Many interpreters of alchemical texts say that the processes they describe are metaphors for psycho-spiritual transformation not physical transformation. This was Carl Jung’s view.

For some people, substituting inanimate objects for real people at first seems artificial. But that awkwardness can be overcome, and learning to work with symbolic representations is far better than either the repression of negative energy or its destructive expression with others. Symbolism helps us to realize that the energy in need of expression

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