In astrology, planets are associated with the classical elements of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water, and these elements are linked to specific zodiac signs. These associations can help describe personality traits and characteristics of the individual.
Here's a breakdown of the planetary and elemental associations:
Fire: Ruled by Mars (Aries).
Earth: Ruled by Venus (Taurus).
Air: Ruled by Saturn (Aquarius).
Water: Ruled Jupiter (Pisces).
C. G. Jung knew what the four elements meant because he was an amateur astrologer. The four cognitive functions that he defined in his book Psychological Types are based on the four elements of astrology. Both are systems in which the elements and the cognitive functions are two pairs of opposites. Sensation (Earth) is opposed to Intuition (Air) and Feeling (Water) is opposed to Thinking (Fire).
On the stone Jung carved in his Bollingen retreat in 1950, he depicted the four planets with the sun and the moon. The meaning of this stone is described in my book The Key to Understand C. G. Jung available on AMAZON. Although his depiction does not show the opposition of the planets, the zig zag lines with one different from the others is a direct representation of the cognitive functions where the inferior one is the door to the unconscious.
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| Jung's Bollingen stone |
With this information, one may easily understand that the primary goal of alchemy was to develop consciousness. People generally develop only one dominant cognitive function and partially an auxiliary one. The other two are undifferentiated and they remain mainly unconscious. That means that individuals only see half of reality. The Thinker sees only the logic, the facts, the science, the theories and to him, feelings and emotions are either childish or unreliable.
In alchemy, which was a secret knowledge to develop the optimal consciousness (the precious stone) the adept has to identify the opposites functions that are undifferentiated. To develop a new one, he has to sacrifice (the pelican) a function, let's say the auxiliary one in order to direct the energy to its opposite. For instance, if one sacrifices his Thinking function, its opposite Feeling function will rise from the unconscious. This process requires months if not years to attain completion. When the four cognitive functions are developed, the philosopher's stone is attained as the optimal consciousness.
Alchemy was a secret knowledge coming from the Egyptian religion and gnosticism. It's symbolism was linked to chemistry but it was only the means to deliver the secret, the gnosis to those who were able to decipher it correctly.
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To learn more, please refer to my book
The KEY to Understand C. G. Jung,
available HERE on AMAZON.