alchemy & psychology in the labratory of living life
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TENDING THE FIRE: THE ALCHEMY OF PSYCHOTHERAPY
by
William A. Cesarotti
Submitted in partial fulfillment
for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS IN COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY
Pacifica Graduate Institute
5 March 2011
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UMI Number: 1492828
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERSThe quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscriptand there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed,
a note will indicate the deletion.
UMI 1492828Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC.
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2011 William A. Cesarotti
All rights reserved
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I certify that I have read this paper and that in my opinion it conforms to acceptable
standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as aproduct for the degree of Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology.
___________________________
Sukey Fontelieu, M.A., M.F.T.Faculty Advisor
On behalf of the thesis committee, I accept this paper as partial fulfillment of therequirements for Masters of Arts in Counseling Psychology.
___________________________
Allen Koehn, D.Min., M.F.T.Research Coordinator
On behalf of the Counseling Psychology program, I accept this paper as partial
fulfillment of the requirements for Masters of Arts in Counseling Psychology.
______________________________Wendy Davee, M.A., M.F.T.
Chair, Counseling Psychology Program
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Abstract
Tending the Fire: The Alchemy of Psychotherapy
By William A. Cesarotti
Carl Jung and other depth psychologists have written much about the application
of alchemical imagery and metaphors to psychology; however, those images and
metaphors were created not through discussion but by alchemists working in laboratories.
This study documents the authors investigation of the psychological meaning of
alchemical images and metaphors through his attempt to recreate traditional alchemical
laboratory experiences.
The research approach was a combination of Clark Moustakass heuristic method
and Robert Romanyshyns alchemical hermeneutic method. Dialog was created between
the authors experiences in the laboratory, insights gained from active imagination,
readings from ancient alchemists and modern psychologists, and clinical experiences and
is analyzed from a depth psychological orientation.
Insights into the alchemical operations ofmortificatio andsolutio and the
regulation of heat as metaphors for psychotherapy are presented along with clinical
implications regarding the therapeutic alliance, initial stages of the therapeutic process,
and the qualities of an effective therapist.
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Dedication
This work is dedicated to
all my fellow alchemists, past and present,
who have toiled in the heat of the laboratory
and to my threesorores mystica:
Sukey Fontelieu, Virginia Angel, and Chris Faulconer.
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Acknowledgements
This thesis could not have been written without the incredible support, sincere
encouragement, and amazing skill of my editor Jan Freya. Words cannot properly convey
my deep gratitude to her for her assistance in this piece of soul work.
Deep, heartfelt thanks go to my family, Rachel, Jeremy, Edie, and Miriam Gollub,
for their constant love and support throughout this seemingly endless process.
My work in the laboratory may have ended in disaster if not for finding Steve
Kalec and his Alchemystica Yahoo group. Steves willingness to answer questions about
the alchemical work and to share the results of his own work is unparalleled.
I sing a song of gratitude and praise to Laughing Cloud and Singing Deer, for the
amazing Vision Quest that helped me move out ofalbedo and toward rubedo.
The presence of Allen Koehn can be found throughout these pages: in between
the words, behind the scenes, and lingering at the boundaries. That presence is sometimes
noticed, and sometimes overlooked, much like the dirt under your fingernails.
This work consumed my life for more than 2 years. Everyone with whom I have
interacted during that time has had some impact on this work. Many of them were notable
in their support and encouragement throughout this process: Amanda Norcross, Deborah
Keller, Evelyn Skon, Kris Lenz, Virginia Angel, Dan McDonald, Julie Snyder, Lindsey
Noble, Jodie Burton, Linda Terrill, Deidra Little, Kate Perry, Chris St. Clair, Mindy
Moffatt, and Tom Tucker. Thank you all, named and unnamed!
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Table of Contents
Chapter I Introduction..................................................................................................1
Researchers Interest in the Topic............................................................................2Guiding Purpose of the Thesis.................................................................................5
Method .....................................................................................................................5
Overview of Chapters ............................................................................................10
Chapter II Literature Review.......................................................................................11
What is Alchemy?..................................................................................................11
What Use Is Alchemy for Psychology? .................................................................14
The Stages of Alchemy..........................................................................................17Black: Nigredo .......................................................................................................17
The Operations of Alchemy...................................................................................21Mortificatio ................................................................................................22
Solutio........................................................................................................24
Models of the Stages of Psychotherapy.................................................................26
Meier and Boivins Seven-Phase Model....................................................27Chaplins Feminist Model..........................................................................28
Prochaska, DiClemente, and Norcrosss Stages of Change Model ...........29
Correlating Alchemy With Psychotherapy ............................................................30The Body in Psychotherapy...................................................................................34
Gendlins Focusing ....................................................................................34
Woodmans Conscious Femininity............................................................35Mindells Dreambody ................................................................................36
The Body in Alchemy............................................................................................37
Active Imagination.................................................................................................38
Chapter III In the Laboratory........................................................................................40
Introduction............................................................................................................40
Prelude: Masters of Fire.........................................................................................40Invitation: Meeting the Senior Student ..................................................................55
The First Step:Mortificatio/Grinding....................................................................59
The Second Step: Solutio/Dissolving.....................................................................70Other Operations....................................................................................................84
Summary................................................................................................................84
Chapter IV Conclusions................................................................................................86
Conclusions............................................................................................................86
Summaries and Applications of the Metaphorical Findings..................................88
The Metaphor of Masters of Fire ...........................................................88Mortificatio as Metaphor ...........................................................................89
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Solutio as Metaphor ...................................................................................90
Suggestions for Further Research ..........................................................................91
Personal Reflections on the Process ......................................................................92
References..........................................................................................................................94
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List of Figures
Figure 1 Library and laboratory, or books and body..................................................1
Alchemical illustration.Source: Maier, M. (Ed.). (1988c). Tripus aureus. In A. Klossowski De Rola (Ed.),
The golden game: Alchemical engravings of the seventeenth century (pp. 167-
182). London: Thames, p. 118. (Original work published 1618) Reprinted with
permission
Figure 2 Distillation of the Spirit of Wine using a small volume water bath...........42
Photograph of authors laboratory process.
Source: Author.
Figure 3 King and Queen together in the bath .........................................................45Alchemical illustration.
Source: Anonymous. (2003).Rosarium philosophorum: The rosary of the
philosophers (P. Smith, Trans.). Edmonds, WA: Holmes, p. 26. (Original work
published 1550) Reprinted with permission.
Figure 4 King and Queen dissolving in bath............................................................46Alchemical illustration.
Source: Mylius, J. D. (1988b). Philosophia reformata. In A. Klossowski De Rola
(Ed.), The golden game: Alchemical engravings of the seventeenth century (pp.167-182). London: Thames, p. 174. (Original work published 1622) Reprinted
with permission.
Figure 5 King and Queen in the flask.......................................................................47
Alchemical illustration.
Source: From Mylius, J. D. (1988a).Anatomia auri. In A. Klossowski De Rola(Ed.), The golden game: Alchemical engravings of the seventeenth century (pp.
198-207). London: Thames, p. 204. (Original work published 1628) Reprinted
with permission.
Figure 6 Rosemary in a large volume oil bath .........................................................53
Photograph of authors laboratory process.Source: Author.
Figure 7 Rosemary in a medium volume sand bath. ................................................54
Photograph of authors laboratory process.Source: Author.
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Figure 8 Ascending and descending birds................................................................56
Alchemical illustration.Source: Lambsprinck. (1988). De lapide philosophico. In A. Klossowski De Rola
(Ed.), The golden game: Alchemical engravings of the seventeenth century (pp.
105-116). London: Thames, p. 193. (Original work published 1625) Reprintedwith permission.
Figure 9. Ascending and descending vapor .......................................................................57Alchemical illustration.
Source: Maier, M. (1988b). Symbola aureae mensae. In A. Klossowski De Rola
(Ed.), The golden game: Alchemical engravings of the seventeenth century (pp.
105-116). London: Thames, p. 110. (Original work published 1617) Reprintedwith permission.
