Carl Jung devoted three volumes of discourse to the practical and theoretical discipline known as Alchemy. He discovered in Alchemy a parallel to his initial work with patients at the Burgholzli Mental Hospital in Zurich. The Alchemical texts became a major part of his work termed analytical psychology.
To learn Alchemy, one studied with a master who was also an Astrologer, as the two were never separate. The symbols, the elements, the transits (timing) were all a part of what they called “The Work.” Most do not know this, but our astrology is not a static set of characteristics. The birth chart shows our development as a process. Jung called this process individuation which is getting to know who we are. The transits, which is where the planets are currently in relationship to our birth chart mathematically, are a psychological description of our continuing emotional and spiritual evolution. We are always in the process of becoming who we came here to be. It takes a lifetime of work to know our whole self.
This work was considered to be the Opus for the Alchemists. They called it “the great art” in medieval Europe. They believed that their effort to become conscious was an offering to the divine, a sacred and holy task which required dedication and self-honesty. This is the same as psychological spirituality which is about becoming conscious of our many selves. They knew that consistent and sometimes grueling work is required; for them and us, it begins with shadow work. It takes a strong and enduring ego to face our own unconscious which is often a daunting undertaking not always easy to do. Responsibility and moral integrity take time to develop. We only do this in incremental stages as we learn to be self-reflective. No one does it overnight.
The Alchemists also famously said, “Our gold is not the common gold,” so it was never about turning lead into physical gold. Alchemy was couched in some very unusual and graphic terms to hide what they were doing because it was considered heretical by the church. The reason why it was considered a heresy is excellently described in the book, The Dynamics of the Unconscious, a seminar presented and written by Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas. I highly recommend the chapter on Alchemy in their book.
The Symbol of the Sun
Briefly, the symbol of the Sun in our birth chart is our ego consciousness or identity. It is our sense of volition, our will. It also describes our solar need to shine — symbolizing where we seek to be validated for our creative self-expression and individuality. When we are living the Sun, it’s house and aspects authentically, it gives us our inherent need for joy and self-esteem.
In his third book on Alchemy, Mysterium Conuinctionis, a monumental work which contains many astrological references and descriptions, Jung says, “Sulphur represents the active substance of the Sun or, in psychological language, the motive factor in consciousness: on the one hand the will, which can best be regarded as a dynamism subordinated to consciousness, and on the other hand compulsion, an involuntary motivation or impulse ranging from mere interest to possession proper. The unconscious dynamism would correspond to sulphur, for compulsion which is the great mystery of human life. It is the thwarting of our conscious will and of our reason by an inflammable element within us, appearing now as a consuming fire and now as life giving warmth.”
— Carl Jung, Mysterium Coniunctionis, paragraph 151
For the Alchemists, Sulphur described drivenness, i.e. being overwhelmed with desire. Sulphur can also be towards ambition or a power drive but my subject for this article is relationships of a sexual nature. There is a compulsive aspect to desirousness as it is the fire of libido (energy). It feels as if this person we desire is present in our thoughts 24/7. Unbeknownst to us, this is the energy created by the dynamo of the opposites.
The Latin word coniunctio means a union of opposites between male and female which is the same as the word conjunction used in Astrology. It is the word used to describe two planets in the birth chart joined within 8-10˚. In this context, male and female are not genders, they describe two principals in the psyche of everyone — masculine (Sun) and feminine (Moon). In alchemical images, they are represented by a King and Queen, a stag and unicorn as well as luna and sol. Psychologically, this union is taking place gradually in our unconscious. These opposites, conscious and unconscious are forever seeking each other out for completion.
Until we are willing to bring more to consciousness and face our shadow (the prima materia: the hidden primitive and undeveloped aspects of our nature), Anima (the female in men) and Animus (the male in women) which are both Latin for soul, they continue to live autonomously in a split-off part of our psyche.
The color red archetypally is fire and emotional passion of an emotional quality. Looking back, I was amazed when I scrutinized some photos taken of me and a man I became obsessed with during a Pluto Venus transit. These photos came out in RED shades and hues. The aura around us was so strong that it changed the photo. This phenomena occurred using two different cameras! When this relationship began, I obtained my first Astrological consultation. The Astrologer described exactly what I was going through and this transit lasted five years. After that consultation, I became obsessed with a desire to learn even more. The planetary timing involved indicated a process of self-actualization through a death and rebirth (Pluto) experience of an intense love affair (Venus).
How can we retrieve or get to know unconscious parts of us?
One major way is through projection. Projection is described as becoming either intensely fascinated or extremely repulsed by certain people. The affect is either too high or it’s too low. Jung says,
“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.”
— Carl G. Jung, The Practice of Psychotherapy, par 354, pg 318
“Everything that is unconscious in us, we discover it in our neighbor and treat him accordingly.”
— Carl Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul, pg 142
Sulphur as Projection
The Alchemists believed there are two kinds of Sulphur: a crude or vulgar sulphur and a true or philosophical sulphur. Only the true sulphur can help us enter the conuinctio — which is essentially a lifetime goal to marry our inner or invisible partners.
Crude sulphur is ego driven desirousness and is of an unconscious, infantile nature. Our will demands to have what it wants and turns vicious when it can’t possess the object of our desire. Feeling intensely driven and compulsive, we will want to destroy the other person. The movie Titanic showed what this scenario looks like. The fiancé Cal wanted to kill Kate Winslet (Rose Calvert) when she was running away with Leonardo DiCaprio who played Jack Dawson. As the plot unfolded, we learned that he wanted to destroy both of them rather than suffer the defeat of his intense ego driven desire.
