Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

[Smaragd]

e. "Aurora consurgens" and the Doctrine of Sapientia

The alchemical-astrological notions of the Sun and the Moon in this part are very well explaining basic ideas to make more sense of following moon cycles and the annual cycles tying up the quadrant ideas of the elements/seasons/image of self from the mandala chapter. These are almost as vibrantly striking to me as the notion presented by Zosimos of the divine man being lured in to the elemental suit. A mental image that just makes so much sense to me.

More over the masculine feminine sides of Mercury was very interesting and something I just happened to be thinking with focus earlier the day of reading this subchapter. Sapientia as divine female sounded alot like Venus. And yet Jung seems point the masculine and feminine sides of Mercury to be here that of Sun and the Moon, which also makes sense. This inspires me to further study the seven spirits within each other, how do they align to make a whole that makes sense to me.

The whole section is a bit chaotic, which is not a bad thing per se, but instead of one red thread, one is likely to receive many sparks of fragmentary insights.

I was kind of sensing the red thread somewhere in those gender polarities of Mercury: the dynamism between the water/sea and desert/fire and their respected alchemical phases connecting to the androgynous nature of the lapis and Christ. But it seemed to be only implied as the author didn’t come to completely meet the red thread in the end, yet it made following it all the more fascinating ecspecially so when I’ve been thinking about the same themes on my own lately. The connection of the mother and the son we discussed some time ago on another topic in the Finnish side, but there’s some other feminine aspect I’m really interested researching. I can’t quite point it so I might have to leave it to be written more about later.

One eager to study Fohat's whirlwind might find some useful tidbits from information from pages 386-387. "When therefore Abu'l Qâsim speaks of the fire as the "great south wind," he is in agreement with the ancient Greek view that Hermes was a wind-god."

Uh, there's so much things here that has been very central to my study lately yet it's hard to put them in to a clear picture of the whole. These winds from the cardinal directions first of all connect to the rota of the great wheel, which seems to be one with the idea in Book of Dzyan: the Fohat striking (the lightning of Eros) in the fiery whirwinds. Then in the footnote regarding Phanes, you kindly noted on the Red Book reading circle:

The jug made of stone, the vessel of completion, Water flowed in, wine flowed in, milk flowed in, blood flowed in. / The fours Winds Precipitated into the precious vessel. / The Gods of the four Heavenly Realms hold its curvature, the two Mothers and the two Fathers guard it, the fire of the North Burns above its mouth, the serpent of the South encircles its bottom, the spirit of the East holds one of its sides and the spirit of the West the other./ Forever denied it exists forever. Recurring in all forms, forever the same, this one precious vessel, surrounded by the Circle of animals, denying itself, and arising in a new Splendor through its self-denial.

The two Mothers and the two Fathers guarding the jug made of stone remind me of the image pointed again in this subchapter where there's a man and a woman forming a cross, but as they are bend in 90 degree angles one of each are enough to image the masculine-feminine polarities of the two poles of the cross. Another very interesting and clarifying notion on this same theme can be seen in a painting by D.G. Rossetti, named Lady Lilith. I've been writing an article on this, but might as well contribute with the thoughts here as the themes are coming together here. There's two candles behind Lilith right next to a mirror, making all and all two pairs. The mirror image opens up to a lush world of spring very much in the sense that is described in the Phanes footnote (those parts I left out from the quote above), while it would be expected that the mirror image would mirror the confined, separate and dark surroundings Lilith occupies. The candles are mirrored but they are extinguished, there's no fire that would pass through the fire from the world beyond to this demonic existence of Lilith. So the beauty of Lilith is something similar to Narcissus' beauty, confined in a nihilistic existence not reaching the greater whole through the mirror behind her. The two Mothers and the two Fathers - the four Guardians ask for work to be done to allow it. And the work, according to Jung seems to be that of dividing the one element in to four to make them equal and balanced, and to know them to be able to work with them, thus granting oneself access through the Guards and become them, employ or serve them.



