Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology

«Alchemy is a natural science which represents an attempt to understand material phenomena in nature; it is a mixture of the physics and chemistry of those early times» — su definición de arranque.

«They believed that they were studying the unknown phenomenon of matter» — los alquimistas observaban lo que salía y lo interpretaban sin plan previo.

«one could say that in alchemy, projections were made most naively and unprogrammatically, and completely uncorrected» — el rasgo que, para ella, distingue a la alquimia de toda meditación codificada.

«The alchemists were in a completely different situation.» — dicho frente a los *Exercitia Spiritualia* y las formas orientales de meditación, que sí traen programa.

«there exists in alchemy an astonishing amount of material from the unconscious, produced in a situation where the conscious mind did not follow a definite program, but only searched»

«that is why alchemical writings are especially helpful for the understanding of modern material» — la razón declarada del interés junguiano por el corpus alquímico.

«we can only speak of projection, in the proper sense of the word, when there already exists a certain uneasiness» — el punto sutil que atribuye a Jung: sin inquietud previa no hay proyección, solo identidad de sentimiento.

«even the most scientific and most modern and most accurate forms of modern natural sciences are all based on projections» — la partícula y la energía son, para ella, imágenes arquetípicas.

«it is too cheap to say that the old alchemist, i.e., the medieval natural scientist of antiquity, projected unconscious images into matter and nowadays we are enlightened» — su objeción explícita a la lectura condescendiente, incluida la propia.

«The psyche/matter problem has not yet been solved» — Por eso el enigma básico de la alquimia sigue sin resolver.

«alchemy is still an open problem to us, which is why when Dr. Jung touched it he felt that he was touching something which led still further»

«something like active imagination, performed with chemical substances which to a great extent is what alchemy is» — su fórmula más condensada, dicha a propósito de un recuerdo de infancia propio.

«That is what the alchemist did in a projected form when he said that the divine man had to be extracted from the lead coffin or from the corruptible matter.»

«at this time alchemy was also chemistry and therefore knowledge as to how to make alloys, etc., was a trade secret» — el secreto alquímico tiene también una razón financiera banal, según ella.

«the history of chemistry is completely identical with that of mathematics and astrology» — parte pasa al Imperio bizantino por Constantinopla y el resto vuelve a Europa por los árabes.

«The Church, represented chiefly by Albert the Great, St. Thomas of Aquinas, and certain others, endeavoured to eliminate the double tradition of Church and natural science» — Solo lo logró en parte.

«He was the famous man who introduced into chemistry the necessity of weighing matter.» — sobre ar-Razi (Rasis en latín).

«He was a pure technician.» — el mismo ar-Razi: mérito en lo químico, ninguno en lo simbólico, según ella.

«the name Senior is simply the Latin translation for "The Sheikh," which actually means "the old man"» — la identificación de Senior con Mohammed ibn Umail.

«But one should never believe Ruska, for he is always a doubter» — Julius Ruska sostenía que Senior no era árabe; ella lo da por equivocado desde 1933.

«He projected the whole symbolism of the alchemical opus into the mummification.» — sobre ibn Umail y las cámaras funerarias de las pirámides.

«the tabula smaragdina the emerald tablet. It is a classical text» — la sitúa como tópico clásico compartido por muchos textos alquímicos, no propio de Senior.

«The task of alchemy, according to Zosimos, consists in reassembling the light sparks of Adam and bringing him back to Paradise.»

«the Aurora consurgens is not a typical text, but unique and out of any kind of order» — por eso advirtió al auditorio antes de que votara qué texto leer.

«If you would like a text which, in my opinion, was written from an immediate religious experience of the unconscious, I would advise the "Aurora consurgens."»

«In most manuscripts the text was ascribed to St. Thomas of Aquinas, which I did not consider for one moment» — su reacción inicial, que el relato de las páginas siguientes desmiente.

«interpreted it symbolically, like a dream, and have concluded that it is the text of a dying person» — su lectura de la *Aurora consurgens*.

