Merlin Tutoring Arthur, 14th Century Merlin and Mercurius Merlin represents an attempt by the medieval unconscious to create a parallel figure to Parsifal. Parsifal is a Christian hero, and Merlin, son of the devil and a pure virgin, is his dark brother. In the twelfth century, when the legend arose, there were as yet…
From the University of Glasgow: “Rosarium Philosophorum” From Collected Works 16: The Mercurial Fountain This picture goes straight to the heart of alchemical symbolism, for it is an attempt to depict the mysterious basis of the opus. It is a quadratic quaternity characterized by the four stars in the four corners. These are the four…
Proximity to the Pole One of the wonderful conceptual pleasures in living on the edge of Fairbanks, Alaska is its wilderness proximity to the North Pole For us to get to the North Pole from our house in the hills above Fairbanks, there is only one road to cross — after hiking about…
Carl Jung talks about the alchemical Mercurius Many treatises define Mercurius simply as fire. He is ignis elementaris noster naturalis ignis certissimus, which again indicates his “philosophic” nature. The aqua mercurialis is even a divine fire. This fire is “highly vaporous” (vaporosus). Indeed, Mercurius is really the only fire in the whole procedure. He is…
The Anima Arises from the Unconscious…. The anima belongs to those borderline phenomena which chiefly occur in special psychic situations. They are characterized by the more or less sudden collapse of a form or style of life which till then seemed the indispensable foundation of the individual’s whole career. When such a catastrophe occurs, not…
“It is always important to have something to bring into a relationship, and solitude is often the means by which you acquire it” Letters Vol. II Page 610
Knud Rasmsussen translates “the Greenland Eskimo Kilime”: All songs come to man when he is alone in the great solitude. They come to him in the wake of tears, of tears that spring from the deep recesses of the heart or they come to him suddenly accompanied by joy and laughter which wells up…
To Gustav Schmaltz 30 May 1957 Dear Schmaltz: I understand your wish very well, but I must tell you at once that it does not fit in my with my situation. I am not getting on at 82 and feel not only the weight of my years and the tiredness this brings, but even more…
Correcting the Guiding Function of the Unconscious Thus the unconscious has a symbol-creating function only when we are willing to recognize in it a symbolic element. The products of the unconscious are pure nature. Naturam si sequemur ducem, nunquam aberrabimus, said the ancients. But nature is not, in herself, a guide, for…