Hi Mats,
I've spent a great deal of time studying and thinking about the Rosarium, and although it is nearly pointless to suggest that there are "correct" or perhaps even "superior" interpretations of its symbolic emblem sequence, I think there is some value in sharing a few of my thoughts (some of which differ from yours and also from Jung's). Although Jung's scholarly knowledge of alchemy was very robust (far surpassing my own, for instance), I think he made some important interpretive errors in his efforts to psychologize alchemy. I would locate the crux of this problem with Jung's individuation model. I agree with Jung that there is a deep parallel between his individuation model and the alchemical opus. But what Jung didn't seem to fully grasp (perhaps because he wanted to see alchemy as unconscious projection or not consciously realized) is that the the richest and most complex renderings of the magnum opus (as in the Rosarium sequence) are more sophisticated and complete than his individuation model. Perhaps extensively so. Therefore, when Jung psychologizes alchemy, he only grasps as much as his own individuation model allows him to. He does not, for instance, base or even revise his individuation model on the alchemical opus. He sees the parallel and assumes that individuation is the "archetype" with alchemy a pre-psychological manifestation of it (an archetypal image of the individuation process).
Most Jungians (oddly enough) don't read alchemical texts; they just take Jung's writings (and the writings of von Franz, Edinger, and others) on faith. As nearly impenetrable as some of these writings are, this is a regrettable error. And it is odd because Jungians have traditionally been inclined to investigate other original texts that meant a lot to Jung . . . say, the I Ching or numerous cultural myths and folktales or other occult and mystical texts (Gnostic gospels, Kabbalism, etc.). I never bothered to read alchemical texts until I rejoined my Jungian roots about five or six years ago. Getting alchemy from the horse's mouth can allow us to form a somewhat different picture than Jung did. In any case, I believe you were at one point involved in Adam McLean's alchemy group, so I suppose I'm preaching to the choir.
One of the greatest and most costly errors in Jung's psychologization of the magnum opus is the conflation between "chaos" or
massa confusa or (psychologically) "undifferentiated consciousness" and the alchemical
prima materia and Nigredo. In most of Jung's renderings, the alchemical process begins with "undifferentiated" prima materia or may even begin in a "Nigredo" of depression, anxiety, and confused collapse of the ego. But it is much more traditional in actual alchemical writing to locate the Nigredo after the Solutio/Coniunctio. The Coniunctio is the process by which the prima materia is derived, and this prima materia is a "black, blacker than black".
Prima materia/Nigredo is not some common depression or mental breakdown that Jung's patients might have experienced before they came to him for analysis. Rather, it is the first manifestation of the Lapis (the black stage of the black, white, red progression). Therefore, the derivation of the prima materia is a Great Work in itself.
What we see here is an error of psychologization on Jung's part. His familiarity with depression and ego-dissolution seemed to eclipse his ability to read the actual alchemical texts that portray the derivation of the prima materia as perhaps the single most important (and most difficult) task of the opus. If the prima materia is not properly derived, the opus (what is in the vessel) must be scrapped, and the alchemist must start from the very beginning. A couple years back I started a topic in this forum that establishes this argument:
The Alchemical Nigredo.
Another component of this psychologization error of Jung's is the conflation of the Coniunctio with a transcendent "hieros gamos". But in alchemy proper, Coniunctio is death and utter destruction that derives the blackness of the prima materia. In Jungian thought, Coniunctio and the later stages representing the white and red stones or elixirs (depicted by the hermaphrodites in the Rosarium sequence, emblems 10 and 17) are muddled together (and all because of Jung's exaltation of the
hieros gamos, perhaps assisted by his post-heart attack vision of the marriage of Tifereth with Malchuth).
