Why Was Carl Jung So Much Into Alchemy?
Jung has written several books on alchemy. How is he using it in the context of psychoanalysis?
You might at first assume that alchemy and human psyche don’t have anything in common, but Carl Jung will prove you otherwise.
Jung managed to connect ancient alchemical practices and modern psychology by interpreting alchemy as a symbolic representation of psychological transformation.
He believed that the alchemists’ quest to transmute base metals into gold mirrored the psychological journey toward self-realization, known as individuation.
Through the stages of alchemical transformation, Jung identified profound parallels with the phases of personal growth, the integration of unconscious elements, and the unification of opposites within the human psyche.
Alchemy, for Jung, was not just about physical substances but a metaphor for inner psychological change.
First Things First: What Is Alchemy?
I love definitions. We need to know precisely what we’re talking about.
As always, I turn to my best friend Merriam-Webster for the definition of alchemy:
Today we recognize alchemy as a pseudoscience, and give chemistry its rightful place as a serious scientific…
