Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

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Re: Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

Post by Nayana »

3. Meditation and Imagination

As Jung finds, alchemists have their very own connotation of "meditatio" and "imaginatio". First of all, he quotes Ruland “Lexicon alchemiae” from 1612, whiches defines meditatio as follows:

“The word meditatio is used when one has an inner conversation with someone who is invisible, as for example with god under invocation, or with himself, or with his good angel”

First of all, Jung states that the inner conversation is an important aspect of the confrontation with the unconscious. I was reminded a lot of our prayer workings, personally. However, and somewhat similiarly again, to Jung this form of inner conversation goes beyond a mere reflection and are more of an active and vital relation to the voice of "the other inside of us" - that of the unconscious. In the sense of the alchemical dictum "and as all things come from one, through the meditation of the one", meditatio is understood as a creative act of conversation through which unconscious things can manifest.

Going further, Jung quotes a passage in the treaty of Philalethes:

Above all, it is wonderful that our stone, although it is already completed and can communicate completed tincture, will voluntarily humble itself again and meditate a new volatility, apart from all manipulation

Which is explained a few lines later in the same work:

"Voluntarily will liquefy... and be endowed with the spirit by the command of god, who will fly up and take the stone with him".

From this, Jung takes that meditatio also means that further spirit "flows to the stone" in the conversation with god, whereby it is further spiritualized, volatilized or sublimated. To me, this speaks of an vital relation to the unconscious, regardless of where one is in the process of individuation or the work. In my personal experience, at least, I always find it vitalizing to seek such a relationship by similiar conversations and could relate to that.

Jung, however, sees this form of meditation as a living, dialectical relation with a dominant factor of the unconscious. To explain, he qoutes a treaty by a French alchemist from the 17/18 century:

"How often did I see them (the sacerdotes aegyptiorum), seized with joy at my understanding, kissing me with love, because it was easy for me to grasp the true meaning of the ambiguities of a nonsensical teaching. How often, through the pleasure of my beautiful discoveries about the figures of the entangled ancient wisdom, could I be led to show my eyes and fingers the hermetic vessel, the salamander, the full moon and the rising sun."

This particular quote, according to jung, expresses how the alchemist sees the psychological structure of his opus, in which the relation to the unconscious forces of the soul constitutes the actual secret of magisterium.

To start his discussion on imaginatio, Jung again quotes a definition from the Ruland lexicon:

" imagination is the star (celestial or heavenly body), in man, the heavenly or supernatural body."

According to this definition, imagination is more of a semi-spiritual substance, rather than insubstantial.To Jung, the alchemist related both to the substance as well as the psychological and spiritual factors, hoping to change the substance by imagination. The ”star” that this imagination is linked to is described as a paracelsian term, meaning “quintessence”. In that sense, Jung grasps imaginatio as “the concentrated extract of the living physical and mental powers”, meaning that the alchemist works with his own quintessence, which stresses the importance of mental and physical health.

Due to the fact that in a time where no psychology was founded, everything unconscious had to be projected out into the world, meaning that it confronted consciousness from the outside. Instead of the difference between a psychic or spiritual world, there was a intermediate level of subtile bodies belonging to the soul, which appeared spiritual as well as bodily. The existence of this intermediate realm ends once if one tries to observe the matter in itself, free from projection as the latter brings it into being, and remains non-existent for as long as one assumes final knowledge about body or soul.

In the treaty “de sulphere”, jung finds further explanation of imaginatio. According to this, The soul stands in the place of God, living in the spirit of life in pure blood. It governs the mind which in turn governs the body; and even though the soul operates within the body, the bigger part of its functions lies outside, which, for Jung, is projection.

Divine wisdom on the other hand would only partially be embedded in the body of the world and mainly exists outside of it, imaginating far higher things than that body could take in, which are outside of nature.The soul is an example of this, as it imagines many things outside of the soul, even though they happen only in spirit, wheareas gods imaginations become reality.


4. Soul and Body

The passages just discussed give further insight into alchemical thinking: the soul is described as “anima corporalis”, living in blood. In the sense this anima is understood as the psychic faculty mediating between body and soul, it corresponds to the unconscious in bodily form (being located under the diaphragma on the chakra scale). In line with the alchemic teaching that every elementary form of being also contains its inner opposite, this soul is only partially attached to the body, having its other part in the projection onto the world, in which it imagines that which is to great for the body to take in to, i.e. make reality. (While gods imaginations become reality, those of the unconscious remain in a state of potential reality. )

With this action of the soul outside of the body, so jung, the opus must be meant. The author of de sulphere states:

"You can grasp the bigger, so your body can realise it, namely with the help of art and "Deo Concedente"( If god allows it)."

Imaginatio is this the represention of the "greater", which the Anima imagines creatively and "extra naturam" in representation of Godin modern terms, it is the realisation of the contents of the unconscious, which are not given in our empirical world.This realization is neither substance nor spirit, but can only be expressed in between via symbols.


To close the chapter, Jung gives an account of the description of “Alchymia” by libavius, depicting the stage sequence of the alchemical process. Please find a photography with the letters included attached.

A Pedestal or foundation as an image of the earth.

B Two giants or atlases, sitting on the foundation, holding a sphere from the right and left and supporting it with their hands.

C A four-headed dragon, from whose breath the sphere is formed: the four degrees of fire; from the first mouth, as it were, air emerges, from the second fine smoke, from the third smoke and fire, from the fourth pure fire.

D Mercurius with a silver chain to which two animals are tied

E the green lion

F single-headed dragon. - E and F mean one and the same thing: namely the mercurial fluid, which is the materia prima of the stone

G a three-headed silver eagle with two lowered heads withering and from the third one white water or mercurial liquid is flowing out into the sea marked H.
J The image of the wind that sends spirit into the sea below

K the image of the red lion from whose breast red blood flows into the sea below, etc.;because you have to colour it as if it had been mixed from silver and gold or white and red. The image is related to body, soul and spirit, of those who are (already) looking for three (prinicipes) in the beginning, or to the blood of the lion and the glue of the eagle. For because they accept three, they have a double mercury. Those who accept two have only one, which is derived from a crystal or immature metal of the philosophers.

L a stream of black water, as in chaos, which means putrefactio (decomposition), from which rises a mountain, black at the foot and white at the summit, so that from the summit a silver spring flows down. For it is the image of the first dissolution and coagulation and the following second dissolution.

M this same mountain.

NN The heads of black ravines that look out of the sea.

O silver rain that falls from the clouds to the top of the mountain, which is sometimes called the feeding and washing up of the Lato by the Azoch, sometimes the second dissolution, through which the air element is brought out of the earth and the water (the earth is a form of the mountain, the water is the first mentioned sea liquid).

RR two ethopiers supporting two upper lateral spheres. They sit on top of the larger ball and thus represent the blackness of the second operation in the second putrefaction.

S here denotes a pure silver sea, which indicates the mercurial fluid through which the tinctures are united.

