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Carl Jung and the Rosarium Philosophorum

    The Rosarium Philosophorum is a sixteenth century alchemical treatise, with a series of twenty woodcuts.       Jung’s comments on the first image, the image with the fountain, include the following:   This fluid substance, with all its paradoxical qualities, really signifies the unconscious which as been projected on to it. The “sea” is its…

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Carl Jung: “The idea became fixed in my mind that I must live near a lake.”

  My mother took me to the Thurgau to visit friends, who had a castle on Lake Constance. I could not be dragged away from the water, the waves from the steamer washed up on the shore, the sun glistened on the water, and the sand under the water had been curled into little ridges…

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Carl Jung, on the abundance of wealth in the unconscious

    Consciousness, no matter how extensive it may be, must always remain the smaller circle within the greater circle of the unconscious, an island surrounded by the sea; and, like the sea itself, the unconscious yields an endless and self-replenishing abundance of living creatures, a wealth beyond our fathoming.      Psychology of the…

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Carl Jung, on the symbolism of water

    Water is the commonest symbol for the unconscious. The lake in the valley is the unconscious, which lies, as it were, underneath consciousness, so that it is often referred to as the “subconscious,” usually with the pejorative connotation of an inferior consciousness. Water is the “valley spirit,” the water dragon of Tao, whose…

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Carl Jung: “Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain.”

Carl Jung, on the Importance of Drawing and Painting It does not suffice in all cases to elucidate only the conceptual context of a dream content. Often it is necessary to clarify a vague content by giving it a visible form. This can be done by drawing, painting, or modeling. Often the hands will solve…