Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 16: Practice of Psychotherapy by Jung C. G. Hull R. F.C. Adler Gerhard

Author:Jung, C. G., Hull, R. F.C., Adler, Gerhard [Jung, C. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1954-02-24T05:00:00+00:00

Invenit gratiam in deserto populus.…

—JEREMIAS (VULGATE) 31 : 2

The people… found grace in the desert.…

—JEREMIAS (D.V.) 31 : 2

AN ACCOUNT OF THE TRANSFERENCE PHENOMENA BASED ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE “ROSARIUM PHILOSOPHORUM”

1

THE MERCURIAL FOUNTAIN

We are the metals’ first nature and only source/

The highest tincture of the Art is made through us.

No fountain and no water has my like/

I make both rich and poor both whole and sick.

For healthful can I be and poisonous.1

[Figure 1]

[402] This picture goes straight to the heart of alchemical symbolism, for it is an attempt to depict the mysterious basis of the opus. It is a quadratic quaternity characterized by the four stars in the four corners. These are the four elements. Above, in the centre, there is a fifth star which represents the fifth entity, the “One” derived from the four, the quinta essentia. The basin below is the vas Hermeticum, where the transformation takes place. It contains the mare nostrum, the aqua permanens or , the “divine water.” This is the mare tenebrosum, the chaos. The vessel is also called the uterus2 in which the foetus spagyricus (the homunculus) is gestated.3 This basin, in contrast to the surrounding square, is circular, because it is the matrix of the perfect form into which the square, as an imperfect form, must be changed. In the square the elements are still separate and hostile to one another and must therefore be united in the circle. The inscription on the rim of the basin bears out this intention. It runs (filling in the abbreviations): “Unus est Mercurius mineralis, Mercurius vegetabilis, Mercurius animalis.” (Vegetabilis should be translated as “living” and animalis as “animate” in the sense of having a soul, or even as “psychic.”4) On the outside of the basin there are six stars which together with Mercurius represent the seven planets or metals. They are all as it were contained in Mercurius, since he is the pater metallorum. When personified, he is the unity of the seven planets, an Anthropos whose body is the world, like Gayomart, from whose body the seven metals flow into the earth. Owing to his feminine nature, Mercurius is also the mother of the seven, and not only of the six, for he is his own father and mother.5

[403] Out of the “sea,” then, there rises this Mercurial Fountain, triplex nomine, as is said with reference to the three manifestations of Mercurius.6 He is shown flowing out of three pipes in the form of lac virginis, acetum fontis, and aqua vitae. These are three of his innumerable synonyms. The aforementioned unity of Mercurius is here represented as a triad. It is repeatedly emphasized that he is a trinity, triunus or trinus, the chthonic, lower, or even infernal counterpart of the Heavenly Trinity, just as Dante’s devil is three-headed.7 For the same reason Mercurius is often shown as a three-headed serpent. Above the three pipes we find the sun and moon, who are the indispensable acolytes and parents of the mystic transformation, and, a little higher, the quintessential star, symbol of the unity of the four hostile elements.

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