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| collected_works:cw13 [2017/02/14 05:08] – ↷ Links adapted because of a move operation janus | collected_works:cw13 [2018/09/19 03:01] (current) – [V The Philosophical Tree (304 - 482)] janus |
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| [[: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." | [[:Religion|Σ]] §71 "for all religions are therapies for the sorrows and disorders of the soul." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §71 "anyone with a more than superficial desire to understand cannot fail to discover that without the most serious application of hte Christian values we have acquired, the new integration can never take place." | [[:Religion|Σ]] §71 "anyone with a more than superficial desire to understand cannot fail to discover that without the most serious application of hte Christian values we have acquired, the new integration can never take place." |
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| §73 "One cannot grasp anythin metaphysically, one only can do so psychologically. Therefore I strip things of their metaphysical wrappings in order to make them objects of psychology. In that way I can at least extract something understandable from them and avail myself of it, and I also discover psychological facts and processes that before were veiled in symbols and beyond my comprehension." | §73 "One cannot grasp anythin metaphysically, one only can do so psychologically. Therefore I strip things of their metaphysical wrappings in order to make them objects of psychology. In that way I can at least extract something understandable from them and avail myself of it, and I also discover psychological facts and processes that before were veiled in symbols and beyond my comprehension." |
| §125 " **Thanks to the unconscious identity with it, man and cosmos interact** . The following passage, of the utmost importance for the psychology of alchemy, should be understood in this sense: "And as man is composed of the four elements, so also is the stone, and so it is [dug] out of man, and you are its ore, namely by working; and from you it is extracted, namely by division; and in you it remains inseparably, namely through the science."<fc red><sup>11</sup></fc> Not only do things appear personified as human beings, but the macrocosm personifies itself as a man too. 'The whole of nature converges in man as in a centre, and one participates in the other, and man has not unjustly concluded that the material of the philosophical stone may be found everywhere."<fc red><sup>12</sup></fc>"\\ <fc green>Bold emphasis mine. I find this a very good introductory statement about Alchemy and the micro/macro-cosm symbolism used.</fc> | §125 " **Thanks to the unconscious identity with it, man and cosmos interact** . The following passage, of the utmost importance for the psychology of alchemy, should be understood in this sense: "And as man is composed of the four elements, so also is the stone, and so it is [dug] out of man, and you are its ore, namely by working; and from you it is extracted, namely by division; and in you it remains inseparably, namely through the science."<fc red><sup>11</sup></fc> Not only do things appear personified as human beings, but the macrocosm personifies itself as a man too. 'The whole of nature converges in man as in a centre, and one participates in the other, and man has not unjustly concluded that the material of the philosophical stone may be found everywhere."<fc red><sup>12</sup></fc>"\\ <fc green>Bold emphasis mine. I find this a very good introductory statement about Alchemy and the micro/macro-cosm symbolism used.</fc> |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §127 "What unconscious nature was ultimately aiming at when she produced the image of the lapis can be seen most clearly in the notion that it originated in matter and in man, that it was to be found everywhere, and that its fabrication lay at least potentially within man's reach. These qualities all reveal what were felt to be the defects in the Christ image at that time: an air too rarefied for human needs, too great a remoteness, a place left vacant in the human heart. Men felt the absence of the "inner" Christ who belonged to every man. Christ's spirituality was too high and man's naturalness was too low." ... "The lapis may therefore be understood as a symbol of the inner Christ, of God in man. I use the expression "symbol" on purpose, for though the lapis is a parallel of Christ, it is not meant to replace him. On the contrary, in the course of the centuries the alchemists tended more and more to regard the lapis as the culmination of Christ's work of redemption." | [[:Religion|Σ]] §127 "What unconscious nature was ultimately aiming at when she produced the image of the lapis can be seen most clearly in the notion that it originated in matter and in man, that it was to be found everywhere, and that its fabrication lay at least potentially within man's reach. These qualities all reveal what were felt to be the defects in the Christ image at that time: an air too rarefied for human needs, too great a remoteness, a place left vacant in the human heart. Men felt the absence of the "inner" Christ who belonged to every man. Christ's spirituality was too high and man's naturalness was too low." ... "The lapis may therefore be understood as a symbol of the inner Christ, of God in man. I use the expression "symbol" on purpose, for though the lapis is a parallel of Christ, it is not meant to replace him. On the contrary, in the course of the centuries the alchemists tended more and more to regard the lapis as the culmination of Christ's work of redemption." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §127 "Correctly recognising the spiritual one-sidedness of the Christ image, theological speculation had begun very early to concern itself with Christ's body, that is, with his materiality, and had temporarily solved the problem with the hypothesis of the resurrected body. But because this was only a provisional and therefor not an entirely satisfactory answer, the problem logically presented itself again in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, leading first to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and finally to that of the Assumption." ... "The assumption and coronation of Mary, as depicted in the medieval illustrations, add a fourth, feminine principle to the masculine Trinity. The result is a quaternity, which forms a real and not merely postulated symbol of totality."\\ <fc green>The Assumption of the Virgin Mary was the taking of her body to heaven at the end of her life.</fc> | [[:Religion|Σ]] §127 "Correctly recognising the spiritual one-sidedness of the Christ image, theological speculation had begun very early to concern itself with Christ's body, that is, with his materiality, and had temporarily solved the problem with the hypothesis of the resurrected body. But because this was only a provisional and therefor not an entirely satisfactory answer, the problem logically presented itself again in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, leading first to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and finally to that of the Assumption." ... "The assumption and coronation of Mary, as depicted in the medieval illustrations, add a fourth, feminine principle to the masculine Trinity. The result is a quaternity, which forms a real and not merely postulated symbol of totality."\\ <fc green>The Assumption of the Virgin Mary was the taking of her body to heaven at the end of her life.</fc> |
