The secret of alchemy reside in the development of consciousness.
The four elements are the foundation of alchemy. In the illustration above, they constitute the four corners:
- Fire in upper left
- Air in upper right
- Earth in down left
- Water in down right
Those elements represents two pairs of opposites: fire and water, air and earth. Together they are the Jungian complexio oppositorum, the combination of opposites. From those four elements, the Greeks elaborated four temperaments:
- Melancholic is earth
- Phelgmatic is water
- Sangine is air
- Choleric is fire
As temperaments are ways of interacting with the environment based on consciousness, Carl Jung used the four temperaments and renamed them as the four cognitive functions or the four orientations of consciousness. Those are Sensation, Intuition, Feeling and Thinking. Therefore, we get the following correspondences
Earth = melancholic = sensation
Air = sangine = intuition
Water = phlegmatic = feeling
Fire = choleric = thinking
The adequation between the elements and the cognitive functions show us the secret of alchemy: the development of consciousness. The axiom of Maria, the Jewess, an alchemist from the fourth century is clear about that goal:
One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth.
We know from Jung and his followers that man only uses most of the time his dominant function and to a lesser degree, his auxiliary function. The latter being less developed than the the dominant function. The other two functions stay undifferentiated. When they reach consciousness, they are somewhat childish and deficient.
The goal of alchemy is also transparent when we come across the alchemical pelican. Carl Jung gave a good description of the philosopher's pelican in his book Mysterium Conjunctionis:
In the scholia to the “Tractatus aureus Hermetis” there is a quaternio consisting of superius / inferius, exterius / interius. They are united into one thing by means of the circular distillation, named the Pelican: “Let all be one in one circle or vessel.” “For this vessel is the true philosophical Pelican, nor is any other to be sought after in all the world.” The text gives the following diagram:
B C D E represent the outside, A is the inside, “as it were the origin and source from which the other letters flow, and likewise the final goal to which they flow back,” F G stands for Above and Below. “Together the letters A B C D E F G clearly signify the hidden magical Septenary.” The central point A, the origin and goal, the “Ocean or great sea,” is also called a circulus exiguus, very small circle, and a “mediator making peace between the enemies or elements, that they may love one another in a meet embrace.” This little inner circle corresponds to the Mercurial Fountain in the Rosarium, which I have described in my “Psychology of the Transference.” (CW 14-1, par. 8-9)
The letter A represents the philosopher but also the origin and the goal of the alchemical process. It is the prima materia and the stone, the end product. It is the mercurial fountain as mercury is always a symbol of consciousness in alchemy. As such, letter A symbolises consciousness. The secret of alchemy is the work on consciousness. We begin with a flawed consciousness of one cognitive function and we develop three other functions in order to reach the optimal consciousness. In the following image, the philosopher has one serpent in his right hand and three serpents in his left hand. He shows the goal of alchemy as he has mastered his four cognitive functions, his four elements of consciousness. It is the Perfectio Operis, the perfect operation or work mentioned at the head of the image.
In the pelican, the letters B C D E are the four cognitive functions or the four elements of consciousness. They are the complexio oppositorum, the combination of two pairs of opposites. When the philosopher has succeeded in expanding his consciousness in the four directions, the circle becomes larger. Consciousness is optimal.
The letters F and G represent spirit and matter or above and below. They are usually shown by the sun and the moon or the king and the queen in alchemical illustrations. They become important at the end of the process.
It will be the subject of another post.