Figure 10 Image ofMortificatio as the piercing of an egg.........................................61
Alchemical illustration.Source: Maier, M. (1988a). Atalanta fugiens. In A. Klossowski De Rola (Ed.),
The golden game: Alchemical engravings of the seventeenth century (pp. 68-104).London: Thames, p. 75. (Original work published 1618) Reprinted with
permission.
Figure 11 Rosemary before grinding..........................................................................62Photograph of authors laboratory process.
Source: Author.
Figure 12 Rosemary after grinding ............................................................................62
Photograph of authors laboratory process.
Source: Author.
Figure 13 King devoured by wolf and reborn from fire.............................................68
Alchemical illustration.
Source: Maier, M. (1988a). Atalanta fugiens. In A. Klossowski De Rola (Ed.),The golden game: Alchemical engravings of the seventeenth century (pp. 68-104).
London: Thames, p. 83. (Original work published 1618) Reprinted with
permission.
Figure 14 King dismembered and reborn from coffin ...............................................69
Alchemical illustration.Source: Maier, M. (1988a). Atalanta fugiens. In A. Klossowski De Rola (Ed.),
The golden game: Alchemical engravings of the seventeenth century (pp. 68-104).
London: Thames, p. 93. (Original work published 1618) Reprinted withpermission.
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Figure 15 Two fishes, Soul and Spirit, swimming in the sea of the Body .................71
Alchemical illustration.Source: Lambsprinck. (1988). De lapide philosophico. In A. Klossowski De Rola
(Ed.), The golden game: Alchemical engravings of the seventeenth century (pp.
105-116). London: Thames, p. 189. (Original work published 1625) Reprintedwith permission.
Figure 16 Solutio: mortified (ground) rosemary soaked in water for three days .......75Photograph of authors laboratory process.
Source: Author.
Figure 17 Mortified (ground) rosemary (left) and unmortified rosemary (right)in water.......................................................................................................78
Photograph of authors laboratory process.
Source: Author.
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List of Tables
Table 1 Synthesis of Models of Psychotherapy and Stages and
Operations of Alchemy..............................................................................31
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Chapter IIntroduction
Figure 1. Library and laboratory, or books and body. From Tripus aureus, by Michael
Maier, 1618. Reprinted in The Golden Game: Alchemical Engravings of the Seventeenth
Century, byA. Klossowski De Rola (Ed.), 1988c, p. 118. Copyright 1988 by Thames.Reprinted with permission.
The imagery and metaphors of alchemy have inspired many volumes of writing
by psychologists (e.g., Edinger, 1994; Jung, 1944/1968b, 1946/1966, 1955/1970;
Hillman, 1981a, 1981b, 1991, 1993, 1997a; Greene, 1988; Raff, 2000; Schwartz-Salant,
1998; Marlan, 2005; von Franz, 1980). According to Jung (1944/1968b), these inspiring
images and metaphors were created by the alchemists when they projected unconscious
contents onto the work they were doing in their laboratories. Much of the psychological
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exploration of alchemy has been like the left side of Figure 1: a discussion of the imagery
found in the alchemical books. This thesis focuses instead on the right side of Figure 1
and explores this imagery by attempting work and projections similar to those conducted
by the ancient alchemists in their laboratories. Jungian analysts Marion Woodman (1985)
and Arnold Mindell (1982), and professor and psychotherapist Eugene Gendlin (1978)
found psychological gold by including the body in their practice of therapy. The intent
here is to demonstrate that additional gold can be found by similarly including the body,
the work in the laboratory, in the practice of psychological alchemy.
Researchers Interest in the Topic
The seed of this thesis was discovered when I uncovered a copy of Manfred
Juniuss (1982/1985) work,Practical Handbook of Plant Alchemy, in a secondhand
bookstore. Until that moment, I had assumed that the physical work of the alchemists had
been lost to posterity; leaving generations of interested people to wonder at the
mysterious images and texts they had left behind. In Juniuss writing, I found a clear,
detailed description, by someone living in this century, of how to conduct physical
alchemical processes derived from the old alchemical texts. The use of plants instead of
minerals as the basis for the work was enticing because it did not require hazardous
substances such as the strong acids or liquid mercury used by the ancient alchemists
when working with metals and minerals. The techniques Junius used with plants were
also within the scope of the chemistry lab work I had done during my undergraduate
education. Despite the excitement the fantasy of conducting these experiments brought
me, they required an investment in equipment and time I did not feel prepared to make. I
therefore buried the seed of this project in the earth for safekeeping, and as the squirrel
often does, forgot about it.
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Years later, while attending Pacifica Graduate Institute, this forgotten seed
received the moisture it needed to germinate. Studying the depth psychology founded by
Carl G. Jung, I encountered his extensive work on the subject of alchemy as well as
research and discussion on the subject by Marie von Franz (1980), Edward Edinger
(1994), James Hillman (1980, 1981a, 1981b, 1991, 1993, 1997a), Jeffrey Raff (2000),
and Stanton Marlan (2005). Wading through the sea of words on the psychological
interpretations of alchemy, I sensed that something was missing. As Jung (1937/1968)
asked, If the alchemist is admittedly using the chemical process only symbolically, then
why does he work in a laboratory with crucibles and alembics? (p. 243). Why even use
laboratory objects and processes symbolically, unless there was something about them
that was important? If alchemists who worked in laboratories created these images and
texts, what then might be learned now about the meaning of their images and words from
also working in a laboratory? The seed had sprouted.
That sprout might have withered in the dark of self-doubt, if not for a timely
conversation with one of my instructors, Sukey Fontelieu. She provided the insightful
light of the sun that the sprout needed to grow. With her encouragement, the sprout broke
ground and began to take root. As it did, I felt more and more strongly called to do this
work. Despite my efforts to explore a different thesis topic that I had originally planned
to pursue, this work would not let me go. I felt that alchemy was calling me to go back to
its roots in the laboratory.
Robert Romanyshyn (2007) stated that in research with soul in mind the
researcher is claimed by the work through his or her complexes (p. 62). As I explored
doing physical alchemy, a parallel process developed in my personal therapy. My
sessions began to focus on my own disconnect from my body. Throughout the process of
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this thesis persistent themes arose regarding accepting my body, reconnecting with it, and
learning to listen to it. The alchemist and physician Paracelsus (1658/1976) claimed that
everything is divided into three, namely, into Salt, Sulphur, Mercury (Vol. 2, p. 317),
and that Mercury is the spirit, Sulphur is the soul, and Salt is the body (Vol. 1, p. 125).
As I was working to join the body with the soulful and spiritual discussions of
psychological alchemy, this alchemy was working to rejoin my body, soul and spirit.
Another aspect of research with soul in mind described by Romanyshyn (2007) is
finding that ones work is already situated within a larger pattern (p. 83). When I had
first looked into performing practical alchemy, I could find only two modern books on
the subject: Juniuss (1982/1985)Practical Handbook of Plant Alchemy and Frater
Albertuss (1974) The Alchemists Handbook, the most recent having been published
over 20 years ago. While I was considering this as my thesis topic, four new books were
published that contained instructions for doing practical alchemy: Brian Cotnoirs (2006)
The Weiser Concise Guide to Alchemy, Mark Stavishs (2006) The Path of Alchemy:
Energetic Healing and the World of Natural Magic, Rubellus Petrinuss (1997/2007) The
Great Alchemical Work of Eirenaeus Philalethes, Nicholas Flamel and Basil Valentine,
and Robert Bartletts (2007)Real Alchemy: A Primer of Practical Alchemy (2nd
ed.). A
new annual alchemy conference, the International Alchemy Conference (Alchemy Guild
& Modern Mystery School, 2011), was established in 2007, with many programs focused
on practical alchemy. In the midst of all this activity regarding practical alchemy, I felt
like I was part of a wave, part of alchemys own efforts to bring the laboratory back to its
study, to have its body remembered. I very much felt like I was in service to the
unfinished business in the soul of the work (Romanyshyn, 2007, p. 83).
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Guiding Purpose of the Thesis
The guiding purpose of this thesis is to learn something about the process of
psychotherapy by studying my experiences while doing physical alchemical operations.