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| §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." |
| [[: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> | [[: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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| [[: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." |
| [[: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> | [[: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'?? +:books_and_literature:transformation_of_the_psyche _sprender $quote ??~~ |
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| <fc green>The remainder of §158 is an interesting commentary on where Paracelsus' priorities for Alchemy lay, being most likely in that of the medical benefit and not necessarily the alchemical opus. Although, as Jung points out there is evidence that suggests he saw himself as a physician - inline with alchemical philosophy - as being transformed by the 'art', but that most likely he was interested in the arcana the "secret remedies". </fc> | <fc green>The remainder of §158 is an interesting commentary on where Paracelsus' priorities for Alchemy lay, being most likely in that of the medical benefit and not necessarily the alchemical opus. Although, as Jung points out there is evidence that suggests he saw himself as a physician - inline with alchemical philosophy - as being transformed by the 'art', but that most likely he was interested in the arcana the "secret remedies". </fc> |
| [[: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> | [[: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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| [[: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]] [[: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." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §196 "It the //opus alchymicum// claimed equality with the //opus divinum// of the Mass, the reason for this was not grotesque presumption but the fact that a vast, unknown Nature, disregarded by the eternal verities of the Church, was imperiously demanding recognition and acceptance." | [[:Religion|Σ]] §196 "It the //opus alchymicum// claimed equality with the //opus divinum// of the Mass, the reason for this was not grotesque presumption but the fact that a vast, unknown Nature, disregarded by the eternal verities of the Church, was imperiously demanding recognition and acceptance." |
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| §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." |
| §208 "This contradiction is resolved when we bear in mind that these concepts of Paracelsus were the result not of rational reflection but of intuitive introspection, which was able to grasp the quaternary structure of consciousness and its archetypal nature. The one is mortal, the other immortal."\\ <fc green>The contradiction Jung is referring to here is that of the immortal nature of the //lumen naturae// (although he mentions that Paracelsus mentions in other writings other than the //Vita Longa// (= long life) that the //lumen naturae// are mortal) and the mortal powers of the Scaiolae (the lovers of wisdom) and the 'mental powers and virtues, properties of the arts of the mind', the conscious mind, i.e. mortal.</fc> | §208 "This contradiction is resolved when we bear in mind that these concepts of Paracelsus were the result not of rational reflection but of intuitive introspection, which was able to grasp the quaternary structure of consciousness and its archetypal nature. The one is mortal, the other immortal."\\ <fc green>The contradiction Jung is referring to here is that of the immortal nature of the //lumen naturae// (although he mentions that Paracelsus mentions in other writings other than the //Vita Longa// (= long life) that the //lumen naturae// are mortal) and the mortal powers of the Scaiolae (the lovers of wisdom) and the 'mental powers and virtues, properties of the arts of the mind', the conscious mind, i.e. mortal.</fc> |
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| [[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]] [[: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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| [[: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> |
| <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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| [[: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]] [[: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." |
| === D. The Ecclesiastical sacrament and the opus alchymicum === | === D. The Ecclesiastical sacrament and the opus alchymicum === |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §231 "Paracelsus, like many others, was unable to make use of the Christian symbolism because the Christian formula inevitably suggested the Christian solution and would thus have conduced to the very thing that had to be avoided. It was **nature and her particular "light"** that had to be acknowledged and lived with in the face of an attitude that assiduously overlooked them." | [[:Religion|Σ]] §231 "Paracelsus, like many others, was unable to make use of the Christian symbolism because the Christian formula inevitably suggested the Christian solution and would thus have conduced to the very thing that had to be avoided. It was **nature and her particular "light"** that had to be acknowledged and lived with in the face of an attitude that assiduously overlooked them." |
