The Fundamentals of Analytical Psychology

Rather than engage in a rudimentary review of the clinical applications of analytical psychology we will limit this overview to the philosophical implications of the model of the psyche as understood in analytical psychology and what it means to be psychologically "whole" from theperspective of this particular model.

The Collective Unconscious

The collective unconscious is a fundamental facet of Jung's model of the psyche. The collective unconscious is a shared human structure of instinct and spirit. Jung separates personal unconscious (see below) from the collective unconscious. The latter is defined as:

qualities that are not individually acquired but are inherited, e.g., instincts as impulses to carry out actions from necessity, without conscious motivation. In this "deeper" stratum we also find the a priori, inborn forms of "intuition," namely the archetypes of perception and apprehension, which are the necessary a priori determinants of all psychic processes.⁽¹⁸⁰⁾

From Jung's more esoteric writings the collective unconscious is equated with such terms as the Gnostic pleroma⁽¹⁸¹⁾ or prima materia to illustrate its role as source of consciousness and all conscious archetypal expression.

Archetypes

Perhaps one of Jung's most enduring, and misunderstood, theory is the theory of archetypes and archetypal images. When approaching archetypes and Jung's model of the psyche, it is nearly impossible to separate the theory of archetypes from the collective unconscious. When one refers to the collective unconscious one is equally referring to archetypes in potentia.

According to Jung:

Archetypes are typical modes of apprehension, and wherever we meet with uniform and regularly recurring modes of apprehension we are dealing with an archetype, no matter whether its mythological character is recognized or not.⁽¹⁸²⁾

One misunderstanding regarding archetypes which Jung found disconcerting was the assumption that the archetype "was determined in regards to its content, in other words that it is a kind of unconscious idea . . . it is necessary to point out once more that archetypes are not determined as regards their content, but only as regards their form and then only to a very limited degree . . . The archetype in itself is empty and purely formal, nothing but a facultas praeformandi, a possibility of representation which is given a priori."⁽¹⁸³⁾ In other words, the archetype is a form which can be represented many different ways but the representations are not themselves archetypes, nor does any representation exhaust the archetype's possibility.

The Personal Unconscious

The personal unconscious, unlike the collective unconscious, is the sum of personal experiences and processes.⁽¹⁸⁴⁾ Jung gives the following definition of the personal unconscious:

The lower the value of a conscious content falls, the more easily it disappears below the threshold [of consciousness]. From this it follows that the unconscious is the receptacle of all lost memories and of all contents that are still too weak to become conscious . . . Besides these we must include all more or less intentional repressions of painful thoughts and feelings. I call the sum of all these contents the "personal unconscious."⁽¹⁸⁵⁾

The Ego

In C.W. 9ii (Aion) Jung states that the ego is "the complex factor to which all conscious contents are related. The ego forms, as it were, the center of the field of consciousness. And, in so far as this comprises the empirical personality, the ego is the subject of all personal acts of consciousness."⁽¹⁸⁶⁾ The ego is not a simple aggregate of the psyche, that is to say it is a sophisticated structure in and of itself which is constantly influenced by various stimuli which are both conscious and subliminal. Therefore, when we speak of "the ego" we are not referring to a static portion of the psyche but to a dynamic process which is constantly in flux and which cannot be described exhaustively.⁽¹⁸⁷⁾ Simply put the ego is our identity in our personal field of consciousness. The next "layer" of the psyche according to Jung is the shadow.

The Shadow

The shadow represents the first step or confrontation towards psychological wholeness (individuation). The shadow is described as:

. . .that hidden, repressed, for the most part inferior and guilt-laden personality whose ultimate ramifications reach back into the realm of our animal ancestors and so comprise the whole historical aspect of the unconscious . . .If it has been believed hitherto that the human shadow was the source of all evil, it can now be ascertained on closer investigation that the unconscious man, that is, his shadow does not consist only of morally reprehensible tendencies, but also displays a number of good qualities, such as normal instincts, appropriate reactions, realistic insights, creative impulses, etc.⁽¹⁸⁸⁾

The shadow is the root of personal projections which in turn influences the way the individual perceives not only himself or herself but others as well, not to mention the entire "objective" world. Without a thorough (as thorough as possible) understanding of the shadow and its influence and its eventual integration there is little hope for any true self-knowledge. Without this initial penetration the individual will remain at the mercy of the emotional and autonomous nature of the shadow. The only way to reduce the power of the shadow is to bring as much of it as possible to the light of consciousness. However, the shadow also has a drive to be made conscious, as can be seen through projections. Once the initial confrontation with the shadow is engaged, the third portion of the personality, the anima/animus, can be approached.

The Anima/Animus

In Jung's model of the psyche there is a contra-sexual component in each individual. For a man this contra-sexual "female" is called the anima while in a woman this "other" is called animus. For Jung it was crucial that one enters into a dialogue with the masculine and feminine "other" in order to bring that which is unconscious to the light of consciousness. The anima and animus are autonomous factors within the psyche. As with the shadow if the anima/animus projections are not brought to the light of consciousness it can have a direct negative influence on the conscious life of the individual and their relations with other men and women. The shadow is more easily confronted because, according to Jung, society already has in place a set of collective cultural norms and moral education with which to analyze the shadow's content whereas the anima/animus has no such paradigm to be measured against.⁽¹⁸⁹⁾ Instead, the anima/animus can only be comprehended through one's projections onto individuals of the opposite sex. One should keep in mind that though the anima/animus is a highly abstract concept, its role is vital to Jung's contention that every human being is in essence a psychological androgyne, and much of the individuation process consists in making this androgyne explicit or conscious.

The Self

The self is an archetype of order and completion. It governs the process of individuation and tends the totality of the personality, understood as the unity of conscious and unconscious. When encountered the self appears with a sense of numinosity and authority. The self can also appear in many forms. Some symbols which represent the self are: the circle, the square, a quaternity, a child, mandala, and even various animals, insects, etc. According to Jung the self grounds the movement of the psyche to the teleological expression of individuation. The self unites the conscious ego with the unconscious psyche. The self is the center of this totality in the same way the ego is the center of consciousness.⁽¹⁹⁰⁾ In essence the self is both the process and the goal of individuation. It urges individuation and is the product or child of individuation.

