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| aker:collected_works:cw13 [2015/10/15 13:43] – janus | collected_works:cw13 [2017/02/14 05:08] – ↷ Links adapted because of a move operation janus |
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| §15 "Nonetheless, it was impossible not to feel the clash of opposites, so they sought a way of life in which they would be what the Indians call //nirdvandva//, free of opposites." | §15 "Nonetheless, it was impossible not to feel the clash of opposites, so they sought a way of life in which they would be what the Indians call //nirdvandva//, free of opposites." |
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| [[aker:Death|Ω]] §41 "He took this being to be the "entelechy" of the Aristotle and the "inner Christ" of the apostle Paul, the "spiritual and substantial individuality engendered within the physical and phenomenal personality, and representing, therefore, the rebirth of the man on a plane transcending the material." | [[:death|Ω]] §41 "He took this being to be the "entelechy" of the Aristotle and the "inner Christ" of the apostle Paul, the "spiritual and substantial individuality engendered within the physical and phenomenal personality, and representing, therefore, the rebirth of the man on a plane transcending the material." |
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| §60 "On a low level the animus is an inferior Logos, a caricature of the differentiated masculine mind, just as on a low level the anima is a caricature of the feminine Eros." | §60 "On a low level the animus is an inferior Logos, a caricature of the differentiated masculine mind, just as on a low level the anima is a caricature of the feminine Eros." |
| §62 "I have defined the anima as a personification of the unconscious in general, and have taken it as a bridge to the unconscious, in other words, as a function of relationship to the unconscious." | §62 "I have defined the anima as a personification of the unconscious in general, and have taken it as a bridge to the unconscious, in other words, as a function of relationship to the unconscious." |
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| [[aker:Death|Ω]] §68 "Death is psychologically as important as birth, and, like it, is an integral part of life." | [[:death|Ω]] §68 "Death is psychologically as important as birth, and, like it, is an integral part of life." |
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| [[aker:Death|Ω]] §68 "As a doctor, I make every effort to strengthen the belief in immortality, especially with the older patients when such questions come threateningly close. For, seen in correct psychological perspective, death is not an end but a goal, and life's inclination towards death begins as soon as the meridian is passed." | [[:death|Ω]] §68 "As a doctor, I make every effort to strengthen the belief in immortality, especially with the older patients when such questions come threateningly close. For, seen in correct psychological perspective, death is not an end but a goal, and life's inclination towards death begins as soon as the meridian is passed." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §71 "for all religions are therapies for the sorrows and disorders of the soul." | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §71 "for all religions are therapies for the sorrows and disorders of the soul." |
| <fc green> //Just out of curiosity, notice that he does not say 'in which the ego is "contained"', as he said earlier at the end of §75 "As I see it, the psyche is a world in which the ego is contained." I may be splitting hairs here, but the subtle differences seem to me to leave just enough room for interpretation by the reader as the categorical definition is not there really, as it shouldn't be. The ego is included but not 'contained' in this last explanation, but included in as though it may too be of its own existence and invited to the party so to speak.// </fc> | <fc green> //Just out of curiosity, notice that he does not say 'in which the ego is "contained"', as he said earlier at the end of §75 "As I see it, the psyche is a world in which the ego is contained." I may be splitting hairs here, but the subtle differences seem to me to leave just enough room for interpretation by the reader as the categorical definition is not there really, as it shouldn't be. The ego is included but not 'contained' in this last explanation, but included in as though it may too be of its own existence and invited to the party so to speak.// </fc> |
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| [[aker:Death|Ω]] §76, footnote 2 "To a primitive mind, there is nothing disturbing in this odd mixture of the physical and the spiritual, because life and death are by no means the complete opposites they are for us." | [[:death|Ω]] §76, footnote 2 "To a primitive mind, there is nothing disturbing in this odd mixture of the physical and the spiritual, because life and death are by no means the complete opposites they are for us." |
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| [[aker:Death|Ω]] §76, footnote 2 "It is characteristic of Western man that he has split apart the physical and the spiritual for the epistemological purposes. But these opposites exist together in the psyche and psychology must recognise this fact. "Psychic" means physical //and// spiritual. The ideas in our text all deal with this "intermediate" world which seems unclear and confused because the concept of psychic reality is not yet current among us, although it expresses life as it actually is." | [[:death|Ω]] §76, footnote 2 "It is characteristic of Western man that he has split apart the physical and the spiritual for the epistemological purposes. But these opposites exist together in the psyche and psychology must recognise this fact. "Psychic" means physical //and// spiritual. The ideas in our text all deal with this "intermediate" world which seems unclear and confused because the concept of psychic reality is not yet current among us, although it expresses life as it actually is." |
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| [[aker:Death|Ω]] <fc green> //Jung is talking about metaphysical assertions here in the context of west meets east and the metaphysical language embraced and used by the east in their philosophy. That as a westerner, we are not adept to grasping the metaphysical without firstly understanding the psychological. Only then may the metaphysical concepts, ideas and 'realities' [my words] touch us and become known to us. I find this interesting though in that he relates physical and spiritual with life and death in the primitive mind. I enjoy this as life and death are not different to the psyche, to the unconscious.// </fc> | [[:death|Ω]] <fc green> //Jung is talking about metaphysical assertions here in the context of west meets east and the metaphysical language embraced and used by the east in their philosophy. That as a westerner, we are not adept to grasping the metaphysical without firstly understanding the psychological. Only then may the metaphysical concepts, ideas and 'realities' [my words] touch us and become known to us. I find this interesting though in that he relates physical and spiritual with life and death in the primitive mind. I enjoy this as life and death are not different to the psyche, to the unconscious.// </fc> |
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| [[aker:Death|Ω]] §78 "This remarkable experience seems to me a consequence of detachment of consciousness, thanks to which the subjective "I live" becomes the objective "It lives me". This state is felt to be higher than the previous one; it is really like a sort of release from the compulsion and impossible responsibility that are the inevitable results of //participation mystique//." | [[:death|Ω]] §78 "This remarkable experience seems to me a consequence of detachment of consciousness, thanks to which the subjective "I live" becomes the objective "It lives me". This state is felt to be higher than the previous one; it is really like a sort of release from the compulsion and impossible responsibility that are the inevitable results of //participation mystique//." |
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| [[aker:Death|Ω]] <fc green> //Jung is talking here of the release of consciousness in the context of a religious experience but to my mind no less valuable or viable rather when your 'church' is say something like extreme sports where a release of consciousness is possible - an ego death. It is handing over to the unconscious in a way, to the objectives of the Self. This is not possible for long periods of time though, in itself it is not possible at all. But, it is an alignment with the Self, a resonance with the objectives of your Self that bring about this imbued experience of conscious release to something more powerful.// </fc> | [[:death|Ω]] <fc green> //Jung is talking here of the release of consciousness in the context of a religious experience but to my mind no less valuable or viable rather when your 'church' is say something like extreme sports where a release of consciousness is possible - an ego death. It is handing over to the unconscious in a way, to the objectives of the Self. This is not possible for long periods of time though, in itself it is not possible at all. But, it is an alignment with the Self, a resonance with the objectives of your Self that bring about this imbued experience of conscious release to something more powerful.// </fc> |
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| [[#top|back to top]] | [[#top|back to top]] |
| §101 "As is clear from the context, the //rotundum// is identical with the //aqua permanens// " [cf para.89 above, and §87 (III,i,4)] | §101 "As is clear from the context, the //rotundum// is identical with the //aqua permanens// " [cf para.89 above, and §87 (III,i,4)] |
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| [[aker:Death|Ω]] §104 "In the divine water, whose dyophysite nature is constantly emphasized, two principles balance one another, active and passive, masculine and feminine, //which constitute the essence of creative power in the eternal cycle of birth and death. This cycle was represented in ancient alchemy by the symbol of the uroboros//..." (italics mine) | [[:death|Ω]] §104 "In the divine water, whose dyophysite nature is constantly emphasized, two principles balance one another, active and passive, masculine and feminine, //which constitute the essence of creative power in the eternal cycle of birth and death. This cycle was represented in ancient alchemy by the symbol of the uroboros//..." (italics mine) |
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| §105 "In the divine water, whose dyophysite nature <Greek text here><fc red><sup>60</sup></fc> is constantly emphasised, two principles balance one another, active and passive, masculine and feminine, which constitute the essence of creative power in the eternal cycle of birth and death.<fc red><sup>61</sup></fc> This cycle was represented in ancient alchemy by the symbol of the uroboros, the dragon that bites its own tail.<fc red><sup>62</sup></fc> Self-devouring is the same as self-destruction,<fc red><sup>63</sup></fc> but the union of the dragon's tail and mouth was also thought of as self-fertilisation."\\ <fc red><sup>60</sup></fc> <sub>It shares this quality with Mercurius duplex.</sub> | §105 "In the divine water, whose dyophysite nature <Greek text here><fc red><sup>60</sup></fc> is constantly emphasised, two principles balance one another, active and passive, masculine and feminine, which constitute the essence of creative power in the eternal cycle of birth and death.<fc red><sup>61</sup></fc> This cycle was represented in ancient alchemy by the symbol of the uroboros, the dragon that bites its own tail.<fc red><sup>62</sup></fc> Self-devouring is the same as self-destruction,<fc red><sup>63</sup></fc> but the union of the dragon's tail and mouth was also thought of as self-fertilisation."\\ <fc red><sup>60</sup></fc> <sub>It shares this quality with Mercurius duplex.</sub> |
| §134 "Psychological research has shown that the historical or ethnological symbols are identical with those spontaneously produced by the unconscious, and that the lapis represents the idea of a transcendent totality which coincides with what analytical psychology calls the self." | §134 "Psychological research has shown that the historical or ethnological symbols are identical with those spontaneously produced by the unconscious, and that the lapis represents the idea of a transcendent totality which coincides with what analytical psychology calls the self." |
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| [[aker:Death|Ω]] §135 "Since the long sought water, as we have shown, represents a cycle of birth and death, every process that consists of death and rebirth is naturally a symbol of the divine water." | [[:death|Ω]] §135 "Since the long sought water, as we have shown, represents a cycle of birth and death, every process that consists of death and rebirth is naturally a symbol of the divine water." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §139 "The drama shows how the divine process of change manifests itself to our human understanding and how man experiences it - as punishment, torment,<fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> death, and transfiguration."\\ <fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> <sub>....In medieval alchemy the torturing of the materia was an allegory of Christ's passion ...</sub> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §139 "The drama shows how the divine process of change manifests itself to our human understanding and how man experiences it - as punishment, torment,<fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> death, and transfiguration."\\ <fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> <sub>....In medieval alchemy the torturing of the materia was an allegory of Christ's passion ...</sub> |
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| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §140 "The mystical side of alchemy, as distinct from its historical aspect, is essentially a psychological problem. To all appearances, it is a concretisation, in projected and symbolic form, of the process of individuation." | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §140 "The mystical side of alchemy, as distinct from its historical aspect, is essentially a psychological problem. To all appearances, it is a concretisation, in projected and symbolic form, of the process of individuation." |
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| §141 "...from which it is clearly seen that knowledge of the light in man //must emerge in the first place// from within and cannot be placed there from without..."\\ <fc green>Italics mine</fc> | §141 "...from which it is clearly seen that knowledge of the light in man //must emerge in the first place// from within and cannot be placed there from without..."\\ <fc green>Italics mine</fc> |
| §156 <fc green>//Jung goes on here about Paracelsus being lost and a little naive in the arts of magic...worth a read, and not worth re-writing the whole paragraph.//</fc> | §156 <fc green>//Jung goes on here about Paracelsus being lost and a little naive in the arts of magic...worth a read, and not worth re-writing the whole paragraph.//</fc> |
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| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §157 "With the triumph of Christianity under Constantine the old pagan ideas did not vanish but lived on in the strange arcane terminology of philosophical alchemy. Its chief figure was Hermes or Mercurius, in his dual significance as quicksilver and the world soul, with his companion figures Sol (= gold) and Luna (= silver). The alchemical operation consisted essentially in separating the prima materia, the so-called chaos, into the active principle, the soul, and the passive principle, the body, which were then reunited in personified form in the //coniunctio// or "chymical marriage." In other words, the //coniunctio// was allegorised as the hierosgamos, the ritual cohabitation of Sol and Luna. From this union sprang the //filius sapientiae// or //filius philosophorum//, the transformed Mercurius, who was thought of as hermaphroditic in token of his rounded perfection. [Cf. fig. B2]"\\ <fc green> [[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=filius&la=la|filius]] = child of, a son, [[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=sapientiae&la=la|sapientiae]] = good taste, good sense, discernment, discretion, prudence, intelligence, forethought, sedes sapientiae = [[wp>throne of wisdom|throne of wisdom]]. //Philosophorum// = philosophy.\\ The image/figure Jung is cross referencing is shown below, it's on p153.</fc> | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §157 "With the triumph of Christianity under Constantine the old pagan ideas did not vanish but lived on in the strange arcane terminology of philosophical alchemy. Its chief figure was Hermes or Mercurius, in his dual significance as quicksilver and the world soul, with his companion figures Sol (= gold) and Luna (= silver). The alchemical operation consisted essentially in separating the prima materia, the so-called chaos, into the active principle, the soul, and the passive principle, the body, which were then reunited in personified form in the //coniunctio// or "chymical marriage." In other words, the //coniunctio// was allegorised as the hierosgamos, the ritual cohabitation of Sol and Luna. From this union sprang the //filius sapientiae// or //filius philosophorum//, the transformed Mercurius, who was thought of as hermaphroditic in token of his rounded perfection. [Cf. fig. B2]"\\ <fc green> [[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=filius&la=la|filius]] = child of, a son, [[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=sapientiae&la=la|sapientiae]] = good taste, good sense, discernment, discretion, prudence, intelligence, forethought, sedes sapientiae = [[wp>throne of wisdom|throne of wisdom]]. //Philosophorum// = philosophy.\\ The image/figure Jung is cross referencing is shown below, it's on p153.</fc> |
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| {{:aker:collected_works:alchemierosarium.gif?240|}} | {{collected_works:alchemierosarium.gif?240|}} |
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| §158 "...the whole of his philosophy in so far as it is not Cabalistic. It is evident from his writings that he had a considerable knowledge of Hermitic literature.<fc red><sup>29</sup></fc>"\\ <fc green>Hermetic = of or relating to an ancient occult tradition encompassing alchemy, astrology, and theosophy.</fc> | §158 "...the whole of his philosophy in so far as it is not Cabalistic. It is evident from his writings that he had a considerable knowledge of Hermitic literature.<fc red><sup>29</sup></fc>"\\ <fc green>Hermetic = of or relating to an ancient occult tradition encompassing alchemy, astrology, and theosophy.</fc> |
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| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §158 "... the //Aurora consurgens// (a treatise falsely ascribed to St. Thomas Aquinas) on account of its "blasphemous character"..."\\ <fc green>I write this here as I think it interesting that, at least at the time of Jung writing this, he does not attribute the //Aurora Consurgens// to St. Thomas Aquinas. Whereas, in reading [[aker:books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche|Transformation of the Psyche]] we find the authors agreeing with Marie Louise Von Franz that it was most likely an expulsion of unconscious content by Aquinas in his last days, perhaps when he was ill towards the end of his life and perhaps going a bit nuts.</fc> | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §158 "... the //Aurora consurgens// (a treatise falsely ascribed to St. Thomas Aquinas) on account of its "blasphemous character"..."\\ <fc green>I write this here as I think it interesting that, at least at the time of Jung writing this, he does not attribute the //Aurora Consurgens// to St. Thomas Aquinas. Whereas, in reading [[books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche|Transformation of the Psyche]] we find the authors agreeing with Marie Louise Von Franz that it was most likely an expulsion of unconscious content by Aquinas in his last days, perhaps when he was ill towards the end of his life and perhaps going a bit nuts.</fc> |
