Nowadays, alchemy is still seen as the precursor of chemistry. The alchemists which called themselves Philosophers, the lovers of wisdom, are represented as half crazy men who searched to transform lead into gold or to achieve immortality. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
When we read alchemical grimoires with an open mind, it is impossible to adhere to the argument that the alchemists were chemists. What is more probable is that they taught a secret knowledge to those who knew what they talking about. One of the proofs supporting that hypothesis is that the secret prime matter, the ore is in you. Here are some quotes that underline that observation.
“This thing is extracted from thee, for thou art its ore; in thee they find it, and, to speak more plainly, from thee they take it; and when thou hast experienced this, the love and desire for it will be increased in thee. And thou shalt know that this thing subsists truly and beyond all doubt” (Art. aurif., II, p. 37).
“This stone is something which is fixed more in thee [than elsewhere], created of God, and thou art its ore, and it is extracted from thee, and wheresoever thou art it remains inseparably with thee. … And as man is made up of four elements, so also is the stone, and so it is [dug] out of man, and thou art its ore, namely by working; and from thee it is extracted, that is by division; and in thee it remains inseparably, namely by knowledge. [To express it] otherwise, fixed in thee: namely in the Mercurius of the wise; thou art its ore: that is, it is enclosed in thee and thou holdest it secretly; and from thee it is extracted when it is reduced [to its essence] by thee and dissolved; for without thee it cannot be fulfilled, and without it canst thou not live, and so the end looks to the beginning, and contrariwise.” Art. aurif., I, pp. 311f
The Four Elements of the Stone
What C. G. Jung found in alchemy is that those four elements were at the same time the building blocks of matter and the four cognitive functions or the four orientation of consciousness. Those four elements, air, earth, fire and water, have been part of astrology for many centuries and they represents four types of personalities and four ways to interact with the world. Jung, who was a serious adept of astrology, renamed them as the four cognitive functions and made them central to his psychology.
It is no coincidence that Jung presented his analytical psychology in his 1921 book Psychological Types. Contrary to what jungian interpreters usually write, Jung's psychology is rooted in the development of the four cognitive functions and that is what he found in alchemy and gnosticism. The slaying of the dragon, a regular alchemical feature, is the taming and development of the four cognitive functions. The Dragon flies into the air, walks on the ground, goes into the sea and spits fire. As such, it represents the four elements of consciousness, mercurius, the prima materia and the stone.
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To learn more, please refer to my book
The KEY to Understand C. G. Jung,
available HERE on AMAZON.