«not to try to force the inner coniunctio» — su glosa de la advertencia alquímica contra el exceso de fuego.

«As we have nine lectures, I thought I would give three lectures on Old Greek, three on Arabic, and three on later European alchemy, so that you may obtain at least a glimpse of every phase of the development of this science.» — el plan declarado del curso, en tres bloques cronológicos.

«As you know, Dr. Jung has devoted many years of study to this subject, which he practically dug up from the dunghill of the past, for it was a forgotten and despised field of investigation which he has suddenly revived.» — atribuye a Jung el rescate de la alquimia como campo de estudio.

«The fact that now the smallest pamphlet sells for about 100 Swiss francs, while about ten years ago an excellent book on alchemy could be bought for two or three francs, is actually due to Dr. Jung, because except for the interest displayed by some Freemason circles, and later developments by Rosicrucians, nobody really knew anything about the subject when he began his work on it.» — mide ese rescate por el precio de los impresos y sitúa a masones y rosacruces como los únicos interesados previos.

«This is because alchemy, in itself, is tremendously dark and complex, and the texts very difficult to read, so that an enormous kind of technical background of knowledge is needed if you wish to penetrate into this field.» — la razón que da para dictar un curso introductorio antes de los libros de Jung.

«In Psychology and Alchemy, Dr. Jung has, as it were, introduced alchemy into psychology, first by publishing a series of the dreams of a natural scientist which contain a great amount of alchemical symbolism, and then by quoting from old texts, whereby he hoped» — describe el procedimiento de esa obra de Jung: primero los sueños de un científico, después los textos viejos.

«He once told me that he frequently came across certain motifs in his patients' dreams which he could not understand, and then one day he started to look at old books on alchemy and noticed a connection.» — el origen del interés de Jung, según se lo contó él a ella.

«For Dr. Jung it was not a theoretical problem, but a striking parallel to the material with which he was dealing.» — acota el motivo del trabajo alquímico de Jung: paralelo clínico y no tesis histórica.

«One repeatedly sees how anyone who has had original and immediate experience of unconscious symbols begins afterwards to work upon them.» — sostiene que la elaboración consciente sigue siempre a la experiencia inmediata, y por eso lo transmitido ya viene trabajado.

«It seems, therefore, that symbolism handed on by tradition is to a certain extent rationalized and purged of the scurrilities of the unconscious, the funny little details which the unconscious tags on» — su tesis sobre la transmisión: la tradición limpia el detalle que no encaja.

«The reports we make of dreams the next morning are almost correct, but involuntarily we introduce order into them.» — el mismo mecanismo, medido en la escritura de sueños por la mañana.

«Cum grano salis, you could compare the above to the way in which religious experiences are handed on in a living religious system, namely that the personal immediate experience is usually purified, clarified» — traslada la analogía del sueño escrito a la transmisión religiosa, y avisa que es analogía.

«Australian aborigines say that if a dream contained a good idea, it was told to the tribe and adopted as a part of the festival, which in that way varied a little sometimes, though in the main they kept to the tradition» — el ejemplo del Kunapipi, donde el sueño individual entra a la tradición solo si le sirve.

«Based on a series of lectures given in 1959 at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland.» — la ficha de catalogación canadiense, que da también el año 1980 y la serie.

«This book is based on the transcription by Miss Una Thomas of the lecture series presented by Dr. von Franz at the C.G. Jung Institute, Zürich, in 1959.» — el texto fue editado después por Daryl Sharp y Marion Woodman; Sharp eligió las ilustraciones, escribió los pies y compiló el índice.

«He published the whole without much criticism» — sobre Berthelot y el Codex Marcianus, editado con Ruelle y una traducción francesa que ella llama superficial.

«It probably belongs to what we call the oldest writings and is entitled "The Prophetess Isis to her Son."» — el primer texto griego que comenta, del Codex Marcianus, datado por *communis opinio* hacia el siglo I d.C.