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| ~~SEARCHPATTERN#'/(.*p149 \s*([^\n\r]+).*)/i'?? +aker:books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche _sprender $quote ??~~ | ~~SEARCHPATTERN#'/(.*p149 \s*([^\n\r]+).*)/i'?? +aker:books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche _sprender $quote ??~~ |
| §168 "For Paracelsus the Primordial Man (Adam Kadmon) was identical with the "astral" man: "The true man is the star in us.".<fc red><sup>55</sup></fc>""\\ <fc green>Parenthesis mine</fc> | §168 "For Paracelsus the Primordial Man (Adam Kadmon) was identical with the "astral" man: "The true man is the star in us.".<fc red><sup>55</sup></fc>""\\ <fc green>Parenthesis mine</fc> |
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| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §171 "The idea that the art can make something higher than nature is typically alchemical." | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §171 "The idea that the art can make something higher than nature is typically alchemical." |
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| §173 "Paracelsus does not fail to point out to his reader that this fire is not the same as the fire in the furnace. This fire, he says, contains nothing more of the "Salamandrine Essence or Melusinian Ares," but is rather a "//retorta distillatio// from the midst of the centre, beyond all coal fire." Since Melusina is a watery creature, the "Melusinian Ares" refers to the so-called "Aquaster." which stands for the watery aspect of the Iliaster, i.e., the Iliaster which animates and preserves the liquids in the body."\\ <fc green>The [[wp>Splendor Solis|Splendor Solis]], and the image above from the Rosarium. cRef §179pp. Its worth noting too that Hera gave the Sirens wings to find Persephone. Ares is the god of war (= Mars). The Salamander symbolises the fire of the alchemists (cRef §177 below), it was said to live in fire. The Salamander is also the "incombustible sulphur" - another name for the arcane substance from which the lapis or //filius// is produced. Read further in §178.</fc> | §173 "Paracelsus does not fail to point out to his reader that this fire is not the same as the fire in the furnace. This fire, he says, contains nothing more of the "Salamandrine Essence or Melusinian Ares," but is rather a "//retorta distillatio// from the midst of the centre, beyond all coal fire." Since Melusina is a watery creature, the "Melusinian Ares" refers to the so-called "Aquaster." which stands for the watery aspect of the Iliaster, i.e., the Iliaster which animates and preserves the liquids in the body."\\ <fc green>The [[wp>Splendor Solis|Splendor Solis]], and the image above from the Rosarium. cRef §179pp. Its worth noting too that Hera gave the Sirens wings to find Persephone. Ares is the god of war (= Mars). The Salamander symbolises the fire of the alchemists (cRef §177 below), it was said to live in fire. The Salamander is also the "incombustible sulphur" - another name for the arcane substance from which the lapis or //filius// is produced. Read further in §178.</fc> |
| §177 "The salamander symbolises the fire of the alchemists. ...The salamander is also the "incombustible sulphur" - another name for the arcane substance from which the lapis of //filius// is produced. The fire for heating the artifex contains nothing more of the nature of the salamander, which is an immature, transitional form of the //filius//, that incorruptible being whose symbols indicate the self." | §177 "The salamander symbolises the fire of the alchemists. ...The salamander is also the "incombustible sulphur" - another name for the arcane substance from which the lapis of //filius// is produced. The fire for heating the artifex contains nothing more of the nature of the salamander, which is an immature, transitional form of the //filius//, that incorruptible being whose symbols indicate the self." |
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| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §178 "It is characteristic of Paracelsan thinking, and of alchemy in general, that there are no clear-cut concepts, so that one concept can take the place of another //ad infinitum//." | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §178 "It is characteristic of Paracelsan thinking, and of alchemy in general, that there are no clear-cut concepts, so that one concept can take the place of another //ad infinitum//." |
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| <fc green>The [[wp>Basilisk|Basilisk]] is very interesting. The king of snakes said to be able to kill with its stair as well as its venom. It is sometimes depicted with crown, it is said to have had a crown shaped crest or mitre on its head. Agrippa wrote that the basilisk "is always, and cannot but be a male, as the more proper receptacle of venome and destructive qualities."</fc> | <fc green>The [[wp>Basilisk|Basilisk]] is very interesting. The king of snakes said to be able to kill with its stair as well as its venom. It is sometimes depicted with crown, it is said to have had a crown shaped crest or mitre on its head. Agrippa wrote that the basilisk "is always, and cannot but be a male, as the more proper receptacle of venome and destructive qualities."</fc> |
| §180 "For anyone familiar with the subliminal processes of psychic transformation, Melusina is clearly an anima figure. She appears as a variant of the mercurial serpent, which was sometimes represented in the form of a snake-woman by way of expressing the monstrous, double nature of Mercurius. The redemption of this monstrosity was depicted as the assumption and coronation of the Virgin Mary." | §180 "For anyone familiar with the subliminal processes of psychic transformation, Melusina is clearly an anima figure. She appears as a variant of the mercurial serpent, which was sometimes represented in the form of a snake-woman by way of expressing the monstrous, double nature of Mercurius. The redemption of this monstrosity was depicted as the assumption and coronation of the Virgin Mary." |
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| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §183 "And of the worthless prima materia they [the alchemists] say: "Despise not the ash, for it is the diadem of they heart, and the ash of things that endure.""\\ <fc green>Square brackets mine</fc> | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §183 "And of the worthless prima materia they [the alchemists] say: "Despise not the ash, for it is the diadem of they heart, and the ash of things that endure.""\\ <fc green>Square brackets mine</fc> |
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| <fc green>The //filius regius// = Kings Son, or //Rex marinus// seems to me to be very important and linked to the Melusina, who is a variant of the mercurial serpent, also the Arcane Substance, see §177 pp. above."</fc> | <fc green>The //filius regius// = Kings Son, or //Rex marinus// seems to me to be very important and linked to the Melusina, who is a variant of the mercurial serpent, also the Arcane Substance, see §177 pp. above."</fc> |
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| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §187 "When this is purified by the fire in the sun,<fc red><sup>77</sup></fc> the pure water<fc red><sup>78</sup></fc> comes forth, and, having returned to simplicity,<fc red><sup>79</sup></fc> it [the quaternity as unity] will show the adept the fulfilment of the mysteries."\\ <fc red><sup>77</sup></fc> <sub>The sun is the birthplace of the "spiritual fire," mentioned above. Light symbols always refer psychologically to consciousness or to a content that is becoming conscious.</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>78</sup></fc> <sub>The //aqua pura// is the //aqua permanens// of the Latin and Arabic alchemists and the <greek test here> of the Greeks. It is the //spiritus mercurialis// in water form, which in turn serves to extract the "soul" of the substance. The //spiritus mercurialis// corresponds to the spiritual fire, hence //aqua// = //ignis//. **Although these terms are used indiscriminately, they are not the same, since fire is active, spiritual, emotional, close to consciousness, whereas water is passive, material, cool, and of the nature of the unconscious. Both are necessary to the alchemical process since this is concerned with the union of opposites.** Cf. //[[aker:collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]//, Fig. 4.</sub> | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §187 "When this is purified by the fire in the sun,<fc red><sup>77</sup></fc> the pure water<fc red><sup>78</sup></fc> comes forth, and, having returned to simplicity,<fc red><sup>79</sup></fc> it [the quaternity as unity] will show the adept the fulfilment of the mysteries."\\ <fc red><sup>77</sup></fc> <sub>The sun is the birthplace of the "spiritual fire," mentioned above. Light symbols always refer psychologically to consciousness or to a content that is becoming conscious.</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>78</sup></fc> <sub>The //aqua pura// is the //aqua permanens// of the Latin and Arabic alchemists and the <greek test here> of the Greeks. It is the //spiritus mercurialis// in water form, which in turn serves to extract the "soul" of the substance. The //spiritus mercurialis// corresponds to the spiritual fire, hence //aqua// = //ignis//. **Although these terms are used indiscriminately, they are not the same, since fire is active, spiritual, emotional, close to consciousness, whereas water is passive, material, cool, and of the nature of the unconscious. Both are necessary to the alchemical process since this is concerned with the union of opposites.** Cf. //[[collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]//, Fig. 4.</sub> |
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| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §187 "In these relations between four, three, two, and one is found, says Dorn, the "culmination of all knowledge and of the mystic art, and the infallible midpoint of the centre (//infallibile medii centrum//)."<fc red><sup>80</sup></fc> The One is the midpoint of the circle, the centre of the triad, and it is also the "novenary foetus" (//foetus novenarius//), i.e., it is as the number nine to the ogdoad, or as the quintessence to the quaternity.<fc red><sup>81</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>81</sup></fc> <sub>Dorn, "Duellum animi cum corpore," //Theatr. chem.//, I (1659), p. 482. This number symbolism refers to the axiom of Maria: "One becomes Two, Two becomes Three, and out of the Third comes One as the Fourth" (Berthelot, //Alch. grecs//, VI, v, 6). This axiom runs through the whole of alchemy, and is not unconnected with the Christian speculations regarding the Trinity. Cf. my "Psychology and Religion," p. 60, and "A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity, " pp. 164ff.</sub>\\ <fc green> [[wp>Theatrum Chemicum|Theatrum Chemicum]] (= //Theatr. chem.// ). </fc> | [[:alchemy|Δ]] [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §187 "In these relations between four, three, two, and one is found, says Dorn, the "culmination of all knowledge and of the mystic art, and the infallible midpoint of the centre (//infallibile medii centrum//)."<fc red><sup>80</sup></fc> The One is the midpoint of the circle, the centre of the triad, and it is also the "novenary foetus" (//foetus novenarius//), i.e., it is as the number nine to the ogdoad, or as the quintessence to the quaternity.<fc red><sup>81</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>81</sup></fc> <sub>Dorn, "Duellum animi cum corpore," //Theatr. chem.//, I (1659), p. 482. This number symbolism refers to the axiom of Maria: "One becomes Two, Two becomes Three, and out of the Third comes One as the Fourth" (Berthelot, //Alch. grecs//, VI, v, 6). This axiom runs through the whole of alchemy, and is not unconnected with the Christian speculations regarding the Trinity. Cf. my "Psychology and Religion," p. 60, and "A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity, " pp. 164ff.</sub>\\ <fc green> [[wp>Theatrum Chemicum|Theatrum Chemicum]] (= //Theatr. chem.// ). </fc> |
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| [[malefic:paper1|Λ]] §195 "And as a matter of fact he was right, for the human soul is not something cut off from nature. It is a natural phenomenon like any other, and its problems are just as important as the questions and riddles which are presented by the diseases of the body. Moreover there is scarcely a disease of the body in which psychic factors do not play a part, just as physical ones have to be considered in many psychogenic disturbances." | [[malefic:paper1|Λ]] §195 "And as a matter of fact he was right, for the human soul is not something cut off from nature. It is a natural phenomenon like any other, and its problems are just as important as the questions and riddles which are presented by the diseases of the body. Moreover there is scarcely a disease of the body in which psychic factors do not play a part, just as physical ones have to be considered in many psychogenic disturbances." |
| §197 "The light from above made the darkness still darker' but the //lumen naturae// is the light of the darkness itself, which illuminates its own darkness, and this light the darkness comprehends." | §197 "The light from above made the darkness still darker' but the //lumen naturae// is the light of the darkness itself, which illuminates its own darkness, and this light the darkness comprehends." |
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| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §198 "Not separation of the natures but union of the natures was the goal of alchemy."\\ <fc green>This is in the context of Nature, and the //lumen naturae//. The rest of the paragraph is a good read on the nature of Nature, and Nature worship in some way.</fc>\\ ..."It strives not for isolation but for union, for the wedding feast followed by death and rebirth."<fc green>...I like that, it continues...</fc>"Paracelsus's "exaltation in May" is this marriage, the "gamonymus" or hierosgamos of light and darkness in the shape of Sol and Luna. Here the opposites unite what the light from above had sternly divided."\\ <fc green>gamo- [ Gr. gamos, marriage ]\\ heiro- [ Gr. hieros, holy ]</fc> | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §198 "Not separation of the natures but union of the natures was the goal of alchemy."\\ <fc green>This is in the context of Nature, and the //lumen naturae//. The rest of the paragraph is a good read on the nature of Nature, and Nature worship in some way.</fc>\\ ..."It strives not for isolation but for union, for the wedding feast followed by death and rebirth."<fc green>...I like that, it continues...</fc>"Paracelsus's "exaltation in May" is this marriage, the "gamonymus" or hierosgamos of light and darkness in the shape of Sol and Luna. Here the opposites unite what the light from above had sternly divided."\\ <fc green>gamo- [ Gr. gamos, marriage ]\\ heiro- [ Gr. hieros, holy ]</fc> |
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| §199 "Here only the symbol helps, for, in accordance with its paradoxical nature, it represents the "tertium" that in logic does not exist, but which in reality is the living truth." | §199 "Here only the symbol helps, for, in accordance with its paradoxical nature, it represents the "tertium" that in logic does not exist, but which in reality is the living truth." |
| [[malefic:paper1|Λ]] [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §210 "I do not know how many or how few people today can imagine what "coming to terms with the unconscious" means. ....It is on the one hand an endeavour to understand the archetypal world of the psyche, on the other hand a struggle against the sanit-threatening danger of fascination by the measureless heights and depths and paradoxes of psychic truth. The denser, concretistic, daytime mind here reaches its limits; for the "Cedurini" (Paracelsus), the "men of crasser temperament" (Dorn), there is no way into "the untrodden, the untreadable regions" - "and in this place," says Paracelsus, "the Aquaster does not break in" (the damp soul that is akin to matter). Here the human mind is confronted with its origins, the archetypes; the finite consciousness with its archaic foundations; the mortal ego with the immortal self, Anthropos, purusha, atman, or whatever else be the names that human speculation has given to that collective preconscious state from which the individual ego arose."\\ <fc green>See §175 for the Aquaster; " //the Aquaster comes closest to the modern concept of the unconscious// ." So here we see that the Aquaster = unconscious does not break or cave in to the 'crasser temperament' or concretistic mind.</fc>\\ ..."The more it is bound by time and space, the more it will feel the other as "that difficult Adech" who crosses its purpose at every misguided step, who gives fate an unexpected twist, and sets it as a task the very thing it feared. ...Moreover, the secret doctrine of the Anthropos was dangerous because it had nothing to do with the teachings of the Church, since from that point of view Christ was a reflection - and only a reflection - of the inner Anthropos."\\ <fc green>Adech = Adam, Anthropos. cRef. §209, footnote 26. I wonder if this duality: immortal, and mortal nature (see end of §208) could be related to the 'dyophysite nature of Jesus' discussion. Also, in reading these last 3 paragraphs we can understand the contradiction of 'the other' perhaps appearing mortal in nature, where the more we bind it by time and space as Jung say, it becomes an annoying (" //that difficult Adech// ") other, but is the unconscious not bound by time and space. See §208</fc> | [[malefic:paper1|Λ]] [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §210 "I do not know how many or how few people today can imagine what "coming to terms with the unconscious" means. ....It is on the one hand an endeavour to understand the archetypal world of the psyche, on the other hand a struggle against the sanit-threatening danger of fascination by the measureless heights and depths and paradoxes of psychic truth. The denser, concretistic, daytime mind here reaches its limits; for the "Cedurini" (Paracelsus), the "men of crasser temperament" (Dorn), there is no way into "the untrodden, the untreadable regions" - "and in this place," says Paracelsus, "the Aquaster does not break in" (the damp soul that is akin to matter). Here the human mind is confronted with its origins, the archetypes; the finite consciousness with its archaic foundations; the mortal ego with the immortal self, Anthropos, purusha, atman, or whatever else be the names that human speculation has given to that collective preconscious state from which the individual ego arose."\\ <fc green>See §175 for the Aquaster; " //the Aquaster comes closest to the modern concept of the unconscious// ." So here we see that the Aquaster = unconscious does not break or cave in to the 'crasser temperament' or concretistic mind.</fc>\\ ..."The more it is bound by time and space, the more it will feel the other as "that difficult Adech" who crosses its purpose at every misguided step, who gives fate an unexpected twist, and sets it as a task the very thing it feared. ...Moreover, the secret doctrine of the Anthropos was dangerous because it had nothing to do with the teachings of the Church, since from that point of view Christ was a reflection - and only a reflection - of the inner Anthropos."\\ <fc green>Adech = Adam, Anthropos. cRef. §209, footnote 26. I wonder if this duality: immortal, and mortal nature (see end of §208) could be related to the 'dyophysite nature of Jesus' discussion. Also, in reading these last 3 paragraphs we can understand the contradiction of 'the other' perhaps appearing mortal in nature, where the more we bind it by time and space as Jung say, it becomes an annoying (" //that difficult Adech// ") other, but is the unconscious not bound by time and space. See §208</fc> |
