Jung and Alchemy
Rather than interpreting alchemy as literally concerned with changing lesser metals into gold, Jung considered it a symbolic representation of the individuation process. Images in Medieval and Renaissance alchemy texts provided him with further validation of his theories regarding the universality of symbols. In the foreword to his Psychology and Alchemy, he wrote, �What the written word could express only imperfectly, or not at all, the alchemist compressed into his images.� In the 1953 edition of the book, Jung included this engraving by English physician and mystical philosopher Robert Fludd (1574�1637), with Jung�s caption �the anima mundi [soul of the world], guide of Mankind, herself guided by God.�
Rather than interpreting alchemy as literally concerned with changing lesser metals into gold, Jung considered it a symbolic representation of the individuation process. Images in Medieval and Renaissance alchemy texts provided him with further validation of his theories regarding the universality of symbols. In the foreword to his <em>Psychology and Alchemy</em>, he wrote, �What the written word could express only imperfectly, or not at all, the alchemist compressed into his images.� In the 1953 edition of the book, Jung included this engraving by English physician and mystical philosopher Robert Fludd (1574�1637), with Jung�s caption �the <em>anima mundi</em> [soul of the world], guide of Mankind, herself guided by God.