February 5: Presentation and February 12 Discussion Group. In this Sandplay Conversation, we will review the three main colors of Alchemy, the nigredo, albedo, and rubedo, and how they appear in Kalffian sandplay therapy and psychotherapy. Murray Stein, the Jungian analyst and teacher, calls these phases “states of minds.” The nigredo, the blackening, is a period of breaking down, of dissolution.  It is a state of unconsciousness, of egolessness, a period of suffering, where painful things are broken down in order to be re-generated. The albedo, or whitening, emerges after the nigredo, is the ash and all that survives after the great suffering of the nigredo period.  It is a period of purification, when there is no longer any contamination, when we withdraw our projections.  During this period, one becomes quieter, more emotionally detached and objective. The rubedo, or reddening, is the period when life is returning.  When albedo has been solidly grounded, the life-blood follows.  It is a period of full consciousness, of fully-embodied experience.