The Five Stages of Waking Up to Broken Money

For centuries, Carl Jung studied ancient alchemical texts and reached a surprising conclusion: the alchemists weren’t merely trying to turn lead into gold. Their writings described a process of psychological transformation—a symbolic journey from unconsciousness to self-realization.

That same structure appears in a modern and unexpected place: the experience people describe when they first begin to understand Bitcoin and the nature of modern money.

Across different cultures, professions, and countries, people tend to pass through similar stages. What the Bitcoin community calls “falling down the rabbit hole” mirrors the classic alchemical progression.

Here are the five stages.

1. Prima Materia — The Invisible System

The first stage is unconscious immersion.

In alchemy, Prima Materia represents the raw starting substance—the chaotic material that exists before transformation begins. Jung described it as something so ubiquitous that people fail to see it at all.

Money in modern society functions the same way.

Most people grow up within the fiat monetary system without ever questioning its structure. Rising prices, declining purchasing power, and expanding debt feel like natural forces rather than the consequences of policy decisions.

The concept of “money illusion,” described by economist Irving Fisher, explains why this happens. People tend to think in nominal numbers rather than real purchasing power. A salary increase may appear like progress even if inflation quietly reduces its real value.

Even John Maynard Keynes acknowledged the subtlety of inflation’s effects, writing that governments could confiscate wealth through inflation “in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.”

In this stage, the system is invisible because it surrounds everything.

Like fish in water, most people never ask what money actually is.

2. Nigredo — The Moment the System Cracks

The second stage is the Nigredo, or “blackening.”

In alchemy, this stage represents dissolution—when the original substance breaks down and appears to decay before transformation begins.

In financial terms, this stage is triggered by crisis.

Moments like the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, currency collapses, or banking restrictions force people to confront the structure of money itself.

During hyperinflation in Weimar Republic, prices rose so quickly that people struggled to comprehend the numbers. In Lebanon, the national currency lost most of its value in just a few years, leaving many citizens feeling as though their savings had been quietly confiscated.

This stage also marks the origin of Bitcoin itself. The creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, embedded a newspaper headline in Bitcoin’s first block referencing bank bailouts during the financial crisis.

The Nigredo is painful because it introduces a difficult realization: the monetary system people trusted may be fundamentally flawed.

Understanding this can feel less like learning a financial concept and more like discovering a loss that had been accumulating for years.

3. Albedo — The Rabbit Hole

After dissolution comes Albedo, the whitening stage.

In alchemy, this represents purification and clarity after chaos. Symbolically, it is associated with moonlight—cool, reflective illumination.

For many Bitcoin learners, this stage is the rabbit hole.

A single question about inflation leads to broader investigations:

How central banks operate

Why the gold standard ended

The Cantillon Effect and monetary inequality

Monetary history and economic schools of thought

Cryptography, energy, and proof-of-work

People often describe this period as an intense intellectual awakening. As one well-known Bitcoin writer, Gigi, observed, studying Bitcoin can feel more educational than years of formal schooling.

Yet Albedo has a limitation.

Understanding the system intellectually is not the same as integrating it into life. The knowledge exists primarily at the level of theory and discussion.

Moonlight reveals the terrain—but it doesn’t warm it.

4. Rubedo — Living the Insight

The fourth stage, Rubedo, represents completion in alchemical symbolism. It is associated with sunrise, warmth, and vitality.

Jung described Rubedo as the moment when insight becomes embodied rather than merely conceptual.

In the Bitcoin journey, this stage occurs when the knowledge begins to change behavior.

People often report shifts in their relationship with time and consumption. A monetary system where savings lose value encourages high time preference—prioritizing immediate consumption over long-term planning.

By contrast, Bitcoin’s fixed supply encourages saving and long-term thinking.

Economist Saifedean Ammous has documented changes among long-term Bitcoin users, including:

Greater future orientation

More deliberate spending habits

Career changes toward long-term projects

Increased focus on family and health

At this stage, Bitcoin stops being merely an asset or technology. It becomes a different way of thinking about time, effort, and value.

5. Sublimatio — A Civilizational Idea

The final stage is Sublimatio, often described in alchemy as the elevation of purified matter.

Psychologically, it represents a shift from personal transformation to a broader understanding of one’s role within a larger system.

Applied to Bitcoin, this stage reframes the technology as more than a personal financial tool.

It becomes a political and societal concept: the possibility of separating money from state control.

Entrepreneur Erik Voorhees has compared this shift to the historic separation of church and state. Just as removing institutional control over religion opened space for intellectual freedom, separating money from centralized authority could reshape economic cooperation.

Bitcoin introduces a monetary system governed not by policy decisions but by mathematics and cryptographic consensus.

Its supply cannot be arbitrarily expanded, and its transactions are validated by a decentralized network rather than a central authority.

For those who reach this stage, Bitcoin represents a structural shift in how human societies coordinate value and trust.

The Transformation Continues

The alchemists believed the goal was never merely gold.

The real objective was transformation—both of matter and of the person conducting the work.

The same dynamic appears in the Bitcoin journey. People begin by questioning money but often end by questioning deeper assumptions about economics, incentives, and the organization of society itself.

The five stages—Prima Materia, Nigredo, Albedo, Rubedo, and Sublimatio—offer a surprisingly accurate map of that process.

For millions of people around the world, the journey has already begun.