| <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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| §243 "Presumably a magician, that is, an alchemist, caught and imprisoned it <fc green>(the spirit in the bottle)</fc>" <fc green>Why an alchemist? I find this very interesting that Jung makes this statement without clarification. Why would it be an alchemist? I think it must be that in the context of this volume (Alchemical Studies) alchemy is clearly at the forefront. Also, that the alchemist as an investigator of the //Art//, and expounder of unconscious content it would be an alchemist type person = magician, who was close to engaging with the spirit mercurius, they would work in the alembic, i.e. the bottle, the sealed hermetic vase. So this would then make sense that an alchemist was at work here. That said, why in the 'dream' / fantasy / fairytale do we assume its an alchemist that was moving prior to this episode of the story? Well, I guess it was only the alchemist type person who engaged, the magician who worked with the elements to understand them and in that way highlighted the alchemist in the unconscious. So we could say that in each of us that archetype of the magician (as we know it does from Jung's other writings) exists. So the magician = alchemist is at work, and necessarily so, to contain and engage with these elements, i.e. the mercurial spirit. I spoke too soon :) ..see §244 for more detail.</fc> | §243 "Presumably a magician, that is, an alchemist, caught and imprisoned it <fc green>(the spirit in the bottle)</fc>" <fc green>Why an alchemist? I find this very interesting that Jung makes this statement without clarification. Why would it be an alchemist? I think it must be that in the context of this volume (Alchemical Studies) alchemy is clearly at the forefront. Also, that the alchemist as an investigator of the //Art//, and expounder of unconscious content it would be an alchemist type person = magician, who was close to engaging with the spirit mercurius, they would work in the alembic, i.e. the bottle, the sealed hermetic vase. So this would then make sense that an alchemist was at work here. That said, why in the 'dream' / fantasy / fairytale do we assume its an alchemist that was moving prior to this episode of the story? Well, I guess it was only the alchemist type person who engaged, the magician who worked with the elements to understand them and in that way highlighted the alchemist in the unconscious. So we could say that in each of us that archetype of the magician (as we know it does from Jung's other writings) exists. So the magician = alchemist is at work, and necessarily so, to contain and engage with these elements, i.e. the mercurial spirit. I spoke too soon :) ..see §244 for more detail.</fc> |
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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> | [[: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. [[collected_works:cw10|CW10]] //A psychological view of conscience//. </fc> | [[: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." |
| == 6. The unity and trinity of Mercurius == | == 6. The unity and trinity of Mercurius == |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §270 "In spite of his obvious duality the unity of Mercurius is also emphasized, especially in his form as the lapis.<fc green>(cf. this with §235 and my notes on Mercurius being related to Christ)</fc> "In all the world he is One."<fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> The unity of Mercurius is at the same time a trinity, with clear reference to the Holy Trinity, although his triadic nature does not derive from Christian dogma but is of earlier date. Triads occur as early as the treatise of Zosimos, (Concerning the Art).<fc red><sup>2</sup></fc> The triadic character is an attribute of the gods of the underworld, as for instance the three-bodied [[wp>Hecate|Hecate]], ... Mylius represents him as a three-headed snake.<fc red><sup>11</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>2</sup></fc><sub>Berthelot, //Alch. grecs// , III, vi, 18: "The unity of the composition [produces] the indivisible triad, and thus an undivided triad composed of separate elements creates the cosmos, through the forethought of the First Author, the cause and demiurge of creation; wherefore he is called Trismegistos, having beheld triadically **//that which is created and that which creates//** . <fc green>(I just like that last bit)</fc></sub>\\ <fc green>Mercurius as a three headed-snake as the chthonic counterpart to the Christian Trinity.</fc> | [[:Religion|Σ]] §270 "In spite of his obvious duality the unity of Mercurius is also emphasized, especially in his form as the lapis.<fc green>(cf. this with §235 and my notes on Mercurius being related to Christ)</fc> "In all the world he is One."<fc red><sup>1</sup></fc> The unity of Mercurius is at the same time a trinity, with clear reference to the Holy Trinity, although his triadic nature does not derive from Christian dogma but is of earlier date. Triads occur as early as the treatise of Zosimos, (Concerning the Art).<fc red><sup>2</sup></fc> The triadic character is an attribute of the gods of the underworld, as for instance the three-bodied [[wp>Hecate|Hecate]], ... Mylius represents him as a three-headed snake.<fc red><sup>11</sup></fc>"\\ <fc red><sup>2</sup></fc><sub>Berthelot, //Alch. grecs// , III, vi, 18: "The unity of the composition [produces] the indivisible triad, and thus an undivided triad composed of separate elements creates the cosmos, through the forethought of the First Author, the cause and demiurge of creation; wherefore he is called Trismegistos, having beheld triadically **//that which is created and that which creates//** . <fc green>(I just like that last bit)</fc></sub>\\ <fc green>Mercurius as a three headed-snake as the chthonic counterpart to the Christian Trinity.</fc> |
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| <fc green>The Typhon (three in one)</fc>\\ | <fc green>The Typhon (three in one)</fc>\\ |
| {{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]] ..."\\ | [[: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 [[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'?? +:books_and_literature:hermetic_museum _sprender $quote ??~~ |
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| <fc green>Also, cf. </fc> | <fc green>Also, cf. </fc> |
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| ~~SEARCHPATTERN#'/(.*p268 \s*([^\n\r]+).*)/i'?? +aker:books_and_literature:prelude_to_chemistry _sprender $quote ??~~ | ~~SEARCHPATTERN#'/(.*p268 \s*([^\n\r]+).*)/i'?? +:books_and_literature:prelude_to_chemistry _sprender $quote ??~~ |
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| "Since Mercurius is often called //filus//, his sonship is beyond question. he is therefore like a brother to Christ and a second son of God, though in point of time he must be accounted the elder and the first-born. ... he is also the counterpart of the Trinity as a whole in so far as he is conceived to be a chthonic triad. According to this view he would be equal to one half of the Christian Godhead. He is indeed the dark chthonic half, but he is not simply evil as such, for he is called "good //and//evil," or a "system of the higher powers in the lower."" | "Since Mercurius is often called //filus//, his sonship is beyond question. he is therefore like a brother to Christ and a second son of God, though in point of time he must be accounted the elder and the first-born. ... he is also the counterpart of the Trinity as a whole in so far as he is conceived to be a chthonic triad. According to this view he would be equal to one half of the Christian Godhead. He is indeed the dark chthonic half, but he is not simply evil as such, for he is called "good //and//evil," or a "system of the higher powers in the lower."" |
| §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."" |