«Oh, my son, when you desired to go away to fight the treacherous Typhon [i.e., Seth] over your father's kingdom» — arranque de «Isis a Horus» en traducción propia de von Franz, que advierte que no usa la francesa.

«I will give you the Arabic text just as it is in all its complexities» — su criterio de presentación, el mismo que aplicó al texto griego.

«Pay attention, so as not to burn the king and queen with too much fire.» — dicho de los filósofos, citado por ella en el comentario a la *Aurora consurgens*.

Mohammed ibn Umail vivió hacia 900-960; uno de sus escritos se publicó en árabe en las *Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal* (Calcuta, 1933) según un manuscrito hallado por Stapleton en Hyderabad, donde quedan otro centenar sin publicar.

El texto latino de Senior se publicó como *De chemia*, pero el título árabe real es «Silver Water and Starry Earth», y la traducción latina «is quite correct and deviates only in minor details».

«INNER CITY BOOKS is devoted to the publication of Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts.» — la declaración editorial del sello que publica el volumen.

«Marie-Louise von Franz is a Jungian Analyst practising in Kusnacht, Switzerland.» — la solapa del editor, que declara la adscripción de la autora antes de cualquier página suya.

«The author and publisher are grateful to Miss Thomas for her faithful preparation of the original version.» — el reconocimiento editorial a la transcriptora de las conferencias.

«Daryl Sharp selected the illustrations, wrote the captions, and compiled the index.» — todos los pies de ilustración de este volumen son voz del editor, no de von Franz.

«The philosophical egg is both birthplace of, and container for, the new attitudes symbolised by the alchemical goal of the coniunctio, the union of opposites (male and female, consciousness and the unconscious, etc.).» — pie de la ilustración de portada, de Daryl Sharp: el huevo filosófico es lugar de nacimiento y a la vez recipiente de la actitud nueva.

«Here that goal is pictured as hermaphrodite in triumph over the dragon and the winged globe of chaos, threatening faces of the unconscious.» — el mismo pie editorial, que lee el dragón y el globo alado como las caras amenazantes de lo inconsciente.

«The seven planets represent different aspects of the personality and the seven stages of transformation.» — el pie de portada reparte los siete planetas entre aspectos de la personalidad y etapas del proceso.

«The process of psychological development is analogous to the stages in the alchemical transformation of base matter into gold» — pie de la lámina de la montaña del adepto, también de Sharp.

«the philosopher's stone here represented as a "temple of the wise" buried in the earth.» — el mismo pie, que identifica el templo enterrado de la lámina con la piedra.

«The phoenix, symbol of the renewed personality, straddles the sun and moon (the opposites as masculine and feminine).» — pie editorial de la misma lámina.

«The blindfolded man represents the stumbling search for truth; the right way is shown by the investigator prepared to follow his natural instincts.» — cierre del pie editorial de la lámina de la montaña.

«William Blake's image of God the Father as a wise old man with a beard, a typical personification of the Self, archetype of wholeness and the centre of the personality.» — pie de ilustración del editor, que rotula la lámina de Blake con el vocabulario junguiano del volumen.

«Formerly it was simply said: "Put a little bit of sulphur into a little bit of lead, and then you have it." But Razi said: "A little bit, that makes the whole difference.» — ar-Razi en boca de von Franz, contrastado con la práctica anterior a la pesada.

«After a certain passing of the kairoi and the necessary movement of the heavenly sphere, it happened that one of the angels who dwelt in the first firmament saw me from above and came towards me desiring to unite with me sexually. He was in a great hurry for this to happen, but I did not submit to him.» — habla Isis en la traducción propia de von Franz: el ángel del primer firmamento la desea y ella no cede.

«When I put my question, he said he did not wish to answer me since it was such a great mystery [the superlatively great mystery to give a freer translation because this mystery is too overwhelming], but said he would return next day and with him would be a greater angel, Amnaël, who would be able to answer me and solve my problem.» — sigue Isis; el corchete es aclaración de traducción de von Franz dentro del texto.

