolism can illuminate the upheaval, dissolution, and renewal of this August's eclipse season.
Saturday 15 August 2026,
10:00 am PDT / 12:00 PM CDT / 1:00 pm EDT / 5:00 pm UTC / 6:00 pm BST / 7:00 pm CEST
Timebie - UTC to Your Local Time
https://astromagia-org.zoom.us/j/88628938054?pwd=2q5KUHsD3cUbZExH8XOOy9h6seiavh.1
Meeting ID: 828 1904 2723 | Passcode: 885294
It’s eclipse season again!
It’s the million dollar question… How can we work magically, mystically and alchemically to prepare for the series of eclipses this August?
With a total lunar eclipse in Leo on August 12th, 2026, and its disruption of the solar principle and its sign of Leo, it’s a germane moment to revisit the Black Sun in the artistic and spiritual tradition of alchemy.
The "Black Sun" (or Sol Niger) is a powerful esoteric symbol representing the initial "blackening" (Nigredo) phase of the alchemical Great Work. In this stage, raw matter is dissolved in a process of chaos, putrefaction, and death. In alchemy, this blackening is understood as a necessary precursor to spiritual rebirth, purification, and enlightenment.
An example of the “Black Sun” is found in the Splendor Solis (1532-1535) a manuscript detailing the Great Work in seven treatises and 22 images. In today’s presentation Brian Cotnoir will provide an overview of the Splendor Solis, its meanings and its strategies for communicating those meanings. And after a quick viewing of all 22 images he will focus on the “Black Sun.” Understanding its role in the Great Work may give some insight into how to manage change wherever we may find it, or, wherever change may find us.
As we prepare for the total lunar eclipse on August 12th, and a partial lunar eclipse in Pisces on August 28th, how can we embrace this blackening and the black sun as a magical practice to work with the energy the eclipses unleash into our lives?
Pema Chödrön chooses to experience life as a continuous, non-linear process of things falling apart and coming back together, rather than a sequence of problems to be solved. Chödrön sees falling apart as more than a catastrophe - it is also an opportunity to release a rigid sense of self. She defines true awakening as fully experiencing painful emotions and uncomfortable sensations without turning away.
How can the Black Sun be our compass for navigating the endings, the ego puncturing and the falling apart of this eclipse season? Instead of shutting down or withdrawing.
Brian Cotnoir is an alchemist, artist and award-winning filmmaker based in New York City. He is the Author of PracticalAlchemy: Guide to the Great Work, The Emerald Tablet, a series of Alchemical ‘Zines,Alchemical Meditations, Alchemy: The Poetry of Matterand most recently On Alchemy: Essential Practices and Making Art as Alchemy. He has presented seminars and workshops around the world on various aspects of alchemy. Khepri Press was started in 2014 as a place to organize and distribute his work. It is a very small press dedicated to alchemical book arts. Some of this work is publishable and others may exist only in manuscript or object form – alchemical results or talismans.