I wonder if these four winds, four liquids - the quadral elements have their numeral root in the four Kumaras, are Kumaras the Guardians and the mouths who blow the four winds? This is something of a confusion I've been stuck in lately. Some times when doing the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra, I've intuitively thought in the 'Mani' part these guardians in the sun-cross/the great wheel to be Kumaras.

[Angolmois]

One eager to study Fohat's whirlwind might find some useful tidbits from information from pages 386-387. "When therefore Abu'l Qâsim speaks of the fire as the "great south wind," he is in agreement with the ancient Greek view that Hermes was a wind-god."

Uh, there's so much things here that has been very central to my study lately yet it's hard to put them in to a clear picture of the whole. These winds from the cardinal directions first of all connect to the rota of the great wheel, which seems to be one with the idea in Book of Dzyan: the Fohat striking (the lightning of Eros) in the fiery whirwinds.

It has been speculated also that Ódhinn is originally a wind and storm god, and he has also very much in common with Hermes as a psychopomp. I'm quite certain that Ódhinn is the same as Hermes in his germanic guise, and I also believe that proto-Ódhinn and Shiva are one and the same figure.

[Nefastos]

It has been speculated also that Ódhinn is originally a wind and storm god, and he has also very much in common with Hermes as a psychopomp.

This is the stance in Blavatsky's Esoteric Instructions, where Odin-Wotan is given as the direct correspondence of Mercury:

Esoteric Instruction diagram 2.jpg (318.64 KiB) Viewed 12535 times

Serpens mercurii is the kundalinî which is buddhi in its magnetically activated state" (as opposed to its usual latent functioning in the uninitiated i.e. the un-loving). The polar pair of Saturn-Mercury, our traditional Black aspect pairing, is the magical agency through which the inner process of transmutation is accomplished. "Four winds" are the four winds of the Sun (Swastika), forming the similar L shapes that is found from the polar cross of the sexes above. "Vital winds" go through the etheric human being & correspond to the four elements in White astral. The juggler keeping everything in motion is the Mercurial trickster, Iocator, who pushes through the obstacles by uniting the opposites.

[Angolmois]

I had forgotten that diagram completely. The week in old norse-germanic society was 5 days long, so they didn't have special divinities for the Sun and the Moon which is also clear from the diagram where all the other days of the week are given their Norse counterparts also but lack the Norse archetypes for the Sun and the Moon. I have pondered a lot this thing and in my own "romanized system" I have added the Sun and the Moon into the septenary correspondences.

[Nefastos]

the diagram where all the other days of the week are given their Norse counterparts also but lack the Norse archetypes for the Sun and the Moon.

It lacks the Scandinavian deity for Saturday though. To whom is that day dedicated traditionally?

Blavatsky's intention was obviously to remind of the etymological basis:

SUN-day
MO[O]N-day
TIW'S-day
WODEN'S-day
THUR'S-day
FRI[GE]-day
SATUR[N]-day

I had forgotten that diagram completely.

For me, it's the most important one. The SoA members may notice that it's the source for many of our central practices & approaches.

[Angolmois]

the diagram where all the other days of the week are given their Norse counterparts also but lack the Norse archetypes for the Sun and the Moon.

It lacks the Scandinavian deity for Saturday though. To whom is that day dedicated traditionally?

That is also uncertain since there's no written records from the past. Since I find Ódhinn to represent both Mercury (Christos) and Saturn (Satan) I have dedicated it primarily to Ódhinn, but it can be seen as Loki's day also; and Ódhinn / Loki are certainly connected. Traditionally in Scandia it was named "Laugardagr" (roughly "washing day") which hints to Loki. It has been a little difficult to apply Roman deities to Norse-Germanic ones because of the different calendar system they used but for many reasons I have found it best to follow the septenary. In my hymns I give in Saturdays honors to Ódhinn, Loki and Hel.