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| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §212 "...the alchemical opus, which always remains the same as a general procedure though its goal may vary: sometimes it is the production of gold (//chrysopoea//), sometimes the elixir, sometimes the //aurum potabile// or, finally, the mysterious //filius unicus//. Also, the artifex can have a selfish or an idealistic attitude towards the work."\\ <fc green>If the procedure is the same, I wonder if the procedures and rituals would still work if undertaken in this day and age, not dissimilar to the church rituals. I've always thought the rituals were there for the good reason of teaching the discipline and thought. After that, for the work to go deeper, people must look inside. But its important to have the ritual because if there was nothing there people could say, "I'll just do the work in my head", but I don't think we can do that all the time, we need something to be structuring us, procedure'ing us...so to speak, even if its just the learning, or praying...setting time aside.</fc> | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §212 "...the alchemical opus, which always remains the same as a general procedure though its goal may vary: sometimes it is the production of gold (//chrysopoea//), sometimes the elixir, sometimes the //aurum potabile// or, finally, the mysterious //filius unicus//. Also, the artifex can have a selfish or an idealistic attitude towards the work."\\ <fc green>If the procedure is the same, I wonder if the procedures and rituals would still work if undertaken in this day and age, not dissimilar to the church rituals. I've always thought the rituals were there for the good reason of teaching the discipline and thought. After that, for the work to go deeper, people must look inside. But its important to have the ritual because if there was nothing there people could say, "I'll just do the work in my head", but I don't think we can do that all the time, we need something to be structuring us, procedure'ing us...so to speak, even if its just the learning, or praying...setting time aside.</fc> |
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| §218 "According to the legend, Raymond found himself in the catastrophic situation we have described, when his whole way of life had collapsed and he faced ruin. That is the moment when the harbinger of fate, the anima, an archetype of the collective unconscious, appears." | §218 "According to the legend, Raymond found himself in the catastrophic situation we have described, when his whole way of life had collapsed and he faced ruin. That is the moment when the harbinger of fate, the anima, an archetype of the collective unconscious, appears." |
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| §218 "Special mention should be made of Conrad Vecerius, according to whom Melusina, Melyssina, comes from an island in the sea where nine sirens dwell, who can change into any shape they want. This is of particular interest as Paracelsus mentions Melusina along with "Syrena.""\\ ..."Since the mercurial serpent of the alchemists is not infrequently called //virgo// and <fc green>[[aker:books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche#plate_ii-17_the_muse_6_of_7|cRef Virgo sign, ruled by planet Mercury: 24 Aug - 23 Sep Virgo (Mercury)]]</fc>, even before Paracelsus, was represented in the form of a Melusina, the latter's capacity to change her shape and to cure diseases is of importance in that these peculiarities were also predicted of Mercurius, and with special emphasis. On the other hand, Mercurius was also depicted as the grey-bearded Mercurius //senex// or Hermes Trimegistus, from which it is evident that two empirically very common archetypes, namely the anima and the Wise Old Man,<fc red><sup>13</sup></fc> flow together in the symbolic phenomenology of Mercurius."\\ <fc red><sup>13</sup></fc><sub>Cf. my "Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious" and "Concerning the Archetypes, with Special Reference to the Anima Concept."</sub> | §218 "Special mention should be made of Conrad Vecerius, according to whom Melusina, Melyssina, comes from an island in the sea where nine sirens dwell, who can change into any shape they want. This is of particular interest as Paracelsus mentions Melusina along with "Syrena.""\\ ..."Since the mercurial serpent of the alchemists is not infrequently called //virgo// and <fc green>[[books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche#plate_ii-17_the_muse_6_of_7|cRef Virgo sign, ruled by planet Mercury: 24 Aug - 23 Sep Virgo (Mercury)]]</fc>, even before Paracelsus, was represented in the form of a Melusina, the latter's capacity to change her shape and to cure diseases is of importance in that these peculiarities were also predicted of Mercurius, and with special emphasis. On the other hand, Mercurius was also depicted as the grey-bearded Mercurius //senex// or Hermes Trimegistus, from which it is evident that two empirically very common archetypes, namely the anima and the Wise Old Man,<fc red><sup>13</sup></fc> flow together in the symbolic phenomenology of Mercurius."\\ <fc red><sup>13</sup></fc><sub>Cf. my "Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious" and "Concerning the Archetypes, with Special Reference to the Anima Concept."</sub> |
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| §219 "The alchemists, and Paracelsus too, were no doubt confronted often enough with the dark abyss of not-knowing, and, unable to go forward, were on their own admission dependent on revelation of illumination or a helpful dream. ...The snake form of the god of revelation, and of spirits in general, is a universal type." | §219 "The alchemists, and Paracelsus too, were no doubt confronted often enough with the dark abyss of not-knowing, and, unable to go forward, were on their own admission dependent on revelation of illumination or a helpful dream. ...The snake form of the god of revelation, and of spirits in general, is a universal type." |
| <fc green>§223-224 about the union of conscious and unconscious as a result of an encounter with the Melusina.</fc> | <fc green>§223-224 about the union of conscious and unconscious as a result of an encounter with the Melusina.</fc> |
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| [[aker:Death|Ω]] [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §225 "Melusina, being a water-nixie, is closely connected with Morgana, the "sea-born," whose classical counterpart is Aphrodite, the "foam-born." Union with the feminine personification of the unconscious is, as we have seen, well-nigh eschatological experience, a reflection of which is to be found in the Apocalyptic Marriage of the Lamb, the Christian form of the hierosgamos. The passage runs (Revelation 19:6-10) ..." | [[:death|Ω]] [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §225 "Melusina, being a water-nixie, is closely connected with Morgana, the "sea-born," whose classical counterpart is Aphrodite, the "foam-born." Union with the feminine personification of the unconscious is, as we have seen, well-nigh eschatological experience, a reflection of which is to be found in the Apocalyptic Marriage of the Lamb, the Christian form of the hierosgamos. The passage runs (Revelation 19:6-10) ..." |
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| §226 "The is the specific definition of this experience of the coniunctio: the self which includes me includes many others also, for the unconscious that is "conceived in our mind" does not belong to me and is not peculiar to me, but is everywhere. It is the quintessence of the individual and at the same time the collective." | §226 "The is the specific definition of this experience of the coniunctio: the self which includes me includes many others also, for the unconscious that is "conceived in our mind" does not belong to me and is not peculiar to me, but is everywhere. It is the quintessence of the individual and at the same time the collective." |
| <fc green>cRef. §232, the alchemists "less by word than by deed" replaced the "sacrament" of th echurch for that of the //opus alchymicum// ...without, in their mind for the most part, any conflict with orthodox Christian standing.</fc> | <fc green>cRef. §232, the alchemists "less by word than by deed" replaced the "sacrament" of th echurch for that of the //opus alchymicum// ...without, in their mind for the most part, any conflict with orthodox Christian standing.</fc> |
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| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §231 "But one should not imagine Paracelsus or any other alchemist settling down to invent an arcane terminology that would make the new doctrine a kind of private code. <fc green>{Alchemy}</fc> Such and undertaking would presuppose the existence of definite views and clearly defined concepts. **But there is no question of that: non of the alchemists ever had any clear idea of what his philosophy was really about.**" | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §231 "But one should not imagine Paracelsus or any other alchemist settling down to invent an arcane terminology that would make the new doctrine a kind of private code. <fc green>{Alchemy}</fc> Such and undertaking would presuppose the existence of definite views and clearly defined concepts. **But there is no question of that: non of the alchemists ever had any clear idea of what his philosophy was really about.**" |
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| <fc green>§231 is pretty good for understanding the approach to alchemy and the many 'varieties'.</fc> | <fc green>§231 is pretty good for understanding the approach to alchemy and the many 'varieties'.</fc> |
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| <fc green>The importance of Alchemy</fc>\\ | <fc green>The importance of Alchemy</fc>\\ |
| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §237 "I had long been aware that alchemy is not only the mother of chemistry, but is also the forerunner of our modern psychology of the unconscious. Thus Paracelsus appears as a pioneer not only of chemical medicine but of empirical psychology and psychotherapy." | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §237 "I had long been aware that alchemy is not only the mother of chemistry, but is also the forerunner of our modern psychology of the unconscious. Thus Paracelsus appears as a pioneer not only of chemical medicine but of empirical psychology and psychotherapy." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §243 "According to the same source, Christ himself is this tree.<fc red><sup>8</sup></fc> The tree comparison occurs as early as Eulogius of Alexandria (c. A.D. 600), who says: "Behold in the Father the root, in the Son the branch, and in the Spirit the fruit: for the substance [//ουσια//] in the three is one.""\\ <fc red><sup>8</sup></fc><sub> //Theatrum chemicum//, IV (1659) p.478 "(Christ), who is the tree of life both spiritual and bodily."</sub> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §243 "According to the same source, Christ himself is this tree.<fc red><sup>8</sup></fc> The tree comparison occurs as early as Eulogius of Alexandria (c. A.D. 600), who says: "Behold in the Father the root, in the Son the branch, and in the Spirit the fruit: for the substance [//ουσια//] in the three is one.""\\ <fc red><sup>8</sup></fc><sub> //Theatrum chemicum//, IV (1659) p.478 "(Christ), who is the tree of life both spiritual and bodily."</sub> |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §244 "But who is this well-intentioned Master <fc green>(The alchemist from §243 above)</fc> who has the power to banish the principle of man's individuation? Such power is given only to a ruler of souls in the spiritual realm. The idea that the principle of individuation is the source of all evil is found in Schopenhauer and still more in Buddhism. In Christianity, too, human nature is tainted with original sin and is redeemed from this stain by Christ's self-sacrifice. Man in his "natural" condition is neither good nor pure, and if he should develop in the natural way the result would be a product not essentially different from an animal. Sheer instinctuality and naïve unconsciousness untroubled by a sense of guilt would prevail if the Master had not interrupted the free development of the natural being by introducing a distinction between good and evil and outlawing the evil. Since without guilt there is no moral consciousness and without awareness of differences no consciousness at all, we must concede that the strange intervention of the master of souls was absolutely necessary for the development of any kind of consciousness and in this sense was for the good."\\ <fc green>I've written out quite a lot here as it is very interesting what Jung is saying here I think particularly about //guilt// and consciousness of good and evil. cf. [[aker:collected_works:cw10|CW10]] //A psychological view of conscience//. </fc> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §244 "But who is this well-intentioned Master <fc green>(The alchemist from §243 above)</fc> who has the power to banish the principle of man's individuation? Such power is given only to a ruler of souls in the spiritual realm. The idea that the principle of individuation is the source of all evil is found in Schopenhauer and still more in Buddhism. In Christianity, too, human nature is tainted with original sin and is redeemed from this stain by Christ's self-sacrifice. Man in his "natural" condition is neither good nor pure, and if he should develop in the natural way the result would be a product not essentially different from an animal. Sheer instinctuality and naïve unconsciousness untroubled by a sense of guilt would prevail if the Master had not interrupted the free development of the natural being by introducing a distinction between good and evil and outlawing the evil. Since without guilt there is no moral consciousness and without awareness of differences no consciousness at all, we must concede that the strange intervention of the master of souls was absolutely necessary for the development of any kind of consciousness and in this sense was for the good."\\ <fc green>I've written out quite a lot here as it is very interesting what Jung is saying here I think particularly about //guilt// and consciousness of good and evil. cf. [[collected_works:cw10|CW10]] //A psychological view of conscience//. </fc> |
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| §245 "The bottle is an artificial human product and thus signifies the **intellectual** purposefulness and artificiality of the procedure, whose obvious aim is to isolate the spirit from the surrounding medium. ...Transparent glass is something like solidified water or air, both of which are synonyms for spirit." | §245 "The bottle is an artificial human product and thus signifies the **intellectual** purposefulness and artificiality of the procedure, whose obvious aim is to isolate the spirit from the surrounding medium. ...Transparent glass is something like solidified water or air, both of which are synonyms for spirit." |
| == 2. The connection between spirit and tree == | == 2. The connection between spirit and tree == |
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| §247 "In psychological terms, this means that the evil spirit is imprisoned in the roots of the self, <fc green>(At the base of the oak tree)</fc> as the secret hidden in the principle <fc green>(The tree being the principle)</fc> of individuation. ...The tree of paradise serves as a prototype for this and similar tales: it, too, is not identical with the voice of the serpent <fc green>(the voice of Mercurius here)</fc> which issued from it.<fc red>1</fc>\\ <fc red>1</fc><sub>Mercurius, in the form of Lilith or Melusina, appears in the tree in the [[aker:books_and_literature:ripley_scrowle|Ripley Scrowle]]. To this context belongs also the hamadryad as an interpretation of the so-called "Aenigma Bononiensis." Cf. [[aker:collected_works:cw14|Mysterium Coniunctionis]] pp.68f.</sub> | §247 "In psychological terms, this means that the evil spirit is imprisoned in the roots of the self, <fc green>(At the base of the oak tree)</fc> as the secret hidden in the principle <fc green>(The tree being the principle)</fc> of individuation. ...The tree of paradise serves as a prototype for this and similar tales: it, too, is not identical with the voice of the serpent <fc green>(the voice of Mercurius here)</fc> which issued from it.<fc red>1</fc>\\ <fc red>1</fc><sub>Mercurius, in the form of Lilith or Melusina, appears in the tree in the [[books_and_literature:ripley_scrowle|Ripley Scrowle]]. To this context belongs also the hamadryad as an interpretation of the so-called "Aenigma Bononiensis." Cf. [[collected_works:cw14|Mysterium Coniunctionis]] pp.68f.</sub> |
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| §249 "The crucial point is that so long as the evil spirit can not be proved to be a subjective psychic experience, then even trees and other suitable objects would have, once again, to be seriously considered as its lodging places." <fc green>This is said in reference to the different levels of consciousness discussed in the preceding para. A subjective recognition is at the 'fifth level' of consciousness as Jung is describing it here - cF. here with [[aker:collected_works:cw8|On the Nature of the Psyche]] . This is a very interesting point really thrown in at the end of this section. It is important that Jung is presuming here a level of consciousness that accepts psychic reality.</fc> | §249 "The crucial point is that so long as the evil spirit can not be proved to be a subjective psychic experience, then even trees and other suitable objects would have, once again, to be seriously considered as its lodging places." <fc green>This is said in reference to the different levels of consciousness discussed in the preceding para. A subjective recognition is at the 'fifth level' of consciousness as Jung is describing it here - cF. here with [[collected_works:cw8|On the Nature of the Psyche]] . This is a very interesting point really thrown in at the end of this section. It is important that Jung is presuming here a level of consciousness that accepts psychic reality.</fc> |
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| == 3. Mercurius as fire == | == 3. Mercurius as fire == |
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| §256 "He is, in fact, as another text says, "the universal and scintillating fire of the light of nature, which carries the heavenly spirit within it."<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> This passage is particularly important as it relates Mercurius to the //lumen naturae// , the source of mystical knowledge second only to the holy revelation of the Scriptures."\\ <fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> <sub> //[[aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Museum Hermeticum]]// "Aquarium Sapientum" p.84 <fc green>(this is p84 in the Latin copy. It is {{:aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum:musaeum_hermeticum_vol_i.pdf|p77}} in this english copies)</fc> </sub>\\ <fc green>This reference by Jung is not accurate. The text - according to the english copy I have - is talking of the philosophers stone, not mercury per se. This is important therefore, particularly when Jung makes reference to the //lumen naturae// . Perhaps there are other references to mercury related to the //lumen naturae// , but this is not it.\\ Update: cf. §267 below, where an alchemical text clearly relates Mercurius to the 'light of nature'.</fc> | §256 "He is, in fact, as another text says, "the universal and scintillating fire of the light of nature, which carries the heavenly spirit within it."<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> This passage is particularly important as it relates Mercurius to the //lumen naturae// , the source of mystical knowledge second only to the holy revelation of the Scriptures."\\ <fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> <sub> //[[books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Museum Hermeticum]]// "Aquarium Sapientum" p.84 <fc green>(this is p84 in the Latin copy. It is {{books_and_literature:hermetic_museum:musaeum_hermeticum_vol_i.pdf|p77}} in this english copies)</fc> </sub>\\ <fc green>This reference by Jung is not accurate. The text - according to the english copy I have - is talking of the philosophers stone, not mercury per se. This is important therefore, particularly when Jung makes reference to the //lumen naturae// . Perhaps there are other references to mercury related to the //lumen naturae// , but this is not it.\\ Update: cf. §267 below, where an alchemical text clearly relates Mercurius to the 'light of nature'.</fc> |
