THROUGH THE TRANSFERENCE KEYHOLE AND INTO JUNG’S WORLD Crystals and Compost: Jung’s Alchemical Transference Rae Chittock Doctor of Philosophy University of Western Sydney 2008 1 Dedication All the Alchemists Jeff Alva, Albert, Julie Thomas Leo Myra and Charlotte Shirley, June, William, Jack 2 Acknowledgements My thanks go to UWS Brendon and David for the brief and beautiful project brought to life Those who encouraged and generously contributed Craig Leslie Giles Dorothea Colin Katina C G 3 Statement of Authentication The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution. ……………………………………………. R. Chittock 4 Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction to the Research 11 To begin 11 Stated research objective 12 The components in the research 13 The Psychology of the Transference 14 The research configuration 17 My position as researcher 20 The overall organisation of the research 23 Chapter 1: Introduction to the research 24 Chapter 2: Jung’s essay, The Psychology of the Transference 24 Chapter 3: Jung and the twenty Rosarium philosophorum woodcuts25 Chapter 4: Alchemical transference 25 Chapter 5: The Mercurial Fountain 26 Chapter 6: King and Queen 26 Chapter 7: The Naked Truth 27 Chapter 8: Immersion in the Bath 27 Chapter 9: The Conjunction 27 Chapter 10:Death 28 Chapter 11: The Ascent of the Soul 29 Chapter 12: Purification 30 Chapter 13: The Return of the Soul 30 Chapter 14: The New Birth 30 Chapter 15: To conclude 31 Chapter 2 Jung’s essay, The Psychology of the Transference 32 To begin 32 This chapter 32 Epigraphs and dedication 33 Jung’s dedication to his wife 37 The Introduction of The Psychology of the Transference 42 Section 1 42 Section 2 43 Section 3 43 Section 4 43 Section 5 44 Section 6 44 Section 7 45 Section 8 45 Section 9 46 Section 10 46 5 Chapter 2 (cont.) Introduction to An Account of the Transference Phenomena Based on the Illustrations to the “Rosarium Philosophorum” 47 Woodcut 1: The Mercurial Fountain 47 Woodcut 2: King and Queen 48 Woodcut 3: The Naked Truth 48 Woodcut 4: Immersion in the Bath 49 Woodcut 5: The Conjunction 49 Woodcut 5a The Conjunction 49 Woodcut 6: Death 50 Woodcut 7: The Ascent of the Soul 51 Woodcut 8: Purification 52 Woodcut 9: The Return of the Soul 52 Woodcut 10: The New Birth 53 Chapter 3 Jung and the twenty woodcuts of the Rosarium philosophorum 54 To begin 54 This chapter 56 The twenty woodcuts of the Rosarium philosophorum 57 Jung refers to the complete Rosarium philosophorum 58 One view: The alchemy of the complete Rosarium philosophorum 60 Other writers on the Rosarium philosophorum 64 Chapter 4 Alchemical transference 73 To begin 73 This chapter 75 Transference, briefly 75 Noting the plurality of Jung’s alchemical transferece 78 Transference, alchemy, individuation 83 Other Jungian writers on transference 87 To conclude 92 Chapter 5 The Mercurial Fountain 94 To begin 94 This chapter 95 The Mercurial Fountain 95 Jung in the water of the Fountain 96 Other writers on The Mercurial Fountain 98 Two contrasting views on the Fountain 106 Personal transference to The Mercurial Fountain 109 Analytical Conversation 1 109 To conclude 112 6 Chapter 6 King and Queen 114 To begin 114 This chapter 115 King and Queen 116 The marriage quaternio 120 Jung’s marriage quaternio: the original 121 Other writers on the marriage quaternio 123 To conclude 132 Chapter 7 The Naked Truth 135 To begin 135 This chapter 136 Jung writes about The Naked Truth 137 Pausing to consider The Naked Truth 140 Other writers describe The Naked Truth 142 Personal transference contents and The Naked Truth 148 Analytical Conversation 2 148 Thinking about transference and The Naked Truth 150 To conclude 153 Chapter 8 Immersion in the Bath 154 To begin 154 This chapter 157 Other writers on Immersion in the Bath 157 Symbols in Immersion in the Bath 160 Personal transference contents and Immersion in the Bath 162 Analytical conversation 3 163 Formulation of structure and process 167 Considering the opposites in the transference 170 To conclude 172 Chapter 9 The Conjunction 174 To begin 174 This chapter 176 Orientation to The Conjunction 5, 5a 177 Personal transference contents and The Coniuunctio 179 Analytical conversation 4 179 Analytical psychology and geometry in The Conjunction 5,5a 183 Other writers on The Conjunction 185 Re-gathering body, soul and spirit within the transference 188 To conclude 193 7 Chapter 10 Death 194 To begin 194 This chapter 195 Jung writes about Death 196 Other writers consider Death 202 A pause for comment 207 To conclude 211 Chapter 11 The Ascent of the Soul 212 To begin 212 This chapter 213 Orienting to This Chapter 214 Jung’s interpretation of The Ascent of the Soul 216 The light that shines in the darkness 218 Sapientia Dei 220 Personal