I see in Jung's psychologization a kind of unresolved inflation that ultimately undoes the kind of mystical work alchemy attempts to describe. Jung was quite aware of this inflation, but had a very inadequate (and "un-Jungian") approach to dealing with it (an approach he unfortunately prescribe for everyone). He felt that inflation had to be "heroically" beaten back and down by the strong ego. The "weak" ego, would fall into inflation and suffer its delusions. He himself practiced what he preached, I believe (especially after reading the Red Book), but this practice led to a kind of dissociation which prevented Jung from understanding the alchemical opus in its entirety and ultimately stunted, even invalidated his individuation model (even as the data he constructed his model from were all quite valid and patterned or interrelated as he generally intuited). I believe this inflation has persisted in the Jungian model of individuation and the Jungian approach to the psyche. I see it as part of a "Jungian disease" or cultural complex. One aspect of this complex in the Jungian usage of alchemy is the tendency to equate the alchemical opus with a form of spiritual attainment or enlightenment. That is, to place romantic and transcendent goals of ego "deification" upon alchemical symbols and stages.
But wherever there is inflation in Jungian thought and behavior, we can reliably predict that a "heroic" compensation will also be hunkered down battling it. In this case, where transcendent, inflated goals are associated with alchemical stages, there is always the declaration that these attainments are either impossible or purely figurative. The inflation is defused in this way, or at least that's the intention. But I think what is really happening is that the unprocessed inflation is preventing the (individuation) process from progressing, and this observed lack of progression is rationalized in Jungian thought by making these stages "unattainable" or purely symbolic. The underlying problem is the Jungian notion of the Self as a unification of ego and unconscious, as a kind of Christ figure or godman. Where Jung wrote of the Self in this manner, the Self fails to be a true Other to the ego. The ego thus "attains" a kind of "Selfhood". But of course, wherever Jung begins to paint such a picture, he quickly counters with a defusing of the manifesting inflation. But at least Jung struggled mightily with this. Most Jungians take this sort of thing on faith, and never face the inflation of the Jungian disease at all.
But instead of a "state of egoic being or attainment", I think the rather grand hermaphrodite emblems in the Rosarium sequence (10 and 17) can be seen less inflatedly as complex attitudes toward the Self-as-Other and even toward Otherness in general. One of the problems in Jung's psychologization is the association of alchemical Gold with "consciousness", a thing which Jung placed enormous value on. But I would argue that the Gold in alchemy represents not "consciousness", but
valuation. That is, the assignment of value to something not-I. That assignment requires consciousness, yes, but valuation is not equivalent to consciousness. If we shunt our Jungianism aside a bit and try to see the magnum opus of alchemy as a complex process of valuation rather than "consciousness-raising" or enlightenment, we can depotentiate the inflation of the Jungian disease much more sustainably. The symbolic process of transmuting base metals into gold (or more accurately, Philosophical Gold) through the use of a "Projection" of the Philosopher's Stone is a process of assigning value to what has "fallen" or appears base. This "fallen" thing is most commonly associated with Earth, matter or "Body" in alchemy. Alchemy is a process of re-valuating Earth/matter/Body (or in slightly more modern terminology, instinct). The art that perfects nature is the valuative art, and the creation of the Philosopher's Stone is the creation of the valuative attitude, which is eternally self-sustaining once established (i.e., it's like "riding a bike", becomes a kind of "muscle memory").
In Rosarium emblem 17, "The Demonstration of Perfection" (where in alchemy-speak, "perfection" is what the Art does to redeem and celebrate Nature and is equivalent to what I mean by valuation) displays the core components of the valuating attitude (or Philosopher's Stone capable of transmuting base metals into Philosophical Gold). As the concluding emblem from the "second opus" of the Rosarium sequence (the final three are, I feel, best understood as the sustainable attitudes needed to do the Work, but not part of the sequential process, per se), this emblem portrays the Red Stone/Elixir and must be contrasted with emblem 10, which depicts the White Stone/Elixir, in order for us to adequately understand its symbolism and why the alchemists saw this as a later stage of the Work. Below on the left is emblem 10; on the right is emblem 17. I will only go into what I feel are the most important differentiations instead of doing a complete analysis.
Areas of similarity:
Winged HermaphroditeCup of three serpents on left/one "un-cupped" serpent on rightTree on left/lower groundBird on right/higher groundStanding on pedestalAreas of contrast:
Kind of Wings: The "first opus" concludes with angel or dove wings, denoting a "spiritual" movement, or a movement driven by and ultimately exalting "spirit". The "second opus" concludes with dragon or bat wings, denoting a chthonic movement, or a movement driven by and ultimately exalting "instinct" or "Nature".