The words and images of alchemy have been used as signposts of the experience of
psychotherapy (Edinger, 1994; Jung, 1946/1966; Raff, 2000); perhaps performing
alchemy as an alchemist will reveal something about practicing psychotherapy as a
psychotherapist. I believe this research will benefit the field of psychology in at least
three ways: first, it may open up a new approach within depth psychology for studying
psychological alchemy; second, as I am a beginning therapist, what I discover may make
psychological alchemy more approachable to other beginning therapists; and third,
applying alchemical ideas to the practical work of therapy may show therapists of all
traditions that alchemical imagery can enrich their therapeutic understanding and
experience.
Method.
Inspired by Jungian analyst Edward Edingers (1994)Anatomy of the Psyche, I
desired to explore specific operations of alchemy in some detail. My intuition warned me
that the operations should not be studied in isolation and that they should be experienced
as part of an overall process that has a beginning and an end. With the source materials I
had available, I decided to attempt the creation of a Plant Stone, a process analogous to
the ancient alchemists goal of creating the Philosophers Stone (Anonymous, 1991;
Junius, 1982/1985) but using plant material.
I choose to make this Stone from the plant rosemary, for a number of reasons.
First, Junius (1982/1985) recommended that one begin alchemical work with plants using
either rosemary or peppermint, as they are both rich in essential oils. Researching these
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plants, I found that in Shakespeares (1992)Hamlet, Ophelia said, Theres rosemary,
thats for remembrance (4:5, line 199). Writing in 1653, botanist Nicholas Culpeper
(1992) stated that rosemary quickens a weak memory (p. 47). Herbalist Scott
Cunningham (1985) claimed, To receive knowledge or the answer to a question, burn
rosemary on charcoal and smell its smoke (pp. 189-190). Organic gardener Jackie
French (1993) claimed Greek students wore garlands of rosemary in their hair (p. 11).
Using rosemary, the herb of remembrance (p. 6) for my research seemed an appropriate
choice, because Romanyshyn (2007) described the process of research that keeps soul in
mind as a work of an-amnesis, of un-forgetting and re-membering what has been lost
(p. 121).
Having selected the process and the plant, I chose to explore this material using
the qualitative method of heuristic research. Psychology researcher Clark Moustakas
(1990) stated, The focus in a heuristic quest is on recreation of the lived experience
(p. 39). Although Junius (1982/1985) described the technical details for how to enact the
operations I was to do, how was I to connect with the lived experience of the alchemists
of 400 years ago? Both Junius and Cotnoir (2006) quote from the alchemical textMutus
Liber, written in 1677: Ora, lege, lege, lege, relege, labora et inviences (McLean,
1991, p. 42), which Cotnoir (2006) translated as Pray, read, read, read, reread, work, and
you shall discover (p. 13). The first step of my efforts to recreate the lived experience of
the alchemists was therefore to read their words, starting with a list of famous alchemists
provided by Cotnoir: Paracelsus, Nicolas Flamel, Basil Valentine, and Michael Maier
(p. 17).
While reading Michael Maiers (1617/2002)Atalanta Fugiens, I was struck by the
remarkable emblems he included in the text. Moustakas (1990) stated that heuristic
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research is illuminated through careful descriptions, illustrations, metaphors, poetry, and
other creative renderings (p. 42); therefore these emblems and the metaphors they
depicted with such intricate and astonishing imagery would aid in my endeavors to
recreate the lived experience of the ancient alchemists. This idea was corroborated by
Jungian analyst Jeffrey Raff (2000), who claimed, Meditation on the symbols of the
alchemists will not only bring us more deeply into the alchemical tradition, we will also
stand a good chance of duplicating the experiences of the alchemists portrayed in our
own psyche (p. 83). For a meditation method, Raff recommended the use of active
imagination, which aligned with Jungs (1937/1968 [CW12]) belief that active
imagination was the thing that sets the process really going (p. 255 [para. 357]);
therefore, the second step of my effort to recreate the lived experience of the alchemists
was to conduct active imagination on alchemical emblems that I selected to represent
each of the operations that I would enact.
When I began conducting the physical operations, I noticed a wide variety of
experiences in myself and in the material I was using. Jung (1937/1968 [CW12])
described that the alchemists had certain psychic experiences which appeared to him as
the particular behavior of the chemical process (p. 245 [para. 346]), which Jung believed
were the projections of the alchemists unconscious onto the chemical process. He further
believed that the real root of alchemy is to be sought . . . in the projections of individual
investigators (p. 245 [para. 346]). To explore this to the fullest, during the operations, I
imagined how the material itself might be experiencing the process; therefore, the third
and fourth steps of my efforts to recreate the lived experiences of the alchemists were to
conduct the physical operations and to be open to any and all experiences that I witnessed
in the material or myself during the process.
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As I proceeded with my quest to create the Plant Stone, I noticed experiences in
my life outside the laboratory that were similar to the processes going on in the
laboratory. Jung warned that as a result of the projection there is an unconscious identity
between the psyche of the alchemist and the arcane substance (1937/1968, p. 267 [CW
12, para. 376]). The fifth step in my effort to recreate the lived experience of the
alchemists was therefore to take notes on my experiences and general psychic state
outside of the laboratory.
After having my own experiences of the physical operations of alchemy, I
immersed myself in the psychological literature on the operations of alchemy. I then
incubated my lived experience of the physical operations with my lived experiences of
psychotherapy and with various writings on the psychological interpretation of alchemy. I
alternated periods of immersion and incubation in a rhythm not entirely under my control.
During this process, I found that my experiences in the laboratory reminded me of the
experiences of two psychotherapy clients with whom I had previously worked. Some
information from their case histories, disguised to prevent identification, is included
where it benefits the analysis of the alchemical operations. Eventually, this process led to
my own synthesis of the meanings of these operations for psychotherapy.
I subsequently found that the methodology I used for my research has several
similarities to Romanyshyns (2007) alchemical hermeneutic method, which he described
as being creative, open-ended, and supple and subject to change as the research
progresses (p. 264). I found that I needed to be flexible and open-ended in order to
develop my own methodology in service to the work. Alchemical hermeneutics is
described as being imaginative, giving primacy to imaginal landscapes of soul (p. 264).
I found the use of imagination to be a critical part of my methodology. Alchemical
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hermeneutics uses a symbolic mode of understanding (p. 266), frequently through the
use of active imagination, which was a central part of my methodology.
As a method of an-amnesis, a method of un-forgetting (Romanyshyn, 2007, p.
270), alchemical hermeneutics involves looking backwards toward what is forgotten and
asking to be remembered (p. 270). A major focus of my method was the attempt to un-
forget and remember the experiences of the ancient alchemists in their laboratories.
Alchemical hermeneutics is also a method of re-creation or reiteration of unfinished
events (p. 271) and Romanyshyn notes that in this process the researcher might find
himself or herself accompanied by a guide (p. 271). In my practice of active
imagination, I found a guide who accompanied me through this work. With all these
similarities, the methodology I used could be considered a variation of Romanyshyns
alchemical hermeneutic method.
The methodology I used also parallels the three levels of certainty in Islamic
gnosticism, as described by professor of Islamic Studies Henry Corbin (1998). According
to Corbin, the first level is theoretical certainty, an example of this is hearing from
someone else of fire, and what is it like (p. 164). The parallel in my method was reading
the words of the alchemists about their operations. The second level is the certainty of
eyewitness testimony, to see the fire oneself, and understand its nature personally (p.
164). The parallel in my method was performing the physical operations of alchemy
myself. The third level is the certainty which is personally and gnostically lived and
realized (p. 164), whereby one becomes the fire, or is consumed by the fire (p. 164).
The parallel in my method was the way the work transformed me and the experiences I
had during active imagination. For Corbin, the inclusion of all three levels is necessary to
achieve the esoteric meanings in stories of visionary experiences. I therefore included all
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three levels as a methodology for unveiling the visionary experiences of the alchemists as
they worked in their laboratories.
Overview of Chapters
Chapter II presents a brief review of the literature that currently exists on the
psychological interpretations of alchemy, the process of alchemy, the process of
psychotherapy, and how the two relate. This review also includes discussion of active
imagination and the use of the body in psychotherapy, as they were important aspects of
my methodology.
Chapter III presents a dialog that relates my experiences performing physical
alchemical operations, my experiences from active imagination, my experience with
clients in therapy, and existing psychological literature on alchemy. The understanding
gained through bodily experience is compared and contrasted with the theoretical
discussions, and where possible, a new synthesis is made. The actual process of trying to
create a Plant Stone was very time-intensive and generated a large amount of data.
