9. The Return of the Soul
“…the soul dives down from heaven to breathe life into the dead body. The two birds at the bottom left of the picture represent the allegorical winged and wingless dragons in the form of fledged and unfledged birds. This is one of the many synonyms for the double nature of Mercurius, who is both a chthonic and a pneumatic being. The presence of this divided pair of opposites means that although the hermaphrodite appears to be united and is on the point of coming alive, the conflict between them is by no means finally resolved and has not yet disappeared: it is relegated to the left and bottom of the picture, i.e. banished to the sphere of the unconscious.” — CW 16, para. 494
Jung now brings in further amplifications of the motifs contained in the image, beginning with the symbolism of ash, which he equates with the dead body. He then turns to the diadem and its connection with coronation, and also discusses the symbolism of the color white. It is important to have some familiarity with these amplifications because whenever similar motifs appear in dreams they may point to the same psychological process Jung is describing. The process itself is transcendental, but its projection into alchemical imagery brings it down into reality, affecting the conscious and personal psyche. In a similar way, the process I described in connection with my client was brought down into the reality of the consulting room.
“If there is such a thing as the unconscious that is not personal—i.e. does not consist of individually acquired contents, whether forgotten, subliminally perceived, or repressed—then there must also be processes going on in the non-ego, spontaneous archetypal events which the conscious mind can only perceive when they are projected. They are immemorially strange and unknown, and yet we seem to have known them from everlasting; they are also the source of a remarkable fascination that dazzles and illuminates at once. They draw us like a magnet and at the same time frighten us; they manifest themselves in fantasies, dreams, hallucinations, and in certain kinds of religious ecstasy. The coniunctio is one of these archetypes.
The absorptive power of the archetype explains not only the widespread incidence of this motif but also the passionate intensity with which it seizes upon the individual, often in defiance of all reason and understanding. To the peripeteia of the coniunctio also belong the processes illustrated in the last few pictures. They deal with the after-effects of the fusion of opposites, which have involved the conscious personality in their union. The extreme consequence of this is the dissolution of the ego in the unconscious, a state resembling death. It results from the more or less complete identification of the ego with unconscious factors, or, as we would say, from contamination….
But the body (that dies), psychologically speaking, is the expression of our individual and conscious existence, which we then feel is in danger of being swamped or poisoned by the unconscious. We therefore try to separate the ego-consciousness from the unconscious and free it from that perilous embrace. Yet, although the power of the unconscious is feared as something sinister, this feeling is only partially justified by the facts, since we also know that the unconscious is capable of producing beneficial effects. The kind of effect it will have depends to a large extent on the attitude of the conscious mind.” — CW 16, para. 501
You see, in the example I have given from my own practice, the task is to separate ourselves from emotions and ideas that feel overwhelming and determine our lives in a negative way. But the process is not finished with this step, because if we stop here, we create a split once again. To avoid this, we have to ask why these emotions arose in the first place. When we find an answer to that question, we are given the possibility of consciously incorporating emotions that were previously destructive, allowing them to fulfil their purpose without the negative effects of identification.
“The rational man, in order to live in this world, has to make a distinction between himself and what we might call the ‘eternal man’ … the ‘eternal’ truths become dangerously disturbing factors when they suppress the unique ego of the individual and live at its expense…
The separation of the empirical ego from the ‘eternal’ and universal man is therefore of vital importance, particularly today, when mass-degeneration of the personality is making such threatening strides. Mass-degeneration does not come only from without: it also comes from within, from the collective unconscious…” — CW 16, para. 502
“The process of differentiating the ego from the unconscious, then, has its equivalent in the mundificatio (separation of the dead body and the soul), and just as this is a necessary condition for the return of the soul to the body, so the body is necessary if the unconscious is not to have destructive effects on ego-consciousness, for it is the body that gives bounds to the personality.
The unconscious can be integrated only if the ego holds its ground. Consequently, the alchemist’s endeavor to unite the corpus mundum, the purified body, with the soul is also the endeavor of the psychologist once he has succeeded in freeing the ego-consciousness from contamination with the unconscious… in psychology… it comes from… thorough separation of the ordinary ego-personality from inflationary admixtures of unconscious material.” — CW 16, para. 502
You see, when speaking about transference, Jung does not say much about the personal relationship between analyst and client. Rather, he stresses the importance of individuation in both. When this process is on the right track, transference and countertransference do not manifest themselves so strongly, since a conscious relationship is itself part of individuation. We might even say that transference and countertransference are consequences of stalled individuation in both analyst and client. To return to the beginning of the seminar, they arise when the relationship is not taking place consciously and represent manifestations of the unconscious relationship.
