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Alchemy Learning Center

The Alchemy Learning Center combines Leta Herman and Jaye McElroy's life’s work of over 25 years experience studying, practicing, and teaching Alchemy, the Five Elements, and the Nine Palaces all over the world. As co-hosts of the Inspired Action Podcast and owners of the Alchemy Learning Center and Alchemy Healing Center, they bring you in this newsletter engaging and comprehensive writings about these and other Daoist and Chinese Medicine concepts.

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☯️ [I Ching] The Alchemy of Asking Better Questions

December 30, 2025 ☯️ Who Are You Becoming? (An Alchemical Inquiry) We’re 8 days past Winter Solstice. Yang energy has reemerged and is growing stronger each day - still tender, still new, but present. And here we are at another threshold: the turning of the Western calendar year. While the Chinese New Year won’t arrive until February (at the second new moon after Solstice), we can’t ignore the cultural energy for this moment. In our society, December 31st and January 1st carry weight - a...

April 23rd, 2026 Hello Reader, Yesterday we left you with a question: What if this is YOUR moment? Today we want to tell you about someone who asked it. She found us through our Inspired Action Alchemy Podcast when was living at her parents' home, surrounded by family responsibilities and expectations — her own and everyone else's. She had a plan: save money, be practical, do the sensible thing first. Then, eventually, she'd get to the life she actually wanted. The meaningful one. The...

April 22nd, 2026 Hello Reader, Why You Matter, For Real This Time...Alchemy is Calling! We think we’re taking care of our responsibilities — the kids, the clients, the partner, the job. Yet the thing we most want for ourselves — the real work, the inner work, the work that comes from our spirit — that’s the thing that keeps getting moved down the to-do list. The thing that people think is hard about Alchemy — until you start doing it — is that it requires us to put ourselves first. And yet,...

Hello Reader, We're emerging out of the Winter's hibernation. For many of us, our "Sinews" have been tight and contracted with less exercise. And now, suddenly, they're being asked to move, stretch, and do things that we need to do! Spring has a way of charging forward! And that movement is asking more of your body's Sinews (the term in Chinese Medicine that includes your tendons, muscles, and ligaments). For many people, the Spring transition doesn't always go so smoothly, and we often see...

March 29th, 2026 Hello Reader, We're launching a new series on Stage One of the Nine Stages of Alchemy this Monday and this week we have a guest host - the ALC's very own, amazing Leora Esterra! We'd love for you to join us with a FREE guest pass for this Monday Night in the Alchemy Learning Center. We're starting at the very beginning, so if you've never done this before, you're right on time. Monday, March 30th at 6:00 p.m. EDT REGISTER: Event Link ENTER PROMO CODE: GUEST Stage One of...

February 19th, 2026 Hello Reader, The Year of the Fire Horse begins this week! In celebration, we had a wonderful free live Meditation Monday event. Here are a few highlights: 🔥The Fire Horse is one of the rarest combinations in the entire 60-year cycle — Double Fire... double the intensity, yet double the opportunity! ☯️We explored how each of the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) will experience this year differently — and what that means for you personally 🧧The difference...

February 15th, 2026 Hello Reader, The Year of the Fire Horse begins this Tuesday! In celebration, we are opening our doors to everyone for a free Meditation Monday event. The Fire Horse is one of the most powerful combinations in the entire 60-year cycle — it only comes around once in a lifetime. This year carries the energy of vitality, momentum, bold forward movement, and passion. In the Five Element system, Fire is the Heart. And the Horse can gallop — unstoppable, unrestrained, and...

February 11th, 2026 Hello Reader, Have you ever noticed how much of your life is spent thinking about how stuck you are in your own life or in a particular aspect of your life... work, relationship, health, or weatlh... ? Think about this for a moment... What often happens is we end up doing everything possible to fix it! We find ourselves pushing through exhaustion. Pushing past what our body's are saying. Pushing to get where we want to go. But something is in the way... perhaps distracting...

February 5th, 2026 Hello Reader, We wanted to share something we've been working on. For years, people have asked us: "I want to do this Alchemical work for myself, but I'm not wanting (or ready) to become a practitioner. Is there a program for me?" We finally have an answer: Alchemy Immersion. Six Months of Healing, Practice, and Transformation This is a new program we're launching in March - six months of Alchemical healing sessions, teachings, and mentorship for your own self-cultivation....

We held a webinar this week on Alchemical Chinese Medicine and the Nine Stages of Alchemy. We had almost 150 people sign up for this event - we were so honored and excited! This was 90 minutes of talking about what it means to work at the Shen / Spirit level, how Ghost Points unlock what's been buried, why your own transformation has to come first, and how the Nine Stages of Alchemy create a map for real change—in your life and in your practice. People asked deep questions. We answered! It...