Page 36 - A critical exposition of Jung's theory of alchemy

(especially as the arcane substance - perhaps because salt water joins the
opposites of dryness and moistness), bitterness, fire, the albedo, ash, and
through the Bible with wisdom - thus again allowing symbolic
resonances which have little to do with chemistry (CW 14: 189-194,
236-46).

Similar objections to those made about the Mercury article can be
made, but it is still possible that these terms (because of their
associations with other substances and events, and because of the
distinction between the conceptual, or philosophic term, and the
common term), do carry part of a network of metaphoric associations
which we might nowadays decry as irrelevant or as an obstacle to
knowledge. However this in itself does not mean that the symbols are
universal archetypes, or that they express deep universal processes of the
psyche.

Jung’s Interpretations of Alchemical Texts

As previously mentioned Jung only rarely attempts to interpret
particular texts, preferring to interpret the whole of alchemy at once. His
earliest venture into the field attempts to interpret part of the Greek text
attributed to Zosimos as a series of dreams, while ignoring the rest of the
text that cannot be so interpreted. In the Mysterium Coniunctionis, Jung
interprets parts of Eirenaeus Philalethes, Introitus apertus…, Michael
Maier’s Symbola aureae mensae, and Abraham Eleazar’s Uraltes
Chymisches Werck. Again, he writes that alchemical texts are like
dreams: and like dreams they can be translated into rational speech. He
continues:

In order to interpret dreams we need some knowledge of the
dreamer’s personal situation, and to understand alchemical
parables we must know something about the symbolic
assumptions of the alchemists. We amplify dreams by the
personal history of the patient and the parables by the statements
found in the text... (CW 14: 160).

This sounds impressive, but in practice Jung does not actually refer
to the texts in any detail. Thus his analysis of a passage from Philalethes,
proceeds as follows. Philalethes writes “if thou knowest how to moisten
this dry earth with its own water, thou wilt loosen the pores of the
earth”. Jung explains that means that if you contemplate your lack of
fantasy, then something can come alive. Philalethes writes “and this

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