A Library Guide to Jung's Collected Works

Coniunctio: "An alchemical symbol of a union of unlike substances; a marrying of the OPPOSITES in an intercourse which has as its fruition the birth of a new element. This is symbolised by a child that manifests potential for greater wholeness by recombining attributes of both the opposing natures. From Jung's point of view, the coniunctio was identified as the central idea of alchemical process. He himself saw it as an ARCHETYPE of psychic functioning, symbolising a pattern of relationships between two or more UNCONSCIOUS factors. Since such relationships are at first incomprehensible to the perceiving mind, the coniunctio is capable of innumerable symbolic PROJECTIONS (i.e. man and woman, King and Queen, ... Sol and Luna)." (pp. 35) [Read more]

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Complex. "Literally, “conjunction,” used in alchemy to refer to chemical combinations; psychologically, it points to the union of opposites and the birth of new possibilities. . . . Other alchemical terms used by Jung with a near-equivalent psychological meaning include unio mystica (mystic or sacred marriage), coincidentia oppositorum (coincidence of opposites), complexio oppositorum (the opposites embodied in a single image) unus mundus (one world) and Philosophers’ Stone." (Sharp, 1991)

The coniunctio is an a priori image that occupies a prominent place in the history of man's mental development. If we trace this idea back we find it has two sources in alchemy, one Christian, the other pagan. The Christian source is unmistakably the doctrine of Christ and the Church, sponsus and sponsa, where Christ takes the role of Sol and the Church that of Luna. The pagan source is on the one hand the hieros-gamos, on the other the marital union of the mystic with God. [The Psychology of the Transference," CW 16, para. 355.] [Read more]

"Two concise essays on the union of opposites: "Introduction to Jung's Mysterium Coniunctionis" and "A Psychological Interpretation of the Rosarium Pictures" — the alchemical drawings on which Jung based 'The Psychology of the Transference'."

"A comprehensive study illuminating the depth and scope of Jung's magnum opus and its relevance to everyday life. A treasury of material for understanding modern dreams and other unconscious contents."

Abstract: " I'm going to look at a set of alchemical pictures which Jung used to structure ideas about transference and counter transference—repetitions in the present of relational patterns learnt in childhood which are projected in analysis—to show how these symbols allowed imagination and creativity into a closed system: the troubled psyche of a transvestite. In classical psychoanalytic narratives, naming transferential patterns as they appear is believed to produce insight, believed to permit change. There are other narratives about 'restorative experiences in the transference': as an analyst repeatedly survives a patient's anger, offering recognition rather than retaliation, so the patient is able to work through buried feelings, to reflect consciously—to symbolise rather than unconsciously repeat and act out. Jungian analysts narrate change not only as 'resolution of the transference', but also as the development of an ability to form and use symbols. This happens as the analytic pair learn to hold and combine opposites, tolerate uncertainty and imagine possible futures—as well as reconstructing the past. To show Jung's idea of the coniunctio as central to this process, I will describe the Rosarium pictures, my work with Robert and ideas about transvestism, and how symbol formation gradually emerged, leading to an image of what we might 'do' if we 'did it'. This allowed us both to move on. Through analysis, Robert began to re-name and re-claim himself as a person." [Read more]

Abstract: "Alchemy reveals what is shrouded in mystery. It mirrors deep life processes, providing a symbolic language of perception for some and a vehicle through which to engage with mystery for others. For Carl Gustav Jung it reflected a profound journey to establish a relationship with the archetypal psyche through encounter, discrimination and incorporation. Drawing on the work of sixteenth-century alchemist Gerhard Dorn, C. G. Jung and Pythagoras, the Jungian analyst Edward Edinger conceived of life as a process of differentiation from magical identifications through stages of conscious reintegration. In this chapter, I want to develop his view further by suggesting that alchemy is a living symbolism reflecting archetypal dynamics of the psyche which can enter our experience directly through the forces of nature or through a relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind via the logos. The first is simply personal experience and development as it is lived and refined. The second unfolds through challenging confrontation with oneself and conscious endeavor to develop a deep, objective relationship with oneself and with all it means to be human." [Read more]

"Lux in Tenebris is a collection of eighteen original interdisciplinary essays that address aspects of the verbal and visual symbolism in the works of significant figures in the history of Western Esotericism, covering such themes as alchemy, magic, kabbalah, angels, occult philosophy, Platonism, Rosicrucianism, and Theosophy. Part I: Middle Ages & Early Modernity ranges from Gikatilla, Ficino, Camillo, Agrippa, Weigel, B hme, Yvon, and Swedenborg, to celestial divination in Russia. Part II: Modernity & Postmodernity moves from occultist thinkers Schwaller de Lubicz and Evola to esotericism in literature, art, and cinema, in the works of Colquhoun, Degouve de Nuncques, Bruskin, Doitschinoff, and P rez-Reverte, with an essay on esoteric theories of colour."

Hubback, J. (1989). Depressed patients and the coniunctio. In A. Samuels (Ed.), Psychopathology: Contemporary Jungian perspectives (pp. 23–43). Taylor & Francis.

"The hypothesis is offered that patients whose mothers were depressed during their infancy and childhood may be enabled to emerge from their own long-term depressions (or other consequences of early emotional difficulties) if in the therapy they are able to make use of their analyst's having achieved a reasonable viable sense of self, based on the internal coniunctio of parental imagos transference and countertransference manifestations of the working of malign imagos and of the gradual emergence of benign and uniting symbols in phantasies and dreams are given in relation to the therapies of six patients it is suggested, implicitly, that current observations and studies of narcissistic deprivation, splitting defences, shadow material and hungry and envious attacks can be usefully furthered if they are related to Jung's exploration of the theme of coniunctio as having been the main psychological importance of alchemy"

This text is a rare medieval alchemical treatise, scattered throughout with insights relevant to the process of individuation in modern men and women. Reputed to be the last work of St Thomas Aquinas, it bears out Jung's view that the traditional practice of alchemy is best understood symbolically.