{"id":126769,"date":"2026-07-28T14:33:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jungian.directory\/fcxfougk\/?post_type=books&p=126769"},"modified":"2026-08-06T03:29:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T02:29:43","slug":"dialectics-and-alchemy-essays-in-the-psychology-of-interiority","status":"publish","type":"books","link":"https:\/\/jungian.directory\/fcxfougk\/books\/dialectics-and-alchemy-essays-in-the-psychology-of-interiority\/","title":{"rendered":"Dialectics and Alchemy: Essays in the Psychology of Interiority"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drawing on insights from the psychology of interiority, these essays explore the relation between dialectical thought and alchemical logic. Alchemy occupies a pre-eminent place in Jung\u2019s psychology, which for him fundamentally meant a \u201cpsychology\u00a0with<\/span>\u00a0soul.\u201d In the same way that alchemy straddled the mythic, pre-modern form of consciousness and that of early modernity, it served as a mediatrix for Jung\u2019s psychology, straddling past and present. From different angles, these essays view alchemy\u2019s reception in Jungian psychology today. They do so, however, based upon a fundamental principle of the psychology of interiority, which differentiates between the psychology of the soul and that of the human personality. Hence, the notion of interiority signifies the inwardness of\u00a0soul, not that of the individual\u2019s inner life. Alchemical interiority, as symbolized by the vas hermeticum,refers in that case to the soul\u2019s interiority. Jung recognized such a difference, for instance, when referring to alchemical melancholia as\u00a0not<\/span>\u00a0the alchemist\u2019s own. Thus, we can say that whilst the soul manifestsin or through the human psyche, it is not of it. Alchemy is then looked at critically, against the foil of the way that contemporary Jungian psychology pushes the \u201cstuffs\u201d of alchemy down into the \u201cinner\u201d of the individual personality. With the latter standpoint, comprehension of the\u00a0dialectical logic\u00a0<\/span>of the soul is lost. The psychological difference between the psychology of soul and the human personality is now one-sidedly compressed into the individual personality as if it were alchemy\u2019s true referent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alchemy\u2019s place in Jungian psychology provides the starting point for Michael William Whan\u2019s collection of essays on dialectical thought and the psychology of interiority. Whan, a senior analyst with the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists, distinguishes the inwardness of soul from the private inner life of the individual personality. From this perspective, the alchemical vas hermeticum signifies the soul\u2019s own interiority, while alchemy mediates between mythic consciousness, early modernity and Jung\u2019s psychological project. The essays critically examine contemporary Jungian approaches that relocate alchemical processes within the individual, arguing that this obscures the dialectical logic of soul. Drawing on Whan\u2019s longstanding engagement with Jung, alchemy and the discipline of interiority, the volume contributes to discussion of how alchemical imagery is understood in contemporary Jungian psychology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":126770,"template":"","tags":[],"book__categories":[2813],"class_list":["post-126769","books","type-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book__categories-books-received"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDialectics and Alchemy: Essays in the Psychology of Interiority - JungianDirectory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dialectics and Alchemy: Essays in the Psychology of Interiority\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alchemy\u2019s place in Jungian psychology provides the starting point for Michael William Whan\u2019s collection of essays on dialectical thought and the psychology of interiority. Whan, a senior analyst with the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists, distinguishes the inwardness of soul from the private inner life of the individual personality. From this perspective, the alchemical vas hermeticum signifies the soul\u2019s own interiority, while alchemy mediates between mythic consciousness, early modernity and Jung\u2019s psychological project. The essays critically examine contemporary Jungian approaches that relocate alchemical processes within the individual, arguing that this obscures the dialectical logic of soul. 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