T represents a swan swimming on the sea and pouring a milky liquid from its beak. This swan is the white elixir, the white lime, the arsenicum of the philosophers, the common ground of both enzymes. It is said to hold the upper sphere with its back and the two wings.

V Solar eclipse

XX The sun that dips into the sea, that is to say into the mercurial waters, into which the elixir is also supposed to flow. from this the true eclipse of the sun is born, on both sides of which a rainbow is supposed to be depicted to indicate the peacock's tail, which then appears in coagulation.

YY lunar eclipse, which also has a rainbow on both sides, also at the lowest part of the sea in which the moon is to submerge.

Z The moon gliding into the sea.

a the queen crowned with a silver crown, caressing a white or silver eagle standing beside her.

b the king in purple with a golden crown, who has a golden lion beside him. In the other hand the queen holds a white lily, the king a red one.

c a phoenix on the sphere, burning itself; from the ashes many silver and golden birds fly up. It is the sign of multiplication and increase.
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Re: Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

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3. THE WORK

I. The work

Opening this chapter, Jung discusses the “Darkness” surrounding alchemical texts and the chaos of its substances. In line with the discussions on projective aspects in imagination, Jung states that the confusion and complaints – even between alchemists – stem from the fact that even though the alchemist takes his interest in the chemical part of his work, he uses it to express changes within his own soul. With each alchemist building up his own individual building of thought, based upon analogies of alchemical basics and all kinds of different ones, these differ sometimes greatly from another. In turn, whole treaties have been written soley for the purpose of providing more analogies.

Thus, Jung states, the method of alchemy is the method of amplification: wherever there is a mere sparse suggestion within alchemy, these are increased and extended by psychological context via amplification.

Thus, amplification makes up the second half of the opus, next to the chemical practice, and is understood as theory by the alchemists, finding its origins in the hermetical philosophy.
This dual basis of alchemy is depicted in “Tripus Aureus” by Maier from 1677. On the right in a laboratory, a man works on a fire, while an Abbot, a monk and a secular person converse in a library on the left. In the middle, a tripod with a flask in which a three-headed dragon appears is seen. According to Jung, the latter represents the experience of the work. Quite fittingly, the dragon is described as a “monstrum”, as a symbol of the chtonic serpent and the airy bird. As such, the dragon is described as a form of mercurius, the divine, winged Hermes appearing in thet substance. Jung concludes that when the alchemist speaks of mercurius, Externally he means mercury, but internally he speaks about the hidden, world-creating spirit embedded in matter. The dragon, however, is the Ouroboros biting its own tail, in the same fashion as the opus comes from one thing and leads back to the one, according to the alchemists. Hence, mercurius is at the beginning and the end of the work. He is prima materia, caput corvi and nigredo; as a dragon, he devours himself, dies and is reborn as the lapis.


2. The spirit in Matter

Jung states how Zosimos, an Hermes influenced gnostic from the 3. Century, quotes Ostanes, an early authority in alchemy:

“go to the currents of the nile, and there you will find a stone that has a spirit. take it, divide it, and with your hand long into its interior and pull out its heart: for its soul is in its heart.”

Similiarly, Jung quotes Nietzsches Zarathustra, where the latter speaks about how “a picture sleeps within the stone”. In both, we can see the projection Jung has talked about earlier, although in different directions. Whereas Nietzsche sees the “picture” sleeping within the stone, Ostanes demands the stone to be divided in order to get to whats inside. The latter corresponds to the alchemists who searched for the stone containing that substance able to penetrate all bodies. This substance is equated with the penetrating mercury, which can be “projected” onto other bodies to transform them from the imperfect state – that corresponds to the sleeping stone - to the perfect state. In other words - whereas Nietzsche sees the idea in its unrefined, unconscious form (a sleeping picture), Ostanes suggests an active work to get to the core of the matter, which in turn is used to refine others. In a way it seems that we can see two different forms of projection here; one active, the other rather passive, apparently unable to “wake up” the quintessence of the matter. Personally, I wonder in which respects this touches the matter of imagination, since Ostenes version implies active change of the soul through the alchemical process, whereas Nietzsche seems to remain with the mere impression.

Zosimos, himself clearly moved by mystic or gnostic philosophy, is taken as an example of projection being a pre-conscious that is only in effect as long as it is not conscious. If he, like all other alchemists, is convinced that his philosophy is not only applicable to matter, but that there are processes within the matter corresponding to the philosophical conditions, he must have experienced some identity of the processes within his soul with the reactions of the matter. As this must be pre-conscious, he cannot state anything about this identity, effectively providing a bridge that ties substantial and psychological movements into one so that what is inside is outside as well.

Such an unconscious process presents itself somewhere, like in dreams, visions and phantasies. According to Jung, this unconscious content projected into matter corresponds to pneuma as the son of god, descending into matter and freeing himself from it in order to serve as a cure for all souls. This unconscious content is described as an autonomous complex, independent from the psychical non-ego, instantly projecting itself once drawn by outer analogies. According to the neo-pythagoreans, the soul with the exception of the mind is devoured by matter, which corresponds to the autonomy of the pneuma. The Mind would exist outside of the individual, serving as its demon.

The analogies on the closing 2 pages are somewhat hard to grasp to me personally, and I fear that I have to let these sink in for a bit. I would be grateful if one of you would help out, but I make sure to come back to these as soon as I can.
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Re: Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

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Nayana wrote: Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:07 amAbove all, it is wonderful that our stone, although it is already completed and can communicate completed tincture, will voluntarily humble itself again and meditate a new volatility, apart from all manipulation

Which is explained a few lines later in the same work:

"Voluntarily will liquefy... and be endowed with the spirit by the command of god, who will fly up and take the stone with him".