Individuation

The goal of analytical psychology is individuation. The process of individuation, like that of shadow confrontation, is an on going process. Individuation is never fully achieved and can only be approximated. The process of individuation is not, as Jung found many people tended to assume, a purely conscious effort at bringing the ego into consciousness where the ego is identified with the self. If this were the case then individuation would equate to ego-centricity and autoeroticism.⁽¹⁹¹⁾ In fact the individuation process is quite the opposite of hedonistic pursuits: "the self comprises infinitely more than a mere ego . . .It is as much one's self, and all other selves, as the ego. Individuation does not shut one out from the world, but gathers the world to oneself."⁽¹⁹²⁾ As we shall see in the section below, entitled "The Alchemical Conjunction as Psychological Process", individuation is represented by the Great Work of the alchemists.

With this very brief introduction to the main tenets of analytical psychology we turn to a cursory review of Carl Gustav Jung's biography.

A Brief Biography of C.G. Jung

Carl Gustav Jung was born in Kesswill Switzerland on July 26, 1875. Jung's father, Johann Paul Achilles Jung, was a Swiss Reformed clergyman in Keswill and would eventually become chaplain at the Friedmatt Mental Hospital in Basel. Jung's mother (Emilie, née Peiswerk) came from a prominent Church family in Basel and would prove to be an influential figure in Jung's life.

In Jung's recollection of his early years, as given in his autobiography Memories, Dreams, Reflections⁽¹⁹³⁾, we see that Jung was confronted with many spiritual dilemmas which would eventually help to formulate many of his key theories. Important occurrences include a dream atage three of an enthroned subterranean ritual phallus which was identified by his mother in the dream as the "man-eater". Jung felt that this dream represented the dark or chthonic side of God. For Jung the bright and loving figure of Jesus, as revealed through orthodox Christian doctrine, played little part in his early life. Jung came to dwell on the dark chthonic side of Jesus:

Lord Jesus seemed to me in some ways a god of death, helpful, it is true, in that he scared away the terrors of the night, but himself uncanny, a crucified and bloody corpse. Secretly, his love and kindness, which I always heard praised, appeared doubtful to me, chiefly because people who talked most about "dear Lord Jesus" wore black frock coats and shiny black boots which reminded me of burials.⁽¹⁹⁴⁾

Another pivotal vison to occur in Jung's early life is the infamous "turd" vision. In the summer of 1887 Jung was admiring the Cathedral in Basle when he thought: "The world is beautiful and the church is beautiful, and God made all this and sits above it far away in the blue sky on a golden throne and . . . "⁽¹⁹⁵⁾ The problem began for Jung with what followed the "and" which was that a large turd fell from the sky and smashed into the Cathedral. For Jung the thought which he fought to prevent from manifesting represented "the most terrible sin . . . the sin against the Holy Ghost, which cannot be forgiven."⁽¹⁹⁶⁾ For several days before the initial vison Jung attempted to prevent the thought from manifesting in its entirety but to no avail. Somehow God was forcing him to think the unthinkable. Jung came to the conclusion that it was God's intention that human beings should sin⁽¹⁹⁷⁾ and that without the capacity to endure the potential of sin, grace had no meaning. This realization had a cathartic effect on Jung, now he could allow the vison to run its full course:

I gathered all my courage, as though I were about to leap forthwith into hell-fire, and let the thought come. I saw before me the cathedral, the blue sky. God sits on His golden throne, high above the world-and from under the throne an enormous turd falls upon the sparkling new roof, shatters it, and breaks the walls of the cathedral asunder.⁽¹⁹⁸⁾

Instead of a sense of eternal damnation Jung felt a great weight lifted from his shoulders. He came to understand that the experience of God was immediate and that there was no need for a mediator such as the "Church."

These two experiences were important in that they helped Jung to understand that God (or the unconscious) has autonomous dominion over consciousness and that ultimately the unconscious can manifest as both the God of Light ("dear Lord Jesus") and the God of Darkness (the "man-eater"), perceived by his mother in the phallic dream, and that both of these manifestations of divinity are equally valid.

During his school years Jung was drawn towards both the Arts and Science with the latter eventually becoming his dominant discipline. In 1900 Jung completed his medical training and decided to become a psychiatrist. While acting as Assistant Staff Physician at the Burghölzli Psychiatric Hospital, Jung became concerned with the overemphasis on recording and analyzing symptoms of patients with little regard for helping resolve the problems with which they were inflicted. This observation lead Jung to attempt various treatments through psychoanalytical techniques with a certain degree of success.⁽¹⁹⁹⁾

In 1907 Jung began what would prove to be a pivotal friendship with Sigmund Freud. Jung and Freud soon entered into a mentor/student relation in which Freud viewed Jung as an "heir" to his teachings and Jung, who up to this point was actively involved in studying and applying the theories of psychoanalysis, was happy to fulfill the role. The friendship and mentorship had continued until 1912 when Jung and Freud came to a point of contention over Jung's findings which are recorded in Symbols of Transformation (C.W. 5) especially chapter VIII (The Sacrifice).⁽²⁰⁰⁾ In this work Jung moves away from Freud's crucial emphasis on sexuality and its identification with libido and the issue of incest motifs in cultural mythology. While Freud tended to maintain a strict literalist approach to the issue Jung extended libido beyond sexuality and looked at incest symbolically as the introverted union to the energies of the mother. Jung was unable to concede to various aspects of Freud's model and the eventual questioning of the validity of the entire psychoanalytical theory especially the reductionistic identification of libido with sexual energy. Then in 1913 Freud and Jung went their separate ways. The effect was devastating on Jung who had a serious psychic disturbance. In MDR Jung recounts that the chapter in C.W. 5, "The Sacrifice" meant his own sacrifice.⁽²⁰¹⁾ In many ways this break was the necessary catalyst which would lead to Jung's development of his own immersion in the unconscious and his eventual interest in alchemy. In alchemical terms it was the necessary nigredo or depression which must precede the Great Work.

The next important occurrence in Jung's life (in regards to his understanding of alchemy) comes in 1926/27, when Jung is introduced to Chinese Alchemy through Richard Wilhelm. Through this introduction to Eastern Alchemy Jung eventually began to seek sources from the Western alchemical tradition.⁽²⁰²⁾ At first Jung found the alchemical works too obtuse. The symbolic language in which they were written forced Jung to put aside the pursuit for two years. Eventually Jung turned to the alchemical works with renewed diligence. Jung came to realize that throughout many alchemical treatises certain phrases were commonly repeated. In order to facilitate his study Jung began a lexicon of several thousand entries which cross referenced common words and phrases. Jung continued this process for nearly a decade.