Whereas my own experiences as a beginning therapist are primarily with the early stages
of psychotherapy, I found my experiences of the early stages of the alchemical process to
be the most profoundly revealing and have limited this discussion to those stages.
Chapter IV briefly summarizes my discoveries, addresses their implications for
the field of psychology, and proposes suggestions for further exploration and
development.
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Chapter IILiterature Review
The literature on alchemy is vast. By necessity, this work is focused on a
restricted subset of the material available. A brief introduction to the history of alchemy
and the meaning of some of its terms is provided to give context for the work that
follows. In that context, the previous psychological interpretations of alchemy and
alchemys relationship with psychotherapy are reviewed, with focus on the processes
encountered in Chapter III. Lastly, the background on two important aspects of the
methodology is reviewed regarding the inclusion of the body in psychotherapy and
alchemy and the use of active imagination.
What is Alchemy?
The central concept in alchemy is transmutation: the fundamental change of one
thing into another, from a grosser, impure state to a more refined, balanced, and
pure state. This is to be understood on multiple levelsphysically, spiritually, andsymbolically.
Cotnoir, 2006, p. 11
Alchemy is a tradition of exploration into the processes of transformation and
transmutation. Historian Jack Lindsay (1970) traced the etymology of the word alchemy
to Arabic prefix al-, meaning the, and the Greek word chymia, meaning the art of
casting or alloying metals (p. 68). His research found that alchemical thinking grew out
of a nexus of ideas from metallurgy, brewing, dyeing, [and] perfume-making (p. 67)
that began to emerge as a coherent body of thought in the work of Bolos-Democritus in
about 200 BCE (p. 67). Alchemical thinking continued from Greek culture through
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Islamic culture to Latin European culture, reaching a peak in the 16th
and 17th
centuries in
Europe (Holmyard, 1990; Read, 1966) and persisting today (e.g, Bartlett, 2007; Cotnoir,
2006)
The goal of alchemy was often characterized as the creation of the Philosophers
Stone, with which alchemists believed they could transform impure metals, like lead, to
the most pure of metals, gold (Holmyard, 1990, p. 15; Read, 1966, p. 118). Alchemist
Albertus Magnus (1898/2003), for example, in the 13th
century, wrote that through this
art, corrupted metals in minerals are restored and the imperfect made perfect (p. 101),
and in the 14
th
century, alchemist Petrus Bonus (1546/1974) wrote that
Alchemy is the Art by which the principles, causes, activities, properties, andaffections of metals are thoroughly apprehended; and by means of this knowledge
those metals which are imperfect, incomplete, mixed, and corrupt, and therefore
base, are transmuted into gold and silver. (pp. 100-101)
The Stone is also described as a medicine, elixir, or tincture that can cure disease and
provide immortality (Holmyard, 1990, p. 15; Read, 1966, p. 121). The alchemical
physician Paracelsus (1678/1976 [Vol. 1]) described the goal thusly: the Tincture of the
Philosophers is a Universal Medicine (p. 29) which consumes all diseases (p. 29) and
by means of which the life of many, too, has been extended and prolonged to several
centuries (p. 29). The process of creating the Philosophers Stone, Elixir, or Tincture
was called the Great Work(Read, 1966, p. 130).
Besides the outward or exoteric work of preparing the philosophers stone,
historian Eric John Holmyard (1990) found that the alchemists also described an esoteric
or mystical work. For those alchemists, the mundane transmutation of metals became
merely symbolic of the transformation of sinful man into a perfect being (p. 16). Bonus
(1546/1974) believed that the alchemists before him did not pursue the Art [of
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Alchemy] for the sake of the acquisition of gold and silver, but on account of its beauty
and the insight which it affords into the things of the spiritual world (p. 147). Holmyard
(1990) found that these two kinds of alchemy were often inextricably mixed (p. 16),
which Bonus explained, saying, If we call it spiritual we are right; if we describe it as
corporal, we are not mistaken; if we style it heavenly, we do not lie; if we call it earthly
we say the truth (p. 149).
The historical alchemical writings used a rich array of metaphors, allegories, and
symbolic images to express their theories, materials, and operations (Holmyard, 1990, p.
16). In the alchemical literature, one finds people, animals, and mythological beings such
as lions, dragons, wolves, peacocks, crows, swans, phoenixes, toads, unicorns, serpents,
kings, queens, lepers, Apollo, Diana, and Vulcan (Abraham, 2001; Klossowski de Rola,
1988). The actions depicted vary from cooking and washing to a lion devouring the sun
and a dragon eating its own tail (Abraham, 2001; Klossowski de Rola, 1988). Conflict is
frequently depicted in a wide range of forms such as two lions fighting, two eagles
struggling, a knight versus a dragon, and a wolf devouring a king (Abraham, 2001;
Klossowski de Rola, 1988).These images and metaphors have had an influence beyond
the alchemists. Literary scholar Lyndy Abraham (2001), found that alchemical thought
deeply influenced Elizabethan and Jacobean culture (p. xv) and that alchemical imagery
is found in the work of writers and visual artists such as Shakespeare, Jonson, Donne,
Marvell, Cleveland, Milton and Dryden (p. xv) as well as Pope, Goethe, Joseph Wright
of Derby, . . . [and] the nineteenth-century Symbolists, Victor Hugo, Marcus Clarke, W.
B. Yeats, August Strindberg, Antonin Artaud, Max Ernst, Paul Klee, Laurence Durrell,
Ted Hughes, Vladimir Nabokov, Marguerite Yourcenar and Jackson Pollock (p. xvi).
Professor of English literature Stanton Linden (2003) also found alchemical influences in
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writers and artists from Chaucer, Erasmus, Bosch and Brueghel to Marcel Duchamp,
Leonora Carrington, Umberto Eco, and J. K. Rowling (p. 19).
What Use Is Alchemy for Psychology?
In what way is the study of alchemy relevant for psychology? The founder of
analytical psychology, Carl G. Jung (1961/1965) thought that analytical psychology was
subject far more than any other science to the personal bias of the observer. The
psychologist must depend therefore in the highest degree upon historical and literary
parallels if he wishes to exclude at least the crudest errors in judgment (p. 200). Jung
found the historical parallel he was looking for in alchemy. He believed that alchemical
symbolism provided a point of view that was sufficiently outside humanitys current
timeframe to provide objectivity to the conclusions.
Jung found several more uses for alchemy. First, he discovered that some of the
imagery in his clients dreams was identical to alchemical symbols (1944/1968b;
1955/1970, p. 77 [CW14, para. 82]). Studying alchemy then provided more material for
the amplification of the imagery in clients dreams (along with mythological and
religious imagery). Second, Jung (1961/1965) claimed that it was by studying alchemy
that he discovered the unconscious operating as a process that he would later call
individuation (p. 209). Furthermore, because it is rare that a client will move through
every stage of the individuation process with a therapist, by studying alchemical
symbolism, a therapist has a map of the entire process, and can understand where a
clients current work in therapy fits within the whole (1946/1966).
Marie-Louise von Franz (1980), a colleague of Jungs, further elaborated on the
use of alchemical symbolism for the amplification of unconscious material. The other
bodies of symbolic material available, notably in mythology, fairy tales, and the history
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of religions, have been passed down from within a tradition. Von Franz said that as these
experiences, stories, and images were passed on, they were to a certain extent
rationalized and purged of the scurrilities of the unconscious, the funny little details
which the unconscious tags on (p. 16). They are therefore missing many of the details
that come directly from the unconscious that are similar to the direct unconscious
material of clients in psychoanalysis. She believed that the alchemists, in contrast, were
exploring the unknown and interpreting their results without a set plan. They therefore
recorded the unconscious contents that emerged in a more direct and unedited fashion,
and consequently, they demonstrate the kind of contradictions and oddities that are seen
in modern unconscious material. Because of its relative lack of editing by ego-
consciousness, alchemical symbolism is closer to the unconscious material of modern
dream material, and therefore is a more accurate source for amplification.