From this, Jung takes that meditatio also means that further spirit "flows to the stone" in the conversation with god, whereby it is further spiritualized, volatilized or sublimated. To me, this speaks of an vital relation to the unconscious, regardless of where one is in the process of individuation or the work. In my personal experience, at least, I always find it vitalizing to seek such a relationship by similiar conversations and could relate to that.
Nayana wrote: Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:07 amAccording to this definition, imagination is more of a semi-spiritual substance, rather than insubstantial.To Jung, the alchemist related both to the substance as well as the psychological and spiritual factors, hoping to change the substance by imagination. The ”star” that this imagination is linked to is described as a paracelsian term, meaning “quintessence”. In that sense, Jung grasps imaginatio as “the concentrated extract of the living physical and mental powers”, meaning that the alchemist works with his own quintessence, which stresses the importance of mental and physical health.
All this alchemical work of the stone voluntarily liquifying and further more flying up with the wings of the spirit connecting with the imaginatio as a (liquid-airy) aspect of the subtle body reminds me of eidetic vision discussed in another thread few years ago. "Voluntary liquifying" is like the unforced nature of the eidetic vision when coming to it, for example, in meditation. The such vision comes unforced but can be ”connected” or ”disconnected” from at will. The most important factor for such subtle alchemical process to lead one further in the spiritual work, I think, is the challenge of acknowledging the wholesome practice of truthfulness as preliminary and ever on-going. This is because here we are working with the substances that are also astral in nature, and if we haven’t purified our connection to them by the spirit of ideal truthfulness, the waters reflect us the lies we are ready to tell ourselves. This is the shadow projecting itself on the waters which might sound like something it should do, and yes it is so, but if we are not ready to put the purifying fire on the athanor, we are not really taking the steps of including the elements of fire and air to our work and forming the ideal of the pentagram. Familiar themes but I really liked how the elemental and alchemical symbols brought increasing clarity to them, as well as these familiar themes bringing more grip on the symbols in turn.
Nayana wrote: Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:10 am In a way it seems that we can see two different forms of projection here; one active, the other rather passive, apparently unable to “wake up” the quintessence of the matter. Personally, I wonder in which respects this touches the matter of imagination, since Ostenes version implies active change of the soul through the alchemical process, whereas Nietzsche seems to remain with the mere impression.
I’d say imagination is an aspect of Mercury, by which I mean that imagination is one side of how solids are turned to fluids and thus could be realized to actively represent Mercurial volatile quality even in the form of a hard stone, which is the last thing to grow wings. But ofcourse Mercury, as well as our imagination, is able to do such a thing just like that, and thus it is the ability to see the omnipotency (divine potential and thus connection to the divine) even in a uncomely stone. Other Mercurial aspects in solid matter could be seen for example in the mortification toned putrefactio and other alchemical processes that mark the Mercurial connection between the coarser slower materials and the pure and clear Mercurial substance coming from the mouth of the swan in Libavius’ describtion and image.

This takes me back to what you wrote earlier:
”The existence of this intermediate realm ends once if one tries to observe the matter in itself, free from projection as the latter brings it into being, and remains non-existent for as long as one assumes final knowledge about body or soul.”
Shutting out the mystery veiled in the darkness of mere potential can be seen when we just observe the matter itself. The depths of the object is thus shut out from us as we close our inner eye. Putrefactio is the process which allows "the stone" to start moving again, and move further in the process. I think this might be the reason Libavius’ sequence has two processes of putrefactio. If we allow a bit of speculative interpretation here, we could say the first one to be the dark night of the soul, while the second as the personification in the two Ethiopians brings the mortificatio in to human form, and thus they are more like instrumental workers of darkness rather than elemental forces that brutally washes over without questions. Thus the alchemist is able to bring the dark forces in to the process more consciously to keep the work balanced and steadily on-going.

This last bit touched partly some of the questions I just resently presented in the topic Lunar Fog. Loosing the sight of the depths of an outward objects is very near the problem where tantric connections to the every day life are lost, resulting in the appearance of the fog. The Lunar Fog I interpret to be heavily feminine phenomena and similarly as in Jungs suggestion throughout this book: the unconscious appearing again right after it is dodged.
Nayana wrote: Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:10 am The analogies on the closing 2 pages are somewhat hard to grasp to me personally, and I fear that I have to let these sink in for a bit. I would be grateful if one of you would help out, but I make sure to come back to these as soon as I can.
I’m reading the book from a pdf and the pages don’t match at least with pages mentioned by Nefastos, so I’m not exactly sure what those last pages entail. But let’s try.
Jung questions whether the higher consciousness represented by Pneuma – the divine daemon given birth to by the unconscious – can be attributed to the ego at all. If done so, the footnote suggests sensations of falling down or actual clumsiness might appear. It would be the unconscious necessating the aspirant to ground his idea of for example thinking that ”I am the Son of God”. In another words, the aspirants ego is too high up, so his bodies are reacting in a way that questions the egos place in the individuals structure and demands this idea to be tried by bringing it down in the physical reality, which results in physical clumsiness.
Thus Jung underlines how Christ is a great exception in giving human personality to such divine quality. It’s as if its too high to be tied in to the area of ego. The body becomes clumsy (I would add trembling as an adjective) in trying to embody such power. Trying this makes necessarily the man as the central point of concentration – the cup – where the ”terrible and unheard-of secret” pours into. I’m reminded of the intense temptations in the desert. Pagan projection on the other hand sort of divides this power to the surroundings, which possibly makes the work less intense as the cup extends to wider area of vehicles. This also means alchemys task is to also redeem the feminine divine soul imprisoned in the elemental cycles. I interpret this to mean that in alchemy also the mineral, vegetative and animal life forms are beared on the shoulders in the ascending work. This might have been forgotten in many forms of Christianity, although I claim the esoteric meaning of the Godhead concealing itself in the man of low degree in one interpretation has the same meaning as in alchemy the Godhead hiding in the uncomely stone, as Jung notes.

This problem with the ego I find well answered in SoA circles, when talked about Ego and ego separately, making practical space for the ego to embody the higher powers on its own time. But this also might hide the problem of giving too much space if the relationship between the two doesn't find its way to actualize. This is an area where I personally find religious approaches important.

Thank you for the good overlook to the chapters, Nayana. Really helped knitting the thoughts together in to a more connected whole.
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Re: Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

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Nayana wrote: Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:07 amTo close the chapter, Jung gives an account of the description of “Alchymia” by libavius, depicting the stage sequence of the alchemical process. Please find a photography with the letters included attached.

Thank you for adding both the text & the picture. I too thought that this would be a perfect microcosm of alchemical imagery to include in this reading circle.

Nayana wrote: Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:10 amThe analogies on the closing 2 pages are somewhat hard to grasp to me personally, and I fear that I have to let these sink in for a bit. I would be grateful if one of you would help out, but I make sure to come back to these as soon as I can.
&
Smaragd wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 1:39 amI’m reminded of the intense temptations in the desert.[...] This also means alchemys task is to also redeem the feminine divine soul imprisoned in the elemental cycles. [...] This problem with the ego I find well answered in SoA circles, when talked about Ego and ego separately, making practical space for the ego to embody the higher powers on its own time. But this also might hide the problem of giving too much space if the relationship between the two doesn't find its way to actualize. This is an area where I personally find religious approaches important.


Indeed! In my English version, the last two pages include "the one great exception [to the idea that superior qualities can be attributed to the ego], Christ" plus an image of Oannes-Dagon holding the chalice of serpent poison, titled here Anima Mercurii, from ms. Figurarum Aegyptiorum secretarum. (Cf. St. John)

"Christ the exception" from an occult viewpoint is exception only as far as he stands for one's final stage of Egoic development, hence touching the omnipresent Ego of God. "Christ is us", Christus Mysticus, is what matters in hermetic aspiration.

