ABSTRACT
Jung maintained that the processes, aims and goals of alchemy were the result of the projections of unconscious processes and unconscious strivings. For the alchemist, the central feature of the alchemical process was the coniunctio, a progressive and cumulative coming together of opposites to achieve the goal of ‘the production of gold or a symbolical equivalent of it’ (Jung, 1955/56: para. 644); the fifth element, the quintessence or spirit of matter. This chapter explores the procedures and goals of alchemy in relation to psychological processes. It goes on to consider the symbol of the quintessence and what this might mean symbolically and psychologically, in terms of representing the emergent fifth, the truth, a dynamic of the collective unconscious and a sense of wholeness.
References Jung, C.G. (1955/56)