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| §257 "The mercurial fire is found in the "center of the earth," or dragon's belly, in fluid form." | §257 "The mercurial fire is found in the "center of the earth," or dragon's belly, in fluid form." |
| §267 "Mercurius, following the tradition of Hermes, is many-sided, changeable, and deceitful. ... He is //duplex// <fc red><sup>3</sup></fc> and his main characteristic is duplicity. It is said of him that he "runs round the earth and enjoys equally the company of the good and the wicked."<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc> He is "two dragons,"<fc red><sup>5</sup></fc> the "twin,"<fc red><sup>6</sup></fc> made of "two natures"<fc red><sup>7</sup></fc> or "two substances."<fc red><sup>8</sup></fc>" | §267 "Mercurius, following the tradition of Hermes, is many-sided, changeable, and deceitful. ... He is //duplex// <fc red><sup>3</sup></fc> and his main characteristic is duplicity. It is said of him that he "runs round the earth and enjoys equally the company of the good and the wicked."<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc> He is "two dragons,"<fc red><sup>5</sup></fc> the "twin,"<fc red><sup>6</sup></fc> made of "two natures"<fc red><sup>7</sup></fc> or "two substances."<fc red><sup>8</sup></fc>" |
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| §267 "He is the "giant of twofold substance," in explanation of which the text<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> cites the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew, where the sacrament of the Last Supper is instituted. The Christ analogy is thus made plain.\\ <fc red><sup>9</sup></fc><sub>"Aquarium Sap.," //[[aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Museum Hermeticum]]// p. 111. [Cf. infra, §384] </sub>\\ <fc green>Again, I'm not convinced of this reference, in the english translation I have of the //[[aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Museum Hermeticum p100]]// seem to be the section under reference (search for Matthew xxvi) ...I see the twofold nature of Mercury, but not the reference to Christ directly. Rather Christ is related to the Philosophers Stone...not Mercury, unless I'm not understanding it correctly...which may well be the case. For e.g. the english text says "Again, as the physical and earthly water-Stone of the Sages has, on account of its unsearchable excellence, //been called by a great variety of names// by the multitude of philosophers, so the Heavenly Light, the one Noumen and Illuminant, whose riches and glory are past finding out, is designated in Holy Scripture by //a large number of titles// ." So it seems there is naming going on of both the Philosophers Stone, and Mercury perhaps?...also, interestingly in the text, in the naming, the Stone is called "the double and living mercury which has in itself the heavenly spirit - the cure for all unsound and imperfect metals - the everlasting light - the panacea for all diseases - the glorious Phoenix - the most precious of treasures - the chief good of Nature - the universal triune Stone", and a naming for Mercurius is "Chief Good of the Universe". I think I'm going to put this down to confusing Alchemical texts. The alchemical text clearly relates Christ to the Philosophers Stone (see my annotations in the Alchemical text)\\ Update: cf. §270 below, where Jung talks of Mercurius in 'his form as the lapis.' ...so a clear reference to the analogous view of Mercurius and the Philosophers Stone (I'm assuming Lapis = Philosophers Stone).</fc> | §267 "He is the "giant of twofold substance," in explanation of which the text<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> cites the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew, where the sacrament of the Last Supper is instituted. The Christ analogy is thus made plain.\\ <fc red><sup>9</sup></fc><sub>"Aquarium Sap.," //[[books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Museum Hermeticum]]// p. 111. [Cf. infra, §384] </sub>\\ <fc green>Again, I'm not convinced of this reference, in the english translation I have of the //[[books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Museum Hermeticum p100]]// seem to be the section under reference (search for Matthew xxvi) ...I see the twofold nature of Mercury, but not the reference to Christ directly. Rather Christ is related to the Philosophers Stone...not Mercury, unless I'm not understanding it correctly...which may well be the case. For e.g. the english text says "Again, as the physical and earthly water-Stone of the Sages has, on account of its unsearchable excellence, //been called by a great variety of names// by the multitude of philosophers, so the Heavenly Light, the one Noumen and Illuminant, whose riches and glory are past finding out, is designated in Holy Scripture by //a large number of titles// ." So it seems there is naming going on of both the Philosophers Stone, and Mercury perhaps?...also, interestingly in the text, in the naming, the Stone is called "the double and living mercury which has in itself the heavenly spirit - the cure for all unsound and imperfect metals - the everlasting light - the panacea for all diseases - the glorious Phoenix - the most precious of treasures - the chief good of Nature - the universal triune Stone", and a naming for Mercurius is "Chief Good of the Universe". I think I'm going to put this down to confusing Alchemical texts. The alchemical text clearly relates Christ to the Philosophers Stone (see my annotations in the Alchemical text)\\ Update: cf. §270 below, where Jung talks of Mercurius in 'his form as the lapis.' ...so a clear reference to the analogous view of Mercurius and the Philosophers Stone (I'm assuming Lapis = Philosophers Stone).</fc> |
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| §267 "He is both good and evil. The "Aurelia occulta" gives a graphic description of him:<fc red><sup>16</sup></fc> | §267 "He is both good and evil. The "Aurelia occulta" gives a graphic description of him:<fc red><sup>16</sup></fc> |
| <fc red><sup>16</sup></fc><sub> //Theatr. Chem.// , IV (1659), pp. 501ff.</sub>\\ <fc green>Here clearly Mercurius is coupled with the light of nature, the //Lumen Naturae// . cf. §256 above. </fc> | <fc red><sup>16</sup></fc><sub> //Theatr. Chem.// , IV (1659), pp. 501ff.</sub>\\ <fc green>Here clearly Mercurius is coupled with the light of nature, the //Lumen Naturae// . cf. §256 above. </fc> |
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| §268 "...where are also the four elements and the //quinta essentia// <fc green>(quintessence, the fifth element)</fc> which they call Heaven."\\ "...he is the "man rising from the river,"<fc red><sup>31</sup></fc> probably a reference to the vision of Ezra.<fc red><sup>32</sup></fc> In Trismosin's //[[aker:books_and_literature:the_splendor_solis|Splendor Solis]]// <fc green>(cf. [[aker:books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche#plate_i-8_the_ethiopian|Transformation of the Psyche]])</fc> (sixteenth century) there is an illustration of this."<fc red><sup>33</sup></fc> ... "The terms Adam and microcosm <fc green>(in reference to Mercurius)</fc> occur frequently in the texts,<fc red><sup>35</sup></fc> but the Abraham le Juif forgery unblushingly call Mercurius Adam Kadmon.<fc red><sup>36</sup></fc> As I have discussed this unmistakable continuation of the Gnostic doctrine of the Anthropos elsewhere,<fc red><sup>37</sup></fc> there is no need for me to go more closely now into this aspect of Mercurius.<fc red><sup>38</sup></fc> Nevertheless, I would like to emphasize once again that the Anthropos idea coincides with the psychological concept of the self. The atman and purusha doctrine as well as alchemy give clear proofs of this."\\ <fc red><sup>33</sup></fc><sub>In //Aureum vellus// (1598), Tract 3: //Splendor Solis// (1920 facsimile). p23, //[[aker:books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche#plate_i-8_the_ethiopian|Pl.VIII]]// </sub>\\ <fc red><sup>36</sup></fc><sub>Eleazar, //Uraltes Chymisches Werck// , p.51. Adam Kadmon is the Primordial Man; cf //[[aker:collected_works:cw14|Mysterium Coniunctionis]]// , ch. V.</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>37</sup></fc><sub>"Paraclesus as a Spiritual Phenomenon," supra, §165ff., and //[[aker:collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , index, s.v.</sub> | §268 "...where are also the four elements and the //quinta essentia// <fc green>(quintessence, the fifth element)</fc> which they call Heaven."\\ "...he is the "man rising from the river,"<fc red><sup>31</sup></fc> probably a reference to the vision of Ezra.<fc red><sup>32</sup></fc> In Trismosin's //[[books_and_literature:the_splendor_solis|Splendor Solis]]// <fc green>(cf. [[books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche#plate_i-8_the_ethiopian|Transformation of the Psyche]])</fc> (sixteenth century) there is an illustration of this."<fc red><sup>33</sup></fc> ... "The terms Adam and microcosm <fc green>(in reference to Mercurius)</fc> occur frequently in the texts,<fc red><sup>35</sup></fc> but the Abraham le Juif forgery unblushingly call Mercurius Adam Kadmon.<fc red><sup>36</sup></fc> As I have discussed this unmistakable continuation of the Gnostic doctrine of the Anthropos elsewhere,<fc red><sup>37</sup></fc> there is no need for me to go more closely now into this aspect of Mercurius.<fc red><sup>38</sup></fc> Nevertheless, I would like to emphasize once again that the Anthropos idea coincides with the psychological concept of the self. The atman and purusha doctrine as well as alchemy give clear proofs of this."\\ <fc red><sup>33</sup></fc><sub>In //Aureum vellus// (1598), Tract 3: //Splendor Solis// (1920 facsimile). p23, //[[books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche#plate_i-8_the_ethiopian|Pl.VIII]]// </sub>\\ <fc red><sup>36</sup></fc><sub>Eleazar, //Uraltes Chymisches Werck// , p.51. Adam Kadmon is the Primordial Man; cf //[[collected_works:cw14|Mysterium Coniunctionis]]// , ch. V.</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>37</sup></fc><sub>"Paraclesus as a Spiritual Phenomenon," supra, §165ff., and //[[collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , index, s.v.</sub> |
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| [[#top|back to top]] | [[#top|back to top]] |
| <fc green>The Typhon (three in one)</fc>\\ | <fc green>The Typhon (three in one)</fc>\\ |
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| {{:aker:collected_works:typhon01.jpg?416|}} | {{collected_works:typhon01.jpg?416|}} |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §271 "From all this one must conclude that Mercurius corresponds not only to Christ, but to the triune divinity in general. The "Aurelia Occulta" calls him " [[wp>azoth|Azoth]] ..."\\ | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §271 "From all this one must conclude that Mercurius corresponds not only to Christ, but to the triune divinity in general. The "Aurelia Occulta" calls him " [[wp>azoth|Azoth]] ..."\\ |
| <fc green>cf. my notes above §267. Also, the [[aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Museum Hermeticum]] p78</fc> | <fc green>cf. my notes above §267. Also, the [[books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Museum Hermeticum]] p78</fc> |
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| ~~SEARCHPATTERN#'/(.*p78 \s*([^\n\r]+).*)/i'?? +aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum _sprender $quote ??~~ | ~~SEARCHPATTERN#'/(.*p78 \s*([^\n\r]+).*)/i'?? +aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum _sprender $quote ??~~ |
| §273 "In the first case quicksilver is simply the planet Mercury as it appears in the earth (just as gold is imply the sun in the earth); in the second, the "spirit" of quicksilver is identical with the planetary spirit. Both spirits individually, or the two as one spirit, were personified and called upon for aid or magically conjured into service as a //paredros// or "familiar"."\\ <fc green>Would the latter be 'sophic mercury' then? ...and the quicksilver in the earth, the metal, or physical element.</fc>\\ "... He plays the same role in the remarkable dream-vision recorded in "Aurelia occulta," where he appears as the Anthropos with a crown of stars.<fc red><sup>6</sup></fc> As the little star near the sun, he is the child of sun and moon.<fc red><sup>7</sup></fc> ... "Because of his half-feminine nature, Mercurius is often identified with the moon<fc red><sup>10</sup></fc> and Venus.<fc red><sup>11</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>6</sup></fc><sub> //Theatr. Chem// , IV (1659), p.510 [Supra, par. 106] He corresponds to the //stella semptemplex// <fc green>(septemplicis from semptemplex = 'seven plated', of seven layers.)</fc> which appears at the end of the work. "...cook, until the seven-fold star appears, running about through the sphere" (ibid., p.508). Cf. the early Christian idea of Christ as the leader of the "round dance" of the stars. ("Transformation Symbolism in the Mass," pp.273ff.)</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>7</sup></fc><sub>"Tabula smaragdina"</sub> | §273 "In the first case quicksilver is simply the planet Mercury as it appears in the earth (just as gold is imply the sun in the earth); in the second, the "spirit" of quicksilver is identical with the planetary spirit. Both spirits individually, or the two as one spirit, were personified and called upon for aid or magically conjured into service as a //paredros// or "familiar"."\\ <fc green>Would the latter be 'sophic mercury' then? ...and the quicksilver in the earth, the metal, or physical element.</fc>\\ "... He plays the same role in the remarkable dream-vision recorded in "Aurelia occulta," where he appears as the Anthropos with a crown of stars.<fc red><sup>6</sup></fc> As the little star near the sun, he is the child of sun and moon.<fc red><sup>7</sup></fc> ... "Because of his half-feminine nature, Mercurius is often identified with the moon<fc red><sup>10</sup></fc> and Venus.<fc red><sup>11</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>6</sup></fc><sub> //Theatr. Chem// , IV (1659), p.510 [Supra, par. 106] He corresponds to the //stella semptemplex// <fc green>(septemplicis from semptemplex = 'seven plated', of seven layers.)</fc> which appears at the end of the work. "...cook, until the seven-fold star appears, running about through the sphere" (ibid., p.508). Cf. the early Christian idea of Christ as the leader of the "round dance" of the stars. ("Transformation Symbolism in the Mass," pp.273ff.)</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>7</sup></fc><sub>"Tabula smaragdina"</sub> |
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| <fc green>Definitely check out §106 above for the reference to the dream. Also, cf. the [[aker:books_and_literature:the_splendor_solis|Splendor Solis]], in [[aker:books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche|Transformation of the Psyche]], [[aker:books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche#plate_i-3_the_inner_quest|Plate III]]</fc> | <fc green>Definitely check out §106 above for the reference to the dream. Also, cf. the [[books_and_literature:the_splendor_solis|Splendor Solis]], in [[books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche|Transformation of the Psyche]], [[books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche#plate_i-3_the_inner_quest|Plate III]]</fc> |
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| §274 "But the most important of all for an interpretation of Mercurius is his relation to Saturn. Mercurius //senex// is identical with Saturn, and to the earlier alchemists especially, it is not quicksilver, but the lead associated with Saturn, which usually represents the prima materia. ...quicksilver is identical with the "water of the moon and of Saturn." ...Saturn says: "My spirit is the water that loosens the rigid limbs of my brothers." This refers to the "eternal water" which is just what Mercurius is. ...Mercurius is the "salt of Saturn," or Saturn is simply Mercurius. ... Like Mercurius, Saturn is hermaphroditic. Saturn is "an old man on a mountain, and in him the natures are bound with their complement [i.e., the four elements], and all this is in Saturn." The same is said of Mercurius. Saturn is the father and origin of Mercurius, therefore the latter is called "Saturn's child."" | §274 "But the most important of all for an interpretation of Mercurius is his relation to Saturn. Mercurius //senex// is identical with Saturn, and to the earlier alchemists especially, it is not quicksilver, but the lead associated with Saturn, which usually represents the prima materia. ...quicksilver is identical with the "water of the moon and of Saturn." ...Saturn says: "My spirit is the water that loosens the rigid limbs of my brothers." This refers to the "eternal water" which is just what Mercurius is. ...Mercurius is the "salt of Saturn," or Saturn is simply Mercurius. ... Like Mercurius, Saturn is hermaphroditic. Saturn is "an old man on a mountain, and in him the natures are bound with their complement [i.e., the four elements], and all this is in Saturn." The same is said of Mercurius. Saturn is the father and origin of Mercurius, therefore the latter is called "Saturn's child."" |
| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §275 "One of the manifestations of Mercurius in the alchemical process of transformation is the lion, now green and now red. ...From ancient times the lion was associated with Saturn. ...Khunrath calls him "the lion of the Catholic tribe," paraphrasing the "lion of the tribe of Judah" - an allegory of Christ. He calls Saturn "the kion green and red." In Gnosticism Saturn is the highest archon, the lion-headed Ialdabaoth, meaning "child of chaos." But in alchemy the child of chaos is Mercurius.<fc red><sup>30</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>30</sup></fc><sub>For Saturn's day as the last day of creation, see infra, par. 301.</sub> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §275 "One of the manifestations of Mercurius in the alchemical process of transformation is the lion, now green and now red. ...From ancient times the lion was associated with Saturn. ...Khunrath calls him "the lion of the Catholic tribe," paraphrasing the "lion of the tribe of Judah" - an allegory of Christ. He calls Saturn "the kion green and red." In Gnosticism Saturn is the highest archon, the lion-headed Ialdabaoth, meaning "child of chaos." But in alchemy the child of chaos is Mercurius.<fc red><sup>30</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>30</sup></fc><sub>For Saturn's day as the last day of creation, see infra, par. 301.</sub> |
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| §276 "The relation <fc green>[ of Mercurius ]</fc> to and identity with Saturn is important because Saturn is not only a **//maleficus//** but actually the dwelling-place of the devil himself. ...A contemporary marginal note in a seventeenth-century treatise in my possession explains the term sulphur, the masculine principle of Mercuriurs,<fc red><sup>33</sup></fc> as //diabolus// . If Mercurius is not exactly the Evil One himself, he at least contains him - that is, he is morally neutral, good and evil, or as Khunrath says: "Good with the good, evil with the evil.""\\ <fc red><sup>33</sup></fc><sub>Sulphur is the "fire hidden in Mercurius" (Trevisanus in //Theatr. chem// , I, 1659, p.700). He is identical with Mercurius: "Sulphur is mercurial and Mercurius is sulphureal" (Brevis<fc green>(short)</fc> manuductio <fc green>(guide)</fc>," //Mus. Herm// p. 788 <fc green>(p254 in the English copy //[[aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Museum Hermeticum]]//)</fc>).</sub> | §276 "The relation <fc green>[ of Mercurius ]</fc> to and identity with Saturn is important because Saturn is not only a **//maleficus//** but actually the dwelling-place of the devil himself. ...A contemporary marginal note in a seventeenth-century treatise in my possession explains the term sulphur, the masculine principle of Mercuriurs,<fc red><sup>33</sup></fc> as //diabolus// . If Mercurius is not exactly the Evil One himself, he at least contains him - that is, he is morally neutral, good and evil, or as Khunrath says: "Good with the good, evil with the evil.""\\ <fc red><sup>33</sup></fc><sub>Sulphur is the "fire hidden in Mercurius" (Trevisanus in //Theatr. chem// , I, 1659, p.700). He is identical with Mercurius: "Sulphur is mercurial and Mercurius is sulphureal" (Brevis<fc green>(short)</fc> manuductio <fc green>(guide)</fc>," //Mus. Herm// p. 788 <fc green>(p254 in the English copy //[[books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Museum Hermeticum]]//)</fc>).</sub> |
