In his alchemical studies, C. G. Jung wrote an essay titled The Spirit Mercurius which is the key to understand his concept of the Self and consequently the individuation process.
The essay comes from two lectures Jung gave at the Eranos Conference in 1942. Jung describes the alchemical symbol of mercurius which is obviously different from the metal mercury. At the end of the essay, Jung states that mercurius is an equivalent to his concept of the Self and all the characteristics he uses to describe mercurius are therefore also those of the Self. Those characteristics are
1- Mercurius is duplex which means that it has two natures. It is the twin made of two substances. We must understand here that the natures are conscious and unconscious.
2- Mercurius is composed of the four elements: Air, Fire, Earth and Water which means that mercurius contains the four cognitive functions. In other posts, I have explained that Jung’s four cognitive functions are a renaming of the four elements and the four temperaments, a fact he recognizes in his book Psychological Types.
3- Mercurius is hermaphroditic which means it is composed of opposites. Jung gives examples of those opposites: masculine and feminine, husband and wife, senex-old and puer-young. Because mercurius is composed of four elements, the opposites are not consciousness and unconscious but more precisely the opposition between cognitive functions. Sensation is the opposite of Intuition and Feeling is the opposite of Thinking. Those two pairs of opposites constitute the complexio oppositorum, the combination of opposites often mentioned by Jung.
4- Mercurius is one and three. This characteristic also leads to cognitive functions where one, the dominant function is completely developed while the other three are partly or not differentiated from the unconscious.
5- Mercurius is an old man. This mention of the old man is always a reference to the state prior to the consciously performed individuation process. This old man is the cognitive identity, the dominant and auxiliary functions of the subject. This old man must be sacrificed during the process.
6- Mercurius is at the same time one and many because consciousness can be seen as a whole or through its four cognitive functions. It is the arcane (secret) substance of alchemy. At the same time, the prima materia (first matter) and the ultima materia, the goal of the alchemical process.
7- Mercurius is the stone, the tincture, the philosophical man, the goal and its process, the beginning, middle and end of the work, able of self-generation and self-transformation. All those characteristics lead to one conclusion: Mercurius is consciousness in its developed and undeveloped cognitive functions. When seen as the process, it is the sacrifice of the cognitive identity in order to differentiate the cognitive functions that are left unconscious.
8- According to Gerard Dorn, Mercurius is an INCREATUM, a given nature which half is undeveloped. As such, Mercurius is imprisoned in the body, confined and hidden. The secret is to free the part of Mercurius that has been banished by the ego.
9- Mercurius is the green lion and the red lion. The green lion is always a representation of the unripe consciousness that has only one perception function (either Sensation or Intuition) and one judgment function (either Thinking or Feeling). The Red Lion bears the color of royalty and is therefore a representation of the subject that has developed his four cognitive functions.
10- The PRINCIPIUM INDIVIDUATIONIS is the way to free the hidden part of Mercurius. Lead is changed into gold by this principle. Mercurius is LUMEN NATURAE, the inborn natural light that needs to be perfected.
Here you have the key to alchemy and to all JUNGIAN writings.
C. G. Jung never stopped talking about the development of cognitive functions from 1921 to his death. Jungian commentators are unable to understand that simple fact.
©Benoit Rousseau
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To learn more, please refer to my book
The KEY to Understand C. G. Jung,