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| [[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> | [[: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 //[[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> |
| §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> |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §277 "In the poem Mercurius is describing is own transformation, which at the same time signifies the mystic transformation of the artifex; for not only Mercurius but also what happens to him is a projection of the collective unconscious. This, as can easily be seen from what has gone before, is the projection of the individuation process ... But if consciousness participates with some measure of understanding, then the process is accompanied by all the emotions of a religious experience or revelation. As a result of this, Mercurius was identified with Sapientia and the Holy Ghost." | [[:Religion|Σ]] §277 "In the poem Mercurius is describing is own transformation, which at the same time signifies the mystic transformation of the artifex; for not only Mercurius but also what happens to him is a projection of the collective unconscious. This, as can easily be seen from what has gone before, is the projection of the individuation process ... But if consciousness participates with some measure of understanding, then the process is accompanied by all the emotions of a religious experience or revelation. As a result of this, Mercurius was identified with Sapientia and the Holy Ghost." |
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| §279 "This dark Mercurius must once again be understood as representing the initial //nigredo// state, the lowest being a symbol of the highest and vice versa ...He is the uroboros, the One and All, the union of opposites accomplished during the alchemical process ..." | §279 "This dark Mercurius must once again be understood as representing the initial //nigredo// state, the lowest being a symbol of the highest and vice versa ...He is the uroboros, the One and All, the union of opposites accomplished during the alchemical process ..." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §280 " <fc green>of Mercurius ...</fc> in contrast to the route followed by the Christian Redeemer, who comes from above to below and from there returns to the above, the //filius macrocosmi// starts from below <fc green>(following the 'Tabula smaragdina')</fc>, ascends on high, and, with powers of Above and Below united in himself, returns to earth again. He carries out the reverse movement and thereby manifests a nature contrary to that of Christ and the Gnostic Redeemers, ..." | [[:Religion|Σ]] §280 " <fc green>of Mercurius ...</fc> in contrast to the route followed by the Christian Redeemer, who comes from above to below and from there returns to the above, the //filius macrocosmi// starts from below <fc green>(following the 'Tabula smaragdina')</fc>, ascends on high, and, with powers of Above and Below united in himself, returns to earth again. He carries out the reverse movement and thereby manifests a nature contrary to that of Christ and the Gnostic Redeemers, ..." |
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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. //[[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> | [[: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 ..." | [[: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 ..." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §290 "Opposed to this figure <fc green>(Mercurius)</fc> ..there stands, sharply outlined by dogma, the Son of Man and Salvator Mundi, Christ the Sol Novus, before whom the lesser stars pale. ...As a result a tension of opposites such as had never occurred before in the whole history of Christianity beginning with Creation arose between Christ and the Antichrist, as Satan or the fallen angel. <fc green>(Cf. this with §289 above where Mercurius is pointed to as the devil.)</fc> At the time of Job, Satan is still found among the sons of God. "Now there was a day," it says in Job 1:6, "when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." ..." | [[:Religion|Σ]] §290 "Opposed to this figure <fc green>(Mercurius)</fc> ..there stands, sharply outlined by dogma, the Son of Man and Salvator Mundi, Christ the Sol Novus, before whom the lesser stars pale. ...As a result a tension of opposites such as had never occurred before in the whole history of Christianity beginning with Creation arose between Christ and the Antichrist, as Satan or the fallen angel. <fc green>(Cf. this with §289 above where Mercurius is pointed to as the devil.)</fc> At the time of Job, Satan is still found among the sons of God. "Now there was a day," it says in Job 1:6, "when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." ..." |
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| §291 "The emphatic differentiation of opposites is synonymous with sharper discrimination, and that is the //sine qua non// for any broadening or heightening of consciousness."\\ <fc green>This paragraph - starting with the previous - presents a pithy but decent explanation on the development of conscious, and the consequences towards the darker opposites that are thus pushed aside, or unable to be brought to consciousness and therefore manifest in the metaphysical and projections, resulting as it has with Christianity for e.g. in the split between powers of darkness and light. </fc> | §291 "The emphatic differentiation of opposites is synonymous with sharper discrimination, and that is the //sine qua non// for any broadening or heightening of consciousness."\\ <fc green>This paragraph - starting with the previous - presents a pithy but decent explanation on the development of conscious, and the consequences towards the darker opposites that are thus pushed aside, or unable to be brought to consciousness and therefore manifest in the metaphysical and projections, resulting as it has with Christianity for e.g. in the split between powers of darkness and light. </fc> |