In MDR Jung states:

I had very soon seen that analytical psychology coincided in a most curious way with alchemy. The experiences with the alchemists were, in a sense, my experiences, and their world was my world. This was, of course, a momentous discovery: I had stumbled upon the historical counterpart of my psychology of the unconscious. The possibility of a comparison with alchemy, and the uninterrupted chain back to Gnosticism, gave substance to my psychology. When I pored over these old texts everything fell into place: the fantasy-images, the empirical material I had gathered in my practice, and the conclusions I had drawn from it. I now began to understand what these psychic contents meant when seen in historical perspective.⁽²⁰³⁾

For Jung analytical psychology was a form of inner alchemy (as opposed to the gross attempt at transmutation of base substances into physical gold) which attempted to bring together the agencies of the unconscious in the light of consciousness just as the alchemists attempted to purify the fragmented and gross material world into a fully integrated and divine heaven on earth. Jung felt that alchemy was an expression of psychological processes and nowhere was this process more fully portrayed than in the Conjunction.

The Alchemical Conjunction as Psychological Process

Alchemy tends to be portrayed as a primitive pseudo-science which was concerned with the transformation of base metals, such as lead, into gold. On one level this definition of alchemy is correct. There are many texts which are dedicated to such transmutations though not all alchemy falls into this category. Some alchemists, such as Gerhard Dorn (16^th C.), point toward a deeper and more complex meaning of alchemy, a meaning which transcends the miraculous but purely mundane process of creating gold. For Dorn the alchemical process did not involve the transformation of lead but rather the transformation of the individual towards a union with the ground of being perceived in all. This psychological interpretation of alchemy eventually came to the attention of Carl Jung and would prove to be a major influence in his life and his psychology. Jung presents a psychological interpretation of alchemy in several places throughout the Collected Works including Vol.12, 13 and 14. In the chapter in C.W. 14 entitled "The Conjunction" Jung equates the alchemical process with the process of individuation. The purpose of this chapter is to review the alchemical conjunction and Jung's application of his psychological paradigm to this process.

The Conjunction

The imagery and symbols of alchemy can leave one with the impression of complexity bordering on the incomprehensible. Some images will be of androgynous figures, others will show bodies being pierced or dismembered by swords, spears or sickles. In each case the images or symbols point to a part of a greater process. Each symbol acts as a snapshot for a specific segment of the alchemical transformation. For example, we can take an image of death or burial as a symbol of the preliminary stage of the alchemical process, the nigredo (blackening) and putrefaction of the prima materia. For the alchemist this picture would refer not to literal death but a figurative death which is an essential precursor for the alchemical resurrection. The nigredo destroys the old to make way for the new, it is said "decay is a wonderful smith."⁽²⁰⁴⁾

As Jung states throughout "The Conjunction" the alchemists are attempting to explain something they could not "rationally" comprehend so they used the alchemical process as an analogy of one's spiritual progression.⁽²⁰⁵⁾ He correctly points out that there is no reason to throw out the findings or practices of alchemy simply because they may not make sense to the contemporary and "sophisticated" mind. One must simply remember that certain alchemical assumptions, such as the connection between matter and truth, are a product of the period but that they can still have equally important meaning for psychology today.

Nigredo

The preliminary stage of the alchemical Conjunction is the nigredo or "blackening." In alchemy matter is heated or burned in order to rid it of its impurities.⁽²⁰⁶⁾ This prima materia which must be purified is Mercurius and will be dealt with later.⁽²⁰⁷⁾ Jung describes this initial alchemical process as being equivalent with the confrontation with the shadow. Jung's definition of the shadow in C.W. 9ii(Aion) has an alchemical feel to it which helps to understand the connection between psychology and alchemy:

The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge, and it therefore, as a rule, meets with considerable resistance. ⁽²⁰⁸⁾

As can be seen in the above citation, the nigredo is very similar in nature to the process of shadow confrontation. In C.W. 14 we see another definition of the nigredo:

Confrontation with the shadow produces at first a dead balance, a standstill that hampers moral decisions and makes convictions ineffective or even impossible. Everything becomes doubtful, which is why the alchemists called this stage the nigredo, tenebrositas, chaos, melancholia.⁽²⁰⁹⁾

Therefore, the first stage of the alchemical process is the blackening of Mercurius or the confrontation with the shadow. To gain more of an insight into the blackening we need to know more about the complex nature of Mercurius.

Mercurius

Mercurius is a very elaborate concept in alchemy and perhaps even more complex in Jung's psychology. Mercurius is not only the base substance which undergoes the transformation but also the end result of the alchemical process.⁽²¹⁰⁾ Mercurius is separated into three types: Mercurius masculinus, Mercurius foemineus, and Mercurius menstrualis.⁽²¹¹⁾ The three types of Mercurius correspond to male, female and universal aspects of the same image. Psychologically Mercurius is both a symbol of the self and the collective unconscious.⁽²¹²⁾ Like the Roman god who was both healer and thief, Mercurius is seen simultaneously as a medicine and a poison. His dual nature is aptly applied to the unconscious which can either be integrated as a form of psychological medicine or can be the cause of psychological or even physical trauma.⁽²¹³⁾ In C.W. 13 Jung gives this summary of the nature of Mercurius:

(1)Mercurius consists of all conceivable opposites. . .
(2)He is both material and spiritual.
(3)He is the process by which the lower material is transformed into the higher and spiritual, and vice versa.
(4)He is the devil, a redeeming psychopomp, an evasive trickster, and God's reflection in nature.
(5)He is also a reflection of a mystical experience of the artifex that coincides with the opus alchymicum.
(6)As such, he represents on the one hand the self and on the other the individuation process and, because of the limitless number of his names, also the collective unconscious.⁽²¹⁴⁾

Generally speaking, the first five aspects are summed up in the sixth. In other words the previous five attributes reflect some aspect of the psychological process of alchemy. The image of the Mercurius is dealt with extensively in C.W. 12, 13 and 14 so a thorough investigation of the nature of Mercurius is beyond the scope of this thesis. The important concept to remember is that Mercurius represents different aspects or levels of the alchemical/psychological process.

In order for Mercurius to become a symbol of opus alchymicum/individuation it must undergo several transformations or stages which are known as the Conjunction. These three stages are, in Dorn's terms which Jung assimilates, the unio mentalis, caelum and unus mundus.