[Nayana]

In this march's reading, I will go through the last two sections of "Evidence for the religious interpretation of the Lapis" and the first part of Chapter 6, "Alchemical Symbolism in the History of Religion".

g) Georgius Riplaeus

Jung opens his account by a mention of Ripleys main work, "Liber duodecim portarum", which begins with a table of the correspondences between the seven metals, chemical substances and so called "types", which are characterized by tinctures, ages (as in "times of life", as my german copy suggest) and zodiac signs. Of these, gold with its correspondence with the mass (mysterium altaris) finds a special mention. In the table, gold is assigned to transcendence, in which Jung finds the first evidence of the lapis-christ parellel in Ripleys work.

The table itself is ascribed to a certain B. A. Portu whom Jung identifies as Bernardus Georgius Penotus, who died in a poorhouse - sharing the fate of those who lacked the humor necessary to understand the curly/fuzzy masters, as Jung said. Even though such fate is understandably bitter, I found the mention of "humor" in the face of an art basically detached from material reality - even though on the surface, it appears to be its primary field of action - quite interesting.

However, the main account on Ripley consists in an interpretation of a legend from the work "cantilena Georgii Riplaei". In this, a king laments his sterility, which had to come from a defect, even though he was born under the wings of the sun. The king knows that if he does not gets help by the species, he won't be able to procreate; but he heard with with great amazement how he would be reborn through the tree of christ. So, he wanted to return into the mother's womb, disolving back into the prima materia. The mother inspired him to do so, hid him under her robe and soon incarnated him. As she got pregnant, she only ate peacocks meat and drank lions blood. Finally, she begat the child, first resembling the moon, eventually changing into the glow of the sun. The son got king again, becoming the highest triumphator and a redeemer from all sins.

To Jung, its obvious that the figures resemble the christian figures of christ and the mother of god, even though ripley may not have tried to represent them consciously. As we can see, these interpretations are less abstract and more "natural" than christian myth usually is known for. This is linked to the time Ripley worked in, in which - quote - god and his mysterys still dwelled in nature itself, and where the unconscious could live in undisturbed participation with matter. In this light, Jungs comment on the lack of humor in the works of alchemy becomes even more interesting, as it implies - kind of paradoxically - the lack of ease in the work that allows the practioner to keep that paradisical participation.

However, going into detail, the king is described as the person suffering from spiritual sterility. The sterility would be caused by the projections of the unconscious, which is unable to develop unless it is integrated into consciousness. In the mother-son-incest, a common alchemical symbol for the royal wedding is found. This can be linked to the unification of opposites (personal note) or the ouroboros (Jung). I suppose that the quintessence here is that the king is spiritually sterile until he finally manages to integrate his unconscious into consciousness, hence unifying these two opposites and meeting the unconscious within, as opposed to its projection on the outside. Jung makes the interesting note that incest always has moral implications, and connects this to the "embarrassing conflict" that would usually emerge when something formerly unconscious is faced. Also, he interprets the hiding of the king under the mothers robes as a nigredo process, which is, I think, well reflected by the kings/ the sons becoming from a moon (passive) to the sun (active).

The symbols of the wings of the sun and the tree of christ are treated seperately by jung. The wings of the sun are linked to the old aegyptian symbol of the sun, making the king nutured by these wings a son of god, i.e. a king. This raises the impression that the king, as a son of god, is in a sence stillborn - all the potential is there, but for it to be realized, the alchemical process has to be undergone.

The tree of christ, on the other hand, is interpreted as both the cross of christ and the immortal tree with miraclous fruits from an vision of arisleus. As these appear opposed to each other, I cannot help to think about certain aspects of rosencrucian philosophy, upholding both the cross and the rose as two equally important cornerstones. Jung, however, links the tree with the mother as "the one giving rebirth" ("Wiedergebärer"), giving us the constellation of the mother-tree as both cross and fruit. This, it seems, may very well resemble the rebirth of christ himself, finding suffering in his sacrifice on the cross, which eventually gave way to his rebirth.


h) The Epigoni

To Jung, the epigoni are the authors of the 17th century, a time in which the decay of alchemy began. From this time, Jung gives an account of three different works.