10. The New Birth
This is the 10th and final picture in the series and Jung goes on to comment on the symbolism of the number 10, concluding that the denarius is the Son of God, or, as the alchemists call it, the filius philosophorum. The denarius is the culmination of the work and anything beyond it is impossible except for multiplication. The psychological meaning of multiplicatio is the idea that once the experience of the Self has been consciously accepted and, as far as possible, assimilated, its effects gradually extend into all areas of life and into the lives of the people around us. It is as if the lapis is multiplied.
From the foregoing we can see how the opus ends with the idea of a highly paradoxical being that defies rational analysis. The work could hardly end in any other way, since the complexio oppositorum cannot possibly lead to anything but a baffling paradox. Psychologically this means that human wholeness can only be described in antinomies, which is always the case when dealing with transcendental ideas… Our paradox, however, offers the possibility of an intuitive and emotional experience, because the unity of the self, unknowable and incomprehensible, irradiates even the sphere of our discriminating, and hence divided, consciousness, and, like all unconscious contents, does so with very powerful effects. — CW 16, para. 532
You see, if you have experienced the Self, then you know what Jung is talking about, although it is difficult to describe.
Jung speaks of how the picture shows the apotheosis of the Rebis. Later he also mentions that the alchemists, had they possessed psychological knowledge, could have separated their “uniting symbol” from instinctive sexuality. And you see, whenever the Self is constellated and we are not conscious of it, we project it, and as a consequence a strong emotional and instinctive reaction sets in. It could manifest as sexual attraction or aggressive repulsion, which are among the most common instinctive reactions. Not because the Self has sexuality or aggression in mind, but because when conscious channels are blocked, libido finds the most fluid path through instinct. And as we know from Freud and Adler, sexuality and aggression are among the most common instinctive expressions of human life. This is where transference and countertransference dynamics can manifest most easily.
The sexualism of these contents always denotes an unconscious identification of the ego with some unconscious figure (either anima or animus), and because of this the ego is obliged, willing and reluctant at once, to be a party in this hierosgamos, or at least to believe that it is simply and solely a matter of an erotic consummation. — CW 16, para. 534
If, on the other hand, we decline to accept the argument that because the thing is fascinating it is the absolute truth, then we give ourselves a chance to see that the alluring sexual aspect is but one among the many—the very one that deludes our judgement. This aspect is always trying to deliver us into the power of the partner who seems compounded of all the qualities we have failed to realize in ourselves. Hence, unless we prefer to be made fools of by our illusions, we shall, by carefully analyzing every fascination, extract from it a portion of our own personality, like a quintessence, and slowly come to recognize that we meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life. — CW 16, para. 534
Conclusion
The transference phenomenon is without a doubt one of the most important syndromes in the process of individuation; its wealth of meanings goes beyond mere personal likes and dislikes. By virtue of its collective contents and symbols it transcends the individual personality and extends into the social sphere, reminding us of those higher human relationships which are so painfully absent in our present social order, or rather disorder… What our world lacks is psychic connection; and no clique, no community of interests, no political party, and no state will ever be able to replace this. It is therefore a small wonder that it was the doctors and not the sociologists who were the first to feel more clearly than anybody else the true needs of man, for, as psychotherapists, they have the most direct dealings with the sufferings of the soul. — CW 16, para. 539
In the end I would like to tell you one thing. As one reads Jung, one can also project one’s own unconscious contents into his text. By carefully analyzing our own ideas and fantasies, we arrive at another interpretation, one that often tells us something about ourselves. The example I connected with the text is just one among many. I would encourage you to take one of your own cases and try to recognize the dynamics these pictures describe.
And if you have been puzzled about why Jung chose these images to speak about transference, this process may help make it clearer. They describe the archetypes that stand behind transference and countertransference phenomena in the most essential way. With this we will end today’s exposition
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Contents: Psychology of Transference (2017)