The founder of archetypal psychology, James Hillman (1980), found a further
benefit of alchemy for psychotherapy. He believed that the language of psychology was
dangerously one-sided and full of abstract, imprecise terms that have been taken to exist
literally. He found that these terms actually remove therapists from the direct experience
of their clients, because they do not directly relate to or describe the clients experience.
Hillman pointed out this problem regarding the terms the ego and the unconscious and
stated, I have personally never met either of them, except in a psychology book
(p. 121). In contrast, Hillman found that alchemy provides a concrete language that refers
to actual things, but that do not have to be taken literally. Alchemy used as analogy
provides a different way for therapists to imagine what is happening with their clients; it
forces metaphor upon us (p. 124). One example is the imagery of the alchemical
operations such as calcinatio, burn[ing] passions down to dry essences (p. 122), or
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coagulatio, congealing cloudy conditions so as to get hard clear drops from them
(p. 122), which describe psychic experiences in physical terms one can relate to while
also retaining the poetic imagery that dreams use. Hillman believed that speaking in this
kind of metaphorical language better served psychology than thinking or speaking in
phrases like regressing in the service of the ego (p. 122), syntonic identifying (p.
122), and analyzing the transference (p. 122). Through metaphor, alchemical language
joins the material and the psyche, it causes both the materialization of the psyche and the
psychization of matter (p. 124).
Jungian analyst Nathan Schwartz-Salant (1998), in his book, The Mystery of
Human Relationship, described another way alchemy could benefit psychotherapy. He
believed that when the methodology of alchemy is applied to the psychological process,
a new model of analysis emerges (p. 7). He noted several benefits that he believed this
new model provided to psychotherapy. First, it is a model based not on behavior
modification or changes in object relations but on the recovery of soul (p. 7). Second,
this model is remarkably embracing of those states of mind that are often called mad or
psychotic (p. 17), and it respects chaotic mental states rather than pathologizing them.
Third, this model is not primarily concerned with what people do to one another, such as
through projections onto one another, but instead with their experience of a field both
people occupy (p. 7). This model focuses upon the the nature of the third realm
between people (p. 17), and on the relationship of the people involved to each other and
to the field itself. Schwartz-Salant believed that this field has its own objective dynamics
and that alchemy informs us of these dynamics in a way that far exceeds any other
resource available to us (p. 25).
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The Stages of Alchemy
The stages of the alchemical process have been described many ways, but perhaps
the most common was color. Beginning with the Greek alchemists, color was a sign of
the properties of a substance, and later alchemists continued to use colors to recognize
and signify when they had achieved the various stages of the opus (Lindsay, 1970).
Although many colors are referenced in the alchemical literature, the four primary stages
were distinguished as black (nigredo), white (albedo), yellow (citrinitas), and red
(rubedo) (Jung, 1946/1966, p. 229 [CW12, para. 333]). These stages, and their
representative colors, were believed to occur in a specific sequence: It becomes, with
wonderful appearances, blacker than the crow; afterwards, in succession of time, whiter
than the swan; and at last, passing through a yellow colour, it turns out more red than any
blood (Paracelsus, 1658/1976 [Vol. 1], pp. 27-28). The black stage was associated with
a death of the old material and the separation of it into its component parts. The white
stage was associated with a purification of the separated parts. The red stage was
associated with a reuniting of the purified parts and a revivification of the whole
(Abraham, 2001, pp. 4, 135, 174; Jung, 1937/1968, pp. 230-232 [CW12, para. 334]). My
experience as a beginning therapist is primarily with the beginning stages of therapy, and
therefore this current work focuses on the first stage in alchemy: the black, ornigredo.
Black: Nigredo
The first stage of the work was signified by the color black, called melanosis by
the Greek alchemists and nigredo by the Latin alchemists (Jung, 1937/1968, [CW12];
Abraham, 2001). Abraham, in her book,A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery,
summarized the nigredo stage as
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the initial, black stage of the opus alchymicum in which the body of the impure
metal, the matter for the Stone, or the old outmoded state of being is killed,
putrefied and dissolved into the original substance of creation, the prima materia,in order that it may be renovated and reborn in a new form. (p. 135)
This death (in alchemical terms, mortificatio) might be brought about in many ways,
including heating or burning (decoction orcalcinatio), rotting (putrefactio), and
dissolving into a liquid (solutio) (Flamel, 1612/1994; Paracelsus, 1658/1976; Philalethes,
1678/1999), and frequently involved a combination of these processes. Many alchemists
described the purpose of this first stage as the separation (separatio) of the material into
either the four elements (fire, air, earth, and water), or the three philosophical essences
(sulphur, mercury, and salt) (Albertus 1974; Anonymous, 1991; Bartlett, 2007; Calid,
1541/1992; Cotnoir, 2006; Junius, 1982/1985). Skeletons, skulls, black birds, and images
of dead or dying beings were common symbols of this stage (Abraham, 2001).
The alchemists did not see the nigredo as a default initial condition, but as a stage
that needed to be achieved to begin the opus. Michael Maier (1917/2002) stated, Rejoice
when you see your matter getting black, for that is the beginning of the work, and it is the
key without which there is nothing (p. 120). Artephius (1612/1994) claimed, He that
doth not make blacke, cannot make white, because blackenesse is the beginning (p. 73).
The alchemists warned that achieving the nigredo was neither an easy processthe first
is black, which is more difficult to bring about than the rest (Lacinus, 1546/1974,
p. 23)nor a short process: It is of all colours the most tardy in making its appearance
(Philalethes, 1678/1999, p. 258). Some authors, such as Eirenaeus Philalethes, claimed
that it would take as much as 40 days or six weeks to achieve (p. 259).
Jung (1944/1968 [CW12]) believed that, in psychological terms, the nigredo
stage of alchemy represented the ego encountering the shadow (p. 36 [para. 41). The term
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shadow, as used here, is defined as the hidden or unconscious aspects of oneself, both
good and bad, which the ego has either repressed or never recognized (Sharp, 1991, p.
123). Jung 1937/1966 [CW12]) believed that when the conscious mind attempted to
come to terms with the unconscious, it would be swallowed up by it (pp. 416-417
[para. 496]), and he further described the experiences ofnigredo as confusion, lostness,
melancholy,fear, wickedness, and wretchedness (1955/1970, p. 229 [CW14, para. 306]),
grief(1937/1968, p. 273 [CW12, para. 389]) brought about deformation and psychic
suffering (1955/1970, p. 354 [CW14, para. 494]). Jung observed confrontation with the
shadow produces at first a dead balance, a standstill that hampers moral decisions and
makes convictions ineffective or even impossible (p. 497 [para. 708]). He described the
death that occurs during this stage as the complete stagnation of psychic life
(1946/1966, p. 260 [CW16, para. 469]).
Jungian analyst Marie-Louise von Franz (1980) assisted Jung in his alchemical
explorations and developed them further. She also described the experience of the
nigredo stage as confusion, depression, unhappiness, and being covered in a dark cloud
of unconsciousness (p. 208). She further found that during the nigredo, a clients dreams
were frequently critical, involving depressing motifs, destructive factors, shadowy
impulses, and imagery the client found disgusting, indecent, or obscene (p. 147). Von
Franz also described the nigredo as a state wherein ones instinctual drives are fallen
into matter (p. 221) by being projected outwards onto other people.
Hillman has explored the color imagery of alchemy in several articles (1981a,
1981b, 1991, 1997a). In his exploration of black as related to the nigredo stage of
alchemy, he also found this stage characterized by experiences of feeling exhausted,
dried out, stuck (1997a, p. 46), depressed, confused, constricted, anguished, and subject
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to pessimistic, even paranoid, thoughts of sickness, failure, and death (p. 46). For
Hillman, these experiences are not symptoms to progress away from, but are signs that
ones soul has achieved the first stage of the opus. He saw this achievement as the
dissolution of ones fixed paradigm, of ones attachments to whatever has been taken as
truth and reality, solid fact, or dogmatic virtue (p. 49), even of ones sense of meaning
and the hope for meaning (p. 47). It is exactly this place of doubt, confusion, and
unknowing that Hillman believed was necessary for any paradigm shift to occur.
