Page 6 - A critical exposition of Jung's theory of alchemy

knew almost nothing about Chinese alchemy particularly of the internal
variety. Now many of the internal processes are relatively clear and
public, making Jung’s interpretations of the Secret of the Golden Flower
considerably more dubious than they once appeared. We still know
relatively little about Indian and Islamic alchemy, though perhaps not as
little as we once did. But there are still huge numbers of areas in which
more work needs to be done.

Problems with history of alchemy.

There are three main problems facing anyone who engages with the
history of Alchemy.
1) Alchemists often wrote anonymously, or pseudonymously, so it is
often hard to date texts or to guess their provenance.
2) It is not clear what many alchemists were writing about. As the
alchemist Geber (who was probably a 13th Century Italian pretending to
be a 8th Century Arabian who may also not have existed but been a
pseudonym for a group of writers) wrote: “Whenever I have seemed to
speak most clearly and openly about our science, I have in reality
expressed myself most obscurely and have hidden the object of my
discourse”. Often alchemical texts make sense up to a point and then
seem to depart into luxuriant imagery.
3) With all occult sciences, the ‘real history’ is obscured by invented
traditions, or by intuitions repeated as fact. While these tales may carry
some kind of allegorical spiritual truth or some psychological interest,
they do not correspond to events that can be discovered in a normal way.
It is always vital to check and recheck your sources.

There are also two common errors about Alchemy:

1) Alchemists were persecuted by the Church. There is little evidence
for this, despite the fact that many alchemists imply heretical theologies.
The Church did issue one bull against forging coins through alchemy,
and frequently monks were instructed to get on with their monkish
business rather than pursuing alchemy, but I know of no case in which
anyone prior to the 17th century was in trouble with the church solely for
the practice of alchemy. Alchemists were far more likely to have
problems with secular authorities who might go so far as to kidnap
people and set them to work on improving the treasury. In Britain,
alchemy was perfectly legal with a license from the King. Whatever

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