Alchemical Studies
ISBN 0-691-01849-9 | |
Alchemical Studies (German: Studien über alchemistische Vorstellungen), volume 13 in The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, consists of five long essays by Carl Jung that trace his developing interest in alchemy from 1929 onward. Serving as an introduction and supplement to his major works on the subject, the book is illustrated with 42 drawings and paintings by Jung's patients.[1]
The psychological and religious implications of alchemy were Jung's major preoccupation during the last thirty years of his life. The essays in this volume complete the publication of his alchemical researches, to which three other volumes have been entirely devoted:
Overall, this book discusses the
Detailed abstracts of each chapter are available online.[3]
I: Commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower (1929, 1938)
This commentary on the
In his opening statements, Jung asserts that,
Science is the tool of the Western mind…and it obscures our insight only when it claims that the understanding it conveys is the only kind there is." In this chapter, he investigates Taoism, meditation, and corresponding alchemic studies. The golden flower is the light, and the light of heaven is the Tao. Jung mentions that a fatal error in modern thought is that "we believe we can criticize the facts of religion intellectually…we think God is a hypothesis that can be subjected to intellectual treatment, to be affirmed or denied.
II: The Visions of Zosimos (1937, 1954)
This text originally comes from a lecture delivered by Jung at the
III: Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon
Here Jung focuses on the texts of Paracelsus, who was "infuriated beyond measure by the resistance of his opponents and made enemies everywhere."[citation needed] Most of his writings were "violently rhetorical" and his mannerism of speaking was forceful, as if the reader was listening unwillingly. Jung had great difficulty deciphering the text because Paracelsus would tend to use "a magical witch-language" without giving any rational explanation as to what it actually means. For example, instead of zwirnfaden (twine) he says swindafnerz, instead of nadel (needle) he uses dallen, instead of leiche (corpse) Chely.
Jung also notes that "in magical rites the inversion of letters serves the diabolical purpose of turning the divine order into an infernal disorder."[citation needed] Jung notes that Paracelsus had no notion of psychology, but affords "deep insights into psychic events which the most up-to-date psychology is only now struggling to investigate again."[citation needed]
He also investigates Paracelsus' the
IV: The Spirit Mercurius (1942, 1953)
This section comes from two lectures delivered by Jung at the Eranos Conference, Ascona, Switzerland in 1942. The lectures were published that year, expanded on in 1948 and then published in English in 1953.[6] The text addresses the concept of Mercury (or Hermes) in fairy tale, in alchemy as compared to water, fire, spirit and soul, its dual and triune natures, its appearance in astrology and Hermeticism, and finally in relation to the prima materia in the alchemical magnum opus.
V: The Philosophical Tree (1945, 1954)
The contents of this section come from Jung's essay "Der philosophische Baum", first published in 1945, then revised and expanded in 1954.[7]
Translations
- Jung, C.G. (1968). Alchemical Studies, Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 13, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-09760-2
- Jung, C.G. (1968). Alchemical Studies, Collected Works of C.G. Jung, London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7100-6189-8
References
- ^ "Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 13: Alchemical Studies". Princeton University Press. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
- ^ "Collected Works of C.G. Jung". (Click on this book's title to see the details). Routledge. Archived from the original on 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
- ^ "Abstracts: Vol 13: Alchemical Studies". International Association for Analytic Psychology. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
- ^ Carl Gustav Jung and R.F.C. Hull, Alchemical Studies, Routledge & Kegan Paul. (1967). p.1
- ^ a b Carl Gustav Jung and R.F.C. Hull, Alchemical Studies, Routledge & Kegan Paul. (1967). p.57
- ^ Carl Gustav Jung and R.F.C. Hull, Alchemical Studies, Routledge & Kegan Paul. (1967). p.191
- ^ Carl Gustav Jung and R.F.C. Hull, Alchemical Studies, Routledge & Kegan Paul. (1967). p.251