In the first, "de arte chimica" by an anonymous, a paralell is drawn between vigin mary and mercurius. Like mary, mercurius would be virgin, since he never "reproduced any metal body in the belly of the earth", but still begets the stone ( i.e. the lapis) through the tincture of the heavens. This process is described as mercurius opening up the gold and "extracting" the soul (literally: leading outside). This soul he would carry within himself for a while, carrying it over to a "purified body" in due time, from which the lapis would emerge. In this, the author - reasonably - finds a parallel to virgin mary, giving birth to the redeemer who would open up the heavens to mankind, being forced to stay in hell otherwise.

The second work, "Allegorica S. S. Trinitatis, et Lapidis, Philosophici" by the pseudonymous Basilius Valentinus seems to point into a similar direction. The text states that, like Jesus, gold is without any defect, but still would die for its brethren, ressurecting in order to make them into perfect gold. Of course, Christ as son of god is related to god the father and the holy spirit, and, correspondingly, Basilius speaks about Mercurius duplicatus filling in a similiar role. This mercurius duplicatus - if I understand the original text correctly - would be constituted by the conjunction of solis materialis and mercurius corporis. I am not very good at latin, but I suspect these two to refer to the "sun of matter" and the "bodily mercury". If so, we'd find to rather divine or spiritual principles within matter that are in strong relationship with - and a condition for - the lapis, resembling the relationship of the christian trinity. Basilius, however, states how the lapis would sometimes be refered to as Trinus.

The last piece Jung works through here is "de signatura rerum" by Jakob Böhme. This work would clearly state what the alchemists would have been looking for: a corpus subtile, a body that is spirit at the same time. Given the interchangeability of matter and spirit, depending on perspective, I found this conclusion quite interesting. As last word for this chapter, however, Jung says how these epigones all are characterized by the entanglement of spirit and matter, until the creation of the lapis decayed to the mixture of a "Power potion that keeps body and soul together", like a grandfather would say about a good wine. Almost like a sidenote, Jung mentions that by the time the alchemical traditions decayed, more and more secret societies would come into being - because secret societies would protect a secret that has lost its vitality, which alchemy obviously did.

[Nayana]

Chapter 6. Alchemical Symbolism in the History of Religion

I. The Unconscious as the Matrix of Symbols

In this rather short chapter, Jung bascially stresses how any kind of symbol - and the alchemical ones in particular, even after they have been stripped from the experimental and focused nature of alchemy - has its source and reason in the unconscious. Consciousness itself would be the product of a psychical life that, being pre-conscious, makes conscious life possible in the first place. Through symbols, the unconscious expresses itself, giving consciousness the chance to grasp an extend of its greater "frame", which of course never can be fully grasped. Jung links this "blind spot", "source" or pre-conscious condition to the symbol of the prima materia, which has mostly been described as an entity unifying varying opposites. This paradox nature of the unconscious would have been projected into the unknown of matter and man, as - own interpretation - the meaning expressed by this paradox nature could not find a proper object to express it.

The mutable nature of the prima materia, according to Jung, would have been thought as either the prima materia itself, or its "anima". This anima would have been called Mercurius, denoting a double being like Hermaphroditus. In the christ-lapis-parallel, this "substance of change/ transformation" would refer to Christ.

[Nefastos]

Thank you brother Nayana, and also Smaragd, for discussion! We are at the end of the book; only one last chapter remains, and I will go through it here, along with the epilogue.