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| §276 "His nature is more exactly defined, however, if one conceives him as a //process// that begins with evil and ends with good. ...<fc green>(the poem is rather entertaining and worth a read)</fc> | §276 "His nature is more exactly defined, however, if one conceives him as a //process// that begins with evil and ends with good. ...<fc green>(the poem is rather entertaining and worth a read)</fc> |
| §278 "Maier's words might also be a reference to Eros. And in fact, in Rosencreutz's //Chemical Wedding// , Mercurius does appear in the form of Cupid,<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> and punishes the adept for his curiosity in visiting the Lady Venus by wounding him in the hand with an arrow. The arrow is the "dart of passion" ( //telum passionis// ), which is also an attribute of Mercurius."\\ <fc red><sup>9</sup></fc><sub>Also in the form of the boy showing the way and the "age-old son of the mother."</sub> | §278 "Maier's words might also be a reference to Eros. And in fact, in Rosencreutz's //Chemical Wedding// , Mercurius does appear in the form of Cupid,<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> and punishes the adept for his curiosity in visiting the Lady Venus by wounding him in the hand with an arrow. The arrow is the "dart of passion" ( //telum passionis// ), which is also an attribute of Mercurius."\\ <fc red><sup>9</sup></fc><sub>Also in the form of the boy showing the way and the "age-old son of the mother."</sub> |
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| §278 "Again, Mercurius represents the "continuous cohabitation"<fc red><sup>15</sup></fc> ..."\\ <fc red><sup>15</sup></fc><sub>For this motif see //[[aker:collected_works:cw5|Symbols of Transformation]]// , pp. 209f.</sub> | §278 "Again, Mercurius represents the "continuous cohabitation"<fc red><sup>15</sup></fc> ..."\\ <fc red><sup>15</sup></fc><sub>For this motif see //[[collected_works:cw5|Symbols of Transformation]]// , pp. 209f.</sub> |
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| <fc green>There is a lot in this §278 about the different guises of Mercurius. There is an interesting footnote, 18 on page. 232, about the 'Dog as Logos' referring to Mercurius. </fc> | <fc green>There is a lot in this §278 about the different guises of Mercurius. There is an interesting footnote, 18 on page. 232, about the 'Dog as Logos' referring to Mercurius. </fc> |
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| <fc green>Jung on **Alechemy** ... this is very helpful. This whole paragraph actually is very helpful as a view on where Jung is coming from and how he sees Alchemy.</fc>\\ | <fc green>Jung on **Alechemy** ... this is very helpful. This whole paragraph actually is very helpful as a view on where Jung is coming from and how he sees Alchemy.</fc>\\ |
| [[aker:Alchemy|Δ]] §286 "...the alchemical projections represent collective contents that stand in painful contrast - or rather, in compensatory relation - to our highest rational convictions and values. they give the strange answers of the natural psyche to the ultimate questions which reason has left untouched. Let us, however, not delude ourselves: no more than we can separate the constituents of character from the astronomical determinants of time are we able to separate that unruly and evasivev Mercurius from the autonomy of **matter** . Something of the projection-carrier always clings to the projection ... In these projections we encounter the phenomenology of an "objective" spirit, a true matrix of psychic experience, the most appropriate symbol for which is **matter** . Nowhere and never has man controlled matter without closely observing its behaviour and paying heed to its laws, ...The same is true of that objective spirit which today we call the unconscious: ... If a man puts his hand to the opus, he repeats, as the alchemists say, God's work of creation. The struggle with the unformed, with the chaos of Tiamat, is in truth a primordial experience."\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine.\\ [[wp>Tiamat|Tiamat]] = Chaos monster involved in creation.\\ I find this paragraph very interesting and the ideas of //matter// in relation to the projections of Alchemy. Jung is not wrong in the creation element of the opus, and how that must have resonated with the unconscious, the creator and created aspects. The creation myths able to bear out in a way with the working of matter = alchemy. This is a very interesting perspective on the alchemical desire, and how rich then must have been the potential for projections.</fc> | [[:alchemy|Δ]] §286 "...the alchemical projections represent collective contents that stand in painful contrast - or rather, in compensatory relation - to our highest rational convictions and values. they give the strange answers of the natural psyche to the ultimate questions which reason has left untouched. Let us, however, not delude ourselves: no more than we can separate the constituents of character from the astronomical determinants of time are we able to separate that unruly and evasivev Mercurius from the autonomy of **matter** . Something of the projection-carrier always clings to the projection ... In these projections we encounter the phenomenology of an "objective" spirit, a true matrix of psychic experience, the most appropriate symbol for which is **matter** . Nowhere and never has man controlled matter without closely observing its behaviour and paying heed to its laws, ...The same is true of that objective spirit which today we call the unconscious: ... If a man puts his hand to the opus, he repeats, as the alchemists say, God's work of creation. The struggle with the unformed, with the chaos of Tiamat, is in truth a primordial experience."\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine.\\ [[wp>Tiamat|Tiamat]] = Chaos monster involved in creation.\\ I find this paragraph very interesting and the ideas of //matter// in relation to the projections of Alchemy. Jung is not wrong in the creation element of the opus, and how that must have resonated with the unconscious, the creator and created aspects. The creation myths able to bear out in a way with the working of matter = alchemy. This is a very interesting perspective on the alchemical desire, and how rich then must have been the potential for projections.</fc> |
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| §287 ""Rosinus ad Sarratantam" cites a saying of "Malus Philosophus"<fc red><sup>3</sup></fc> which attempts to formulate the psychological relation of the lapis to consciousness:\\ "This stone is below thee, as to obedience; \\ above thee, as to dominion;\\ therefore from thee, as to knowledge;\\ about thee, as to equals."<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc>\\ Applied to the self, this would mean: "The self is subordinate to you, yet on the other hand rules you. It is dependent on your own efforts and your knowledge, but transcends you and embraces all those who are of like mind. This refers to the collective nature of the self, since the self epitomizes the wholeness of the personality. By definition, wholeness includes the collective unconscious, which as experience seems to show is everywhere identical."\\ <fc green>I have no idea what this last bit means, '...since the self epitomizes the wholeness of the personality.' ??? </fc> | §287 ""Rosinus ad Sarratantam" cites a saying of "Malus Philosophus"<fc red><sup>3</sup></fc> which attempts to formulate the psychological relation of the lapis to consciousness:\\ "This stone is below thee, as to obedience; \\ above thee, as to dominion;\\ therefore from thee, as to knowledge;\\ about thee, as to equals."<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc>\\ Applied to the self, this would mean: "The self is subordinate to you, yet on the other hand rules you. It is dependent on your own efforts and your knowledge, but transcends you and embraces all those who are of like mind. This refers to the collective nature of the self, since the self epitomizes the wholeness of the personality. By definition, wholeness includes the collective unconscious, which as experience seems to show is everywhere identical."\\ <fc green>I have no idea what this last bit means, '...since the self epitomizes the wholeness of the personality.' ??? </fc> |
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| <fc green>Jung on comparing the symbol of Mercurius to Christ ... </fc>\\ | <fc green>Jung on comparing the symbol of Mercurius to Christ ... </fc>\\ |
| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §289 "This lapis is at most a counterpart or analogy of Christ in the physical world. its symbolism, like that of Mercurius who constitutes its substance, points, psychologically speaking, to the self, as also does the symbolic figure of Christ.<fc red><sup>6</sup></fc> In comparrison with the purity and unity of the Christ symbol, Mercurius-lapis is ambiguous, dark, paradoxical, and thoroughly pagan. **//It therefore represents a part of the psyche which was certainly not moulded by Christianity and can on no account be expressed by the symbol "Christ."//** . On the contrary, as we have seen, in many ways it points to the devil, who is known at times to disguise himself as an angel of light. The lapis formulates an aspect of the self which stands apart, **//bound to nature//** and at odds with the Christian spirit."\\ <fc red><sup>6</sup></fc><sub>[Cf. //[[aker:collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , ch. 5. "The Lapis-Christ Parallel," and //[[aker:collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// , ch. 5. "Christ, a Symbol of the Self." - Editors.]</sub>\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine</fc> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §289 "This lapis is at most a counterpart or analogy of Christ in the physical world. its symbolism, like that of Mercurius who constitutes its substance, points, psychologically speaking, to the self, as also does the symbolic figure of Christ.<fc red><sup>6</sup></fc> In comparrison with the purity and unity of the Christ symbol, Mercurius-lapis is ambiguous, dark, paradoxical, and thoroughly pagan. **//It therefore represents a part of the psyche which was certainly not moulded by Christianity and can on no account be expressed by the symbol "Christ."//** . On the contrary, as we have seen, in many ways it points to the devil, who is known at times to disguise himself as an angel of light. The lapis formulates an aspect of the self which stands apart, **//bound to nature//** and at odds with the Christian spirit."\\ <fc red><sup>6</sup></fc><sub>[Cf. //[[collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , ch. 5. "The Lapis-Christ Parallel," and //[[collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// , ch. 5. "Christ, a Symbol of the Self." - Editors.]</sub>\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine</fc> |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §289 "Although I have stressed that the lapis is a symbol embracing the opposites, it should not be thought of as a - so to speak - more complete symbol of the self. That would be decidedly incorrect, for actually it is an image whose form and content are largely determined by the unconscious. For this reason it is never found in the texts in finished and well-defined form ..." | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §289 "Although I have stressed that the lapis is a symbol embracing the opposites, it should not be thought of as a - so to speak - more complete symbol of the self. That would be decidedly incorrect, for actually it is an image whose form and content are largely determined by the unconscious. For this reason it is never found in the texts in finished and well-defined form ..." |
| §300 "Mercurius is by no means the Christian devil ..." | §300 "Mercurius is by no means the Christian devil ..." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §301 "Thus, with Augustine, the first day of creation begins with self knowledge, //cognitio sui ipsius// ,<fc red><sup>13</sup></fc> by which is meant a knowledge not of the ego but of the self, that objective phenomenon of which the ego is the subject.<fc red><sup>14</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>13</sup></fc><sub>"And when it [the creature's knowledge] comes to the knowledge of itself, that is one day" (Et hoc cum facit in cognitione sui ipsius, dies unus est). - //The City of God// , XI, vii. This may be the source for the strange designation of the lapis as "filius unius diei." <fc green>(son of a single day)</fc> [Cf. //[[aker:collected_works:cw14|Mysterium Coniunctionis]]// pp. 335, 504.]</sub>\\ <fc green>More reading here about self knowledge and the days of creation, the day of rest etc.</fc> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §301 "Thus, with Augustine, the first day of creation begins with self knowledge, //cognitio sui ipsius// ,<fc red><sup>13</sup></fc> by which is meant a knowledge not of the ego but of the self, that objective phenomenon of which the ego is the subject.<fc red><sup>14</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>13</sup></fc><sub>"And when it [the creature's knowledge] comes to the knowledge of itself, that is one day" (Et hoc cum facit in cognitione sui ipsius, dies unus est). - //The City of God// , XI, vii. This may be the source for the strange designation of the lapis as "filius unius diei." <fc green>(son of a single day)</fc> [Cf. //[[collected_works:cw14|Mysterium Coniunctionis]]// pp. 335, 504.]</sub>\\ <fc green>More reading here about self knowledge and the days of creation, the day of rest etc.</fc> |
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| [[#top|back to top]] | [[#top|back to top]] |
| §306 "...bring to mind the world-tree and the world-axis - attributes with which the tree symbol is almost universally endowed." | §306 "...bring to mind the world-tree and the world-axis - attributes with which the tree symbol is almost universally endowed." |
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| §310 "The symbol of the fountain, the //fontina// , is known in alchemy; in the alchemical pictures it is often shown as a medieval town fountain,<fc red><sup>2</sup></fc> and the upright part in the middle would correspond to the tree."\\ <fc red><sup>2</sup></fc><sub>[Cf. " [[aker:collected_works:cw16|The Psychology of the Transference]]," Fig. 1.]</sub> | §310 "The symbol of the fountain, the //fontina// , is known in alchemy; in the alchemical pictures it is often shown as a medieval town fountain,<fc red><sup>2</sup></fc> and the upright part in the middle would correspond to the tree."\\ <fc red><sup>2</sup></fc><sub>[Cf. " [[collected_works:cw16|The Psychology of the Transference]]," Fig. 1.]</sub> |
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| §316 "The tree corresponds to the passive, vegetative principle, the snake to the active, animal principle. The tree symbolises earthbound corporeality, the snake emotionality and the possession of a soul." | §316 "The tree corresponds to the passive, vegetative principle, the snake to the active, animal principle. The tree symbolises earthbound corporeality, the snake emotionality and the possession of a soul." |
| == 1. The tree as an archetypal image == | == 1. The tree as an archetypal image == |
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| §350 "Like all archetypal symbols, the symbol of the tree has undergone a development of meaning in the course of the centuries. ...The psychoid form underlying any archetypal image retains its character at all stages of development, though empirically it is capable of endless variations. \\ ...but the richness and vitality of a symbol are expressed more in its change of meaning. The aspect of **//meaning//** is therefore essential..."\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine.\\ This is very interesting on a number of levels. Firstly, the 'development of meaning' that may occur - it makes me think of so many elements and symbols the analytical world assumes to be //more// archetypal if the images or symbols of a dream for e.g. are those of myth and historical legend, like dreaming of a Greek God. However, the archetype has moved with the centuries no doubt. This really does need so more thought.\\ Also, Cf [[:aker:collected_works:cw8|CW 8, On the Nature of the Psyche ]].\\ Jung goes on here to discuss the commonest associations to the tree symbol; growth, life, protection, shade, shelter, fruits, source of life, solidity, rootedness...etc.</fc> | §350 "Like all archetypal symbols, the symbol of the tree has undergone a development of meaning in the course of the centuries. ...The psychoid form underlying any archetypal image retains its character at all stages of development, though empirically it is capable of endless variations. \\ ...but the richness and vitality of a symbol are expressed more in its change of meaning. The aspect of **//meaning//** is therefore essential..."\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine.\\ This is very interesting on a number of levels. Firstly, the 'development of meaning' that may occur - it makes me think of so many elements and symbols the analytical world assumes to be //more// archetypal if the images or symbols of a dream for e.g. are those of myth and historical legend, like dreaming of a Greek God. However, the archetype has moved with the centuries no doubt. This really does need so more thought.\\ Also, Cf [[collected_works:cw8|CW 8, On the Nature of the Psyche ]].\\ Jung goes on here to discuss the commonest associations to the tree symbol; growth, life, protection, shade, shelter, fruits, source of life, solidity, rootedness...etc.</fc> |
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| §352 "An image can be considered archetypal when it can be shown to exist in the records of human history, in identical form and with the same meaning." \\ <fc green>Some interesting points here on Archetypal images and their 'archetypal creation' as opposed to tradition for e.g. ...and the images universality across human history and culture. In particular, the need for comparative research into symbols for medical psychology.</fc> | §352 "An image can be considered archetypal when it can be shown to exist in the records of human history, in identical form and with the same meaning." \\ <fc green>Some interesting points here on Archetypal images and their 'archetypal creation' as opposed to tradition for e.g. ...and the images universality across human history and culture. In particular, the need for comparative research into symbols for medical psychology.</fc> |
| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §356 "They obviously saw a parallel between thE alchemical process and religious ideas - a parallel which is certainly not immediately perceptible to us. A bridge between two such very different realms of thought <fc green>[The 'science of alchemy' and the 'mysteries of religion']</fc> can be constructed only when we take into account the factor common to both: the //tertium comparationis// is the psychological element."\\ <fc green>Although I don't disagree with Jung here right off the bat, it is a pretty bold statement bringing once again the psychological element to religion. Although the text is cunningly worded by Jung as he never really makes the verbose comparison but leaves the reader to assume and find their own particular stance on this vast field of religion and the 'science of alchemy'. </fc> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §356 "They obviously saw a parallel between thE alchemical process and religious ideas - a parallel which is certainly not immediately perceptible to us. A bridge between two such very different realms of thought <fc green>[The 'science of alchemy' and the 'mysteries of religion']</fc> can be constructed only when we take into account the factor common to both: the //tertium comparationis// is the psychological element."\\ <fc green>Although I don't disagree with Jung here right off the bat, it is a pretty bold statement bringing once again the psychological element to religion. Although the text is cunningly worded by Jung as he never really makes the verbose comparison but leaves the reader to assume and find their own particular stance on this vast field of religion and the 'science of alchemy'. </fc> |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §357 "No matter what the ideas refer to, they are always organized by the same psychic laws, that is, by the archetypes. In their way, the alchemists realized this when they insisted on the parallelism between their ideas and religious ones, as when Greverus compares his synthetic process with the Trinity. The common archetype in this case is the number three. ...\\ The four that are to be united into one refer to the tetrasomia of Greek alchemy, where, corresponding to the planets, they stand for lead, tin, iron, and copper. Hence in his process of //henosis// (unification or synthesis), as Michael Maier correctly understood it, what Greverus had in mind was not the three basic Paracelsan substances but the ancient tetrasomia, which at the end of his treatise he compares with the "union of persons in the Holy Trinity." ..."\\ <fc green>This makes me think of the alchemical images like, the guy sowing the seeds in image 8 from the [[aker:books_and_literature:the_twelve_keys_of_basil_valentine|Twelve Keys of Valentine]], or the one from [[aker:books_and_literature:viridarium_chymicum|'Viridarium Chymicum' - The Chemical Pleasure-Garden]], page 58, or the discussion in by NICHOLAS FLAMELL in [[aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Musaeum Hermeticum Vol I]] page 144 where he writes, \\ "The mercury of perfect or imperfect metals is the parent tree, and the grain (of gold) can be nourished with nothing but this mercury."\\ All these in reference to the tree and the seed.\\ Jung's discussion here starts with the tree symbol and its archetypal antecedents. The overlap between religion and alchemy, and then the discussion of the matter of 3 and 4. Continuing on...</fc>\\ "For him the triad of sun, moon, and Mercurius was the starting point ... This is the so-called //coniunctio triptativa// <fc green>[The relationship between the Sun, the Moon, and Mercurius is referred to as coniunctio triptativa]</fc>. But here he is concerned with the //coniunctio tetraptiva// , whereby the four are joined in the "union of persons."" <fc green>[In alchemists' treatises ... when the four elements were united it was called "coniunctio tetraptiva". </fc> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §357 "No matter what the ideas refer to, they are always organized by the same psychic laws, that is, by the archetypes. In their way, the alchemists realized this when they insisted on the parallelism between their ideas and religious ones, as when Greverus compares his synthetic process with the Trinity. The common archetype in this case is the number three. ...\\ The four that are to be united into one refer to the tetrasomia of Greek alchemy, where, corresponding to the planets, they stand for lead, tin, iron, and copper. Hence in his process of //henosis// (unification or synthesis), as Michael Maier correctly understood it, what Greverus had in mind was not the three basic Paracelsan substances but the ancient tetrasomia, which at the end of his treatise he compares with the "union of persons in the Holy Trinity." ..."\\ <fc green>This makes me think of the alchemical images like, the guy sowing the seeds in image 8 from the [[books_and_literature:the_twelve_keys_of_basil_valentine|Twelve Keys of Valentine]], or the one from [[books_and_literature:viridarium_chymicum|'Viridarium Chymicum' - The Chemical Pleasure-Garden]], page 58, or the discussion in by NICHOLAS FLAMELL in [[books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Musaeum Hermeticum Vol I]] page 144 where he writes, \\ "The mercury of perfect or imperfect metals is the parent tree, and the grain (of gold) can be nourished with nothing but this mercury."\\ All these in reference to the tree and the seed.\\ Jung's discussion here starts with the tree symbol and its archetypal antecedents. The overlap between religion and alchemy, and then the discussion of the matter of 3 and 4. Continuing on...</fc>\\ "For him the triad of sun, moon, and Mercurius was the starting point ... This is the so-called //coniunctio triptativa// <fc green>[The relationship between the Sun, the Moon, and Mercurius is referred to as coniunctio triptativa]</fc>. But here he is concerned with the //coniunctio tetraptiva// , whereby the four are joined in the "union of persons."" <fc green>[In alchemists' treatises ... when the four elements were united it was called "coniunctio tetraptiva". </fc> |
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| [[#top|back to top]] | [[#top|back to top]] |
| == 3. The Tetrasomia == | == 3. The Tetrasomia == |
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| §358 "The aim of the tetrasomia is the reduction (or synthesis) of a quaternio of opposites to unity. The names of the planets themselves indicate two dyads, one benevolent (Tin / Jupiter ♄ and Copper / Venus ♀), the other malefic (Lead / Saturn ♃ and Iron / Mars ♂), and such dyads often constitute an alchemical quaternity.<fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> \\ ....This is expressed particularly clearly in another archetypal form of the same idea: in the structure of the royal marriage, which follows that of the cross-cousin marriage.<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>1</sup></fc><sub>"And in our opus there are two earths and two waters." - "Scala phil.," //Art aurif// ., II, p. 137.</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc><sub>Cf. [[aker:collected_works:cw16|CW 16]] "The Psychology of the Transference," ch. 2.</sub> | §358 "The aim of the tetrasomia is the reduction (or synthesis) of a quaternio of opposites to unity. The names of the planets themselves indicate two dyads, one benevolent (Tin / Jupiter ♄ and Copper / Venus ♀), the other malefic (Lead / Saturn ♃ and Iron / Mars ♂), and such dyads often constitute an alchemical quaternity.<fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> \\ ....This is expressed particularly clearly in another archetypal form of the same idea: in the structure of the royal marriage, which follows that of the cross-cousin marriage.<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>1</sup></fc><sub>"And in our opus there are two earths and two waters." - "Scala phil.," //Art aurif// ., II, p. 137.</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc><sub>Cf. [[collected_works:cw16|CW 16]] "The Psychology of the Transference," ch. 2.</sub> |
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| §359 "As a rule, the lapis is synthesized from the quaternity of the elements or from the ogdoad of elements plus qualities (cold/warm, moist/dry)." | §359 "As a rule, the lapis is synthesized from the quaternity of the elements or from the ogdoad of elements plus qualities (cold/warm, moist/dry)." |
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| §363 "As attributes of God and also symbols in their own right, the quaternity and the cross signify wholeness." | §363 "As attributes of God and also symbols in their own right, the quaternity and the cross signify wholeness." |
| §364 "In the spontaneous symbolism of the unconscious the cross as quaternity refers to the self, to man's wholeness.<fc red><sup>19</sup></fc> The sign of the cross is thus an indicaiton of the healing effect of wholeness, or of becoming whole."\\ <fc red><sup>19</sup></fc><sub>Cf. [[aker:collected_works:cw9i#concerning_mandala_symbolism_627_-_718|"Concerning Mandala Symbolism"]] [[aker:collected_works:cw9i|CW9i]]</sub> | §364 "In the spontaneous symbolism of the unconscious the cross as quaternity refers to the self, to man's wholeness.<fc red><sup>19</sup></fc> The sign of the cross is thus an indicaiton of the healing effect of wholeness, or of becoming whole."\\ <fc red><sup>19</sup></fc><sub>Cf. [[collected_works:cw9i#concerning_mandala_symbolism_627_-_718|"Concerning Mandala Symbolism"]] [[collected_works:cw9i|CW9i]]</sub> |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §366 "The four gospels are as it were the pillars of Christ's throne, and in the Middle Ages the [[wp>tetramorph|tetramorph]] became the riding animal of the Church. But it was Gnostic speculation in particular that appropriated the quaternity. ... I would only draw attention to the synonymity of Christ, Logos, and [[wp>Hermes|Hermes]],<fc red><sup>21</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>21</sup></fc><sub>[And **Adamas** : cf //[[aker:collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// , pp. 208f. - Editors] Hippolytus, //Elenchos//, V, 7, 29ff.</sub> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §366 "The four gospels are as it were the pillars of Christ's throne, and in the Middle Ages the [[wp>tetramorph|tetramorph]] became the riding animal of the Church. But it was Gnostic speculation in particular that appropriated the quaternity. ... I would only draw attention to the synonymity of Christ, Logos, and [[wp>Hermes|Hermes]],<fc red><sup>21</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>21</sup></fc><sub>[And **Adamas** : cf //[[collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// , pp. 208f. - Editors] Hippolytus, //Elenchos//, V, 7, 29ff.</sub> |
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| §367 "The alchemical tetrasomia and its reduction to unity therefore have a long prehistory which reaches back far beyond the Pythaorean tetraktys into Egyptian antiquity. From all this we can see without difficulty that we are confronted with the archetype of a //totality image divided into four// . The resultant conceptions are always of a central nature, characterise divine figures, **and carry over those qualities to the arcane substances of alchemy** ."\\ <fc green>This last sentence is interesting to me in that it reiterates the manifestation of the unconscious templates on to the physical matter we engage with - unconsciously. Hence why alchemy can be so valuable. As Jung says in the next paragraph, 'spontaneous psychic products.'</fc> | §367 "The alchemical tetrasomia and its reduction to unity therefore have a long prehistory which reaches back far beyond the Pythaorean tetraktys into Egyptian antiquity. From all this we can see without difficulty that we are confronted with the archetype of a //totality image divided into four// . The resultant conceptions are always of a central nature, characterise divine figures, **and carry over those qualities to the arcane substances of alchemy** ."\\ <fc green>This last sentence is interesting to me in that it reiterates the manifestation of the unconscious templates on to the physical matter we engage with - unconsciously. Hence why alchemy can be so valuable. As Jung says in the next paragraph, 'spontaneous psychic products.'</fc> |
| §370 "On of the commonest and most important of the arcana is the //aqua permanens// ..." | §370 "On of the commonest and most important of the arcana is the //aqua permanens// ..." |
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| §371 "With regard to the central significance of the //aqua permanens// I must refer the reader to my earlier writings.<fc red><sup>2</sup></fc> The "water" is just as much the arcanum of alchemy as are Mercurius, the lapis, the //filius philosophorum// , etc. Like them it is a totality image, ...It is the "silver water" (= //hydrargyrum// ), but **not** the 'ever-moving water,' i.e., ordinary quicksilver which in Latin alchemy was called //Mercurius crudus// as distinct from //Mercurius non vulgi// . In Zosimos the quicksilver is a (spirit).<fc red><sup>3</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>2</sup></fc><sub> //[[aker:collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , pars. 336f.</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>3</sup></fc><sub>Berthelot, //Alch. grecs// , III, vi, 5. Cf supra, "The Spirit Mercurius," pars 264f.</sub> | §371 "With regard to the central significance of the //aqua permanens// I must refer the reader to my earlier writings.<fc red><sup>2</sup></fc> The "water" is just as much the arcanum of alchemy as are Mercurius, the lapis, the //filius philosophorum// , etc. Like them it is a totality image, ...It is the "silver water" (= //hydrargyrum// ), but **not** the 'ever-moving water,' i.e., ordinary quicksilver which in Latin alchemy was called //Mercurius crudus// as distinct from //Mercurius non vulgi// . In Zosimos the quicksilver is a (spirit).<fc red><sup>3</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>2</sup></fc><sub> //[[collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , pars. 336f.</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>3</sup></fc><sub>Berthelot, //Alch. grecs// , III, vi, 5. Cf supra, "The Spirit Mercurius," pars 264f.</sub> |
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| §372 "Zosimos's "whole" is a microcosm, a reflection of the universe in the smallest particle of matter, and is therefore found in everything organic and inorganic. Because the microcosm is identical with the macrocosm, it attracts the latter and thus brings about a kind of [[wp>apocatastasis|apocatastasis]], a restoration of all individua to the original wholeness. Thus "every grain becomes wheat, and all metal gold," as [[wp>Meister Eckhart|Meister Eckhart]] says; and the little, single individual becomes the "great mand," the homo maximus or Anthropos, i.e., the self. The moral equivalent of the physical transmutation into gold is //self-knowledge//, which is a re-remembering of the //homo totus//.<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc>"\\ | §372 "Zosimos's "whole" is a microcosm, a reflection of the universe in the smallest particle of matter, and is therefore found in everything organic and inorganic. Because the microcosm is identical with the macrocosm, it attracts the latter and thus brings about a kind of [[wp>apocatastasis|apocatastasis]], a restoration of all individua to the original wholeness. Thus "every grain becomes wheat, and all metal gold," as [[wp>Meister Eckhart|Meister Eckhart]] says; and the little, single individual becomes the "great mand," the homo maximus or Anthropos, i.e., the self. The moral equivalent of the physical transmutation into gold is //self-knowledge//, which is a re-remembering of the //homo totus//.<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc>"\\ |
| <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc><sub>Cf. //[[aker:collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// , pp. 162ff.</sub>\\ | <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc><sub>Cf. //[[collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// , pp. 162ff.</sub>\\ |
| <fc green> //homo totus// = a symbol of the Self\\ "Complete is something more than the simple sum of its parts ". //Plato// \\ Homo totus - latin. - People a holistic, in unity with nature and the cosmos. Homo = man, totus = whole, entire</fc> | <fc green> //homo totus// = a symbol of the Self\\ "Complete is something more than the simple sum of its parts ". //Plato// \\ Homo totus - latin. - People a holistic, in unity with nature and the cosmos. Homo = man, totus = whole, entire</fc> |
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| == 5. The Nature and origin of the philosophical tree == | == 5. The Nature and origin of the philosophical tree == |
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| §374 "In my book //[[aker:collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// I devoted a special chapter<fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> to the projection of psychic contents (hallucinations, vision, etc.) and therefore need not dwell here on the spontaneous production of the tree symbol among the alchemists. Suffice to say that the adept saw branches and twigs<fc red><sup>2</sup></fc> in the retort, where his tree grew and blossomed.<fc red><sup>3</sup></fc> ...It was called oak,<fc red><sup>7</sup></fc> vine,<fc red><sup>8</sup></fc> [[wp>myrtle|myrtle]].<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> ... It <fc green>(the philosophical tree)</fc>has seven branches.<fc red><sup>12</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>1</sup></fc><sub>Pars. 342</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>12</sup></fc><sub>"Galen speaks of the Philosophical tree, which has seven branches" ( //Art. aurif// ., I, p. 222).</sub> | §374 "In my book //[[collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// I devoted a special chapter<fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> to the projection of psychic contents (hallucinations, vision, etc.) and therefore need not dwell here on the spontaneous production of the tree symbol among the alchemists. Suffice to say that the adept saw branches and twigs<fc red><sup>2</sup></fc> in the retort, where his tree grew and blossomed.<fc red><sup>3</sup></fc> ...It was called oak,<fc red><sup>7</sup></fc> vine,<fc red><sup>8</sup></fc> [[wp>myrtle|myrtle]].<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> ... It <fc green>(the philosophical tree)</fc>has seven branches.<fc red><sup>12</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>1</sup></fc><sub>Pars. 342</sub>\\ <fc red><sup>12</sup></fc><sub>"Galen speaks of the Philosophical tree, which has seven branches" ( //Art. aurif// ., I, p. 222).</sub> |
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| <fc green>Jung goes on here to quote [[wp>Gerard Dorn|Gerard Dorn]]. This leads to a brief mention of the conflict between nominalism and realism. Worth noting that Dorn's work, the //Speculativa Philosophia// was included in Vol. 1 of //Theatrum Chemicum// , that Jung referenced quite a lot.</fc> | <fc green>Jung goes on here to quote [[wp>Gerard Dorn|Gerard Dorn]]. This leads to a brief mention of the conflict between nominalism and realism. Worth noting that Dorn's work, the //Speculativa Philosophia// was included in Vol. 1 of //Theatrum Chemicum// , that Jung referenced quite a lot.</fc> |
| §380 <fc green>Jung quotes Dorn here with some interesting notes ...worth reading. Even more interesting I think are some of the footnotes.</fc>\\ | §380 <fc green>Jung quotes Dorn here with some interesting notes ...worth reading. Even more interesting I think are some of the footnotes.</fc>\\ |
| <fc red><sup>2</sup></fc><sub>An allusion to the many colours of the //caudo pavonis// (peacock's tail), whose appearance heralds the attainment of the goal.</sub>\\ | <fc red><sup>2</sup></fc><sub>An allusion to the many colours of the //caudo pavonis// (peacock's tail), whose appearance heralds the attainment of the goal.</sub>\\ |
| <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc><sub>The terrestrial equivalent of the sponge was said to be the puff-ball. Sponges could hear and were sentient. When torn up, they exuded a juice like blood. Cf. the mandrake, which shrieks when it is torn up. "When they are torn from their places, it is heard and there will be a great noise." (Calid. "Liber secretorum," //Art. aurif// ., I, p. 343.) For the sponge, see //[[aker:collected_works:cw14|Mysterium Coniunctionis]]// , p. 134 and n. 205.</sub> | <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc><sub>The terrestrial equivalent of the sponge was said to be the puff-ball. Sponges could hear and were sentient. When torn up, they exuded a juice like blood. Cf. the mandrake, which shrieks when it is torn up. "When they are torn from their places, it is heard and there will be a great noise." (Calid. "Liber secretorum," //Art. aurif// ., I, p. 343.) For the sponge, see //[[collected_works:cw14|Mysterium Coniunctionis]]// , p. 134 and n. 205.</sub> |
