In alchemy he saw the bridge between analytical psychology and early forms of thought, such as Gnosticism – to reach ‘a point outside our own time’ in order to understand how deep change occurs. Jung’s fundamental insight was that the alchemists were projecting unconscious psychic processes onto the transformation of matter in the laboratory. Once again, this commentary was perceived as madness, especially by not including any clinical material, but in alchemy he saw something larger, a template, for understanding the arc and goal of the total transference situation. He stated, “…the reader will not find an account of the clinical phenomena of transference in this book…it is only possible to come to a right understanding and appreciation of a contemporary psychological problem when we can reach a point outside our own time from which to observe it” (Jung, 1946, Foreword). When Jung was being pressed to say something about the role and importance of transference, he chose to elaborate the intricacies of the analytic relationship using an alchemical series, The Rosarium Philosophorum.

It’s been a long journey, but finally the creative stage is taking part and handmade designs are being born.The perennial question regarding Jung’s fascination with the arcane art of alchemy has, and probably always will be–why alchemy? Zabriskie (1995) stated, “If analytical psychology definitively left the discipline of psychoanalysis with Jung’s assertions of the collective unconscious, psychoanalysis believed Jung left the world of sanity when he turned to alchemy as an earlier road to the unconscious” (p. So, to learn more and illustrate myself on the zeigeist of the Medieval period, I acquired Taschen’s Alchemy & Mysticism, The Book of Symbols, Codices Illustres, and Harmonia Macrocosmica.įor 5 years, they’ve roamed in the back of my mind, growing and finally on December 2020 I took action to create art about these mystic practice and concepts.įinally, on March 2021, I got to meet a psychologist who happens to inroduce me to Marie Von Franz’s Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and Psychology, deepening my understanding on this mysterious and naive pseudo-science. I wanted to create something meaninful and personal in regards to Alchemy and Symbolism by my heart and mind were not ready to take on such knowledge. In 2015, an urge to learn about alchemy woke up in my heart.

From his take on Archetypes, Dreams analysis, his Memoirs to his Red Book, I’ve learned a lot about the mystical meaning of symbols. Jung’s work, discovering both, his analytical as well as symbolic work. Fascinated with Symbolism, I’ve landed on Dr. I’ve been tracking and writing my dreams for most of my life.

Taschen alchemy