Hillman (1993) also saw the blackness as corresponding to the reductive work of
psychological examination (p. 244). In this work, the mind seeks explanations,
especially those that search out origins and causal explanations which are concrete,
material, historical, and fateful (p. 244). These explanations may lead to remorse, self-
punishment, and depression, and Hillman warns that this kind of literal and reductive
approach can generate the kind of concrete fixations that are meant to be dissolved in the
nigredo.
Jungian analyst Robert Bosnak (1986/1988) explored alchemical imagery in his
work with dreams. He offered an evocative description of the experience ofnigredo:
One feels as though the whole world is falling apartand especially that thisnigredo state will never pass away. The future is dark and confused. It seems as
though the feeling of emptiness and isolation will last forever. The tempo of life
in the midst of this rotting is sluggish. All energy drains out of consciousness. Inthis bottomless pit one finds death, death as the only reality. (p. 63)
Bosnak saw the nigredo as a stage wherein the old way of being has broken down and no
longer works. The processes that lead to this stage have freed stuck psychic material by
shattering it into its component parts. They free one from the fixations in which one had
been bogged down. Bosnak believed that despite the melancholy and depression common
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to this state of disintegration and decomposition, it is from this black place that the
creative power once again has free play (p. 63).
The Operations of Alchemy
Unlike thestages of alchemy, about which most alchemists agree on the number
and terminology, when it comes to the operations of alchemy, alchemists disagree on
both the number of critical operations, and which operations those were. Johann Daniel
Mylius (1622/1984) named as many as 12 operations (p. 21), Philalethes (1678/1999)
named 10 (p. 261); Bonus (1546/1974) named eight (p. 88); Paracelsus (1658/1976 [Vol.
I]) named seven (p. 151); and Calid (1541/1992) as few as four operations (p. 31). Even
Jungian analysts choose different number of operations: for instance, Edinger (1994)
chose seven, and Jungian analyst Liz Greene (1988) chose four. Perhaps because of this
disagreement, the alchemists wrote more about the operations of alchemy than any other
topic, including the goal of the Philosophers Stone (Linden, 2003, p. 17).
Defining what the alchemists meant when they discussed the operations is
complicated by the fact that they used the terms for these operations to refer to different
things. On one hand, they use terms to refer to actual physical operations in the
laboratory; however, the terms usually refer to the result of the operation, not necessarily
the mechanism. Solutio, for instance, refers to changing something into a liquid form, but
that could be a process of dissolving the substance in water or melting it with heat. In
addition, the terms are also used to refer to a process or result that is not necessarily
physical: for instance, distillingorsublimation also refers to purifying a substance:
separating its pure elements from its impure elements. Edinger (1994) captured this
multiplicity of meanings artfully in his diagrams that map all the symbols that are
connected to the terms he studied (pp. 16, 46, 82, 116, 146, 182, 210). In the sections that
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follow, the meaning of these terms is discussed from both the alchemical viewpoint and
the psychological one. This discussion is limited to the first two operations I conducted
during the nigredo stage, mortificatio andsolutio.
Mortificatio. In alchemy, mortificatio is the death of the matter being worked
upon (Abraham, 2001, p. 130). According to Paracelsus (1658/1976 [Vol. 1]), the death
or mortification of the metals is the removal of their bodily structure, and of the
sulphurous fatness (p. 139). This death could be brought about in many ways. For
Flamel (1612/1994), this death occurred by dissolving in water: This dissolution is by
the enviousPhilosophers calledDeath, Destruction, andPerdition, because that the
natures change theirforme, and from hence proceeded so manyAllegories ofdead men,
tombes andsepulchers (p. 29). Paracelsus (1658/1976 [Vol. 1]) described the
mortificatio occurring through such processes as intense fire, dissolving substances,
application of sulphur or salt, and distilling or sublimating. The goal and importance of
this death was described metaphorically by Mylius (1622/1984): Unless a grain of corn
falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone by itself; if, however, it dies, it produces
much fruit (p. 49). His words are a paraphrasing of Christs statement that was often
quoted by the alchemists.
Flamel (1612/1994) explicitly associated the mortifcatio with the black stage of
the work and described it as the blacke saile with which the Ship ofTheseus came back
victorious from Crete, which was the cause of the death of hisFather(p. 28);he further
described the goal, saying so must this father die, to the intent, that from the ashes of
thisPhoenix another may spring, and that thesonne may beeKing (p. 28). Dying kings
frequently appear in alchemical imagery (Abraham, 2001; Klossowski de Rola, 1988;
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Maier, 1617/2002). The mortifcatio is the destruction of the existing structure, form,
and/or nature of the matter, such that something new may come into being.
Among modern authors, Edinger (1994), in his book,Anatomy of the Psyche, has
done the most work to describe the operations of alchemy in psychological terms. For
Edinger, the alchemical images of a king, lion, or sun dying, represented the
psychological experience of the death of the ruling principle of the conscious ego
(p. 151). Edinger described how this is experienced as defeat and failure, usually
imposed by life, either from within or from without (p. 172). The way ego
consciousness has been ruling ones life has led to failure and defeat. Mortification, he
said, involves admitting that the way one has been doing things may not be working. The
importance of this process as related to analysis is described by Edinger:
The fixed, static aspects of the personality allow for no change. They areestablished and sure of their rightness. For transformation to proceed, these fixed
aspects must first be dissolved or reduced to prima materia. This is done by the
analytic process, which examines the products of the unconscious and puts theestablished ego attitudes into question. (pp. 47-48)
In discussing the mortificatio, Jung (1946/1966 [CW16]) stated, At all events the
integration of contents that were always unconscious and projected involves a serious
lesion of the ego. Alchemy expresses this through symbols of death (p. 264 [para. 472]).
Jung further described this death as the total extinction of consciousness and the
complete stagnation of psychic life (p. 260 [para. 469]) and said that it signifies the
overcoming of the old and obsolete (1955/1970, p. 142 [CW14, para. 169]).
Hillman (1981a) described the mortificatio as a time of symptoms (p. 35). It is a
time of feeling driven, trapped, pulled along by inertia, and locked compulsively in
behavior (p. 35). It is a time of going back and down into the dark pathologized deeps
of the soul (1993, p. 244). Hillman believed that this material must be wholly killed,
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ground down, all the inner cohesion broken, until the usual emotional responses are no
longer effective (p. 244).
Solutio. On the surface, the alchemical operation ofsolutio refers to the relatively
simple process of converting a hard matter and dry earth to a liquid substance (Mylius,
1622/1984, p. 31). This process could be done with heat, as melting or liquation, or by
cold and moisture, as dissolution (Rulandus, 1612/n.d.). Calid (1541/1992) described
solutio in this way: Subtiliate the bodie till all become water (p. 36). Mylius
(1622/1984) provided a more detailed description of thissubtiliatingprocess as breaking
substances up (p. 12), a loosening of bonds (p. 33), and thinning of thickness
(p. 31). Martin Rulandus (1612/n.d.) defined dissolution differently thansolutio:
By this term the Chemical Philosophers do not understand the reduction of a solid
body into a liquid state, but the reduction of a body into its first matterthat is to
say, into those elementary principles which are its ultimate constituents. (p. 357)
Many alchemists, however, saw dissolution andsolutio as the same thing, believing that
the watery result of breaking up and dissolving the substance was its first matter (also
calledprima materia) (Abraham, 2001). Hortulanus (1556/1992) focused on the
separation of the partes (p. 22) in his definition of dissolution.
The alchemists also describedsolutio in terms of subtler processes. Magnus
(1541/2003) said thatsolutio was devised so that the intrinsic qualities of substances
might become extrinisic and vice versa (p. 108). Similarly, Calid (1541/1992) said that
solutio extracteth the inward parts of things unto their Superficies (p. 44). Mylius
(1622/1984) foundsolutio to be the revelation of the hidden (p. 31) and a stirring up
of innate abilities (p. 33). To summarize, the alchemists saw solutio as a melting or
dissolving process that broke up a substance into a watery state, sometimes called the
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prima materia; this watery state was seen as a matrix of the elementary parts of the
substance that revealed previously hidden, interior qualities of the substance.