The Three Stages of the Conjunction

The main cosmological understanding in alchemy is that the universe was originally a unified whole and through the act of Creation reality became separated. The goal of the alchemist is to reestablish this wholeness in the final stage of the Conjunction (unus mundus.) In the alchemist's world of creation the individual is divided into three parts. The first part is the spirit which corresponds to the alchemical substance of Sulphur⁽²¹⁵⁾. The second part is the soul which corresponds to Mercurius. The final part of the individual is the body or Salt. Thus, the individual is both body and spirit with a soul which can partake in either side.⁽²¹⁶⁾

When looking at the sacred elements of alchemy we see that Fire and Air conjoin to form Sulphur, Air and Water form Mercurius while Water and Earth join to create Salt. In this sequence Fire is not acted upon (and is therefore the more active and more "spiritual") and Earth has nothing to join with yet she encompasses all that comes before her. She is therefore passive and more "bodily".⁽²¹⁷⁾ Sulphur joins with Mercury to form "Man" while Mercury and Salt form "Woman". Together Man and Woman form the "incorruptible One."⁽²¹⁸⁾ The incorruptible One is in essence identical to the quinta essentia or quintessence; it also stands as a symbol of wholeness as represented by its quaternitarian foundation. Edinger, in his Mysterium Lectures, relates this evolution from the base elements to the incorruptible One to both the Pythagorean tetractys and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.

To return to the process of the Conjunction, we must understand that the individual stands in creation as a psychologically segmented being. There is a separation between the body and the world, between the soul and the body and between the soul and the spirit. In alchemical terms this differentiated reality is called the unio naturalis.

The soul stands midway between the body and the spirit. As Mercurius, the soul (anima/us) can be "good with the good or evil with the evil." It can join in a natural union with the body or a spiritual union with the spirit. Jung states that since "the soul animates the body, just as the soul is animated by the spirit, she tends to favour the body and everything bodily, sensuous, and emotional"⁽²¹⁹⁾ and so must be separated from it in the first alchemical movement. Jung describes the goal of the unio mentalis as "the attainment of full knowledge of the heights and depth's of one's own character."⁽²²⁰⁾

The unio mentalis, the first stage of the Conjunction, can be summarized as the removal of the soul from the body by the spirit which leads to the uniting of the soul and the spirit over and against the body. In alchemical terms this would mean the spirit leads the impressionable soul towards the spiritual and away from the "natural"world of bodily appetites. Psychologically this act is accomplished through "introversion, introspection, meditation, and careful investigation of desires and their motives."⁽²²¹⁾ By removing oneself from the sensual world one can turn instead to the work of the Conjunction. The union of soul and spirit takes place simultaneously in the mind of the individual and the mind of God. That is to say it is a process which occurs, simultaneously, in both the Microcosm and Macrocosm.

Although Jung does in one place equate the first stage of the Conjunction with the process of individuation⁽²²²⁾, it is more accurate to view the whole alchemical process as equal to the process of individuation and reintegrating the unified "oneness" with the world. This will be dealt with in more detail later in the thesis. The process of individuation is similar to the "voluntary death" of the old personality which was heavily influenced by the desires of the body and unconscious projections. In psychological terms, the union of soul and spirit in the unio mentalis is equal to "the ego-personality's coming to terms with its own background, the shadow."⁽²²³⁾ In alchemical terms, this stage is known as the albedo or whitening process. In order to gain a new and stronger integration there first must be a separation of the soul from the body. This paramount separation is the essential role of the first stage. However, this mental union is only the first step of the alchemical process since this "first union does not as yet make the wise man, but only the mental discipline of wisdom."⁽²²⁴⁾

The second stage of the Conjunction involves the reintegration of the new soul/spirit union with the body and is symbolized as the "chymical" marriage or wedding. In the first stage there was a union of the anima with the higher mental faculties such as reason, insight and moral discrimination. However, if this was the end of the process then the person would have only a small portion of the totality of the Work completed. The process:

may begin as a purely intra-psychic unio mentalis of the intellect or reason with Eros, representing feeling. Such an interior operation means a great deal, since it brings a considerable increase of self-knowledge as well as of personal maturity, but its reality is merely potential and is validated only by a union with the physical world of the body.⁽²²⁵⁾

Interestingly, Jung purports that the alchemists prepared the way for the theological assumption of Mary in this second stage. The unio mentalis was pictured by the Father, the Son and the their union in the dove (that "spiration" which is common to both). The second stage of the Conjunction is symbolized in the figure of Mary who represents the bodily, "passive" and "feminine" principle of the world.⁽²²⁶⁾ Perhaps more importantly she demonstrates the paramount necessity for the inclusion of the body in the final union of opposites.

In the second stage the alchemists would have been attempting to rework the unification of the higher faculties into the material components (i.e., the chemicals and minerals) of the alchemical process. Essentially they would be reuniting the soul/spirit union with the body. This action acts as a concretization of their spiritual ideals. In other words, the insights gained from the unio mentalis are made "real" or pragmatic. Here Jung gives an example of how the second stage relates to the process of individuation:

The second stage of the conjunction therefore consists in making a reality of the man who has acquired some knowledge of his paradoxical wholeness . . . The great difficulty here, however, is that no one knows how the paradoxical wholeness of man can ever be realized. That is the crux of individuation. . ."⁽²²⁷⁾

In order for the second stage to be completed the caelum had to be produced. The caelum is equated with the quintessence or heavenly truth (the Kingdom on earth).⁽²²⁸⁾ This heavenly truth is, psychologically, the self as imago Dei of the individual which is found in his or her dark residue which was burned away during the first stage. The caelum is a "symbolic rite performed in the laboratory. Its purpose was to create, in the form of a substance, that "truth", the celestial balsam or life-principle which is identical to the God-image."⁽²²⁹⁾ Psychologically the caelum "was a representation of the individuation process by means of chemical substances and procedures, or what we today call active imagination."⁽²³⁰⁾ The creation of the caelum can take place either spontaneously or it can be artificially induced through certain techniques such as following a dream or fantasy image to its source.⁽²³¹⁾ The caelum "as a rule occurs when the analysis has constellated the opposites so powerfully that a union or synthesis of the personality becomes an imperative necessity."⁽²³²⁾

Edinger gives this summation of the role of the caelum:

In an unconscious state, the Self expresses itself through an identification with the ego. The ego and the Self are mixed up with each other, and the Self expresses itself through the pleasure and power drives of the ego. After the unio mentalis has been achieved, the Self, or imago Dei, still remains in that ego-body residue and must be rescued; that's what the extraction of the caelum accomplishes. The consequence is that the universal validity of egohood, one's own ego and one's own self-centered⁽²³³⁾ drives, are reaffirmed on a conscious and differentiated level. That's what is symbolized by the caelum.⁽²³⁴⁾

Essentially the caelum helps to remove the self from the ego-body and all of its projections by uniting the soul informed now by the spirit with the body in embodied consciousness. Once the caelum is rescued from the ashes of the nigredo certain substances must be added to the quintessence.

