I am therefore inclined to assume that the real root of alchemy is to be sought less in philosophical doctrines than in the projections experienced by individual investigators:
I mean by this that while working on his chemical experiments the operator had certain psychic experiences which appeared to him as the particular behaviour of the chemical process. Since it was a question of projection, he was naturally unconscious of the fact that the experience had nothing to do with matter itself (that is, with matter as we know it today). He experienced his projection as a property of matter; but what he was in reality experiencing was his own unconscious. In this way he recapitulated the history of man's knowledge of nature
CW12 ¶ 346ASTROLOGY AS A PRIMORDIAL
EXPERIENCE SIMILAR TO ALCHEMY
As we all know, science began with the stars, and mankind discovered in them the dominants of the unconscious, the “gods,” as well as the curious psychological qualities of the zodiac: a complete projected theory of human character. Astrology is a primordial experience similar to alchemy. Such projections repeat themselves wherever man tries to explore an empty darkness and involuntarily fills it with living form
CW12 ¶ 346This being so, I turned my attention to the question of whether the alchemists themselves had reported any such experiences in the course of their practice. I had no reason to hope for a very rich find, since it is a matter of “unconscious” experiences which would escape record for precisely that reason. But in point of fact there are one or two unmistakable accounts in the literature. Characteristically enough, the later accounts are more detailed and specific than the earlier ones
CW12 ¶ 346IDENTITY BETWEEN ALCHEMIST'S PSYCHE
AND THE TRANSFORMING SUBSTANCE
As a result of the projection there is an unconscious identity between the psyche of the alchemist and the arcane transforming substance, i.e., the spirit imprisoned in matter. The “Liber Platonis quartorum” accordingly recommends the use of the occiput (fig. 075) as the vessel of transformation, because it is the container of thought and intellect (fig. 135) . For we need the brain as the seat of the “divine part”
CW12 ¶ 376Trimurti picture
(1) The triangle symbolizes the tendency of the universe to converge towards the point of unity. (2) The tortoise represents Vishnu; (3) the lotus growing out of (4) the skull between (5) two flames, represents (6) Shiva. (7) The shining sun of (8) Brahma forms the background. The whole picture corresponds to (9) the alchemical opus, (10) the tortoise symbolizing the massa confusa, (11) the skull, (12) the vas of transformation, and (13) the flower the “Self” or wholenessAfter an Indian painting
Skull as a symbol of the mortificatio of Eve
Eve is the feminine aspect of the prima materia. Whereas in the case of Adam the tree corresponds to the phallus, here the tree grows out of Eve's head.“Miscellanea d'alchimia” (MS., 14th cent.)