II. THE PARADIGM OF THE UNICORN

I had already read this part when I was writing my own article about unicorn symbolism, Cartazon. Our approaches are almost the opposite with Jung, however, since my own essay was about "hermetic" (here also: hermit-like) aspect, and Jung chose "the example of the unicorn in order to show how the symbolism of Mercurius is intermingled with the traditions of pagan Gnosticism and of the Church." (p.435) His unicorn goes from East to West, mine from West to East; his, from solitude to mercurial vivification, mine seemingly vice versa.

Jung once again voices his opinion that "Lion and unicorn are both symbols of Mercurius." (p.436) When reading correspondences like these, we must bear in mind that they are extreme simplifications. For we can easily see how much there is also Venus & Mars in unicorn symbol, for example: its extreme fertility and extreme purity fusing into a beast of almost solid power.

Since the unicorn is so connected to the White aspect emblemata, it is no surprise noticing unicorn giving place to a white dove (perhaps the most importan White aspect animal symbol) in Rosencreutz's Chymical Wedding. (p.436)

Jung makes a valid note that the classic folklore presentation of the wounded unicorn on a virgin's lap is practically a picture of Pietà. (p.438) The unique unicorn's connection to Christ is almost a tragical one. Citing Tertullian Jung connects Christ also to a Bull. (p.440) This brings us right back to Mithraic mysteries & the sacrificial Bull. Speaking of the pagan interpretation (or aspect) of Christian symbolism, picture 248 on page 445 gives a beautiful idea of salvation & the unity of sexes being present at the moment of creation of Eve: when Female rises from the side of the sleeping Male, there can be seen animal countenances hovering near her, and the nearest one is unicorn's, forming almost like a second head for the primordial woman.

On this same page 445 is mentioned Bruno of Würzburg calling Christ "cornu", or "horn". This is an interesting comparison, since that epithet is usually reserved to antichrist (see Cartazon). A little later (p.447) unicorn's connectedness also to evil is noted by the author, and realized to "a singularly appropriate symbol for the monstrum hermaphroditum". In footnote 30 of the same page Jung cites the same ancient sources of the unicorn myth that I used in Cartazon, but his translation gives a little bit different translitteration: Kartazonon.

When discussing the unicorn symbolism in Gnosticism, Jung likens Naassenes' mysteries of the serpent ("every initiation and every mystery is dedicated to the serpent" [naturally, the kundalinî in a human being and in nature]) to Tabula Smaragdina's idea of the father of perfection, since the use of Greek words (telos &c.) in the original texts are similar. Connection from this serpent of wisdom to the unicorn goes through the alicorn, or the one-horned bull.

After a short trip to the headless Osiris in part d we come back to the already discussed myths of Many & Noah in e part, the one about Vedic symbolism. Those familiar with The Secret Doctrine may recall Blavatsky discussing this myth a lot. But she didn't mention (as far as I recall), like Jung, that the fish of Vedic Noah seems to have been a sea-unicorn or monodon: a whale with one horn. (Picture 254, p.454.) We might remember this fusion of the sea-horse and a fish or a whale in some old depictions of Capricorn.

When dealing with Jewish tradition in part g we once again stumble upon our old friends & mentors Azazel & Semyaza, here called Shemhazai and Azael. It is interesting to note how Azazel and Azazel are sometimes considered the one and the same, and sometimes as two different entities; much like Satan and Lucifer. The following idea might be best investigated in the light of the Cartazon-pratyeka model:

It is conceivable that there is an inner connection between Og and the unicorn: both escaped the flood by being somehow attached to the outside of the ark, and both are gigantic. (p.462)

On page 464, these are likened to Behemoth and Leviathan.

In part h ch'i-lin (ki-rin, &c.), a Chinese unicorn version, is discussed. "It is worth noting that the male unicorn is called ch'i and the female lin, so that the generic term is formed by the union of both characters (...)" (p.466)

The follows a section that might be most interesting for Graal symbolists, i: The Unicorn Cup.