The Symbolic Ingredients of the Mixture

The first ingredient to be mixed with the caelum is honey. Honey "expresses, psychologically, the joy of life and the life urge which overcomes and eliminates everything dark and inhibiting."⁽²³⁵⁾ According to Edinger, "you have to pour into the flask whatever you find sweet and desirable and what you long for. While you've been going through the stage of the unio mentalis you had to turn your back on all that, but now the time has come for the reverse."⁽²³⁶⁾ However, the honey can turn into a deadly poison should the individual become addicted to the joys he or she fought to control throughout the process of the unio mentalis. The second ingredient is Chelidonia [sic]. The most important part of this plant is the four golden leaves (thus a synonym of the philosophical gold). For Jung the flower represents "an accentuation of value: the addition of Chelidonia projects the highest value, which is identical with the quaternity of the self, into the mixture."⁽²³⁷⁾ In essence the flower is a "whole-making medicine." The third ingredient of the mixture is rosemary which, as Jung states, brings various qualities into the mixture. On one level the rosemary can be seen as representing spiritual and conjugal love.⁽²³⁸⁾ On another level rosemary can represent memory which "brings up the whole question of the role of memory in the process of individuation."⁽²³⁹⁾ This memory allows one to remember that he or she has a body to return to. Should this aspect be lacking then one would be stuck in the unio mentalis stage.

The fourth ingredient is the plant Mercurialis, which is divided into male and female. Where rosemary represented spiritual love, the Mercurialis represents sexuality. This addition of sexuality demonstrates that sexual libido, energy and passion are a necessary part of the mixture. Related to the Mercurialis is the red Lilly which is equivalent to both the male partner of the alchemical marriage and the quintessence of Sulphur. According to Jung "with this figure [the red Lilly] the adept mixed himself into the potion, so to speak, and, to make the bond inviolable, he added human blood as a further ingredient."⁽²⁴⁰⁾ The addition of the alchemist's own blood is the most important binding force between the body and the purified soul of the unio mentalis.

The above potion is now combined and mixed with the caelum. Thus, the caelum brings into everyday life what was previously an abstract realization. In alchemical terms this stage is known as the rubedo or reddening. Though this new mixture is a purification of the original unio naturalis there is still a third and final stage which the alchemist must attain. This third stage is known as the unus mundus.⁽²⁴¹⁾

The third stage of the Conjunction, the unus mundus, is defined by Edinger as:

a union of the previously united substances with the world-at least that's the simplified version. More strictly speaking, the third phase, -the creation or realization of the unus mundus- is a transcendent, symbolic condition that defies any comprehensive or adequate description. It refers to a superlative experience of unity in which subject and object, inner and outer, are transcended in the experience of a unitary reality . . . ⁽²⁴²⁾

Edinger is unable to give any more detail about the unus mundus. In fact, he states: "I think it's beyond our power to describe very specifically because it signifies a union with the totality that probably belongs only, in a really full sense, with the experience of death."⁽²⁴³⁾ Jung is not quite as abrupt but does imply clearly that the unus mundus is not something which can be easily put into words, but is the goal and completion of the process. Ultimately the unus mundus is "not a fusion of the individual with his environment, or even his adaptation to it, but a unio mystica with the potential world."⁽²⁴⁴⁾ The potential world is essentially equivalent to the idea of the "ground of being."

Jung mentions that Dorn did not believe, as most alchemists did at the time, that the production of the lapis was the final stage of the alchemical process. Rather, the production of the lapis was accomplished in the second stage. This claim makes the third stage even more esoteric and powerful than the second. Dorn equated the unus mundus with "The One and the Simple." For Dorn the third and highest degree of the Conjunction:

was the union of the whole man with the unus mundus. By this he meant . . the potential world of the first day of creation, when nothing was yet "in actu," i.e., divided into two and many, but was still the one.⁽²⁴⁵⁾

Jung states that Dorn was not concerned with a literal fusing of the individual with his or her environment but rather a unio mystica with the potential world which exists as the essence of the material world. Dorn realized that no one could truly and fully reach the third stage since it would be the full realization that God is within the human being and that the world would be seen through God's eyes. In other words the human would become God on Earth. However, the term unio mystica does not necessarily reflect a transcendental or theological union but could point to a psychological union wherein the differences between religion and psychological experience are blurred . Jung concluded that this third stage was a universalizing concept which could be found in other spiritual traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. For this reason he states to the Western reader who may have no patience for mystical rhetoric:

I would therefore counsel the critical reader to put aside his prejudices and for once try to experience on himself the effects of the process I have described, or else to suspend judgment and admit that he understands nothing. For thirty years I have studied these psychic processes under all possible conditions and have assured myself that the alchemists as well as the great philosophies of the East are referring to just such experiences, and that it is chiefly our ignorance of the psyche if these experiences appear "mystic." ⁽²⁴⁶⁾

From the tone of the above citation it seems obvious that Jung felt that the alchemical symbolism, as reflecting a psychological process, was extremely important for a deeper understanding of the essence of the unconscious and its connection with consciousness.

Jung gives his definition of the third stage as the synthesis of the conscious with the unconscious. As with Dorn, Jung felt that a full and permanent psychological union sustained over a life time was theoretically impossible since one cannot have a union of that which is realized with that which can never be fully realized.

The attempt to carry out the unus mundus would have long lasting psychological implications.⁽²⁴⁷⁾ At this stage Mercurius has undergone its final transformation towards unification. While Edinger stated perhaps the only way to truly realize the total unification of opposites is through the ultimate transition, i.e., death, Jung suggests throughout his work that this unification must be attempted and realized (no matter how fragmented) here and now. Obviously this type of experience of unity does occur as it has been recorded by the Rg Veda, Christian mystics, Sufis, Taoists, and Tibetan Tantric practitioners- not to mention Jung, Grof, Wilber, and many others. In each case the experience is brief but powerful enough to transform one's dominant world-view. In the same way the ultimate actualization of the self can be glimpsed but never fully realized.

Summary of the Three Stages of the Conjunction

In psychological terms the whole alchemical process is the attempt of an individual within a loosely outlined tradition to unify all opposing factions within that individual's psyche in cooperation with the self. The preliminary stage of the Conjunction is the nigredo or blackening which requires the individual to "burn away" the baser parts of the psyche. In other words the nigredo corresponds to the confrontation with the repressed shadow material.