| §294 "Reason, however, has set itself free and proclaimed itself the ruler. ... The stirrings in the darkness necessarily seem like a devilish betrayal of the ideal of spiritual development.<fc green>(Alchemical stirrings I should imagine as opposed to classical Christian stirrings.)</fc>"\\ <fc green>This is an interesting paragraph I think. Jung is describing the rise of 'reason', the enlightenment really. The 'logic' of the Christian dogma predominates and the //anima rationalis// - potentially recognised at best - remains subordinate. Reason and enlightenment have taken over at the repression of all else. The compensatory energies abound in this landscape. Jung words this much better :) </fc> | §294 "Reason, however, has set itself free and proclaimed itself the ruler. ... The stirrings in the darkness necessarily seem like a devilish betrayal of the ideal of spiritual development.<fc green>(Alchemical stirrings I should imagine as opposed to classical Christian stirrings.)</fc>"\\ <fc green>This is an interesting paragraph I think. Jung is describing the rise of 'reason', the enlightenment really. The 'logic' of the Christian dogma predominates and the //anima rationalis// - potentially recognised at best - remains subordinate. Reason and enlightenment have taken over at the repression of all else. The compensatory energies abound in this landscape. Jung words this much better :) </fc> |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §295 "...Mercurius and created a symbol which, according to all the psychological rules, stands in a compensatory relation to Christ. It is not meant to take his place, nor is it identical with him, for then indeed it could replace him. It owes its existence to the law of compensation, and its object is to throw a bridge across the abyss separating the two psychological worlds by presenting a subtle compensatory counterpoint to the Christ image." | [[:Religion|Σ]] §295 "...Mercurius and created a symbol which, according to all the psychological rules, stands in a compensatory relation to Christ. It is not meant to take his place, nor is it identical with him, for then indeed it could replace him. It owes its existence to the law of compensation, and its object is to throw a bridge across the abyss separating the two psychological worlds by presenting a subtle compensatory counterpoint to the Christ image." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §296 "One can hardly escape the conclusion that Mercurius as the lapis is a symbolic expression for the psychological complex which I have defined as the self. Similarly, the Christ figure must be viewed as a self symbol, and for the same reasons. But this leads to an apparently insoluble contradiction ..."\\ §297 " ...The figures of Christ and the devil are both based on archetypal patterns, and were never invented but rather **//experienced//** . Their existence preceded all cognition of them,<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> ..."\\ §298 "...then we can also understand that the gods came first and theology later. Indeed, we must go a step further and assume that in the beginning there were two figures, one bright and one shadowy, and only afterwards did the light of consciousness detach itself from the night and the uncertain shimmer of its stars."\\ <fc red><sup>9</sup></fc><sub>Evidence for this is the widespread motif of the two hostile brothers.</sub>\\ <fc green>These paragraphs are very interesting around the discussion of Christ, Mercurius = light, dark = enlightenment and the resultant shadow.</fc> | [[:Religion|Σ]] §296 "One can hardly escape the conclusion that Mercurius as the lapis is a symbolic expression for the psychological complex which I have defined as the self. Similarly, the Christ figure must be viewed as a self symbol, and for the same reasons. But this leads to an apparently insoluble contradiction ..."\\ §297 " ...The figures of Christ and the devil are both based on archetypal patterns, and were never invented but rather **//experienced//** . Their existence preceded all cognition of them,<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> ..."\\ §298 "...then we can also understand that the gods came first and theology later. Indeed, we must go a step further and assume that in the beginning there were two figures, one bright and one shadowy, and only afterwards did the light of consciousness detach itself from the night and the uncertain shimmer of its stars."\\ <fc red><sup>9</sup></fc><sub>Evidence for this is the widespread motif of the two hostile brothers.</sub>\\ <fc green>These paragraphs are very interesting around the discussion of Christ, Mercurius = light, dark = enlightenment and the resultant shadow.</fc> |
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| §299 "So if Christ and the dark nature-deity are autonomous images that can be directly experienced, we are obliged to reverse our rationalistic causal sequence, and instead of deriving these figures from our psychic conditions, must derive our psychic conditions from these figures."\\ <fc green>What Jung is saying here is pretty huge really. Our enlightened minds did not create the gods, they were there all along.</fc>\\ "From this standpoint Christ appears as the archetype of consciousness and Mercurius as the archetype of the unconscious." | §299 "So if Christ and the dark nature-deity are autonomous images that can be directly experienced, we are obliged to reverse our rationalistic causal sequence, and instead of deriving these figures from our psychic conditions, must derive our psychic conditions from these figures."\\ <fc green>What Jung is saying here is pretty huge really. Our enlightened minds did not create the gods, they were there all along.</fc>\\ "From this standpoint Christ appears as the archetype of consciousness and Mercurius as the archetype of the unconscious." |
| §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. //[[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> | [[: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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| §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." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §331 "Man's efforts to achieve wholeness correspond, as the divine myth shows, to voluntary sacrifice of the self to the bondage of earthly existence."\\ <fc green>This is succinctly summed up here - the reference to Christ on the cross.</fc> | [[:Religion|Σ]] §331 "Man's efforts to achieve wholeness correspond, as the divine myth shows, to voluntary sacrifice of the self to the bondage of earthly existence."\\ <fc green>This is succinctly summed up here - the reference to Christ on the cross.</fc> |
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| §332 "...it is important not to succumb to an inflation, ...if, at the moment when the self became recognisable, she identified with it and thus blinded herself to the insight she had attained. If the **//natural impulse//** to identify with the self is recognised, one then has a good chance of freeing oneself from a state of unconsciousness. But if this opportunity is overlooked ...gives rise to a repression coupled with dissociation of the personality. The development of consciousness which the realisation of the self might have led to turns into a regression. I must emphasise that this realisation is not just an intellectual act but is primarily a moral one ..." | §332 "...it is important not to succumb to an inflation, ...if, at the moment when the self became recognisable, she identified with it and thus blinded herself to the insight she had attained. If the **//natural impulse//** to identify with the self is recognised, one then has a good chance of freeing oneself from a state of unconsciousness. But if this opportunity is overlooked ...gives rise to a repression coupled with dissociation of the personality. The development of consciousness which the realisation of the self might have led to turns into a regression. I must emphasise that this realisation is not just an intellectual act but is primarily a moral one ..." |