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| §382 "This remarkable text explains the tree as a metaphorical form of the arcane substance, a living thing that comes into existence according to its own laws, and grows, blossoms, and bears fruit like a plant. This plant is likened to the sponge, which grows in the depths of the sea and seems to have an affinity with the mandrake (Cf footnote 4.). ...A sponge that bleeds and a mandrake that shrieks when pulled up are neither "vegetabilia materiae" nor are they found in nature, at least not in nature as we know it, though they may occur in that more comprehensive, Platonic nature as Dorn understood it, that is, in a nature that includes psychic "animalia," i.e., mythologems and archetypes. Such are the mandrake and similar organisms. ...At any rate the "stone that is no stone, nor of the nature of stone" (Cf. footnote 9) comes into this category."\\ <fc green>This last sentence is interesting I think and the reason I tried to write a lead up to the context of this sentence. The quote from Dorn is an interesting read.</fc> | §382 "This remarkable text explains the tree as a metaphorical form of the arcane substance, a living thing that comes into existence according to its own laws, and grows, blossoms, and bears fruit like a plant. This plant is likened to the sponge, which grows in the depths of the sea and seems to have an affinity with the mandrake (Cf footnote 4.). ...A sponge that bleeds and a mandrake that shrieks when pulled up are neither "vegetabilia materiae" nor are they found in nature, at least not in nature as we know it, though they may occur in that more comprehensive, Platonic nature as Dorn understood it, that is, in a nature that includes psychic "animalia," i.e., mythologems and archetypes. Such are the mandrake and similar organisms. ...At any rate the "stone that is no stone, nor of the nature of stone" (Cf. footnote 9) comes into this category."\\ <fc green>This last sentence is interesting I think and the reason I tried to write a lead up to the context of this sentence. The quote from Dorn is an interesting read.</fc> |
| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] <fc green>The ongoing discussion here is really interesting. First, it is important to understand the difference between the Latin\\ //[[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/putus|putus]]// : meaning 'pure', unmixed, unadulterated. (Cf. footnote 5, p. 290)\\ //[[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/purus|purus]]// : meaning clear, clean, transparent.</fc> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] <fc green>The ongoing discussion here is really interesting. First, it is important to understand the difference between the Latin\\ //[[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/putus|putus]]// : meaning 'pure', unmixed, unadulterated. (Cf. footnote 5, p. 290)\\ //[[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/purus|purus]]// : meaning clear, clean, transparent.</fc> |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] "Since the stone represents the //homo totus// ,<fc red><sup>19</sup></fc> it is only logical for Dorn to speak of the "putissimus homo" when discussing the arcane substance and its bloody sweat, for that is what it is all about. //He// <fc green>(As we'll see, it is the //He// still to come, it isn't Christ)</fc> is the arcanum, and the stone and its parallel or **//preconfiguration//** <fc green>(Emphasis mine)</fc> is Christ in the garden of Gethsemane.<fc red><sup>20</sup></fc> This "most pure" or "most true" man must be no other than what he is, ... he must be entirely man, ... This man will appear on earth only "in the last days." **He cannot be Christ, for Christ by his blood has already redeemed the world from the consequences of the Fall** .<fc red><sup>21</sup></fc> \\ Christ may be the "purissimus homo," but he is no "putissiumus." Though he is man, he is also God, not pure silver but gold as well, <fc green>(See Jung's e.g. earlier in the text of "Argentum putum" = unalloyed silver. He is not saying here that Christ is like silver in the alchemical symbolism)</fc> and therefore not "putus.""\\ <fc green>This is very interesting - Christ is a **pre** - configuration of and parallel to the stone, but is not the stone so to speak.</fc>\\ <fc red><sup>19</sup></fc><sub>Cf. //[[aker:collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , "The Lapis-Christ Parallel," and //[[aker:collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// , Ch. 5.</sub> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] "Since the stone represents the //homo totus// ,<fc red><sup>19</sup></fc> it is only logical for Dorn to speak of the "putissimus homo" when discussing the arcane substance and its bloody sweat, for that is what it is all about. //He// <fc green>(As we'll see, it is the //He// still to come, it isn't Christ)</fc> is the arcanum, and the stone and its parallel or **//preconfiguration//** <fc green>(Emphasis mine)</fc> is Christ in the garden of Gethsemane.<fc red><sup>20</sup></fc> This "most pure" or "most true" man must be no other than what he is, ... he must be entirely man, ... This man will appear on earth only "in the last days." **He cannot be Christ, for Christ by his blood has already redeemed the world from the consequences of the Fall** .<fc red><sup>21</sup></fc> \\ Christ may be the "purissimus homo," but he is no "putissiumus." Though he is man, he is also God, not pure silver but gold as well, <fc green>(See Jung's e.g. earlier in the text of "Argentum putum" = unalloyed silver. He is not saying here that Christ is like silver in the alchemical symbolism)</fc> and therefore not "putus.""\\ <fc green>This is very interesting - Christ is a **pre** - configuration of and parallel to the stone, but is not the stone so to speak.</fc>\\ <fc red><sup>19</sup></fc><sub>Cf. //[[collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , "The Lapis-Christ Parallel," and //[[collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// , Ch. 5.</sub> |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] "...but rather of the alchemical //servator cosmi// (preserver of the cosmos), representing the still unconscious idea of the whole and complete man, who shall bring about what the sacrificial death of Christ has obviously left unfinished, namely the deliverance of the world from evil. Like Christ he will sweat a redeeming blood, but, as a "vegetabile naturae," it is "rose-coloured" ...a psychic substance, the manifestation of a certain kind of Eros <fc green>(Cf. Mechthild of Magdeburg, §388. The feminine influence.)</fc> which unifies the individual as well as the multitude in the sign of the rose and makes them whole, and is therefore a panacea and an alexipharmic." | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] "...but rather of the alchemical //servator cosmi// (preserver of the cosmos), representing the still unconscious idea of the whole and complete man, who shall bring about what the sacrificial death of Christ has obviously left unfinished, namely the deliverance of the world from evil. Like Christ he will sweat a redeeming blood, but, as a "vegetabile naturae," it is "rose-coloured" ...a psychic substance, the manifestation of a certain kind of Eros <fc green>(Cf. Mechthild of Magdeburg, §388. The feminine influence.)</fc> which unifies the individual as well as the multitude in the sign of the rose and makes them whole, and is therefore a panacea and an alexipharmic." |
| <fc green>Jung continues in this para about the alchemical adept being consumed by the opus and spontaneously being confronted with the contents of the unconscious, and thus</fc> ..."forms of thought emerge in which one can afterwards discover parallels with mythological motifs, including Christian ones; parallels and similarities which perhaps one would never have suspected at first sight. ...Because they were ignorant of the laws of matter, its behaviour did not do anything to contradict their archetypal conception of it."\\ <fc green>I think this is important when one considers how to read alchemy, trying to understand what the alchemists were thinking. As pointed out, they were ignorant about matter and projected without prejudice their unconscious archetypal onto their work. This coupled with the lack of psychological framework with which to explain what they were going through (Cf. para 390), it is easy to see how they might be consumed by the unconscious content.</fc> | <fc green>Jung continues in this para about the alchemical adept being consumed by the opus and spontaneously being confronted with the contents of the unconscious, and thus</fc> ..."forms of thought emerge in which one can afterwards discover parallels with mythological motifs, including Christian ones; parallels and similarities which perhaps one would never have suspected at first sight. ...Because they were ignorant of the laws of matter, its behaviour did not do anything to contradict their archetypal conception of it."\\ <fc green>I think this is important when one considers how to read alchemy, trying to understand what the alchemists were thinking. As pointed out, they were ignorant about matter and projected without prejudice their unconscious archetypal onto their work. This coupled with the lack of psychological framework with which to explain what they were going through (Cf. para 390), it is easy to see how they might be consumed by the unconscious content.</fc> |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §394 "In their efforts to fathom the secrets of matter the alchemists had unexpectedly blundered into the unconscious, and thus, without at first being aware of it, they became the discoverers of a process which underlies Christian symbolism among others." \\ <fc green>No wonder the religions were getting angry at Jung when he writes stuff like this, basically attributing Christian symbolism to a product of the unconscious.</fc>\\ ..."It did not take more than a couple of centuries for the more reflective among them to realise what the quest for the stone was actually about. ...the stone revealed to them its identity with man himself, with a supraordinate factor that could actually be found within him, with Dorn's "quid," which today can be identified without difficulty with the self, as I have shown elsewhere.<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc><sub> //[[aker:collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// pp.164f.</sub> | [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §394 "In their efforts to fathom the secrets of matter the alchemists had unexpectedly blundered into the unconscious, and thus, without at first being aware of it, they became the discoverers of a process which underlies Christian symbolism among others." \\ <fc green>No wonder the religions were getting angry at Jung when he writes stuff like this, basically attributing Christian symbolism to a product of the unconscious.</fc>\\ ..."It did not take more than a couple of centuries for the more reflective among them to realise what the quest for the stone was actually about. ...the stone revealed to them its identity with man himself, with a supraordinate factor that could actually be found within him, with Dorn's "quid," which today can be identified without difficulty with the self, as I have shown elsewhere.<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc><sub> //[[collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// pp.164f.</sub> |
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| §395 <fc green>Interesting discussion here of the withdrawal of projection from matter towards metaphysics and more personal projections:</fc>\\ "Only in the following centuries, with the growth of natural science, was the projection withdrawn from matter and entirely abolished together with the psyche. This development of consciousness has still not reached its end. ...Projection is now confined to personal and social relationships, to political Utopias and suchlike."\\ <fc green>Projections are now too, put into 'metaphysics'. There is an interesting statement here by Jung about the projected content not being understood entirely in its time, or rather, the actual meaning was not clear,</fc> "but one which only the future could formulate."\\ "Whenever we have to do with mythologems it is advisable to assume that they mean more than what they appear to say. Just as dreams do not conceal something already known, or express it under a disguise, but try rather to formulate an as yet unconscious fact as clearly as possible, so myths and alchemical symbols are not [[wp>euhemeristic|euhemeristic]] allegories that hide artificial secrets. ... \\ By becoming conscious, the individual is threatened more and more with isolation, which is nevertheless the //sine qua non// of conscious differentiation." | §395 <fc green>Interesting discussion here of the withdrawal of projection from matter towards metaphysics and more personal projections:</fc>\\ "Only in the following centuries, with the growth of natural science, was the projection withdrawn from matter and entirely abolished together with the psyche. This development of consciousness has still not reached its end. ...Projection is now confined to personal and social relationships, to political Utopias and suchlike."\\ <fc green>Projections are now too, put into 'metaphysics'. There is an interesting statement here by Jung about the projected content not being understood entirely in its time, or rather, the actual meaning was not clear,</fc> "but one which only the future could formulate."\\ "Whenever we have to do with mythologems it is advisable to assume that they mean more than what they appear to say. Just as dreams do not conceal something already known, or express it under a disguise, but try rather to formulate an as yet unconscious fact as clearly as possible, so myths and alchemical symbols are not [[wp>euhemeristic|euhemeristic]] allegories that hide artificial secrets. ... \\ By becoming conscious, the individual is threatened more and more with isolation, which is nevertheless the //sine qua non// of conscious differentiation." |
| <fc green>From here I think we head into a roller-coaster ride of all the various intimations and impressions and symbols around the tree...and I'm sure there are many!</fc> | <fc green>From here I think we head into a roller-coaster ride of all the various intimations and impressions and symbols around the tree...and I'm sure there are many!</fc> |
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| §398 "Sometimes the prototype is the tree of paradise, hung not with apples but with sun-and-moon fruit, like the trees in the treatise Michael Maier in the [[aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Musaeum hermeticum]],<fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> or else it is a sort of Christmas tree, adorned with the seven planets and surrounded by allegories of the seven phases of the alchemical process."\\ <fc red><sup>1</sup></fc><sub>P. 702. Cf. "Symbolum Saturni," in Mylius, //Philosophia Reformata// <fc green>[To be found in Theatrum Chemicum, Vol 3, p457]</fc> , p.313: " ... </sub>\\ <fc green> An example of this image can be found in [[aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Musaeum hermeticum]] Vol II, p199 as copied here : //A subtle allegory concerning the secrets of alchemy very useful to possess and pleasant to read// . By Michael Maier</fc> | §398 "Sometimes the prototype is the tree of paradise, hung not with apples but with sun-and-moon fruit, like the trees in the treatise Michael Maier in the [[books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Musaeum hermeticum]],<fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> or else it is a sort of Christmas tree, adorned with the seven planets and surrounded by allegories of the seven phases of the alchemical process."\\ <fc red><sup>1</sup></fc><sub>P. 702. Cf. "Symbolum Saturni," in Mylius, //Philosophia Reformata// <fc green>[To be found in Theatrum Chemicum, Vol 3, p457]</fc> , p.313: " ... </sub>\\ <fc green> An example of this image can be found in [[books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Musaeum hermeticum]] Vol II, p199 as copied here : //A subtle allegory concerning the secrets of alchemy very useful to possess and pleasant to read// . By Michael Maier</fc> |
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| {{:aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum:musaeum_hermeticum_vol_2:image004.png?400|}} | {{books_and_literature:hermetic_museum:musaeum_hermeticum_vol_2:image004.png?400|}} |
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| (English copy) Musaeum hermeticum, Vol II, p199 //A subtle allegory concerning the secrets of alchemy very useful to possess and pleasant to read// . By Michael Maier | (English copy) Musaeum hermeticum, Vol II, p199 //A subtle allegory concerning the secrets of alchemy very useful to possess and pleasant to read// . By Michael Maier |
| <fc green>Here's the page referenced by Jung from the original Latin version, p702</fc>\\ | <fc green>Here's the page referenced by Jung from the original Latin version, p702</fc>\\ |
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| {{:aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum:musaeum_hermeticum_latin_p702.png?600|}} | {{books_and_literature:hermetic_museum:musaeum_hermeticum_latin_p702.png?600|}} |
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| <fc green>Then Jung changes reference having referred to the above image and now is speaking of this image, p202 [[aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Musaeum hermeticum]] Latin version, or p166 Vol I English version. Also to be found in Mylius, //Philosophia Reformata// which is in Theatrum Chemicum but I can't find it there.</fc>\\ | <fc green>Then Jung changes reference having referred to the above image and now is speaking of this image, p202 [[books_and_literature:hermetic_museum|Musaeum hermeticum]] Latin version, or p166 Vol I English version. Also to be found in Mylius, //Philosophia Reformata// which is in Theatrum Chemicum but I can't find it there.</fc>\\ |
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| {{:aker:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum:musaeum_hermeticum_latin_p201.png?600|}} | {{books_and_literature:hermetic_museum:musaeum_hermeticum_latin_p201.png?600|}} |
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| "Standing beneath the tree is not Adam and Eve but Hermes Trismegistus as an old man and the adept as a youth. Behind Hermes Trismegistus is King Sol sitting on a lion accompanied by a fire-spitting dragon, and behind the adept is the moon goddess Diana sitting on a whale accompanied by an eagle.<fc red><sup>2</sup></fc>"\\ | "Standing beneath the tree is not Adam and Eve but Hermes Trismegistus as an old man and the adept as a youth. Behind Hermes Trismegistus is King Sol sitting on a lion accompanied by a fire-spitting dragon, and behind the adept is the moon goddess Diana sitting on a whale accompanied by an eagle.<fc red><sup>2</sup></fc>"\\ |
| <fc red><sup>2</sup></fc><sub>// [[aker:collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// Fig. 188. </sub> | <fc red><sup>2</sup></fc><sub>// [[collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// Fig. 188. </sub> |
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| <fc green>Cf [[aker:books_and_literature:prelude_to_chemistry#the_emblems_of_johann_daniel_mylius|Prelude to Chemistry - The Emblems of Johann Daniel Mylius]] for some more info on Mylius.\\ The [[aker:books_and_literature:viridarium_chymicum|Viridarium Chymicum - The Chemical Pleasure Garden]] has many of Mylius images from his //Philosophia Reformata// </fc> | <fc green>Cf [[books_and_literature:prelude_to_chemistry#the_emblems_of_johann_daniel_mylius|Prelude to Chemistry - The Emblems of Johann Daniel Mylius]] for some more info on Mylius.\\ The [[books_and_literature:viridarium_chymicum|Viridarium Chymicum - The Chemical Pleasure Garden]] has many of Mylius images from his //Philosophia Reformata// </fc> |
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| <fc green> The motif ascent and descent of the tree </fc> | <fc green> The motif ascent and descent of the tree </fc> |
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| §399 "In the //[[aker:books_and_literature:ripley_scrowle|Ripley Scrowle]]// <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc> the serpent of paradise dwells in the top of the tree in the shape of Melusina - "desinit in [anguem] mulier formosa superne."<fc red><sup>5</sup></fc> This is combined with a motif that is not in the least Biblical but is primitive and shamanistic ...\\ In medieval Christianity the shamanistic anima was transformed into Lilith,<fc red><sup>6</sup></fc> who according to tradition was the serpent of paradise and Adam's first wife, with whom he begot a horde of demons." | §399 "In the //[[books_and_literature:ripley_scrowle|Ripley Scrowle]]// <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc> the serpent of paradise dwells in the top of the tree in the shape of Melusina - "desinit in [anguem] mulier formosa superne."<fc red><sup>5</sup></fc> This is combined with a motif that is not in the least Biblical but is primitive and shamanistic ...\\ In medieval Christianity the shamanistic anima was transformed into Lilith,<fc red><sup>6</sup></fc> who according to tradition was the serpent of paradise and Adam's first wife, with whom he begot a horde of demons." |
