Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[bi3mw]

For the sake of completeness it should be mentioned that C.G. Jung has dealt extensively with the inner alchemy and also wrote about it (from the point of view of psychology).

Jung, C. G., Hull, R. F. C. (Ed.), Psychology and Alchemy, Taylor and Francis, 2014

C. G. Jung proves that the observable phenomena of the unconscious, namely dreams and visions, produce pictorial connections, as they are also encountered in the symbolism of alchemy. From this arises the possibility of an understanding of the enigmatic 'Hermetic' ideas, which are characterized as much by parallelism as by opposition to the basic Christian ideas. The parallel which alchemy draws between its so-called 'philosopher's stone' and Christ is worthy of detailed study. In "Memories, Dreams, Thoughts" Jung gives information about his work on the book, which kept him busy for more than a decade: 'Very soon I had seen that Analytical Psychology strangely coincides with Alchemy. The experiences of the alchemists were my experiences, and their world was in a sense my world. This was, of course, an ideal discovery for me, for with it I had found the historical counterpart to my psychology of the unconscious. It now received a historical ground. The possibility of comparison with alchemy as well as the spiritual continuity back to Gnosticism gave it substance. Through the occupation with the ancient texts everything found its place: the imagery of the imaginations, the experiential material I had collected in my practice, and the conclusions I had drawn from it. Now I began to realize what the contents meant in a historical perspective. My understanding of their typical character, which had already been initiated by my myth research, deepened. The archetypes and the essence of the archetype moved into the center of my research, and I realized that without history there is no psychology and all the more no psychology of the unconscious.'