Alchemy: an introduction to the symbolism and the psychology

546 Pages·1980·6.78 MB·English

by  Marie-Luise von Franz

Alchemy : An Introduction to the
title: Symbolism and the Psychology Studies in
Jungian Psychology ; 5
author: Franz, Marie-Louise von.
publisher: Inner City Books
isbn10 | asin: 091912304X
print isbn13: 9780919123045
ebook isbn13: 9780585147840
language: English
subject Alchemy.
publication date: 1980
lcc: QD26.F7eb
ddc: 540/.1/12
subject: Alchemy.
Page 1
Alchemy
Page 2
Marie-Louise von Franz, Honorary Patron
Studies in Jungian Psychology
by Jungian Analysts
Daryl Sharp, General Editor
Page 3
Alchemy
An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology
Marie-Louise von Franz
Page 4
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Franz, Marie-Louise von, 1915-
Alchemy
(Studies in Jungian Psychology ; 5)
Based on a series of lectures given in 1959 at the C.G. Jung
Institute in Zurich, Switzerland.
Includes Index.
ISBN 0-919123-04-X (pbk.)
1. Alchemy. 2. Symbolism (Psychology) 3. Dreams.
4. Jung, C.G. (Carl Gustav), 1875-1961. I. Title.
II. Series.
QD26.F73 540'.1'12019 C81-094010-8
Copyright © 1980 by Marie-Louise von Franz.
All rights reserved.
INNER CITY BOOKS
Box 1271, Station Q, Toronto, Canada M4T 2P4
Honorary Patron: Marie-Louise von Franz.
Publisher and General Editor: Daryl Sharp.
Editorial Board: Fraser Boa, Daryl Sharp, Marion Woodman.
INNER CITY BOOKS is devoted to the publication of Studies in
Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts. Inquiries regarding
manuscripts may be addressed to the Editor.
Marie-Louise von Franz is a Jungian Analyst practising in Kusnacht,
Switzerland.
Cover: Crowned dragon as Ouroboros, symbol of the alchemical work
as a circular, self-contained process. (See Illustration 16)
Set in English Times by Ann Yeoman, Toronto.
Printed and bound in Canada
by University of Toronto Press Incorporated
Page 5
Contents
Acknowledgements 6
List of Illustrations and Credits 7
Lecture 1. Introduction 13
Lecture 2. Greek Alchemy 39
Lecture 3. Greek Alchemy 65
Lecture 4. Greek/Arabic Alchemy 93
Lecture 5. Arabic Alchemy 125
Lecture 6. Arabic Alchemy 155
Lecture 7. Aurura consurgens 177
Lecture 8. Aurora consurgens 207
Lecture 9. Aurora consurgens 241
Index 273
Please see final pages for Catalogue
Page 6
Acknowledgements
This book is based on the transcription by Miss Una Thomas of the
lecture series presented by Dr. von Franz at the C.G. Jung Institute,
Zürich, in 1959. The author and publisher are grateful to Miss Thomas
for her faithful preparation of the original version. The text in its
present form was edited for publication by Daryl Sharp and Marion
Woodman. Daryl Sharp selected the illustrations, wrote the captions,
and compiled the index.
The philosophical egg is both birthplace of, and container
for, the new attitudes symbolised by the alchemical goal
of the coniunctio, the union of opposites (male and female,
consciousness and the unconscious, etc.). Here that goal
is pictured as hermaphrodite in triumph over the dragon and
the winged globe of chaos, threatening faces of the
unconscious. The seven planets represent different aspects of
the personality and the seven stages of transformation.
Jamsthaler, Viatorium spagyricum (1625).
Page 7
List of Illustrations and Credits
CW refers to Collected Works of C.G. Jung (Bollingen Series XX), 20
vols., transl. R.F.C. Hull, ed. H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, Wm.
McGuire, Princeton U.P., Princeton, 1953-1979.
1. Mountain of the Adepts. Michelspacher, Cabala (1654). 12
Photo Archives, Marburg.
2. Eagle as Symbol of the Spirit. Hermaphroditisches Sonn-15
und Mondskind (1752), p. 44. C.G. Jung Coll. (Quote from
Mysterium Coniunctionis, CW 14, par. 673)
3. Alchemist and Soror Mystica. Mutus Liber (1702), p. 13, 20
detail. Mellon Coll., Yale Univ. Lib.
4. God the Father. William Blake woodcut from The Book 28
of Job (1825), p. 2, detail. British Museum.
5. Releasing the Spirit from Matter. Thomas Aquinas 37
(pseud.), De alchimia, Codex Vossianus 29 (16th cent.).
Leiden Univ. Lib., fol. 60a, detail.
6. Alchemist and Assistant by the Furnace. Mutus liber 38
(1702), p. 11, detail. Mellon Coll., Yale Univ. Lib.
7. The Tail-Eating Ouroboros. Codex Marcianus (11th 41
cent.), Venice, fol. 188v.
8. Isis Suckling Horus. From E.A. Wallis Budge, The Gods 45
of the Egyptians, II, Dover, New York, 1969, p. 207.
9. Pissing Mannikin. "Speculum veritatis," Codex Latinus 49
7286 (17th cent.), fol. 3, detail. Vatican Lib.