As the shadow has been brought to consciousness (again this process is never fully completed) the Conjunction proper begins. The first stage of the Conjunction is the unio mentalis or mental union.⁽²⁴⁸⁾ Here the "spirit" separates the "soul" from the confines of bodily appetites. According to the alchemical tradition the soul as Mercurius stands between the body and the higher moral aspirations of the spirit. If left on its own the soul would side with the body so intense ascetic practices must be practiced in order to "encourage" the soul to gravitate towards the spirit. The purpose of these ascetic practices is to facilitate self-knowledge.

Once the "spiritizing" of the soul is complete the new and improved union of soul and spirit must be reintegrated with the body. If this reintegration is not accomplished one is simply left "living in the head" without a grounding in the physical world or with an asceticism which denies the body. The return to "this worldliness" is accomplished through the caelum which is the divine spark which is found within the waste of the nigredo. The caelum is the state where spiritual soul reincarnates in the body. That actual reunion with the body can only happen once the caelum is separated and prepared from the residue of the nigredo.

Before the reunion can take place, other psychological "ingredients" must be added. These ingredients are as follows: honey for those pleasurable aspects of life which had to be abandoned in the unio mentalis, Chelidonia is the essence of the quaternity and of wholeness, the third ingredient is rosemary which represents conjugal and spiritual love, next comes Mercurialis which represents sexuality in all its implications (Edinger also suggests that it refers to memory which is necessary in order to reunite with the body), following Mercurialis is the red Lilly which symbolizes the adept placing him or herself into the mixture, and finally, the mixture needs blood which is the most obvious necessity for reuniting with the body and its reality.

According to Dorn the lapis is completed at this stage. The alchemist's work is now complete. But there is a third stage which is highly "mystical" and spiritual in nature. The unus mundus is marked by the resolution of all opposites within the psyche. The individual no longer has psychological tensions which pushed him or her into the alchemical process in the first place. Dorn does not venture to describe what this third stage is like. We know only that for Dorn it is a union with the "One and the Simple" or the world before the creation of opposites (i.e., separation into subject and object) yet within the context of incarnate consciousness. For Jung it was not theoretically possible to live in the unus mundus as a permanent state. However, Jung did think it is possible for the individual to know aspects of both the conscious and the unconscious through the mediator, i.e., the self or Mercurius. In this stage the self is a link to the collective unconscious and the individual's consciousness which is now free of the psychological projections of the unio naturalis. However, one should be aware that the whole process from the shadow work to the integration is an on going process which defies completion. There is no quick fix in the individuation process. The psychological alchemist must carefully and consistently tend his or her inner labratory.⁽²⁴⁹⁾ Before going on it would be prudent to review Edward Edinger's interpretation of the psychological process of the Conjunction.

Edinger views the process of the Conjunction as two distinct motions, one down and one up. For a diagram of this motion please see Figure Five. Both the "down" and the "up" motions are made of four stages and three steps. The first stage represents the state of original wholeness prior to consciousness. The first transitional step, step (a), leads to the first split. This is the step where the self divides into two, corresponding to "the theme of the World Parents." Stage 2 is the beginning of ego development which is characterized by the separation of subject and object. At this point the ego starts to experience itself as separate from the world while still being caught in the polarity between Nature (Mother) and Spirit (Father). Step (b) represents the full separation from the Mother (Nature). Stage 3 is autonomous, independent thinking. Step (c) then brings about separation from the Father (Spirit). Finally, Stage 4 is characterized by independent, autonomous being, a state where the original unity has been differentiated into a fourfold multiplicity. At this point the individual is living fully in this world.⁽²⁵⁰⁾It seems likely that this stage would be equivalent to the unio naturalis.

Eventually this fourth stage begins to lose its luster. At the fourth stage the individual has full psychic differentiation and is fully part of society but insight into the inadequacy of this state of being begins to surface. This would be the alchemical equivalent of the four elements beginning to fall apart. Once this inadequacy takes root the individuation process begins the motion back "up" towards wholeness.

The first step, step (a), is equal to unio mentalis of the Conjunction. Edinger equates this to the reductive analysis of the shadow. This step is marked by the separation of the ego from the unconscious thus allowing the individual to take a critical view of his or her desires and projections. This leads the individual to Stage 3 and the next step, step (b). Step (b) is the uniting the soul/spirit union with the body. Once this is accomplished the individual is led to Stage 2. Here the ego has achieved the acceptance of the opposites and is able to endure the paradox of the psyche's two-sidedness. Following this crucial and mysterious process,⁽²⁵¹⁾ the individual enters step (c) or the unus mundus which leads to Stage 1 where universal wholeness prevails. Step (c) represents a union of the ego with the self and with the world. According to Edinger at this level "time and eternity are united and synchronicity prevails."⁽²⁵²⁾ Although Jung does not recount identically the same process that Edinger does, his, Edinger's, interpretation does give a helpful amplification of Jung's understanding of the alchemical process. Two areas which have not been touched on very thoroughly but which are essential to the Conjunction, are the psychological stress which is the catalyst of the entire process and the role active imagination plays in the eventual alleviation of this stress.

The Drive Towards Wholeness and Active Imagination

One may get the impression that the Conjunction is little more than sitting and watching the processes of the psyche in some form of reflective meditation. However, a person would undergo the process for one primary and compulsive reason. The reason would be, as Edinger states, that the individual is dissatisfied with the way the world is around him or her as well as their subjective response to the perceived world. As a result of this dissatisfaction he or she is compelled to begin the process of individuation. This drive would come from the self's desire to be made conscious in consciousness. Should the individual decide to ignore this desire the outcome could be psychologically disastrous.

Once the paradoxical nature of the psyche begins to surface there is a great deal of stress placed on the ego. Should the ego remain in its state of projection it may not be adequately prepared for the individuation process. This is why the nigredo is the preliminary stage of the Conjunction. Without the depression (blackening) to pierce the ego's projections the rest of the process would never be felt to be necessary. In The Stages of Life,⁽²⁵³⁾ Jung discusses the development of the psyche through different stages of life. All of life, according to Jung, is a series of confrontations, so to speak, between one's conscious life with one's unconscious life. Jung makes the following remark:

I would like to come back for a moment to the comparison with the sun. The one hundred and eighty degrees of the arc of life are divisible into four parts. The first quarter, lying in the east, is childhood, that state in which we are a problem for others but are not yet conscious of any problems of our own. Conscious problems fill out the second and third quarters; while in the last, in extreme old age, we descend again into that condition where. . .we become something of a problem for others. ⁽²⁵⁴⁾

In childhood there are no discernable problems for oneself since, according to Jung, there is not a fully established sense of consciousness. In the case of extreme old age the individual slips deeper and deeper into the unconscious leaving many conflicts of consciousness behind. The only point in life where there is, in most cases, notable psychic conflict is in "middle age." At middle age the individual begins to doubt the choices he or she has made or see how one-sided his or her successes have been and thus laments the past or pines for the future for answers and meaning for the present conflicts. The process of the Conjunction would be an example not of looking to the past or future for meaning but an attempt, in the present, to make conscious the unconscious conflicts in order to face them and thereby gain a better understanding of its contents in order to have control over them. The actual process of the Conjunction parallels a psychological practice, developed by Jung, called active imagination.

