Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult ArtsSilberer, Herbert
Religion
Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts
Silberer, Herbert
Alchemy; Society of Rosicrucians; Symbolism (Psychology)
To the “sacrifice” of the person introverting, Jung devotes an entire
chapter in his Psychology of the Unconscious, Chapt. IV. A brief résumé of
it would show that by the sacrifice is meant the giving up of the mother,
i.e., the disclaiming of all bonds and limitations that the soul has
carried over from childhood into adulthood. The victory over the dragon is
equivalent to the sacrificing of the regressive (incestuous) tendency.
After we have sought the mother through introversion we must escape from
her, enriched by the treasure which we have gotten.
The sacrifice of a part of ourself (killing of the dragon, the father,
etc.) is, as Jung points out, represented also in mythology by the
shooting with sharp arrows at the symbol of the libido. The symbol of the
libido is generally a sun symbol. Now it is particularly noteworthy that
the VIII key of the alchemist Basilius Valentinus (see figure 3, p. 199)
shows arrows being shot, which are aimed at the [Symbol: sun] (this libido
symbol par excellence) that is aptly used as a “target.” Death is clearly
enough accentuated and correlated with the sinking of the corns of wheat
into the earth. [John XII, 24, 25, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it
die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it;
and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life
eternal.] As this rises, so also will the dying mystic rise. The grave
crosses have the form [Symbol: Fire] ([Symbol: Sulphur]); they show that
the interred one is a certain sulphur, the impure sulphur, willfulness.
The birds, from which we are to protect the grain, may in the end be the
Siddhi; they are, in the introversion form of the religious work, what
would otherwise be merely “diversions” or “dissipations.”
The mystical death is the death of egoism (in Hindu terminology ahamkāra).
Jacob Boehme writes in his book of the true atonement, I, 19: “...
Although I am not worthy, [Jesus] take me yet in thy death and let me only
in thy death die my death; still strike thou me in my acknowledged
selfishness to the ground and kill my selfishness by thy death....” In the
Mysterium Magnum, XXXVI, 74, 75: “... We exalt not the outspoken word of
the wisdom of God, but only the animal will to selfishness and egoism
which is departed from God, which honors itself as a false God of its own
and may not believe or trust God (as the Antichrist who has placed himself
in God’s stead); and we teach on the contrary that the man of the
Antichrist’s image shall wholly die so that he may be born in Christ of a
new life and will, which new will has power in the perfect word of nature
with divine eyes to see all the miracles of God, both in nature and
creature, in the perfect wisdom. For as dies the Antichrist in the soul,
so rises Christ from the dead.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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