«I resisted him and overcame his desire till he showed me the sign on his head, and gave me the tradition of the mysteries without keeping anything back, but in the full truth.» — Isis obtiene la tradición de Amnaël después de resistirlo por segunda vez.

«After he had pronounced this oath, he made me with this oath promise never to tell the mystery I was now to hear, except to my son, my child, and my closest friend, so that you are me, and I am you.» — el juramento de silencio en el texto de Isis, en traducción de von Franz.

«the whole creation and the whole process of coming into being, and know that a man is only able to produce a man, and a lion a lion, and a dog a dog, and if something happens contrary to nature [probably meaning contrary to this law], then it is a miracle and cannot continue to exist, because nature enjoys nature, and nature overcomes nature.» — la doctrina de que lo semejante engendra lo semejante, dicha por el ángel en el texto de Isis; el corchete es de von Franz.

«Just as I said before, wheat creates wheat, and a man begets a man, and thus also gold will harvest gold, like produces like.» — la misma doctrina aplicada al oro, dentro del texto de Isis.

«The alchemical image of the "pissing mannikin," and the use of "the urine of an uncorrupted boy" as a solvent, relate to the psychological reality that the unconscious is more responsive to the naive and spontaneous attitudes associated with childhood.» — pie de ilustración del editor, que resume en clave psicológica lo que von Franz expone en el cuerpo.

«If you want to make something white of the bodies [i.e., the material], mix it with quicksilver and drops of asbestos and urine and goatsmilk and natron, and then you can make everything work, and if you want to know how to double a substance, or how to colour the material, and all the dispositions, then know that everything has the same meaning [and that is important], that everything tends to have the same meaning» — receta del texto de Isis en traducción de von Franz; los corchetes son aclaraciones suyas.

«Take arsenic, cook it in water, mix it with olive oil, and then leave it in a bottle and put coals on it until it steams and also the same thing can be made with Realgar.» — otra receta del mismo texto griego, en su traducción.

«Remark: It seems to me that the Bible says that knowledge which is what the apple represents is corruptive in itself.» — intervención del auditorio, no de von Franz; la transcripción marca con Remark las voces de la sala.

«Remark: You spoke twice of the angel's desire for sexual relations with Isis, and the second time you used the word "rape," but that would make a difference in terms of paying for it, for one is forced while the other is voluntary.» — objeción del auditorio a un desliz de vocabulario en la exposición.

«Remark: We never will solve it, it is the problem with which we live.» — respuesta del auditorio a su declaración de problema abierto.

«The spiritualization of matter portrayed as the coronation of the Virgin Mary.» — pie de ilustración del editor, que rotula la lámina de la coronación con la tesis del capítulo.

«The alchemist and his assistant make the sign of the secret, in accord with the experience that much of what happens in a relationship between two people cannot be shared with others.» — pie de ilustración del editor sobre la pareja alquímica y el gesto del secreto.

«In the Book of the Caverns, one of the books of the dead in the many Egyptian variations, the sun god when in the underworld says: "Oh, Aker, I went your way, you whose forms are mysterious, open thy arms before me.» — habla el dios solar en el Libro de las Cavernas, en traducción de von Franz.

«The text continues: "I have seen thy mysteries, my sun disc and Geb, the earth god, are those whom I carry on my back.» — continuación del mismo texto egipcio.

«Sometimes the double lions are replaced, as I mentioned above, by two of Anubis's jackals, two doglike animals, and then the inscription below is: "These are the openers of the way, the agents of resurrection.» — inscripción funeraria egipcia citada por von Franz junto a su descripción de la variante.

«While still giving such recipes, Isis says: "Now, my child, you know the mystery which is the elixir of the widow.» — cierre del texto de Isis en traducción de von Franz, de donde sale el nombre elixir de la viuda.