Jung (1946/1966 [CW16]) described the psychological experience of thesolutio
as the descent of the ego into the unconscious. Edinger (1994) elaborated on that
definition to describe the descent of the ego into something larger than itself, whether
internally, through a descent into the unconscious, or externally, through descent into an
expanded consciousness. He described the effects of this descent as a dissolving of the
rigid, static parts of the ego personality. Sometimes this dissolution is experienced as a
dissolving into something else larger, and then there is a sense of being contained and
held by the other. Whether or not this descent is pleasant for the ego depends on its state
of development, as Edinger described:
An immature ego may find it pleasant to surrender to containment in a blissfulregression; however, at a later stage of development the prospect of solutio will
generate great anxiety because the hard-won state of ego autonomy is being
threatened with dissolution. (p. 49)
Edinger provided several examples of agents that can bring about a solutio experience:
love, lust, a more comprehensive viewpoint, a group collective, or a swollen egos own
excesses. He explained how this experience occurs in therapy:
In the process of psychotherapy it usually happens that the ego of the patient
encounters in the therapist a more comprehensive standpoint, which has a
dissolving effect. This happening often leads to a partial state of containment ofthe patient by the therapist and is a common cause of the transference. (p. 57)
He noted that this is not just a dissolving experience for the client but that the therapist
also must submit to thesolutio.
Greene (1988) defined thesolutio as an experience of the boundaries of the ego
breaking down (p. 288) and described what this is like for the experiencer: Ones sense
of boundaries begins to dissolve, and there is sometimes a feeling of a missing layer of
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psychic skin. One is suddenly very vulnerable and permeable, and feelings come up
which threaten to swamp the rational ego (p. 289). Greene called this an experience of
surrender, in which one must submit to that which is greater . . . [which] requires a
relinquishing of control (pp. 299-300). For some this surrender results in beautiful,
blissful feelings of union. For others it can bring frightening, shameful feelings of
helplessness, impotency, and dependency, because the dissolving of the boundaries of the
ego is brought about when the ocean of the collective unconscious (p. 290) floods
them.
Hillman (1993) described the psychological experience ofsolutio as flood[ing]
the solid, fixed aspects of the matter or issue with emotions until it is . . . permeated . . .
so thoroughly that it loses all definition and distinction. Everything becomes an equalized
homogeneity (p. 252). For Hillman this flood of emotion brings consistency, sameness
and a homogenous emotional world that is self-same all through, no compartments, no
divisions, no internal oppositions (p. 252). In the emotional world of the solutio there
are no distinctions, degrees of valuations (p. 252), or differentiations. For Hillman, the
facility of discrimination itself dissolves in thesolutio.
Models of the Stages of Psychotherapy
To compare the stages and operations of alchemy to those of psychotherapy, it is
necessary to use a model of the stages and operations of psychotherapy. Psychotherapist
John Rowan (2001), in his discussion of alchemy in psychotherapy, has used two
different models of psychotherapeutic stages for comparison: one developed by feminist
counselor Jocelyn Chaplin (1988) and one developed by clinical psychologist and
professor Emeritus of Human Sciences Augustine Meier and clinical psychologist
Micheline Boivin (2000). While conducting my own comparison, I found the Stages of
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Change model developed by professors of psychology James Prochaska, Carlo
DiClemente, and John Norcross (1992) to be useful, as it included stages not included in
the other two models.
Meier and Boivins Seven-Phase model. Augustine Meier and Micheline Boivin
(2000) derived a model of the stages of psychotherapy from a qualitative analysis of the
case notes from over 20 clients who were seen in either short-term or long-term
psychotherapy and presented with issues such as depression, anxiety disorders, and some
forms of personality disorders. They began work on their model in 1983, and various
investigations since have provided substantial data that indicate their model is a reliable
and valid research instrument. Their analysis derived seven phases or stages in the
psychotherapy process:
1. Problem definition: The client presents and discloses personal and/or
interpersonal difficulties, concerns, feelings, etc. . . . [and] psychotherapy
goals are established (p. 60).
2. Exploration: The client, with the help of the therapist, uncovers the dynamics
of the problem in terms of its etiology and maintenance with reference to
affective, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral constituents (p. 60).
3. Awareness/insight: The client has a better understanding of how unexpressed
feelings, inappropriate cognitions, unfulfilled needs and wants, and lost
meanings are related to the present problem (p. 60).
4. Commitment/decision: The client implicitly or explicitly expresses a
determination to change behaviors, manner of relating, perspectives, and
assumes responsibility for the direction of his/her life (p. 60).
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5. Experimentation/action: The client responds, relates, feels, behaves, and
thinks in new and different ways in accordance with the new perspective
(p. 60).
6. Integration/consolidation: The client makes his/her own and solidifies those
new actions, feelings, perceptions, etc. which are consistent with her/his new
sense of self (p. 60).
7. Termination: The client, having achieved the counseling goals, prepares to
live without the support of therapy sessions (p. 60).
Meier and Boivin saw these seven phases as representing a progressive forward
movement toward achieving greater selfhood.
Chaplins feminist model. Based on her many years of counseling experience,
feminist counselor Jocelyn Chaplin (1988) developed a seven-phase model of the
counseling cycle:
1. Getting started and building trust: providing unconditional acceptance of the
client, letting the client be, and providing a safe environment that holds and
contains the client.
2. Identifying themes, separating out the Opposites: identifying patterns in the
clients behavior and thinking (p. 44), and once the themes are identified,
exploring them to identify the major opposites within the themes and patterns
of opposing behaviors related to the themes.
3. Exploring the past, understanding the opposites and inner hierarchies:
looking for the causes of [the clients] present-day splits and problems in the
distant or recent past (p. 56).
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4. Dissolving the inner hierarchies and facing ambivalence, accepting the
opposites: dissolving the hierarchical relationship of superior and inferior
while keeping a clear awareness and appreciation of the differences between
the opposite sides (p. 71) by accepting those rejected opposites as part of
ourselves (p. 71) and owning the parts projected on to others.
5. Making changes, living with the opposites: the client expressing the newly
accepted parts (p. 87) of himself or herself and learning to incorporate them
into . . . everyday life (p. 87).
6. Assertiveness training, expressing the opposites: the therapist working with
the client on a way of communicating his or her needs clearly to others and
asking for some concrete change that may then be negotiated (p. 98).
7. Endings and new beginnings: Dealing with the parting of the counselor and
client, facing the losses involved in the termination of the therapeutic
relationship, and accepting the gains made up to that point.
Although Chaplin presented these phases in a linear order, she found that clients rarely
move in straight progression through each phase and that different elements of each
phase may recur in later phases (p. 1).
Prochaska, DiClemente, and Norcrosss Stages of Change model. In 1982,
professors of psychology James Prochaska, Carlo DiClemente, and John Norcross (1992)
conducted research with smokers attempting to quit smoking on their own and in
professional treatment. In the smokers process of quitting, they identified phases that
have since been refined and expanded into the Stages of Change model, which includes
five stages: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. The
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first stage, precontemplation, is characterized by no intention to change behavior in the
foreseeable future (p. 1103). The second stage, contemplation, occurs when people are
aware that a problem exists and are seriously thinking about overcoming it but have not
yet made a commitment to take action (p. 1103). To qualify for the contemplation stage,
one is considering taking action within the next 6 months. In the third stage, preparation,
individuals are intending to take action in the next month and have unsuccessfully take
action in the past year (p. 1104). The fourth stage, action, occurs when individuals
modify their behavior, experiences, or environment in order to overcome their
problems (p. 1104). In the fifth and final stage, maintenance, individuals work to
prevent relapse and consolidate the gains attained during action (p. 1104). The transition
from action to maintenance occurs after more than 6 months of the continued use of the
new behaviors begun in the Action stage. Prochaska et al. further discovered that during
each of these stages different processes and styles of therapy tend to be more effective.
Prochaska et al. (1992) originally conceived of the process of change as a linear
progression through each of the stages in order. In practice, however, they discovered that
linear progression is rare and that a spiral pattern is more typical. In the spiral pattern, an
individual in the maintenance stage relapses; returns to either the precontemplation,
contemplation, or preparation stages of the process; and begins working anew from that
stage. They found that with each cycle through the stages of change, the individual
potentially learns from the process, trying new approaches and behaviors and enabling a
progressive spiral motion instead of endlessly repeating the same circles.