Nature of Pedestal: complimenting the progression from "spirit" to "instinct" (or more precisely, the relocation of "spirit" or intelligent agency from the spiritual or divine to to earthly or Nature, sometimes described as the reinfusing of extracted spirit into Nature/matter), is the change in pedestal. The crescent moon pedestal in emblem 10 floats off the ground. The three-headed serpent in emblem 17
is the ground (is not only "earthly" and grounded, but is a part of the Earth mound itself). The self-devouring chthonic trinity in emblem 17 can be interpreted in numerous ways. One way that I find most useful and appropriate would be seeing this symbol as a symbol of sustainability. It eats itself but also regenerates itself. It's cyclical, self-sustaining Nature, a soil that devours the life it gave birth to, only to give birth and consume again and again. The alchemist at this stage founds his or her attitude on this chthonic, instinctual energy of the body/Earth. The alchemist of emblem 10 founds him or herself upon the transcendent, spiritual valuation of "Luna", the daughter of the Philosophers, an extraction of spirit from "base" matter.
Jung wrote an interesting essay ("On the Nature of the Psyche," CW 8 ) dealing with the relationship of spirit and instinct that gets at this very issue, but ultimately fails to fully understand that spirit is not an opposite polarity from instinct, but actually a more "anthropomorphic" or egoic interpretation of valuated instinct. It is easier for us to value the complexity and agency of instinct when we call it spirit or God than it is when we locate that instinct in the earthly or animal. But in order to valuate the Other (i.e., the Self-as-Other), we must continue to make essential differentiations between self and Other, between ego and Self. The instinctual aspect of the Self is not "spiritual" or "intelligent" in the way we think a mind can be. Instead of anthropomorphic intelligence, there is complexity, a natural condition from which intelligence can emerge (as in humans). To know the Self objectively (a thing conditioned by the drive to valuate the Self) is to see through "spirit", which is tainted with ego and therefore not entirely Other.
Clothing: The naked lunar hermaphrodite has been stripped bare of previous egoic associations and assumptions. Spirit extracted from matter is divested of its previous material clothing. But in emblem 17, the hermaphrodite is clothed in the colors of the Work (red and white). Naked, "sublimed" spirit is re-infused into a new material gown.
Kind of Fruit on the "Tree": The moon and sun trees bear 13 fruits each (as 1+3, where the singular fruit sits atop two columns of six fruits each). This can be seen as the "fertility" of the work, perhaps the products of the valuative act of "projection". What grows is what we valuate, and the alchemist of the White Stone valuates the Other as spirit, while the alchemist of the Red Stone valuates the Other as more "instinctual" (where the sun fruit is associated with the purified Philosophical Sulfur, associated with agency or volition; perfected, this would equate to something like natural self-organization or "energy" or libido/life force . . . which is not seen as wholly spiritual, but also as natural). The Red Tincture (which we can see as the blood dripping from the serpents' bites and also from the pelican's breast) is the Sulfuric coloration of "spiritual libido" with natural/earthly drive and organization.
At least as important as what is growing on these trees is their relative location to the birds on the right. As the birds on the right are elevated over the trees on the left, we could interpret this to mean that the bird symbols are meant to be exalted more or given a greater importance or valuation in the complex attitude being represented.
Kind of Bird: The crow or raven in emblem 10 is a symbol of the Raven's Head or Nigredo, the blackened
prima materia that is the first manifestation of the Stone. So even as the White/Lunar stone has derived its color through the Albedo process, what is exalted in this attitude is the Blackening, the derivation of the
prima materia, the essential accomplishment on which the entire opus is founded.
The pelican in emblem 17 is feeding its nestlings with blood from its own breast. It is a kind of Christ-like self-sacrifice, but also a motherly act. What we valuate, we feed with blood from our own breast. This may have a sacrificial quality to it, but the act is ultimately self-sustaining (and we can see the parallelism between this image and the three-headed, self-devouring earth serpent. The pelican here (also a symbol for the alchemical vessel) bases its reciprocating, sustainable valuation on the natural process of cyclical, dynamic life force that drives all life in Nature. But whereas the sustainable natural life force drives and founds the overall attitude (under the feet of the hermaphrodite), in the exalted form of the pelican, it is practiced consciously toward others. The valuator "contains" the other in a vessel of dynamic valuation, enables the other to grow and become.