When Jung speaks about the humility of God hidden in "man of low degree" and Jesus as hidden lapis, we should think of the penetrating symbolism of Bread >< Stone in the New Testament. We can trace carefully the places where either Stone or Bread are mentioned in the gospels (or the whole of Bible) & see their interesting reversal in esoteric Christianity. The key to this possibility of inversion is given in desert temptations, Matthew 4:1-4, like brother Smaragd mentioned.

From the gospels we can find the reversable trinity of blessings, or the three two-sided aspects (see Luke 11). They are:

BREAD — STONE
FISH — SERPENT
EGG — SCORPION

In the SoA system these are:

WHITE — STONE
RED — SERPENT
BLACK — EYE ("Scorpion")

The fourth aspect, which has both positions (of Mercy & Judgment) is the ambivalent Chalice, holding the serpent-essence (eclipsed Moon) of the three.

These (Stone, Bread, Fish, Serpent, Egg, Eye, and Cup [holding the fruit of the Vine]) are the original symbols of Christ, before the so-called Christians chose to abandon that system & follow the different Paulian doctrine instead.

* * *

In December, I will go through pages 306 to 339, which means the last of chapter 3:3 and almost all of the chapter 3:4.

3:3:3 The Work of Redemption
The Prima Materia
3:4:1 Synonyms for the Materia
3:4:2 The Increatum
3:4:3 Ubiquity and Perfection
3:4:4 The King and the King's Son
3:4:5 The Myth of the Hero
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Re: Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

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First of the two parts concerning the text of December.

In "III. The Work of Redemption" the author discusses the alchemical drama showing "man as both the one to be redeemed and the redeemer" (p.306, emphasis in the original). He mentions the the literal meaning of "sacrifice" in "making sacred", & relates a a 14th century Christian ritual of the host, where "the words of the consecration [are] the "sword" with which the sacrifical lamb is slaughtered" (p.309). We are once again dealing with the act of spirit that penetrates the side of matter, the Martian edge that kills & inseminates the Venereal substance in the sacrificial host.

We come to the symbol of Christ-bread I mentioned above. "St. Ambrose called the transformed bread medicina. It is the [farmakon athanasias], the drug of immortality." (p.310) On page 311, we have picture of "coniunctio [...] an ecclesiastical vesion of the alchemical marriage bath". Once again the picture is noticeably Rosicrucian in Azazelian emphasis: we have the Grail given in the same "mystically cut" perspective that we have in the logo of Viides Askel, and the white bird descending above.

The Azazelian viewpoint to the mystery of God is also given in the following:
Psychology & Alchemy wrote:For the alchemist, the one primarily in need of redemption is not man, but the deity who is lost and sleeping in matter. (p.312)

We'll come back to this shortly. Before that, at the end of this chapter, Jung gives quite a nice summary of the many points of alchemy (quoting also the sources):

Psychology & Alchemy wrote:All [alchemists], from the very earliest time, are agreed that their art is sacred and divine, and likewise that their work can be completely only with the help of God. This science of theirs is given only to the few, and none understands it unless God or a master has opened his understanding. The knowledge acquired may not be passed on to the others unless they are worthy of it. Since all the essentials are expressed in metaphors they can be communicated only to the intelligent, who possess the gift of comprehension. The foolish allow themselves to be infatuated by literal interpretations and recipes, and fall into error. When reading the literature, one must not be content with just one book but must possess many books, for "one book opens another." Moreover one must read carefully, paragraph by paragraph; then one will make discoveries. The terminology is admitted to be quite unreliable. Sometimes the nature of the coveted substance will be revealed in a dream. The materia lapidis may be found by divine inspiration. The practice of the art is a hard road and the longest road. The art has no enemies except the ignorant. It goes without saying that there are good and bad authors in alchemical literature as elsewhere. There are productions by charlatans, simpletons, and swindlers. Such inferior writings are easily recognized by their endless recipes, their careless and uneducated composition, their studied mysticism, their excruciating dulness, and their shameless insistence on the making of gold. Good books can always be recognized by the industry, care, and visible mental struggles of the author. (p.314-316)


All this is very well put also regarding to occultism in general, equally in our own times.

4. PRIMA MATERIA
I. Synonyms for the Materia


The challenge of all-encompassiveness & oneness is well depicted in the symbolism of prima materia, or the original basic substance, starting matter of alchemy.

Psychology & Alchemy wrote:For one alchemist the prima materia was quicksilver, for others it was ore, iron, gold, lead, salt, sulphur, vinegar, water, air, fire, earth, blood, water of life, lapis, poison, spirit, cloud, sky, dew, shadow, sea, mother, moon, dragon, Venus, chaos, microcosm. (p.317)

In a word, the Work really starts with the Black aspect. (We can notice that the name "Venus" in the list above stands for "the feminine", not as the Celestial principle of Luciferian Venus, which mainly belongs to the White aspect working instead.)

On the next page, 318, we have a picture from Marolles' Tableaux du temple des muses (1655). Regarding this, Jung speaks about "the unfettered opposites in chaos" of prima materia. About the concept of chaos and its actual unity with the uncreated (rather than something factually confused) we might recall another thread here. From the Azazelian or Satanic viewpoint, it may be interesting to note that this prima materia stage is also likened to "Hades" and "accursed of God [theokataratos]" (p.319). Those familiar with the brotherhood texts might make other mental notes about the "dragon that is all [drakon en to pan]" (p.319), and the oneness which man has to complete by the sole unity of his soul (p.320).

At the end of the first sub chapter the author mentions idea of radix ipsus (root of itself), which our members might remember from the mystic tantricism by the name of Svabhavat (~"such-likeness", the fundamental essence of essential attributes). The same idea continues in the sub chapter II, where Paracelsus speaks of radix ipsius as "increatum", uncreated. These are vital doctrines in our esoteric school too. The "regio aetherea" mentioned on page 321 is in our system known as Linga or White astral, which holds the four aethers or supernal counterparts of four physical elements, like seen (e.g.) in the Fosforos appendix I of the Hieroglyphic Key. This Key is also the key of transmutating physical states: the "stone" that below is the densest element, is above the subtlest kind of aether. The page 321 holds other turnings into this White aspect from the Black; for example, chapter footnote 9 quotes Theatrum chemicum's metaphor: "just as cheese will never again become milk, so generation will never return to its first state." The one interested delving into this mystery of transsubstantion may recall the churning of the "milky way" in the Hindu genesis, and what I wrote about the transmuting of the bodily substance in The Chariot of Cybele; that the "semen" (substance of aetheric vîr) once materialized cannot be re-vaporized, but the pristine kumaric state may be augmented in case it was never lost, by meditation of buddhic unity (love-oneness).

