For Jung, alchemy provided the very root imagery of transformation as it bridged from the past into the future, to analytical psychology and the individuation process itself — “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.” In “The Psychology of the Transference” he used a series of alchemical plates from The Rosarium Philosophorum, The Rosary of the Philosophers, to demonstrate the relational individuation process that occurs in analysis and intimate relationships. This presentation will look at the entire series as it presents a template for the transformation of solar (masculine) and lunar (feminine) soul energies. The formation of a deeply reflective lunar consciousness is necessary to facilitate deep change within the individual and social systems. A new “third thing” is being sought that requires “compassionate witnessing” towards the events that happen to oneself in life — only from this stance can one hope to find “right action.”
JUNGIAN.DIRECTORY