| <fc green>Worth a read here as Jung discusses the treatise, but also touches on some other interesting points about astrology, and the opus being a 'gift of God'. </fc> | <fc green>Worth a read here as Jung discusses the treatise, but also touches on some other interesting points about astrology, and the opus being a 'gift of God'. </fc> |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §355 " ...the goal of the opus is "not of this world." Accordingly, at the conclusion of his treatise on the "universal process of our work," the author avows that it is a "gift of God, containing the secret of the undivided oneness of the Holy Trinity." | [[:Religion|Σ]] §355 " ...the goal of the opus is "not of this world." Accordingly, at the conclusion of his treatise on the "universal process of our work," the author avows that it is a "gift of God, containing the secret of the undivided oneness of the Holy Trinity." |
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| [[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> | [[: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 [[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> | [[: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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| §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> | §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 //[[collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// , pp. 208f. - Editors] Hippolytus, //Elenchos//, V, 7, 29ff.</sub> | [[: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> |
| §389 "In the spiritual sense the rose, like the //hortus aromatum// (garden of spices),<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> ... is an allegory of Mary, but in the worldly sense it is the beloved, ... so the rose has the significance of a mandala, as is clear from the heavenly rose in Dante's //Paradiso// . Like its equivalent, the Indian lotus, the rose is decidedly feminine. In Mechthild of Magdeburg it must be understood as a projection of her own feminine Eros upon Christ.<fc red><sup>17</sup></fc>" | §389 "In the spiritual sense the rose, like the //hortus aromatum// (garden of spices),<fc red><sup>9</sup></fc> ... is an allegory of Mary, but in the worldly sense it is the beloved, ... so the rose has the significance of a mandala, as is clear from the heavenly rose in Dante's //Paradiso// . Like its equivalent, the Indian lotus, the rose is decidedly feminine. In Mechthild of Magdeburg it must be understood as a projection of her own feminine Eros upon Christ.<fc red><sup>17</sup></fc>" |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §390 "It seems as though the rose-coloured blood of the alchemical redeemer<fc red><sup>18</sup></fc> was derived from a rose mysticism that penetrated into alchemy, and that, in the form of the red tincture, it expressed the healing or whole-making effect of a certain kind of Eros. The strange concretism of this symbol is explained by the total absence of psychological concepts."\\ <fc green>I find this last sentence very interesting. Is Jung saying that there is an intentional lack of any psychological concepts associated, or that there were no psychological concepts at the time of concretisation of the symbol, hence the concretism? I think it is the latter - and thus this idea is applicable to most alchemical concepts I'd say, which makes it strange to me that Jung highlights this one symbol with this reasoning (that I have seen). \\ Jung's continuing discussion sheds some light on what I think is his intentions here, to elucidate using - amongst other things - aspects of philosophy. Where he says of the 'rose-coloured' blood that was understood by Dorn as:</fc>\\ "vegetabile naturiae," in contrast to ordinary blood, which was a "vegetabile materiae."\\ <fc green>Where ' [[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vegetabilis|Vegetabile]]' = Latin for animating, enlivening, vivifying, able to produce and support growth, vegetative. So the rose-coloured blood is the support, vivifying liquid of //naturiae// , the natural world, nature. Whereas ordinary blood is that which supports the material world, the reality of things, the physical.\\ In regard to Dorn, this view of the rose-blood as the 'vegetabile naturiae' would align with his Platonic philosophy and Hermetic understanding, Cf. §382 above.</fc> | [[:Religion|Σ]] §390 "It seems as though the rose-coloured blood of the alchemical redeemer<fc red><sup>18</sup></fc> was derived from a rose mysticism that penetrated into alchemy, and that, in the form of the red tincture, it expressed the healing or whole-making effect of a certain kind of Eros. The strange concretism of this symbol is explained by the total absence of psychological concepts."\\ <fc green>I find this last sentence very interesting. Is Jung saying that there is an intentional lack of any psychological concepts associated, or that there were no psychological concepts at the time of concretisation of the symbol, hence the concretism? I think it is the latter - and thus this idea is applicable to most alchemical concepts I'd say, which makes it strange to me that Jung highlights this one symbol with this reasoning (that I have seen). \\ Jung's continuing discussion sheds some light on what I think is his intentions here, to elucidate using - amongst other things - aspects of philosophy. Where he says of the 'rose-coloured' blood that was understood by Dorn as:</fc>\\ "vegetabile naturiae," in contrast to ordinary blood, which was a "vegetabile materiae."\\ <fc green>Where ' [[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vegetabilis|Vegetabile]]' = Latin for animating, enlivening, vivifying, able to produce and support growth, vegetative. So the rose-coloured blood is the support, vivifying liquid of //naturiae// , the natural world, nature. Whereas ordinary blood is that which supports the material world, the reality of things, the physical.\\ In regard to Dorn, this view of the rose-blood as the 'vegetabile naturiae' would align with his Platonic philosophy and Hermetic understanding, Cf. §382 above.</fc> |