At the end of this sub chapter on page 323 the author once again misses the center of the mark, perhaps because he tries to be carefully scientific in how to say things. Jung writes that "the alchemists came to project even the highest value – God – into matter". But rather the alchemists, and all kind of true occultists, keep to the philosophy that God has been projected into matter billions of years before there have been human beings to make such projection, because matter itself is the hem & substance of the divine Spirit of Meaning. Its "chaotic" primal state is in itself pristine, and becomes "chaotic" in the word's humane use – confused – only because our human ignorance has already ruled supreme countless generations; hence our starting point as individual human beings is very different to the actual pristine chaos that is perfect Void of Svabhavat, radix ipsius or increatum. When this is kept in mind, all the above mentioned different names for the prima materia – including gold itself – become quite understandable.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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Re: Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

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Part 2/2 of December, p.323-339: "III. Ubiquity and Perfection", "IV. The King and the King's Son", "V. The Myth of the Hero".

As you see, there are quite a lot of different alchemical subjects discussed in not many pages (once again we also have a dozen of large pictures presented). Thus also my notes on these subjects will be quite manifold and not very centered.

Citing Sir George Ripley from the fifteenth century, the author reminds us that "bird and fishes bring us the lapis [(philosopher's) stone], every man has it, it is in every place, in you, in me..." (p.323-324). I claim that we are talking about the substance of transmutation in linga, the aetheric counterparts of physical substance, as mentioned above. They are indeed in everything, but still very hard to harness for the occult process in the present state of humankind's development.

For the Azazelian doctrine, the next page (325) gives once again quite interesting Left Hand Path oriented idea when saying (citing Musaeum hermeticum, The Hermetic Museum) that the hylical water contains a hidden elemental fire, and that hell-fire (ignis gehennalis) is attributed to the element earth as its inner opposite. Once again I suggest to study the Hieroglyphic Key's correspondences to the triangle- or tetrahedron -shaped elemental quaternities, and how their core essences contain their counter-aspects. This "water that contains hell-fire" is the inversion of the picture I have presented as the "Three Peaks of Mount Meru" symbol, where one triangle dwells, turned downwards, within another. All this belongs to the same slow process of turning from the outward elements (sthûla sharîra) into the inner ones (linga sharîra), and it can be done similarly to one's own body (resulting in "panacea" &c.) and the outer substance (resulting in sublimation from the gross states to the higher, even beyond the nuclear rearrangement: a thing at the same time approved and denied by the modern science – which already knows it can be accomplished, but not how it would be possible without very heavy outer equipment).

The key to the fundamental operation is given when, from Anaxagoras, it is quoted that "the nous [spiritual mind] gives rise to a whirlpool in chaos", i.e. that the change in the elemental energies is accomplished by imprinting them with the archetype of the ascended spirit. Like many alchemists wrote, it is futile trying to act on physical matter unless there spirit is reached first, for the mechanical operation will thus remain inanimate and prone to distortion.

On page 327 Maier's Symbola aurea mensae is quoted about the "black, magically fecund earth that Adam took with him from Paradise [pristine aetheric state], also called antimony and described as a "black blacker than black" (nigrum nigrius nigrido). This can't but to bring my mind the Emerald Tablet's fortitudino fortitudo fortis, indeed a 6-6-6 (f=6) of the outwardly perfect but yet inside lacking material simulacrum: the microcosmic Demon's cube of Sorath. On the opposite page (326) is given but not commented the Hermes' razor, which is vivêka (discrimating ability of kâma manas put in the use of manas): importance of yet making severe personal choices of emphases when dealing with this primordial chaos of primal matter. For even though everything is Absolute, not everything in that sacred Absolute is good for the Great Work's operation. Like has been stated so many times, but which remains as a vital doctrine in the path of ascension.

What the author next goes forth saying about the "inanimate king" might bring to our mind the Grail myth once again, especially when we once again see the Dove of the Holy Spirit in the page opposite (pages 329, 328).

On page 331 we have one of those dream-like alchemical pictures which create a sense of both fascination and dread. In this the king is devouring his son: in many ways realistic picture, but the king sitting on the throne in his throne room – town visible in correct perspective outside the windows – has opened his mouth extremely wide, and is ushering in the young but adult price he is holding. (From Lambspringk, Figurae et emblemata, in Museaeum hermeticum.) In case this is not enough for giving the horror vibes for the modern reader, next is discussed alchemical presentations of the vagina devorans, where in the same manner another substance wholly absorbs the other: but in these emblematic presentations, this happens in coitus.

The process is likened to yet other extremely interesting correspondences. In the picture on page 335 we are given 15th century symbolism uniting together the familiar – and once again very current, Winter Solstice being in six days – topos of a sea monster swallowing a holy man, and masoning of the cornerstone. This is too long a sidetrack to go through here, unless one is not already familiar with this Christ-allegory, which happens to be also, and even more thoroughly, an Azazel-allegory.

On page 338, Jung lists some more examples of this going through the viscera of a giant being (Jonah's Capricorn-Whale being just one Biblical example), and to his list we should add the Finnish tale of Antero Vipunen (Kalevala chapter XVII), a being inside of which the magician must go through in his search of the magic words.

* * *

In January, brother Nayana will continue with "VI. The Hidden Treasure", the last part of the present chapter 4, and start the chapter 5: "The Lapis-Christ Parallel" with three of its eight alchemical examples: Raymond Lully, Tractatus Aureus, and finally Zosimos and the Doctrine of the Anthropos. The last of these was actually reserved by sodalis obnoxion to go through, but it seems improbable that he will be able to make that presentation as of yet. Maybe we can hear his thoughts about the subject at some later date, after first becoming acquainted with Zosimos by Nayana.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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Re: Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

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VI. The Hidden Treasure

In this chapter, Jung goes through various alchemists' ideas regarding the elusive or hidden treasure within the prima materia. These ideas seem to resemble many lines of thought regarding the spirit within matter, and hence go hand in hand with the objective of alchemy.

First, Jung examines the ideas of Christopherus of Paris, who equals chaos - as prima materia - to the work of most wise nature. To Christopherus, our intellects must transpose chaos to the celestial quintessence and the vivifying essence of heaven, by the means of fervent spirit. Considering the threefold key again, it is likely that the intellect could be linked to manas as a more formless intelligence, able look beyond the material aspect of chaos as massa confusa (unified elements) and thus "extracting" its quintessence.

Somwhat similar, according to the alchemist Johannes Grasseus, materia prima would be the lead of the philosopher, containing a shining white dove within. The dove within lead again suggests spirit within matter. The dove is called "the salt of metals", raising associations with the christian term of the salt of the earth.

Basilius Valentinus draws a rather familar picture. To him, earth isn't an inanimate object. Rather, spirit would live inside of it, and would nourish everything alive within its lap. This spirit comes to earth from the stars, and is described as an mirror image that cannot be touched. The idea of earth receiving spirit from a higher source and enclosing it within itself in order to motherly nourish everything alive raises associations with the moon and magna mater.

A more curious idea comes from the alchemist michael maier: by millions of rotations around the earth, the sun has spun gold within the earth, hence pressing its imagine unto it. The sun is described as an imagine of god (compare this e.g. to the hymn to the prince of countenances), while the heart is the imagine of the sun within man (compare this to the concept of prâna!).