We have seen that the "heavenly horn of the moon" is closely connected with the unicorn. Here it means not only "Geryon of the threefold body" and the Jordan, but the hermaphroditic Man as well, who is identical with the Johannine Logos. (p.468)

In a picture above this statement is Antonio Pisano's medal depicting unicorn from year 1447 (picture 262). It should be noted that the maiden is holding the beast's head on her lap in a way that its horn is directed directly horizontally exactly from the point that makes it seem like a male phallus on a female figure.

And of course, true to his own ideal references, Jung closes his study with Goethe's Faust. Personally I find Goethe's lengthy semi-alchemical chorals a bit tiresome.

EPILOGUE

As one might expect, epilogue is just a summary of the book's most obvious basic ideas. These summaries are often banal, and especially so here, where the book has been filled with extremely interesting details, but where Jung's "basic" ideas (alchemists didn't know what they were doing; they were simply projecting their own subconscious) were in dull contrast with the depth of the details throughout the deep study. In a word, we are once again facing the wall of mist draped for the more scientific use. That science, what a Procrustes he is!

In the last few days, we have been criticizing the Christian, especially Lutheran Church with quite sharp words in the Finnish side of the forum. Here comes the reason for much of that criticism:

The Christian earns the fruits of grace ex opere operato, but the alchemist creates for himself – ex opere operantis in the most literal sense – a "panacea of life" which he regards either as a substitute for the Church's means of grace of as the complement and parallel of the divine workd of redemption that is continued in man. (p.477)

Jung comes here to the similar conclusion that I arrived in my new Sermon on the Mount commentary, when analysing the esoteric instructions of Jesus: that these esoteric & exoteric mindsets are in the last analysis irreconcilable, being "polar opposites: the collective of the individual, society of personality." (p. 477) Not that one should not try to work in both fields – actually it is a necessity for a human being –, but one must be the servant, and the other one the master. Jung then proceeds to discussing Goethe's Faust... was he himself conscious that the book had become his personal Bible, in the light of which everything else is studied?

And what follows then? You guessed it, Nietzsche's Zarathustra; the second, apocryphal Bible. For always Jung finds something to criticize in Zarathustra, and yet he keeps coming irresistibly back to it. Jung cites something that should be blatantly clear for almost everyone, the most starry-eyed Nietzsche fanbase excluded:

he brought the superman into dangerously close proximity with the man-in-the-street. (p.479)

After some to my taste too lengthy considerations of Goethe & Nietszche reflected on alchemical surface, Jung makes a more important statement regarding the core of the transmutation process, the soul:

The upward thrust of evolving consciousness was bound sooner or later to put an end to the projection, and to restore to the psyche that which had been psychic from the beginning. Yet, ever since the Age of Enlightenment and in the era of scientific rationalism, what indeed was the psyche? It had become synonymous with consciousness. The psyche was "what I know." There was no psyche outside the ego. Inevitably, then, the ego identified with the contents accruing from the withdrawal of projections. Gone were the days when the psyche was still for the most part "outside the body" and imagined "those greater things" which the body could not grasp. The contents that were formerly projected were now bound to appear as personal possessions, as chimerical phantasms of the ego-consciousness. (p.480)

With this particular challenge, our society is struggling in perhaps even greater (subconscious) panic than in Jung's time. In that panic, one starts actually to see a looming gateway that could return humankind to a healthier collective state of "projection". The rise of magic and fantasy, ultraconsumeristic though this new rising is, could form such a portal. The author makes an example of how the too narrowly consciousness-emphasized world view actually becomes predatory and unconscious when talking about the then recent World War – "a war that nobody wanted." (p. 481)

The following statement is so important in this regard, especially for us occultists, or the ones wishing to see some aspects of the esoterical world view brought upon the world exoterical, that it gives excellent ending to our reading:

It seems to me of some importance, therefore, that a few individuals, or people individually, should begin to understand that there are contents which do not belong to the ego-personality, but must be ascribed to a psychic non-ego. (p.481)