Relevance of Alchemical Symbolism

Jungian psychology has long held that the balancing of the conscious mind (individuation) is of the highest value in terms of mental wellbeing. He believed that the symbols produced by the unconscious mind (particularly in dreams but also in the teachings of esoteric mystic traditions) can provide a “road map” of this process. 

                Alchemical symbols and writings were of particular use (as opposed to the symbolism of living religious traditions) for several reasons.  Firstly, the dreams, visions, hallucinations etc generated from religious traditions (particularly monotheistic traditions) tend to be “vetted” and to a certain extent rationalised or purged of the aspects and details that did not fit the paradigm, this happens on a small scale within ourselves for example, in re-telling a dream people tend to re-order events to bring them into line with conscious perceptions of time, losing aspects of the dream in the process. However within religious traditions, entire experiences were censored or deleted by the church, as a result of this, the symbols and images within these traditions do not represent the full spectrum of the unconscious. In alchemy however, the practitioners were under the impression that they were studying the then unknown field of matter. They observed material phenomena and recorded their observations without a pre-existing framework of interpretation. The result of this was that they (unknowingly) projected unconscious images and symbols into their work. This could be said to have been done in a naive, unprogrammatic way and remained completely uncorrected. This results in a wealth of numinous symbols and images mirroring the processes of the unconscious mind.

                As the alchemists were primarily motivated by the attempts to turn base or “vulgar” metals into gold, their pursuit became quickly analogous to the attempts of the mind to develop itself (through the actions of consciousness) into a higher and more balanced state. As a result much of the symbols within alchemical tradition relate specifically to this psychotherapeutic process. It is this link that I intend to explore.