A Jungian & Archetypal Perspective on Alchemy
Besides uncovering the evolutionary stages and their archetypal connections, our inquiry also has a therapeutic aim, which is both individual and collective. The integration of personal psychic phenomena with the corresponding transpersonal symbols is of paramount importance for the further development of consciousness and for the synthesis of the
... See moreErich Neumann • The Origins and History of Consciousness (Princeton Classics Book 9)
These three are the Trinity of Inner Alchemy:
Introspection shows you what must be healed or transformed—your lamp.
Meditation creates the space and energetic stillness to do that work—your temple.
Imagination empowers you to envision, ritualise, and create a new pattern or self—your wand.
The chapters follow a particular format: they begin with the exposition of dramatic visual fantasies. In them Jung encounters a series of figures in various settings and enters into conversation with them. He is confronted with unexpected happenings and shocking statements. He then attempts to understand what had transpired, and to formulate the si
... See moreC. G. Jung • The Red Book
For Jung, alchemy had a dual face. He saw it as both a quest to literally transform matter in the laboratory as well as a spiritual quest aimed at the transformation of the soul and thus as a religious philosophy.
Stanton Marlan • Jung’s Alchemical Philosophy: Psyche and the Mercurial Play of Image and Idea (ISSN)
This truth was expressed by the alchemists (and there is a strong tradition of alchemy within Druidry) and later by Carl Jung (whose work first began to influence modern Druidry through Ross Nichols).
Philip Carr-Gomm • Druid Mysteries: Ancient Wisdom for the 21st Century
Jung developed his theory of the personal animus and anima – male and female aspects of the psyche – which for our development need to relate and periodically conjoin. Alchemists knew of the importance of this conjunction, and they termed it the mystical marriage or the mysterium coniunctionis.