The form of conscious valuation in emblem 10 is that which distills everything to its essence (
prima materia) so that it can begin to "be born". So, it is as if, in emblem 10, I am seeing "you" as one who can be born. I'm allowing you to "be" what you can be. But in emblem 17, I am nurturing and feeding "you" with my valuation. And that nurturing feeds the body/instinct as well as the spirit.
Addition of Lion in #17: The lion in emblem 17 is the major incongruity. The lion is often a symbol of animal/instinctual life force in alchemy, but it is a life force that can devour or dissolve. Therefore, it is also associated with the acid that dissolves metal into prima materia. That dissolution not only breaks down, but it binds together in
solutio that which has been differentiated. So the "instinct" behind the lion is sexual in a way. Dissolution is desirous, erotic union. As the lion is lying down and placed behind the hermaphrodite, we can assume that the erotic/dissolving animal drive that originally catalyzed the process is now "behind" it. In a sense, the "ferocity" of the lion has been subdued or depotentiated, but it may be more accurate to say that it has become effectively utilized and organized in the complex system of the attitude emblem 17 depicts. Everything in the pantheon of images we see in emblem 17 acts as an organ in the dynamic, self-sustaining system of the valuative attitude.
I have now enhanced the article as I believe it has great relevance to alchemy. The hermaphrodite in alchemy is reinterpreted in terms of the "complementarian self". It differs from Jung's understanding of the end goal of alchemy as the realization of the conjunct conscious and unconscious — the integrated self. Instead the hermaphrodite, or the 'lapis philosophorum', is the result of a largely autonomous process that occurs relatively independent of the ego. If this is correct, the ego need not undergo the radical transformations that Jung portrays, involving a psychological crisis, or severe depression. The renovated self, as such, as the wonder-working 'lapis', will influence the ego, as an after-effect. This reinterpretation, however, does not refute Jung's view of alchemy, but it affects the most important aspects, namely how to view the relation with the unconscious, and the way in which the spiritual journey is accomplished.
I'm not sure I can agree with you that the alchemical Philosopher's Stone is "a largely autonomous process that occurs relatively independent of the ego". There is a powerful autonomous element to the process (the "Nature" that alchemy meant to "perfect"), but seen psychologically, it is the ego, I think, that is being reorganized . . . not
as, but
by the Work itself. That is, the ego is not the product of the Work, not equivalent to the hermaphrodite or Stone, but the ego is utterly transformed by its participation in the Work. Additionally, the ego does not intentionally and willfully "perfect nature" or consciously dictate the process of transformation within the vessel, but through its participation in the Work, the ego accesses or is "tinctured with" the valuative attitude. Something does come into consciousness . . . even though the bulk of the participation in the process involves (symbolically) keeping a steady heat burning beneath the vessel. More importantly, I don't think this development of the valuative attitude can occur without conscious effort or some kind of discipline. It isn't like a typical dream that we can have an forget about at not real loss to our well-being . . . or some other autonomous bodily process . . . digestion, heartbeat, etc..
This Work may not be entirely chosen, but it must consciously be accepted. And success with it is rare and difficult. Happy accidents are not enough, because the Work requires massive devotion. Alchemical "vessel tending" is, I think, called a Great Work for a very good reason. It is equivalent to birthing and raising a child successfully ("well-enough") or creating a work of art that serves as a kind of conduit through which the artists Self is conveyed. Like Walt Whitman's
Leaves of Grass or Ralph Ellison's
Invisible Man (to name a couple American Great Works that seem to qualify).
If we take away the "radical transformation of the ego", we are essentially removing the aspect of archetypal initiation, that is, the "mysticism" that underlies both alchemy and Jung's individuation model. I have to admit that this is the aspect that interests me the most.
Best regards,
Matt