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| <fc green>Cf. the painting 'The fall' by Hugo Van Der Goes c.1475 showing Melusina in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.</fc>\\ | <fc green>Cf. the painting 'The fall' by Hugo Van Der Goes c.1475 showing Melusina in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.</fc>\\ |
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| {{:aker:collected_works:the-fall.jpg?600|}} | {{collected_works:the-fall.jpg?600|}} |
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| <fc green>I'm not sure these colours are entirely accurate but given the description above they seem close for this context at least.</fc>\\ | <fc green>I'm not sure these colours are entirely accurate but given the description above they seem close for this context at least.</fc>\\ |
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| {{:aker:collected_works:4colours.png?100|}} | {{collected_works:4colours.png?100|}} |
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| §403 "The //Turba// has much to say about the fruit-bearing tree. ... <fc green>From the //Turba// :</fc> "I say that that old man does not cease to eat of the fruits of that tree ...until that old man becomes a youth."<fc red><sup>18</sup></fc> These fruits are here equated with the bread of life in John 6:35, but they go back beyond that to the Ethiopic Book of Enoch (second century B.C.) .. **//This is a clear hint of death and renewal//** . It is not always the fruit of the tree, but of the //granum frumenti// , the grain of wheat, from which the food of the immortality is prepared, as in //Aurora consurgens// I ..."\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine. He continues...</fc><br/.>"In the Book of Enoch the fruits of the tree of wisdom are likened to grapes, and this is of interest inasmuch as in the Middle Ages the philosophical tree was sometimes called a vine,<fc red><sup>22</sup></fc> with reference to John 15:1, "I am the true vine.""\\ <fc green>Cf. §359 above here for the vine as the philosophical tree.</fc>\\ "The fruits and seeds of the tree were also called sun and moon,<fc red><sup>23</sup></fc> to which the two trees of paradise corresponded.<fc red><sup>24</sup></fc> The sun and moon fruits presumably go back to Deuteronomy 33:13. ..." | §403 "The //Turba// has much to say about the fruit-bearing tree. ... <fc green>From the //Turba// :</fc> "I say that that old man does not cease to eat of the fruits of that tree ...until that old man becomes a youth."<fc red><sup>18</sup></fc> These fruits are here equated with the bread of life in John 6:35, but they go back beyond that to the Ethiopic Book of Enoch (second century B.C.) .. **//This is a clear hint of death and renewal//** . It is not always the fruit of the tree, but of the //granum frumenti// , the grain of wheat, from which the food of the immortality is prepared, as in //Aurora consurgens// I ..."\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine. He continues...</fc><br/.>"In the Book of Enoch the fruits of the tree of wisdom are likened to grapes, and this is of interest inasmuch as in the Middle Ages the philosophical tree was sometimes called a vine,<fc red><sup>22</sup></fc> with reference to John 15:1, "I am the true vine.""\\ <fc green>Cf. §359 above here for the vine as the philosophical tree.</fc>\\ "The fruits and seeds of the tree were also called sun and moon,<fc red><sup>23</sup></fc> to which the two trees of paradise corresponded.<fc red><sup>24</sup></fc> The sun and moon fruits presumably go back to Deuteronomy 33:13. ..." |
| §413 "In Hindu literature the tree grows from above downwards, whereas in alchemy (at least according to the pictures) it grows from below upwards. In East and West alike, the tree symbolises a living process as well as a process of enlightenment, which, though it may be grasped by the intellect, should not be confused with it." | §413 "In Hindu literature the tree grows from above downwards, whereas in alchemy (at least according to the pictures) it grows from below upwards. In East and West alike, the tree symbolises a living process as well as a process of enlightenment, which, though it may be grasped by the intellect, should not be confused with it." |
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| §414 "It is clear from this that the life of the tree represents the opus, which as we know coincides with the seasons.<fc red><sup>22</sup></fc> The fact that the fruits appear in the spring and the flowers in the autumn may be connected with the motif of reversal (arbor inversa!) and the //opus contra naturam// .\\ <fc red><sup>22</sup></fc><sub>The opus begins in the spring, when the conditions are most favourable (cf. "Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon," supra, pars. 190ff.) and the "element of the stone is most abundant" (Ventura, //Theartr. chem// ., II, 1659, p.253). The relation of the opus to the zodiac is shown in //[[aker:collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , Fig. 92.</sub> | §414 "It is clear from this that the life of the tree represents the opus, which as we know coincides with the seasons.<fc red><sup>22</sup></fc> The fact that the fruits appear in the spring and the flowers in the autumn may be connected with the motif of reversal (arbor inversa!) and the //opus contra naturam// .\\ <fc red><sup>22</sup></fc><sub>The opus begins in the spring, when the conditions are most favourable (cf. "Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon," supra, pars. 190ff.) and the "element of the stone is most abundant" (Ventura, //Theartr. chem// ., II, 1659, p.253). The relation of the opus to the zodiac is shown in //[[collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , Fig. 92.</sub> |
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| §416 "The snake, too, with obvious reference to the Bible story, is connected with the tree, first of all in a general way since it is properly speaking the mercurial serpent which, as the chthonic //spiritus vegetativus// , rises from the roots into the branches, and then more specifically because it represents the tree-numen and appears as Melusina.<fc red><sup>3</sup></fc> ...\\ <fc green>There is some more interesting text here about the uroboros, Christ identified with the dragons head and the tail with the devil or Antichrist:</fc>\\ According to our text the whole of the dragon's body is absorbed by the head, so that the devil is integrated with Christ. ... "The whole body obeys the head, and the head hates the body, and slays it beginning from the tail, gnawing it with its teeth, until the whole body enters into the head and remains there for ever."<fc red><sup>5</sup></fc>" | §416 "The snake, too, with obvious reference to the Bible story, is connected with the tree, first of all in a general way since it is properly speaking the mercurial serpent which, as the chthonic //spiritus vegetativus// , rises from the roots into the branches, and then more specifically because it represents the tree-numen and appears as Melusina.<fc red><sup>3</sup></fc> ...\\ <fc green>There is some more interesting text here about the uroboros, Christ identified with the dragons head and the tail with the devil or Antichrist:</fc>\\ According to our text the whole of the dragon's body is absorbed by the head, so that the devil is integrated with Christ. ... "The whole body obeys the head, and the head hates the body, and slays it beginning from the tail, gnawing it with its teeth, until the whole body enters into the head and remains there for ever."<fc red><sup>5</sup></fc>" |
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| §417 "Lightening in alchemy, as in Jakob Böhme, signifies sudden rapture and illumination.<fc red><sup>8</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>22</sup></fc><sub>Cf. [[aker:collected_works:cw9i|"A Study in the Process of Individuation,"]] pp. 295ff.</sub> | §417 "Lightening in alchemy, as in Jakob Böhme, signifies sudden rapture and illumination.<fc red><sup>8</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>22</sup></fc><sub>Cf. [[collected_works:cw9i|"A Study in the Process of Individuation,"]] pp. 295ff.</sub> |
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| **//The stork bird//** \\ | **//The stork bird//** \\ |
| <fc green>An interesting comment here about the gnosis of Justin, and the motherly angels = Naas. </fc> | <fc green>An interesting comment here about the gnosis of Justin, and the motherly angels = Naas. </fc> |
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| §420 "The picture in //[[aker:books_and_literature:reusner_pandora|Pandora]]// <fc green>(woodcut 1)</fc>, where the tree trunk is a woman's body, refers to Mercurius in his feminine role of wisdom, who in his masculine aspect is symbolised by the figure of Mercurius Senex or Hermes Trismegistus." | §420 "The picture in //[[books_and_literature:reusner_pandora|Pandora]]// <fc green>(woodcut 1)</fc>, where the tree trunk is a woman's body, refers to Mercurius in his feminine role of wisdom, who in his masculine aspect is symbolised by the figure of Mercurius Senex or Hermes Trismegistus." |
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| **//The motif of the hostile stone//** \\ | **//The motif of the hostile stone//** \\ |
| §426 "This motif of the hostile stone is formulated in the "Allegoriae spientum" as follows: "Unless they stone shall be an enemy, thou wilt not attain to the desire."<fc red><sup>6</sup></fc> This enemy appears in alchemy in the guise of the poisonous or fire-spitting dragon and also as the lion. The lion's paws must be cut off,<fc red><sup>7</sup></fc> and the dragon must be killed, or else it kills or devours itself on the principle of Democritus: **//"Nature rejoices in nature, nature rules over nature, and nature conquers nature."//** <fc red><sup>8</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>7</sup></fc><sub>See illustration in Reusner's //[[aker:books_and_literature:reusner_pandora|Pandora]]//, p.227. Also //[[aker:collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , Fig. 4.</sub>\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine</fc> | §426 "This motif of the hostile stone is formulated in the "Allegoriae spientum" as follows: "Unless they stone shall be an enemy, thou wilt not attain to the desire."<fc red><sup>6</sup></fc> This enemy appears in alchemy in the guise of the poisonous or fire-spitting dragon and also as the lion. The lion's paws must be cut off,<fc red><sup>7</sup></fc> and the dragon must be killed, or else it kills or devours itself on the principle of Democritus: **//"Nature rejoices in nature, nature rules over nature, and nature conquers nature."//** <fc red><sup>8</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>7</sup></fc><sub>See illustration in Reusner's //[[books_and_literature:reusner_pandora|Pandora]]//, p.227. Also //[[collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , Fig. 4.</sub>\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine</fc> |
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| {{:aker:books_and_literature:reusner_pandora:5.jpg?600|}} | {{books_and_literature:reusner_pandora:5.jpg?600|}} |
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| §427 "Melusina corresponds to the Edem of the Gnostics and represents the feminine aspect of Mercurius, i.e., the female Nous (Naas of the [[wp>Naassenes|Naassenes]]), which in the form of the serpent seduced our first parents." | §427 "Melusina corresponds to the Edem of the Gnostics and represents the feminine aspect of Mercurius, i.e., the female Nous (Naas of the [[wp>Naassenes|Naassenes]]), which in the form of the serpent seduced our first parents." |
| §452 "According to these Gnostics, it was not the Primordial Man who was cast out as a bait into the darkness, but the feminine figure of Wisdom, Sophia-Achamoth. ..." | §452 "According to these Gnostics, it was not the Primordial Man who was cast out as a bait into the darkness, but the feminine figure of Wisdom, Sophia-Achamoth. ..." |
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| <fc green>Jung quotes from [[wp>Irenaeus|Irenaeus]], a Gnostic writer, who presents the separation of Sophia-Achamoth from the whole, the Pleroma. Here is a copy of the version I have ([[aker:books_and_literature:against_heresies|Against Heresies - Book 1, Ch IV]]) which is similar to that of Jung's...</fc> | <fc green>Jung quotes from [[wp>Irenaeus|Irenaeus]], a Gnostic writer, who presents the separation of Sophia-Achamoth from the whole, the Pleroma. Here is a copy of the version I have ([[books_and_literature:against_heresies|Against Heresies - Book 1, Ch IV]]) which is similar to that of Jung's...</fc> |
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| > CHAP. IV.--ACCOUNT GIVEN BY THE HERETICS OF THE FORMATION OF ACHAMOTH; ORIGIN OF THE VISIBLE WORLD FROM HER DISTURBANCES. \\ \\ 1. The following are the transactions which they narrate as having occurred outside of the Pleroma: The enthymesis of that Sophia who dwells above, which they also term Achamoth,(14) being removed from the Pleroma, together with her passion, they relate to have, as a matter of course, become violently excited in those places of darkness and vacuity [to which she had been banished]. For she was excluded from light(15) and the Pleroma, and was without form or figure, like an untimely birth, because she had received nothing(16) [from a male parent]. But the Christ dwelling on high took pity upon her; and having extended himself through and beyond Stauros,(17) he imparted a figure to her, but merely as respected substance, and not so as to convey intelligence.(18) Having effected this, he withdrew his influence, and returned, leaving Achamoth to herself, in order that she, becoming sensible of her suffering as being severed from the Pleroma, might be influenced by the desire of better things, while she possessed in the meantime a kind of odour of immortality left in her by Christ and the Holy Spirit. | > CHAP. IV.--ACCOUNT GIVEN BY THE HERETICS OF THE FORMATION OF ACHAMOTH; ORIGIN OF THE VISIBLE WORLD FROM HER DISTURBANCES. \\ \\ 1. The following are the transactions which they narrate as having occurred outside of the Pleroma: The enthymesis of that Sophia who dwells above, which they also term Achamoth,(14) being removed from the Pleroma, together with her passion, they relate to have, as a matter of course, become violently excited in those places of darkness and vacuity [to which she had been banished]. For she was excluded from light(15) and the Pleroma, and was without form or figure, like an untimely birth, because she had received nothing(16) [from a male parent]. But the Christ dwelling on high took pity upon her; and having extended himself through and beyond Stauros,(17) he imparted a figure to her, but merely as respected substance, and not so as to convey intelligence.(18) Having effected this, he withdrew his influence, and returned, leaving Achamoth to herself, in order that she, becoming sensible of her suffering as being severed from the Pleroma, might be influenced by the desire of better things, while she possessed in the meantime a kind of odour of immortality left in her by Christ and the Holy Spirit. |
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| <fc green>Jung talks here now of the separation of the anima, Sophia, from the masculine and the desire to rejoin and become whole again. ...worth a read.</fc>\\ | <fc green>Jung talks here now of the separation of the anima, Sophia, from the masculine and the desire to rejoin and become whole again. ...worth a read.</fc>\\ |
| §456 "The one will not darken its radiance, <fc green>(i.e. the light of Christ, the principal of masculine spirituality)</fc> and the other will not give up its gratifying emotions. <fc green>(The suffering of Sophia in her separation from the Pleroma)</fc> Neither of them notices that their suffering is one and the same and is due to the process of becoming conscious, whereby an original unity is split into two irreconcilable halves. **//There can be no consciousness without this act of discrimination, nor can the resultant duality be reunified without the extinction of consciousness//** . But the original wholeness remains a desideratum for which Sophia longs more than does the Gnostic Christ. It is still the case today that discrimination and differentiation mean more to the rationalistic intellect than wholeness through the union of opposites. That is why it is the unconscious which produces the symbols of wholeness.<fc red><sup>3</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>3</sup></fc><sub> //[[aker:collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , pars. 122ff., and [[aker:collected_works:cw9i|"A Study in the Process of Individuation,"]]</sub>\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine</fc> | §456 "The one will not darken its radiance, <fc green>(i.e. the light of Christ, the principal of masculine spirituality)</fc> and the other will not give up its gratifying emotions. <fc green>(The suffering of Sophia in her separation from the Pleroma)</fc> Neither of them notices that their suffering is one and the same and is due to the process of becoming conscious, whereby an original unity is split into two irreconcilable halves. **//There can be no consciousness without this act of discrimination, nor can the resultant duality be reunified without the extinction of consciousness//** . But the original wholeness remains a desideratum for which Sophia longs more than does the Gnostic Christ. It is still the case today that discrimination and differentiation mean more to the rationalistic intellect than wholeness through the union of opposites. That is why it is the unconscious which produces the symbols of wholeness.<fc red><sup>3</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>3</sup></fc><sub> //[[collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , pars. 122ff., and [[collected_works:cw9i|"A Study in the Process of Individuation,"]]</sub>\\ <fc green>Emphasis mine</fc> |
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| <fc green>I like this...</fc> \\ | <fc green>I like this...</fc> \\ |
| [[malefic:paper1|Λ]] [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §457 "These symbols are usually quaternity and consist of two pairs of opposites crossing one another (e.g., left/right, above/below). The four points demarcate a circle, which, apart from the point itself, is the simplest symbol of wholeness and therefore the simplest God-image.<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc> This **//reflection//** has some bearing on the emphasis laid on the cross in our text, since the cross as well as the tree is the medium of conjunction. ... The coniunctio is a culminating point of life and at the same time a death, for which reason our text mentions the "fragrance of immortality." On the one hand the anima is the connecting link with the world beyond and the eternal images, while on the other hand her emotionality involves man in the chthonic world and its transitoriness."\\ <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc><sub>"God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere." Cf. //[[aker:collected_works:cw14|Mysterium Coniunctionis]]// p.47.</sub> | [[malefic:paper1|Λ]] [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §457 "These symbols are usually quaternity and consist of two pairs of opposites crossing one another (e.g., left/right, above/below). The four points demarcate a circle, which, apart from the point itself, is the simplest symbol of wholeness and therefore the simplest God-image.<fc red><sup>4</sup></fc> This **//reflection//** has some bearing on the emphasis laid on the cross in our text, since the cross as well as the tree is the medium of conjunction. ... The coniunctio is a culminating point of life and at the same time a death, for which reason our text mentions the "fragrance of immortality." On the one hand the anima is the connecting link with the world beyond and the eternal images, while on the other hand her emotionality involves man in the chthonic world and its transitoriness."\\ <fc red><sup>4</sup></fc><sub>"God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere." Cf. //[[collected_works:cw14|Mysterium Coniunctionis]]// p.47.</sub> |
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