ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some of the parallels between the imagery of fairytales and alchemy and show how Jungians have used stories to illustrate particular psychological themes. The author comments on the commercialisation of traditional stories by film makers like Walt Disney and note emerging themes in contemporary films, video games and children's literature. Fairytales and alchemy emerge from a common source, the ever-flowing stream of the imagination or collective unconscious. Fairytales and alchemy are subversive. They support the underground current of Eros or relatedness, recognizing the importance of mutual respect in relationship and dealings with the natural world what Carl Rogers called the I-Thou factor in relating. In alchemy, fairytale themes like the Search for the Beloved and the Treasure Hard to Obtain culminate in the coniunctio or sacred marriage, bringing together masculine and feminine within us. This moment of blissful connection with the transpersonal may be described as a peak experience.