Jung found psychological practices such as Freudian free association, were ineffectual at allowing the unconscious an opportunity to make itself known.⁽²⁵⁵⁾ Free association, according to Jung, simply moves from one complex to another without, necessarily, following one particular complex to its root in the unconscious. As a response to this limitation Jung developed a means of allowing the unconscious a medium, through which it could be brought to consciousness. This method was termed active imagination.

In Jung's work, The Transcendent Function⁽²⁵⁶⁾, he gives a description of the practice of active imagination. In therapy the practice gives the patient and the therapist an extremely useful tool in uncovering unconscious complexes. On a personal level the practice allows the individual "a way of attaining liberation by one's own efforts and of finding the courage to be oneself."⁽²⁵⁷⁾ Jung found the practice of active imagination an effective means of uncovering unconscious material which was more malleable and effective than solely relying on dream analysis. When dream analysis and active imagination are combined unconscious material becomes much more comprehensible. In actual application active imagination allows the individual an ability to reactivate a particular dream or dream sequence and, in a less unconscious manner than the original dream, attempt to follow it to its conclusion.

According to Jung, the conscious and the unconscious act in a compensatory or complementary manner towards each other. Jung lists four reasons why this relation comes to be. The most important reason, in light of the Conjunction, is the fourth:

The unconscious contains all the fantasy combinations which have not yet attained their threshold intensity, but which in the course of time and under suitable conditions will enter the light of consciousness.⁽²⁵⁸⁾

The therapist and patient can help speed up the surfacing of these fantasies through the use of active imagination.

Active imagination is essentially observing and following a fantasy or dream, without intruding on it, until its nature is fully brought to consciousness. The method of active imagination could be simply recording any mental fantasy and analyze the outcome. A painting or drawing of a dream can be similarly employed, thus giving a visible object for the therapist and patient to discuss. Other forms of art such as dance can be used effectively as well. In each case it is not the perfection or degree of skill demonstrated by the patient which is important but the effectiveness of the process to bring to the surface those fantasy images which were previously unconscious.

The Conjunction can be seen as a form of active imagination par excellence. Even the term "the art of alchemy" suggests that there is more to the practice than a pseudo-scientific misunderstanding of matter. In fact, the Conjunction is structured so that the individual brings to consciousness, through projection onto the prima materia, those unconscious fantasies which are near the threshold and then probes even deeper until the self, with its inherently contradictory nature, becomes the mediator between the Microcosm and Macrocosm.

Summary of Chapter Three

The Conjunction is not an undertaking of leisure or curiosity. Nor is it a practice for those who are under the grip of the unconscious and have lost a grasp of the "real" world. In either case, the undertaking of the Conjunction would be psychologically harmful. As both Jung and Edinger have demonstrated, the Conjunction represents one way of undertaking the natural and universal drive toward wholeness. Although this drive can be interpreted as a specifically psychological teleology based on the actions and reactions of the conscious and the unconscious, it can also be understood as something beyond this limited interpretation where the summation of an individual's potential as a human being is brought into a form of actualization.

Jung, as an empiricist, could never posit that the Conjunction points to a Divine Being with whom the alchemist interacts. However, Jung did appreciate the spiritual nature of the alchemical tradition. Jung understood that the alchemists were using esoteric words and symbols, which were contemporary at the time, to explain what today could be considered psychological in nature. Jung's psychology does much the same thing as the alchemical tradition in that it uses theories like "archetype" and "synchronicity" to explain concepts which in our current development seem to point to something beyond the generally accepted view of reality. Perhaps in four hundred years people will look back on Jung's writings and comment on how quaint his theories about the psyche were, in much the same way that some people view alchemy today. More than anything Jung's understanding of alchemy and the Conjunction demonstrate that the human condition is far more complex and deep than most people care to think. It is far more simple to remain ignorant of one's projections and live in a state of unio naturalis than it is to enter into the trials and tribulations of self-knowledge found throughout the Conjunction. Jung was absolutely correct when he wrote: "Self-knowledge is an adventure that carries us unexpectedly far and deep."⁽²⁵⁹⁾

Jung found, through his personal experiences and those of his patients, that there seemed to be an innate need for the human psyche, both the conscious and unconscious components, to move towards a union with each other and so to wholeness. If ignored, this drive could be responsible for numerous psychological as well as physiological complications. For those who actively attempt to bring to consciousness portions of the psyche which are unconscious, whether this decision was made for them through unconscious motivation or by personal volition, there is the pivotal and transformative undertaking of the Magnum Opus. For Jung there was no sense of something being "only psychology." Every perception and assumption is derived from the psyche. However, the psyche is not entirely subjective or benevolent. There is an autonomy and potential maliciousness present which can override and manipulate ego-consciousness. To bring this unconscious potentiality to consciousness allows the individual to understand and integrate these seemingly foreign attributes.

For Jung the symbolism and mythology of alchemy reflected an attempt by human beings to exteriorize the inner processes of the psyche. The Conjunction revealed this process clearly and as a result Jung spent a great deal of time involved in exploring its symbolism. Some critics will look upon this amplification of alchemy as superfluous for understanding Jung's model of the psyche. In fact, the alchemical tradition, with its highly abstract language of obtuse imagery, is in some ways more precise than the medical jargon of contemporary psychiatry. If we consider that the unconscious communicates in symbols then a symbolic language would be far more conducive for understanding it than the limitations of written, discursive language.