transference contents and The Ascent of the Soul 224 Analytical conversation 5 224 Other writers on The Ascent of the Soul 226 To conclude 228 Chapter 12 Purification 230 To begin 230 This chapter 231 The mundification and the research 231 Woodcut 8: Purification 235 Jung writes about Purification 236 Other writers on Purification 237 Jung’s alchemical speculations on the Purification 242 Transference contents and Purification 245 Analytical Converstion 6 246 To conclude 248 Chapter 13 The Return of the Soul 250 To begin 250 This chapter 251 Jung on The Return of the Soul 251 Other writers on The Return of the Soul 254 A shift in Jung’s language 256 Anima and animus return to the conversation 260 A personal transference reflection on Return of the Soul 265 To conclude 266 8 Chapter 14 The New Birth 268 To begin 268 This chapter 269 Orienting to The New Birth 269 Jung’s interpretation of The New Birth 272 Personal transference contents and The New Birth 275 Analytical conversation 6 275 Jung completing some unfinished business 277 The Epilogue 281 To conclude 283 Chapter 15 To Conclude 286 To begin 286 This chapter 287 The Psychology of the Transference 287 Personal transference contents 290 Analytical Conversation 7 290 Transference experience and The Psychology of the Transference 294 Supervisory Conversation 1 296 Transference theories in The Psychology of the Transference 297 Transference relationships in The Psychology of the Transference 299 Transference geometries in The Psychology of the Transference 302 To conclude 305 References 307 Bibliography 312 Appendices Appendix 1: Ethics Approval and Protocol Number 318 Appendix 2:Fold out: Twenty Rosarium philosophorum woodcuts 319 Appendix 3: Fold out: Woodcuts Jung uses in The Psychology of the Transference 320 9 Abstract This research investigates psychological transference through a lens constructed by Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961). He links transference inextricably to alchemy. I explore his ideas of transference as a phenomenon that exists inside the analytical dyad and in the world of relationships generally. Transference is an unconscious phenomenon made evident through the way the self is experienced in the presence of an other. The implication is that self and other create a field of unconscious expectations, positive and negative, loving and hateful. Contents in the self appear first in projected form onto the object/other. In the entangled relationship the two create, each has the opportunity to sort out who owns which components, and how they construct a personal world through which the wider world is viewed. Self needs the other to reveal, in projected form, contents of which the self is unaware. These components might then be recognised and reclaimed by the self which grows in scope and complexity in the process. More specifically, the research investigates its topic with the assistance of data drawn from two sources: one theoretical, one experiential. The theoretical source is a guide which is applied and critiqued. The guide is an essay published by Jung in 1946. Jung’s relatively brief essay is The Psychology of the Transference. Considered his major work on the subject of transference, it is notable in two ways: it presents transference through the metaphor and filter of alchemy; and it is organised around a series of alchemical woodcuts, from 1550, called Rosarium philosophorum. These place the sexual and erotic energies of the transference centrally within the discourse. Jung writes that only by associating his ideas with alchemical ones could he think about transference and construct a phenomenology of the unconscious process and its outcomes. The second and practical data source is my own position as a Jungian analyst in training. In this document I think about and experience transference as analysand and as person living in the world. My relationships, as analysand working with four analysts, in four analytical relationships, have formed data, experienced and thought, as has my exposure to other training analysts and the Jungian world in general. These influences operate in the essay as the bases for discussion and departure points. The thesis is an application of The Psychology of the Transference, and assumes that transference exists inside the analytical setting and outside of it. The research records my intellectual and experiential relationship with Jung’s essay as my own guide to the psychology of the transference in the way that Jung presents it, and in the way I have come to understand it for myself. 10 Chapter 1: Introduction to the research Chapter 1 Introduction to the Research To Begin This first chapter introduces work. It outlines the contents and organisation of the research.