Last but not least, the ideas of Riplaeus are taken into account. Here, fire is linked to the holy spirit, which must be extracted from chaos as prima materia and thus made visible. Fire as wholy spirit would unify father and son, which resembles the function of prâna in between the formal and formless triangles of the key.
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Re: Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

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4. THE LAPIS-CHRIST PARALLEL
I. The Renewal of Life

In this chapter, Jung leans upon the "spirit within matter" aspects of alchemy covered before, and begins to show parallels to christ. Taking up the alchemical story of Arisleus again, who, together with his companions Beya and dead Thabritius is locked up in a tripple glas house by rex marinus, the idea of suffering within the work is underlined. In their distress, they ask their master Pythagoras for help, who in turn sends his discple Harforetus, who is said to be the "Origin of Nourishment". On his arrival, the work is ended and Thabritius comes back to life. Jung links this story to how secret knowledge cannot be aquired except from god himself or from a master, and how none can complete the work except with gods help. In the story, the work appears to be about transformation - Thabritius coming back to life - and the end of suffering caused by his death and the distressing situation.

In the corresponding question of salvation, Jung distinguishes between christians and alchemists. Wheareas the christ would receive the fruits of the mass offering - i.e. the transformed blood and body of christ - for himself, the alchemist would receive it for the perfection of the substance that, stripping alchemy from its material implications, resembles spirit. Correspondingly, the alchemist is not the one to be redeemed, but himself a redeemer of god, looking for the perfection of substance.

Here, Jung introduces an interesting left-hand thought. As the alchemist does not look for his own redemption and instead turns towards the spirit in matter, moral qualities are only relevant to him as long as they further the opus.

However, by reedeming spirit from matter, the alchemist would pick up and actually continue the "imitatio christi". He takes the opus upon himself, creating the lapis and hence redeeming spirit from the state of massa confusa (personal interpretation). Still, Jung upholds that this has not been conscious to the alchemists.

II. Evidence for the Religious Interpretation of the Lapis
a) Raymundus Lullius

Leaving his more general ideas, Jung continues to give several accounts of the religious interpretation of the lapis. In this first, he mentions Raymundus Lullius' Codicillus as a particularly early one. In chapter 9 of this work, one reads:

"And just as Jesus Christ, of the tribe of David, took on human nature for the liberation and redemption of the human race imprisoned in sin because of Adam's disobedience, so in our art as well is absolved, washed and redeemed from defilemend what is unjustly defiled by another that set against it" [as in its opposite; free translation from my german copy]

Here, the lapis, created by the unifcation of opposites, appears to be linked with christ as the incaration of the divine, as he "took on human nature". Christs goal of liberation and redemption of the human race seems to resemble both the alchemists quest for the redemption of spirit in the creation of the lapis as discussed by jung, as well as the properties ascribed to the lapis itself.

b) Tractatus Aureus

with the Tractatus Aureus, Jung mentions an account ascribed to Hermes, even older than the Codicillus and as such unlikely of being influenced by christian myths. It reads:

"Our most valuable stone, thrown on the dung, had become quite cheap. ... But if we marry the crowned king to the red daughter, let her conceive a son in the weak fire, and let her nourish him by our fire.... Then let him be transformed, and let his tincture remain red as flesh. Let our son of royal birth take his tincture from the fire, and let death, darkness and the waters flee away. Let the dragon shun the sunlight, and let our dead son become life. The king would come out of the fire and rejoice in the wedding. The secret treasures would be opened. The son has become a warlike fire and surpasses the tincture, because he himself is the treasure and himself carries the philosophical matter. "Come, ye sons of wisdom, and rejoice; for the reign of death is past, and the Son reigneth, wearing the red robe, and the purple is put upon him. "

Here, we clearly find the ideas of of rebirth (the transformation of the son by the nourishment with "our fire", transmutation of the self ("The son has become a warlike fire and suprasses the [his] tincture), eternal life in the conquering of death, and salvation ("come, ye sons of wisdom, and rejoice").

I found the mention of the "red daughter" particularly interesting, as it arouse the notion of the scarlett woman that would constitute a fitting "opposite" to the crowned King and liken the son to the "defiled" material used in the creation of the lapis. I could imagine the daughter to be an aspect of magna mater here, giving an account of the "defiled" and "cheap" characteristics of matter before purification and redemption.

c) Zosimos and the Doctrine of the Anthropos

As Zosimos' text spans several pages, I here would rather abstain from giving a full quotation. Still, this text has been fascinating - and if you feel that it would contribute or reading and discussions, I am happy to post it later!

Anyway, in Zosimos doctrine, the "first hierarchical word" tyoth (= Toth) would describe the first human, the interpretor of all things and the nominator of all bodily things. Toth is linked to Adam whose name is said to be interpreted as "virgin earth", "bloodred" or "bloody earth", "Fiery earth" and "carnal" earth. (This combination of virgin earth and bloody earth sheds a different light on the red daughter in the tractatus aureus as well).

The body of Toth/Adam is described by the four elements, each one linked to one of the Letters of the word Adam. A is linked to ascension and air, D to the descent caused by "heaviness" (which, in combination with the notions of ascension and air, we could picture as gravity), and M to noon (the middle of the day), the middle of "those bodies" (the ascending and descending one?) and the fire "cooking into the fourth middle zone". In contrast to the now described body, Zosimos mentions an inner, spiritual human which its own distinct name, that only the unlocatable Nikotheos would know. However, Zosimos would know his call name, "Light".

I found it interesting how the bodily form of Toth/Adam - which appears to resemble the lower triangle of the threefold key which its connection to prâna through the "fire cooking into the fourth middle zone" - is contrasted with an inner, spirutual human being called light. Light appears to underline and idealize its spiritual nature, and awakens the notion of "shining threw" the outer shell of the bodily elements once these are cleansed. In turn, this reminds me a lot of the progression of spirit through the sephirot in formal kaballah, which sometimes is pictured as water filling and overflowing several vessels (the sephiroth).

Continuing with Zosimos' text, we find the myth continuing in a way that deeply resembles the myth of azazel and shemyaza. The inner spiritual being dwellt in paradise, where the elements persuaded him to "wear" that "outer" adam consisting of the elements. The inner being, without any "badness" and "effectiveness" (as in able to act; what an interesting point!) listened, and the elements boast that they enslaved the inner being. According to the text, Hesiod called the outer human the tie with which zeus tied prometheus. The outer adam is linked to prometheus brother, epimetheus, who received pandora as wife, who in turn is linked to eve and called another shackle. On this "betrayal" of prometheus by his brother, Zosimos ascribes the following words to spirit:

"The Son of God, who can do everything and becomes everything when he wants, appears to everyone as he wants; Jesus Christ joined Adam and carried him up to where even in the past the so-called light-people were."

