ALCHEMIST: Variety and to Share Discoveries

The Alchemist’s most vital need is variety; keeping their options open, doing things a new way, shaking things up, and challenging systems (sometimes just for the hell of it!). They crave input (i.e. information, which could come from practically anywhere: people, art, media, research, etc), but in order to have balance in their creative cycle, they also require output. After they often go on research tangents that can last hours longer, days, or longer, depending on the Alchemist and their life obligations , they won’t feel quite complete until they’ve had a chance to do something with some of that information.

This is what we call the discovery cycle for Alchemists. Alchemists love expanding their options and constantly seek out ways to share their ideas, even when they aren’t fully formed yet. In fact, it’s quite common for Alchemists to figure out their own point as they’re making it, and they tend to be fairly good at thinking on their feet (which some might call “BSing”) when they know a subject well. By taking it one step further and creating something out of their knowledge and ideas, Alchemists can start to feel like they have tapped into their purpose for living. Without sharing their discoveries, depression and feelings of being creatively blocked or even useless can set in.

Sometimes, Alchemists’ need for variety is misunderstood by others. If an Alchemist doesn’t have fulfilling and important projects and ideas of their own to work on, they tend to get bored and might try to create variety for its own sake, or experiment with new ways of doing things for other people. Others may view this as Alchemists disrespecting systems that already work, or putting down a well-thought out vision or plan. But this need for variety is healthy and good for Alchemists to engage in, and part of their journey is figuring out where is best to direct their energy.

While Alchemists do appreciate and can work happily in a well-thought out system (especially if it automates something repetitive and tedious and takes it off their plate!), they also love novelty and propelling things toward their next phase of improvement. They are constantly looking at concepts from new angles, and their passion for improving things and discovering new solutions to old problems is a very important part of an Alchemist’s drive.

The Alchemist Daily Page prompt, “Today I will share my discoveries by…” is meant to help Alchemists think of new ways to creatively share their knowledge and inspiring findings every day. Here are some examples of practical ways they might do that:

• I will share my thoughts with a friend about the new movie I watched tonight
• I will read write a blog or journal entry about the new idea I got while reading my book last night
• I will write out my plans for creating the game I thought of this morning
• I will will make time to sit down at the piano and figure out that tune that came to me earlier
• I will recreate that meal I tried last week