Endnotes

180. Jung, C.W. 8, p.133. Emphasis is Jung's.

181. Jung, C.W. 12, p.107f. and C.W. 13, p.334 & 336.

182. Ibid., p.138.

183. Jung, C.W. 9i, p.79.

184. Jung's personal unconscious is similar to Freud's theory of the "unconscious."

185. Jung, C.W. 8, p.133. Brackets are mine.

186. Jung, C.W. 9, p.3.

187. Ibid.

188. Jung, C.W. 9ii, p.266.

189. Jung, C.W. 9ii, p. 17.

190. Jung, C.W. 12, p.41.

191. Jung, C.W. 8, p.226.

192. Ibid.

193. Jung, C.G. Memories, Dreams, Reflections, (Recorded and edited by Aniela Jaffé), New York: Vintage, 1989. Henceforth cited as MDR. One should note that not all scholars accept MDR as strictly or scientifically autobiographical. For example, Richard Noll states: "Thus, with MDR we do not have the human history of a renowned physician and scientist, but instead the myth of a divine hero, a holy man. . . and therefore a biography as "cult legend." The Jung Cult, NJ: Princeton, 1994, p.15. See also: The Cambridge Guide to Jung, (ed. Polly Young-Eisendrath and Terence Dawson) UK: Cambridge, 1997, p.xxxiii: "It is now realized that this work, which used to be read as autobiography, is the product of very careful editing both by Jung and Jaffé."

194. Jung, MDR, p.13.

195. Ibid., p.36.

196. Ibid.

197. The "sin" referred to here can be seen as the sin of becoming conscious and that God can only become conscious through human consciousness. This theory is also evident in Paul Tillich's Systematic Theology 3 volumes, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956-64.

198. Ibid., p.39.

199. The first example of Jung's use of analytical methods occurred in 1904 when he treated Sabina Spielrein (1885-1941) for hysteria. See Cambridge Guide to Jung, p.xxi and MDR: p.115.

200. Jung, C.W.5, pp.394-440.

201. Jung, MDR, p.168. For Jung's account of his relation with Freud see pp.146-169.

202. The first source which Jung commissioned was the Artis Auriferae Volumina Duo (1593). See MDR: p.204.

203. Jung, MDR, p. 205.

204. From Stolcius von Stolcenberg's Viridarium (1624), as found in Roob, Alexander. The Hermetic Museum: Alchemy and Mysticism. New York: Taschen, 1997, p.227. This form of cleansing symbolism is also the process revealed in the Death Card (XIII) of the Tarot.

205. "Owing to medieval ignorance both of chemistry and of psychology, and the lack of any epistemological criticism, the two categories ["truth" and "matter"] could easily mix, so that things for us that have no recognizable connection with one another could enter into mutual relationship." C.W. 14, p.467. Square brackets are mine.

206. "Right at the beginning you meet the "dragon," the chthonic spirit, the "devil" or as the alchemists called it, the "blackness" or the nigredo, and this encounter produces suffering. . . In the language of the alchemists, matter suffers until the nigredo disappears. . ." Jung cited from: C.G. Jung Speaking, pp. 228ff. In: Edinger, Edward F. The Mysterium Lectures, Toronto: Inner City, 1995, p.157.

207. "Mercurius is the prima materia. This must be dissolved at the beginning of the work, and the dissolved bodies then transformed into "spirits." The transformation is effected by putrefaction, which is synonymous with the nigredo, the grave, and death." C.W.14, p.501.

208. Jung, C.W.9ii, p.8.

209. Jung, C.W.14, p.497.

210. "Mercurius is not only the lapis as prima materia but the lapis as ultima materia, the goal of the opus."Ibid., p.501.

211. Ibid., p.462.

212. "The Mercurius of the alchemists is a personification and concretization of what we would call today the collective unconscious."Ibid., p.462.

213. "If the demand for self-knowledge is willed by fate and is refused, this negative attitude may end in real death." Ibid., p.474.

214. Jung, C.W. 13, p.237.

215. It should be noted that Sulfur has a positive and negative side (Sulphur duplex). So while Sulphur has a putrefying factor it is also a physical representation of solar (active) energy. See Jung, C.W. 14: pp.127-128.

216. Paraphrase, Edinger: Mysterium, pp.275-277 & C.W. 14, pp.459-462.

217. This concept is identical to the Kabbalistic Tree of Life where Malkut holds the entire Tree within her.

218. See Edinger: The Mysterium Lectures, Toronto: Inner City, 1995, p.276. & Jung, C.W. 14, p.459.

219. Jung, C.W.14, p.472.

220. Ibid., p.474.

221. Ibid., p.472-3.

222. Ibid., p.471. "The unio mentalis, the interior oneness which today we call individuation, he [Dorn] conceived as a psychic equilibrium of opposites." Brackets are mine.

223. Ibid., p.497.

224. Ibid., p.465.

225. Ibid., p.466.

226. Ibid.

227. Ibid., p.476.

228. Ibid., p.487.

229. Ibid., p.494.

230. Ibid.

231. Ibid., p.495.

232. Ibid., p.494.

233. The emphasis here is on "self" in a Jungian context.

234. Edinger, Mysterium, p.288.

235. Jung, C.W.14, p.490.

236. Edinger, Mysterium, p.290.

237. Jung, C.W. 14, p.490. In Mysterium, Edinger states that this flower symbolizes rational reason which is equal to wholeness.(p.291)

238. Ibid., p.494.

239. Edinger, Mysterium, p.291.

240. Jung, C.W.14, p.492.

241. We should note that there does not seem to be any obvious boundary between the process of the caelum and the end result, the unus mundus. Perhaps the caelum can be seen as a process which, when completed, is identical to what is described as the unus mundus.

242. Edinger, Mysterium, p.296.

243. Edinger, The Mysteries of the Coniunctio. Toronto: Inner City, 1994, p.79.

244. Jung, C.W. 14, p. 537.

245. Ibid., p.534.

246. Ibid., p.535.

247. Ibid., p.539.

248. This first step is identical to shadow work.

249. A brief, but an adequate example of this fact can be found in Jung, C.W. 8, pp.72-73. Ultimately shadow confrontation/unio mentalis is never fully complete "The volatile essence [nigredo/shadow] so carefully shut up and preserved in the Hermetic vessel of the unio mentalis could not be left to itself for a moment, because this elusive Mercurius [self] would then escape and return to its former nature, as, according to the testimony of the alchemists, not infrequently happened." Jung, C.W. 14, p.522. Brackets are mine.

250. Paraphrased. Edinger, Mysterium, p.279-280.

251. "The great difficulty here, however, is that no one knows how the paradoxical wholeness of man can ever be realized." C.W.14, p.476.

252. Edinger, Mysterium, p. 281.

253. Jung, C.W. 8, pp.387-403.

254. Ibid., p.403.

255. Ibid., p.82.

256. Ibid., pp.67-91.

257. Ibid., p.91.

258. Ibid., p.69.

259. Jung, C.W.14, p.520.

Chapter Four