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| [[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> | [[: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. //[[collected_works:cw12|Psychology and Alchemy]]// , "The Lapis-Christ Parallel," and //[[collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// , Ch. 5.</sub> | [[: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." | [[: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." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] <fc green>On the matter of Eros and Logos as opposites and balancing forces, and the church...</fc>\\ §391 " ...the Rosicrucian movement, whose motto - //per crucem ad rosam// <fc green>(Attaining the Cross through the way of the Rose)</fc> - was anticipated by the alchemists. \\ Love alone is useless if it does not also have understanding. And for a proper use of understanding a wider consciousness is needed, ... The blinder love is, the more it is instinctual, and the more it is attended by destructive consequences, ... Therefore a compensatory Logos has been joined to it as a light that shines in the darkness. A man who is unconscious of himself acts in a blind, instinctive way and is in addition fooled by all the illusions that arise when he sees everything that he is not conscious of in himself coming to meet him from outside as projections upon his neighbour." | [[:Religion|Σ]] <fc green>On the matter of Eros and Logos as opposites and balancing forces, and the church...</fc>\\ §391 " ...the Rosicrucian movement, whose motto - //per crucem ad rosam// <fc green>(Attaining the Cross through the way of the Rose)</fc> - was anticipated by the alchemists. \\ Love alone is useless if it does not also have understanding. And for a proper use of understanding a wider consciousness is needed, ... The blinder love is, the more it is instinctual, and the more it is attended by destructive consequences, ... Therefore a compensatory Logos has been joined to it as a light that shines in the darkness. A man who is unconscious of himself acts in a blind, instinctive way and is in addition fooled by all the illusions that arise when he sees everything that he is not conscious of in himself coming to meet him from outside as projections upon his neighbour." |
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| <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> //[[collected_works:cw9ii|Aion]]// pp.164f.</sub> | [[: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." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §396 "This fact is expressed in a general way by the religions, where the relation of the individual to God or the gods ensures that the vital link with the regulating images and instinctual powers of the unconscious is not broken. Naturally this is true only so long as the religious ideas have not lost their numinosity, i.e., their thrilling power. Once this loss has occurred, it can never be replaced by anything rational."\\ <fc green>This last statement is very interesting to me, I think of the engagement and wonder of science. There are many unexplained things, which I guess could be considered then 'irrational' in their non-understanding, but these can grip people too. Poetry too, and computers can be poetry - it is another language after all - are beautiful and can be thrilling.\\ He continues...</fc>\\ " ... consciousness reacts to these revelations in the same characteristic way: the alchemist reduced his symbols to the chemical substances he worked with, while the modern man reduces them to personal experiences, as Freud also does in his interpretation of dreams. Both of them act as though they knew to what known quantities the meaning of the symbols could be reduced. And both, in a sense are right: for just as the alchemist was caught in his own alchemical dream language, so modern man, caught in the toils of egohood, uses his personal psychological problems as a //[[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fa%C3%A7on//de//parler|facon de parler]]// . In both cases the representational material is derived from already existing conscious contents. The result of this reduction, however, is not very satisfactory ..." <fc green>Definitely worth reading on. Jung highlights Freud and the incest archetype. An interesting comment:</fc>"He <fc green>[Freud]</fc> thus found something that to some extent expressed the **//real//** meaning and purpose of symbol production, which is to bring about an awareness of those primordial images that belong to all men and can therefore lead the individual out of his isolation." <fc green>(Emphasis mine. Cf §394 above, where Jung talks of the consequence of individuation and the resulting isolation.)</fc> | [[:Religion|Σ]] §396 "This fact is expressed in a general way by the religions, where the relation of the individual to God or the gods ensures that the vital link with the regulating images and instinctual powers of the unconscious is not broken. Naturally this is true only so long as the religious ideas have not lost their numinosity, i.e., their thrilling power. Once this loss has occurred, it can never be replaced by anything rational."\\ <fc green>This last statement is very interesting to me, I think of the engagement and wonder of science. There are many unexplained things, which I guess could be considered then 'irrational' in their non-understanding, but these can grip people too. Poetry too, and computers can be poetry - it is another language after all - are beautiful and can be thrilling.\\ He continues...</fc>\\ " ... consciousness reacts to these revelations in the same characteristic way: the alchemist reduced his symbols to the chemical substances he worked with, while the modern man reduces them to personal experiences, as Freud also does in his interpretation of dreams. Both of them act as though they knew to what known quantities the meaning of the symbols could be reduced. And both, in a sense are right: for just as the alchemist was caught in his own alchemical dream language, so modern man, caught in the toils of egohood, uses his personal psychological problems as a //[[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fa%C3%A7on//de//parler|facon de parler]]// . In both cases the representational material is derived from already existing conscious contents. The result of this reduction, however, is not very satisfactory ..." <fc green>Definitely worth reading on. Jung highlights Freud and the incest archetype. An interesting comment:</fc>"He <fc green>[Freud]</fc> thus found something that to some extent expressed the **//real//** meaning and purpose of symbol production, which is to bring about an awareness of those primordial images that belong to all men and can therefore lead the individual out of his isolation." <fc green>(Emphasis mine. Cf §394 above, where Jung talks of the consequence of individuation and the resulting isolation.)</fc> |