Correlating Alchemy With Psychotherapy
Independent consultant John Rowan (2001) synthesized two models of the stages
of psychotherapy with the stages and operations of alchemy (see Table 1). He combined
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Meier and Boivins (2000) Seven-Phase Model, Chaplins (1988) Feminist Model, and
descriptions of the alchemical stages and operations from Edinger (1985), Greene (1988),
and Andrew Samuels (1989) to create an 11-phase model of therapy as an alchemical
process.
Table 1
Synthesis of Models of Psychotherapy and Stages and Operations of Alchemy.
Rowans 11
Phases ofPsychotherapy
Stages from Meier and
Boivins seven-phase
model ofpsychotherapy
Stages of
Chaplins feminist
model ofpsychotherapy
Alchemical stagesand operations
Phase 1 Problem Definition Getting started
and building trust
Materia prima
and nigredo
Phase 2 Exploration Identifyingthemes
Fermentatio
Phase 3 Exploration Exploring the past Separatio
Phase 4 Awareness/Insight Dissolving the
inner hierarchies
Calcinatio
Phase 5 Commitment/Decision Making changes Albedo
Phase 6 Experimentation/actionand integration/
consolidation
Expressing theopposites
Conjunctio
Phase 7 Termination Endings and newbeginnings
Mortificatio and asecond nigredo
Phase 8 Problem definition Identifying
themes
Solutio
Phase 9 Exploration Coagulatio
Phase 10 Sublimatio
Phase 11 Rubedo
Note. Table created by author based on Therapy as an alchemical process, by J. Rowan,
2001, International Journal of Psychology, 6(3), 273-288.
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Regarding phase one, Rowan (2001) found that the materia prima represents the
set of symptoms that drives the client to therapy, such as being beset by affects,
compulsions, irrational eruptions of any kind (p. 275). He also found that descriptions of
the nigredo stagesuch asfrustration, bewilderment, disintegration, chaos, uncertainty,
and things getting worse before they get betterfit this first phase of the therapy process.
He said that in the second phase, the mingling of personalities that takes place in the
transference and countertransference (p. 277) and the meeting of the clients conscious
and unconscious is equivalent to the brewing and mingling offermentatio that produces a
new substance.
Rowan (2001) described the third phase of psychotherapy as involving
exploration of internal conflicts, discoveries about the nonunified nature of the psyche,
and efforts to separate the unconscious from the conscious. He compared this phase to the
alchemical operation ofseparatio. He connected the fourth phase of psychotherapy with
the alchemical operation ofcalcinatio, because he found that the discomfort the client
feels dealing with the conflicting feelings about themselves and the therapist that occur
during this phase fit the uncomfortably hot, burning nature ofcalcinatio. He further
found that a notable reduction in the original presenting symptoms occurs as some of the
Prima Materia has been consumed in the flames (p. 281).
Rowan (2001) identified the fifth phase of the process of therapy with the
alchemical stage ofalbedo. In this phase of realization, real change has taken place
(p. 281) and the therapy begins to have effects in the outside world. He likened the sixth
phase of psychotherapy to the alchemical operation ofconjunctio because he found that
the alchemical union of opposites that occurs in conjunctio was a good description of the
phase in therapy that is about relating to real people in the real world in a more adequate
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way (p. 283) and connecting with other people in a more whole-hearted fashion
(p. 282).
Rowan (2001) stated that the seventh phase of therapy connects with the
alchemical operation ofmortificatio and a second nigredo stage. He related the loss
experienced at the end of therapeutic relationship to the alchemical operation related to
death, the mortificatio; however, he also found that if one continues therapy at this point
rather that terminating it, a second dark, painful, frustrating, and rageful negredo-like
phase occurs whereby the mortificatio represents a further digesting and processing of the
material that previously emerged in therapy.
Rowan (2001) connected the eighth phase of therapy with the alchemical
operation ofsolutio. He found that watery, dissolving nature ofsolutio fit this phases
deeper explorations into more long-standing problems, which evokes powerful feelings
that threaten to overwhelm the rational ego. Rowan said that in the ninth phase of
therapy, which he characterized asstruggles, the breakdown of existing material caused
by the previous phase leads to new insights and connections that create new patterns of
behavior and found this creation of new patterns similar to the concrete manifesting
nature ofcoagulatio.
Rowan (2001) related the 10th phase, which involves breakthrough, solely to the
alchemical operation ofsublimatio. In this phase, he claimed, one faces ones very worst
fears and most intolerable pain in the process of transformation from a negative image of
ones insides to a positive image, which can be a new self-center. Through this process of
purification, he said, one dies and is reborn.
The 11th
phase of therapy Rowan (2001) identified as integration and connected it
with the alchemical stage ofrubedo. This phase, he said, involves movement from
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frustrated desire for an external object to the transformation of that desire into an
internalized image which contains meaning, purpose, and regenerative capacities
(p. 286). In this phase, one achieves something genuinely new and finds spiritual
fulfillment.
Rowans (2010 model of therapy as an alchemical process includes everything
that may happen during a course of therapy, and he stipulated that the stages he
delineated can be skipped, ignored, or reversed. In addition to finding analogies between
the processes of alchemy and the processes of psychotherapy, one can also find analogies
between the inclusion of the body in psychotherapy and the inclusion of the body in
alchemy.
The Body in Psychotherapy
Transformation, to be genuine and thorough, always affects the body.
Hillman, 1997b, p. 71
One of the founding patients of psychoanalysis, Anna O., referred to
psychotherapy as the talking cure (as cited in Freud, 1895/1995, p. 69). A recent survey
of 11 case approaches to psychotherapy by psychologist Gerald Corey (2005)
demonstrated that talking is still a primary methodology of therapy; however, some
psychologists and analysts have explored the role the body can have in the practice of
psychotherapy.
Gendlins focusing. Professor and psychotherapist Eugene Gendlin (1978)
conducted research at the University of Chicago in the early 1960s exploring why
psychotherapy was helpful for some people but not for others. Studying tapes of therapy
sessions, he found no significant difference in therapist behavior between successful and
unsuccessful therapy; however, he did notice a difference in client behavior: early in the
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recorded sessions of clients whose therapy was successful, the clients displayed an
internal skill through the way they talked during the session. Gendlin discovered that this
skill was a special kind of internal bodily awareness which he called a felt sense
(p. 11). He further discovered that this felt sense could be taught, and he called the
process of making contact with this felt sensefocusing.
Gendlin (1978) stressed that focusing is not an emotional, intellectual, or
analytical process. He believed that only your body knows what your problems feel like
and where their cruxes lie (p. 12) and that through the process of focusing, the body
provides its own answers to many of your problems (p. 11). Besides improving the
success rate of psychotherapy, Gendlin found that the focusing process brings change in
peoples liveschange that could not easily have happened in any other way (p. 11).
Woodmans conscious femininity. In Jungian analyst Marion Woodmans
(1985) practice, body awareness became an important focus because of her experience of
analysands who, despite an appropriate ego attitude and an earnest commitment to their
dreams and to their own growth (p. 55), were unable to make progress. While the ego
was willing to adopt a new attitude, something else was holding them back. Woodman
found that, at some point in these clients pasts, their bodies had been traumatized,
creating a split between body and psyche. The psychotherapeutic techniques that reached
their egos, such as confrontation and challenge, did not reach their bodies; instead, she
found that the more quickly the ego moves ahead, the more terrorized the body
becomes (p. 55) and that if the body does not let go of the conflict created through
years of habitual tension, half the problem is not solved and the former distorted pattern
is quick to reestablish itself (p. 63).
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Woodman (1985) focused on body work to help her clients integrate their bodies
and psyches. She used a wide variety of techniques including deep relaxation, bringing
conscious awareness to the body, breathing exercises, movement, and use of the voice.
This work triggered powerful dreams, freed up blocked psychic energy, relaxed rigid
personalities, and enabled shifts in habitual patterns. Her clients also discovered that the
body has a wisdom of its own (p. 60) and that it could provide a foundation of
confidence and support for the ego.
Mindells Dreambody. By following an interest in the interaction of psyche and
matter, Jungian analyst Arnold Mindell (1982) developed a new theory a
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