I found these words most intriguing. Jesus Christ shows himself as the lapis in his joining of adam/ the outer human, much like the descend of azazel and shemyaza to earth. Unlike azazel however, Christ carries adam back up to heaven, implying the purification of the outer body, whereas in the myth, azazel "falls" for the temptations of the earth/ the outer body. By carring this outer body up to "where the light-people" dwell, i.e. the above of the inner human beings, Christ can be linked to the lapis that turns everything it touches into gold.

Zosimos, however, continues by telling us how the spirit/ the inner being - as far as I figured, the text is a little unclear to me - appears to powerless people as a suffering and beaten up person, which raises associations with the "cheap" stone thrown unto the dung, the suffering during the magnum opus and the life and sacrifice of christ. After stealing the light-beings belonging to him - another quite unclear passage to me - he proved that he was not suffering and that he cast death away from him. He is said to join "those of his kind" both in secret and openly, secretly advicing them through their own spirits "to suffer a confusion of their Adam who is with them, who is beaten away from them and killed, while he is blindly chattering and envious of the spiritual and light man; so they kill their Adams." My personal interpretation of this is as follows - the spiritual inner guides attention away from the bodily adam and its temptations, so that man can be purified redeemed from its inclinations.

Here, Zosimos introduces the antagonist antimimos, jealous of those "killing their own adams", who wants them to go back into the lure of the outer being. To that end, he claims to be the son of god himself, even though he is formless in body and soul, but those who have been more understanding through the true son of god just give him their adams to be killed.

To me, antiminos seems to be an opposite necessary for the creation of the lapis on one hand, and a personification of the "inclinations of the earth" on the other. As I am sure that there is much more to this character, I am most curious to hear your thoughts. Zosimos himself however names antimimos as the "guide" of the earthly Adam/Epimetheus, in contrast to the son of god as guide of the inner human being.

Closing his account, Zosimos appears to criticise those who fail to see the art within or behind the more practical work on the kiln. He mentions the neglect of different ways of life and approaches towards the work, which all seem to point towards the individuality of each approach and the practiciant himself. The text is closed by a reminder that this, in the holy art more even than in other arts, is most important.
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Re: Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

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Nayana wrote: Sun Jan 31, 2021 4:46 pm VI. The Hidden Treasure

To Christopherus, our intellects must transpose chaos to the celestial quintessence and the vivifying essence of heaven, by the means of fervent spirit. Considering the threefold key again, it is likely that the intellect could be linked to manas as a more formless intelligence, able look beyond the material aspect of chaos as massa confusa (unified elements) and thus "extracting" its quintessence.
An interesting way to look at it. It’s the human ability to transcend the chaos, visible in the capability to overcome the overwhelming chaos by seeing the meaning in it with almost paradoxically greater clarity than from the safe harbour of not facing the totality of the ”chaotic” world i.e. the dragon. The intellect as a kind of sailing boat with which one can ride in to the stormy sea, and despite the conditions, when manasic state is reached there’s the greatest calm and view to the stars upon which one navigates with. Riding the waves of chaos has ofcourse alot to do with intuitive thinking, and observing ”the sea” is like recognizing every droplet in the ocean, every larger and smaller wave and the sea itself having the same laya point through which the whole chaotic world of Poseidon becomes one singular dragon, which kind of allows one to not be crushed by it but rather penetrate or be one with it through the laya point in oneself.
Nayana wrote: Sun Jan 31, 2021 4:46 pm Somwhat similar, according to the alchemist Johannes Grasseus, materia prima would be the lead of the philosopher, containing a shining white dove within. The dove within lead again suggests spirit within matter. The dove is called "the salt of metals", raising associations with the christian term of the salt of the earth.
Could we see the second principle – buddhi – emphasised here next to the idea of dove? I’m reminded of symbols where the dove is within a vesica piscis. The intellect within the boat could be specified in to the sharp bows of the boat in its penetrating function while the roundness – the sides are more nurturing, keeping the boat afloat, giving space for the wings of the dove and providing mass of sustenance when the form is seen in plant seeds. All this connecting to the over all nourishing symbolism regarding Magna Mater.
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Nayana wrote: Sun Jan 31, 2021 4:46 pm Last but not least, the ideas of Riplaeus are taken into account. Here, fire is linked to the holy spirit, which must be extracted from chaos as prima materia and thus made visible. Fire as wholy spirit would unify father and son, which resembles the function of prâna in between the formal and formless triangles of the key.
So riding the beast of the sea and doing it also with the gentleness and calm of the Mother-Son (dove as a symbol for the latter) taken in to the sailboat, this fiery work of the Father and the Son could perhaps again link to the laya point recognition, where atma i.e. Will is also a central principle as we are recognizing these different Wills of waves going a bit different directions and the boat having a direction and to keep going all these different wills must be taken in to account and seen through the "one laya point" within them all.
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Re: Reading Circle (Jung: Psychology and Alchemy)

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In this February reading, I will go through pages 373-406 of the English edition, which means the Chapter 5 The Lapis-Christ parallel Part 2 Evidence for the religious interpretation of the Lapis sections d-f. These are: d. Petrus Bonus, e. "Aurora consurgens" and the Doctrine of Sapientia, f. Melchior Cibinensis and the Alchemical Paraphrase of the Mass. Because of the usual plenitude of pictures, the text itself is not very long for any of these.

d. Petrus Bonus
Psychology and Alchemy wrote:The oldest source to treat specifically of the stone's connection with Christ would appear to be a text, Petiosa margarita novella, written by Petrus Bonus of Ferrara between 1330 and 1339 (p.373)

On the same page, we have a usual-looking alchemical emblem of the king, queen, Saturn, and an alembic, from Mylius' classic Philosophia reformata. (Adam McLean's wonderful store of alchemical pictures gives the same here.)

What strikes me here is the Saturn on the same level with the alchemical vessel with three successive chambers, which is exactly the same as given in a book on architecture I studied the last night, "A Pattern Language". Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to speak more of this great book some time in the future. In brief, it is a massive project of awarded architects to renew city culture as a whole. An astoundingly brave and long-reaching visionary project of detailed precision.

But it just happened that we have the Saturn as the gate keeper and the initiator in these both forms of religious passage. It reminds me of what sodalis obnoxion has often pointed out: that creativity, creation itself, springs from restrictions. The man of the modern times is prohibited by his freedom exactly, he feels exhausted and in ennui because for him apparently everything is possible. Saturn helps one to get over this exhausted state of sloth and depression, by forcing the process to one direction of depth, in spiritually vertical position.


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The chambered progression given in the Pattern Langauge (p.333-334) discards utility to emphasize depth. In alchemist's paraphernalia, these two necessarily meet, but the symbolism still stands, and brings the process the full circle: what is symbolically internal comes to serve that which is external. This is the process of aetheric transsubstantiation, or tantra: depth does no compromises, but instead takes into its Work the process of the outer world. As we see, we are once again in that precious paradox, which always brands true occultism, holistic above all. By turning inside to the path of inner remanation, the alchemist sublimates his being in the anguishes of Saturn. What rises in him is Mercury, but what elevates it is, above all, Saturn. The three stages are the triple key of Black, Red, White, plus the innermost Holy of Holies, which depicts the Moon-Sun (union and) reversal.