That is the crude sulphur which is an unregenerate desire. This desirousness is driven by pride and the intent is on possessing an object. We become possessed and can think of nothing else, day or night. It is in our mind the moment we wake up and the obsession does not let up. Anyone who has ever experienced being deeply in love with someone who has rejected them knows what that feels like. Sulphur in this way is the active part of the psyche. The part which has a definite goal.
“The true or philosophical sulphur is the regenerate desire. It changes you on the inside. If you can say to yourself Yes, I desire him or her and I will go for it and try to get it but I can walk away if I cannot have it. You are free of possession. Of course, it is still hurtful but if you get still and go inside, you will get quiet and change. Then you will discover there is a stone growing in the bottle (they called it the philosophers stone).” — Edward F. Edinger, Mystery of the Conuinctio
Has this happened to you? How many times has it happened?
When this takes place repeatedly, and you reflect on the experience, you will discover parts of you that were previously unconscious. In my Shadow Dance & 7th House Workbook, I wrote about a man named Craig. I remembered the extreme hate that I felt emotionally when this relationship ended. I literally burned up one night with a fever. In the middle of the night, I went to get the cassettes of my first classes in analytical psychology with Pittman McGehee, D.D. and listened to two of them. Listening to his words soothed me. They helped me analyze my experience. By morning, the fever broke and I was at peace. I was able to go on, determined to see what Craig represented to me and the meaning of our experience. I sent him love instead. In retrospect, studying Alchemy/Astrology and Jungian psychology, it was so interesting to understand the meaning of what those relationships were about and the transits involved. With Craig, the outer planets Uranus and Neptune were squaring my Venus. Again, there is a timing involved with our transformation and internal process. Uranus and Neptune are transpersonal energies which are involved in our assimilating higher states of consciousness.
Even if your projections land on someone and you marry them, the euphoria is limited in time because no one can carry our projections indefinitely. It can end with varying degrees of animosity between the two people because it is inevitable that projections are going to fall off. They must so that we can see who the other person actually is and relate to a real person instead of a God or Goddess (a symbiotic extension of oneself).
When a relationship reaches that stage of familiarity, many people addicted to this kind of high start looking outside their primary marriage or partnership if their maturity level is still in the puella or puer aeternus stage of consciousness. This is the archetype of Peter Pan, an adolescent eternal child, who wants to be mirrored instead of related to the people in their lives. Many relationships end at this stage and the alchemical process begins all over again with someone else. Some go on to marry the person with whom they feel they are in love, and become disillusioned when they realize that they have married a person who is not who they thought they were.
On the other hand, if the two people are committed to their relationship, growing and becoming conscious, after the projections wear off, an opportunity arrives for both people. Individuation continues when we open our eyes and feel the aha with our bodies. We come to realize that in many ways this person is a mirror of our most unconscious self. We can now develop a mature relationship with them as we take back our shadow.
We can now see the good in them even as we also see their flaws and their peccadilloes, their idiosyncrasies as Robin Williams called it in the movie, Good Will Hunting. We all have virtues and flaws as none of us is free of + and – characteristics. (See my website for the + and – keywords for every sign of the Zodiac. There are usually several signs dominate in our character.)
If we want to take this a step further — instead of trying to get rid of the Sulphur, the strong desire, we can ask what does it want of us? What traits is this person carrying that belong to us? Often, it is a part of us that we badly need. We can also ask ourselves — is this person a projection of our mother or father or our inner male (Animus) or inner female (Anima) as these four are unconsciously what drive the intense fascination. Until we can become our own mother and father, masculine and feminine, we are caught in our own unconsciousness. Jung says this will circumambulate around over and over. This is the cross of life, a veritable crucifixion and we are all on this cross whether we know it or not. This inner urge to individuate is what drives us on in our voyage of self-discovery. Jung says,
“I should like to emphasize that the integration of the shadow, or the realization of the personal unconscious, marks the first stage in the analytic process, and that without it a recognition of the anima and animus is impossible. The shadow can be realized only through a relation to a partner, and the anima and animus only through a partner of the opposite sex, because only in such a relation do their projections become operative.”
—Carl Jung, AION, Research into the Phenomenology of the Self, par 42, pg 22
This is not an easy task as it takes work and often involves a painful encounter with the Self. In Mysterium Coniunctionis, Jung says, “An experience with the Self is always a defeat for the ego,“ but that the death of the ego (the self as you knew it) allows one to be reborn into one’s own wholeness as projections are taken back.
The value of taking back our projections is that we can now see and accept our partners for who they are — not what we wanted them to be; not what we wish they would change into; not for what they can give us; but who they are. The love that can now grow between two partners is profound because it is REAL. Real love, unlike projection, is a willingness to see and support another person to be their own unique, separate self. This will untangle us from seeking in them the perfect parent-mirror image of ourselves, for as long as we are still seeking to be completed by another person, we will not allow them their own autonomy.
As the Nordic Rune “Partnership” describes it, two separate and whole beings — equals in the true sense of the word — can help each person feel their own union with the Divine within instead of through projective identification with their partner. As the love between them grows and expands to the entire Cosmos, this kind of love gives each partner their freedom — the greatest gift of all. As I see it, freedom to be ourselves is the goal of the Age of Aquarius.
Rebeca Eigen
Rebeca Eigen, an astrologer for 25+ years and author of The Shadow Dance & the Astrological 7th House Workbook specializes in relationships. From every day decisions, to critical life-altering moments, Rebeca shares with you her practical wisdom and guidance for your life’s journey in becoming who you are meant to be.
https://www.shadowdance.com/