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| §397 "... symbols mean very much more than can be known at first glance. Their meaning resides in the fact that they compensate an unadapted attitude of consciousness, an attitude that does not fulfil its purpose, and that they would enable it to do this if they were understood.<fc red><sup>5</sup></fc>\\ <fc red><sup>5</sup></fc><sub>As archetypal symbols are numinous, they have an effect even though they cannot be grasped intellectually.</sub>\\ <fc green>Jung closes out this paragraph with a comparison of the alchemical work and that of analysis. Sure, the laboratory work is needed in alchemy as the personal, conscious ego issues need to be dealt with, but the healing comes from allowing the symbolic archetypal content to still shine through - without pinning or reducing it down to a specific meaning for then it loses its power.</fc> "...the analyst keeps an eye on their symbolic aspects, for healing comes only from what leads the patient beyond himself and beyond his entanglement in the ego." | §397 "... symbols mean very much more than can be known at first glance. Their meaning resides in the fact that they compensate an unadapted attitude of consciousness, an attitude that does not fulfil its purpose, and that they would enable it to do this if they were understood.<fc red><sup>5</sup></fc>\\ <fc red><sup>5</sup></fc><sub>As archetypal symbols are numinous, they have an effect even though they cannot be grasped intellectually.</sub>\\ <fc green>Jung closes out this paragraph with a comparison of the alchemical work and that of analysis. Sure, the laboratory work is needed in alchemy as the personal, conscious ego issues need to be dealt with, but the healing comes from allowing the symbolic archetypal content to still shine through - without pinning or reducing it down to a specific meaning for then it loses its power.</fc> "...the analyst keeps an eye on their symbolic aspects, for healing comes only from what leads the patient beyond himself and beyond his entanglement in the ego." |
| §410 "The tree is frequently called the "inverted tree" ( //arbor inversa// )."\\ <fc green>There is some discussion here of the Cabala's Sefiroth as a symbolic tree of life and as a symbol of man.</fc> | §410 "The tree is frequently called the "inverted tree" ( //arbor inversa// )."\\ <fc green>There is some discussion here of the Cabala's Sefiroth as a symbolic tree of life and as a symbol of man.</fc> |
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| §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. ...Figure 27 in my picture series contains the same motif, and indeed the upthrusting stalks of asparagus are a graphic representation of the way previously unconscious contents push into consciousness. 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 //[[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> |
| §446 "The quaternity of the tree goes back beyond the Christian era. It is found in Zarathustra's vision of the tree with four branches made of gold, silver, steel, and "mixed iron."<fc red><sup>27</sup></fc> This image reappears later in the alchemical tree of the metals, which was then compared with the cross of Christ." | §446 "The quaternity of the tree goes back beyond the Christian era. It is found in Zarathustra's vision of the tree with four branches made of gold, silver, steel, and "mixed iron."<fc red><sup>27</sup></fc> This image reappears later in the alchemical tree of the metals, which was then compared with the cross of Christ." |
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| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §447 "The tree also appears as a symbol of transformation in a passage in Dorn's "Speculativa philosophia," which is very interesting from the point of view of the psychology of religion:\\ "[God] hat determined to snatch the sword of his wrath <fc green>(The double edged sword of Gods word)</fc> from the hands of the angel, substituting in place thereof a three-pronged hook of gold, <fc green>(the trinity?)</fc> hanging the sword on a tree: <fc green>(i.e. crucifixion of Christ, gods word made man, John 1:1 'in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.')</fc> and so God's wrath is turned into love."<fc red><sup>30</sup></fc> Christ as Logos is the two-edged sword, which symbolizes God's wrath, as in Revelation 1:16.\\ <fc red><sup>27</sup></fc><sub> //Theatr. Chem// ., I (1659), p. 254. ... //insert some Latin here// :) </sub> | [[:Religion|Σ]] §447 "The tree also appears as a symbol of transformation in a passage in Dorn's "Speculativa philosophia," which is very interesting from the point of view of the psychology of religion:\\ "[God] hat determined to snatch the sword of his wrath <fc green>(The double edged sword of Gods word)</fc> from the hands of the angel, substituting in place thereof a three-pronged hook of gold, <fc green>(the trinity?)</fc> hanging the sword on a tree: <fc green>(i.e. crucifixion of Christ, gods word made man, John 1:1 'in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.')</fc> and so God's wrath is turned into love."<fc red><sup>30</sup></fc> Christ as Logos is the two-edged sword, which symbolizes God's wrath, as in Revelation 1:16.\\ <fc red><sup>27</sup></fc><sub> //Theatr. Chem// ., I (1659), p. 254. ... //insert some Latin here// :) </sub> |
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| **//The dual aspect of the snake as Sophia / Wisdom, and also Instinct, chthonic//** \\ | **//The dual aspect of the snake as Sophia / Wisdom, and also Instinct, chthonic//** \\ |
| [[aker:Religion|Σ]] §448 "Christ as Logos is synonymous with the Naas, <fc green>(Cf. the Naas above)</fc> the serpent of the [[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nous|Nous]] amount the Ophites. ... Hence it <fc green>(The snake)</fc> is an excellent symbol for the **//two aspects of the unconscious//** : cold and ruthless instinctuality, and its Sophia quality or natural wisdom, which is embodied in the archetypes. \\ The Logos-nature of Christ represented by the chthonic serpent <fc green> //stop// </fc> //is// the maternal wisdom of the divine mother, which is prefigured by sapientia in the Old Testament. The snake-symbol thus characterizes Christ as a personification of the unconscious in all its aspects, <fc green>(i.e. the instinctual and the natural wisdom, Sophia)</fc> and as such he is hung on the tree in sacrifice ("wounded by the spear" like Odin)." | [[:Religion|Σ]] §448 "Christ as Logos is synonymous with the Naas, <fc green>(Cf. the Naas above)</fc> the serpent of the [[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nous|Nous]] amount the Ophites. ... Hence it <fc green>(The snake)</fc> is an excellent symbol for the **//two aspects of the unconscious//** : cold and ruthless instinctuality, and its Sophia quality or natural wisdom, which is embodied in the archetypes. \\ The Logos-nature of Christ represented by the chthonic serpent <fc green> //stop// </fc> //is// the maternal wisdom of the divine mother, which is prefigured by sapientia in the Old Testament. The snake-symbol thus characterizes Christ as a personification of the unconscious in all its aspects, <fc green>(i.e. the instinctual and the natural wisdom, Sophia)</fc> and as such he is hung on the tree in sacrifice ("wounded by the spear" like Odin)." |
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| <fc red>What the fuck does this next bit mean!!</fc> ... | <fc red>What the fuck does this next bit mean!!</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. //[[collected_works:cw14|Mysterium Coniunctionis]]// p.47.</sub> | [[malefic:paper1|Λ]] [[: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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