But let us return to Jung, for he – or rather, [a different] Alexander whom he cites – gives us the key what is the turning point of this process of going forth by Saturnine night:

Psychology and Alchemy wrote:there are two categories: seeing through the eye and understanding through the heart. (p.374)

These are the aspects of Eye (kâma manas or reason) and White (Venereal manas). Transfiguration is to be done by following Christ's transfiguration from the former to the latter. This means, of course, the emphasis: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:21) This brings about "unbelievable subtilization" (subtilitatem fere incredibilem), where one's linga sharîra will assume the Eidolonic union with buddhi, resulting in Augoeides (wordings mine).

Some time ago I mentioned here the closeness if not sameness of Rosicrucianism with alchemy, in regards to this metamorphosis of aetheric man. The same can be read between the lines here:

Psychology and Alchemy wrote:This text (...) shows beyond all doubt that the connection between the mystery of Christ and the mystery of the lapis was even then so obvious that the philosophical opus seemed like a parallel and imitation – perhaps even a continuation – of the divine work of redemption. (p.375)

In case we would rather like to remain on the lines themselves, what Jung says seems to be almost tautological. He must have been familiar with the idea of the "rejected cornerstone", which was older than Christianity itself, and connected to the Messianic line of David. The idea of the Stone-Christ or the Messiah in the form of the Stone is given in clear words repeatedly even in the exoterical Bible. So Jung seems to be coming to the mystery from its wrong end, in case he wants to raise questions about the historical symbol of the lapis-Christ.

* * *

e. "Aurora consurgens" and the Doctrine of Sapientia

In this part, Jung discusses several symbols used in the Aurora consurgens treatise, mostly its namesake feminine perfection in the form of the Sun-clad woman. (Strangely enough, he does not allude to this emblem in Revelation directly.) 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. Some interesting parts are found from the footnotes, like the non-human Gnostic Christ from the footnote 110, and the following very occult & tantric idea from the footnote 113:

Psychology and Alchemy wrote:"Totes ergo reiterandum est coelum super terram, donec terra fiat coelestis et spiritualis, et coelum fiat terrestre, et iungetur cum terra, tun completum est opus." (So many times must the heaven above the earth be reproduced, until the earth becomes heavenly and spiritual, and heaven becomes earthly, and is joined to the earth; the the work will be finished.) (page. 381)

(It is also funny to note the word iungetur to be used here, so our author's name is used in this very Azazelian dharma of bridging together two worlds. In Latin, as we know, letters I & J are the same, so the verb root "jung-" also literally becomes a word with which to join the apparently opposite worlds of spirit and matter. One of these endless, sympathic synchronisms.)

It is also mentioned that the winged sphere or aurum aurae is "the end-product of the opus". A hexagram is drawn to this winged sphere, which even more brings to mind the cover of the Esoteric Instructions, holding a similar sigil.

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."

On page 392 one can again come to important doctrines of kâma manas and manas, of course with the different nomenclature here. The first is the "first Adam", and the second the "second Adam". This latter is "homo philosophicus", of which the alchemists spoke in very similar terms that we do about this manas-Ego, the inner Master:

Psychology and Alchemy wrote:The homo philosophicus appears to have two meanings: he is the "One," i.e., the tincture or elixir of life, but he is also the everlasting inner man, identical or at least connected with the Anthropos (p.392)

When on the page 394 Aurora consurgens is cited about "making of the three tabernacles", we can remember the three chambers mentioned in part d, plus the words of one Saturnian archetype, Peter, in Matthew 17:4, on the mount of transfiguration. This seems to escape the notice of Jung; instead, he is intrested of the Arabic roots of the text.

About the picture on page 395 we might notice an interesting detail, only half mentioned by the author. The "laffer which is no longer needed" is, in a way, discarded, but it also has come to form the lowest side of the abstract square, held by Hermes and a "frater and soror". Thus that which has been left out in very Wittgensteinian way has also come as a gateway and a challenge for the next generation of aspirants. Thus is formed "the golden chain".

* * *

f. Melchior Cibinensis and the Alchemical Paraphrase of the Mass

Lastly, we have something very modern-seeming, namely, Nicholas Melchior's personalization of the liturgy of mass, to liken it with the alchemcial process, and to bless the alchemist's Work. The modern it is not, though, but comes from the beginning of the sixteenth century.

What we have here are some very interesting and indeed directly useful Latin mass variations. For example:

Psychology and Alchemy wrote:INTROITUS MISSAE: Fundamentum vero artis est corporum solutio. (The basis of the Art is the dissolution of the bodies.)
(...)
KYRIE, IGNIS DIVINE, pectora nostra juva, ut pro tua laude pariter sacramenta artis expandere possimus, Eleison. (Our Lord, divine fire, help our hearts, that we may be able, to your praise, to expand the sacraments of the art, have mercy). (p.397)

At the end of this section Jung gives surprisingly hard criticism to poor Melchior:

Psychology and Alchemy wrote:Apart from its bad taste the text is highly illuminating for our theme. Melchior obviously recognized the analogy between the two opera and naïvely substituted the individual opus, in all its poverty, for the time-honoured words of the Mass.(p.406)

With "bad taste", Jung might have meant how the seemingly political word "Turk" is used in the liturgy, to pray protection from the said enemy (p.397)? In that case, the accusation is obviously baseless, as can be noted not further away than from page 403, where it is discussed how an "Ethiopian" is in important part of the alchemical process: these apparently human characters are just symbols for the stages of the work. The alchemical jargon is always coded.

But Jung must have taken this into account. So either he just did not like Melchior's style (not a likely reason, because not any obvious failures in this regard are given), or, he actually is experiencing an interesting jealousy concerning the mysticism of the Christian mass. This, which seems to be the most likely explanation, weird though it is as we have come to see Jung's very unorthodox views on Christianity, would be also very interesting. For it was almost customary in those times to use the mass also in magical operations. It seems that we are here seeing a rare elitist aspect of Jung, who feels offended when the deep mystery of transsubstatiation is removed from its approvedly mystic context to the individual and magical one.

So we have a funny view to a very Right Hand Path Jung for a change! This is very understandable, as we remember that Jung was, for example, not eager to publish his Septem sermones ad mortuos, or Liber Novus, despite of their great aesthetical beauty. Unlike the (other) modern esotericists who usually publish anything they (/us) come up in a heartbeat, Jung was more of a traditionalist in this regard. Even though he emphasized the meaning of the personal, he emphasized it for that individual's personal need: but as we herein see, he did not take it to be with the equal importance with that had been already established and "time-honoured". This is quite important distinction, in my opinion, for a modern occultist.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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