TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITORIAL NOTE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

I

Commentary on “The Secret of the Golden Flower”

Translated from the “Europäischer Kommentar” to Das Geheimnis der goldenen Blüte: Ein chinesisches Lebensbuch, 5th edn. (Zurich: Rascher, 1957).

Foreword to the Second German Edition

1. Difficulties Encountered by a European in Trying to Understand the East

2. Modern Psychology Offers a Possibility of Understanding

3. The Fundamental Concepts

A. TAO

B. THE CIRCULAR MOVEMENT AND THE CENTRE

4. Phenomena of the Way

A. THE DISINTEGRATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

B. ANIMUS AND ANIMA

5. The Detachment of Consciousness from the Object

6. The Fulfilment

7. Conclusion

Examples of European Mandalas

II

The Visions of Zosimos

Translated from “Die Visionen des Zosimos,” Von den Wurzeln des Bewusstseins (Zurich: Rascher, 1954).

  I. The Texts

 II. Commentary

1. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE INTERPRETATION

2. THE SACRIFICIAL ACT

3. THE PERSONIFICATIONS

4. THE STONE SYMBOLISM

5. THE WATER SYMBOLISM

6. THE ORIGIN OF THE VISION

III

Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon

Translated from “Paracelsus als geistige Erscheinung,” Paracelsica: Zwei Vorlesungen über den Arzt und Philosophen Theophrastus (Zurich: Rascher, 1942).

Foreword to Paracelsica

1. The Two Sources of Knowledge: The Light of Nature and the Light of Revelation

A. MAGIC

B. ALCHEMY

C. THE ARCANE TEACHING

D. THE PRIMORDIAL MAN

2. “De vita longa”: An Exposition of the Secret Doctrine

A. THE ILIASTER

B. THE AQUASTER

C. ARES

D. MELUSINA

E. THE FILIUS REGIUS AS THE ARCANE SUBSTANCE (MICHAEL MAIER)

F. THE PRODUCTION OF THE ONE, OR CENTRE, BY DISTILLATION

G. THE CONIUNCTIO IN THE SPRING

3. The Natural Transformation Mystery

A. THE LIGHT OF THE DARKNESS

B. THE UNION OF MAN’S TWO NATURES

C. THE QUATERNITY OF THE HOMO MAXIMUS

D. THE RAPPROCHEMENT WITH THE UNCONSCIOUS

4. The Commentary of Gerard Dorn

A. MELUSINA AND THE PROCESS OF INDIVIDUATION

B. THE HIEROSGAMOS OF THE EVERLASTING MAN

C. SPIRIT AND NATURE

D. THE ECCLESIASTICAL SACRAMENT AND THE OPUS ALCHYMICUM

5. Epilogue

IV

The Spirit Mercurius

Translated from “Der Geist Mercurius,” Symbolik des Geistes (Zurich: Rascher, 1948).

Part I

1. The Spirit in the Bottle

2. The Connection between Spirit and Tree

3. The Problem of Freeing Mercurius

Part II

1. Introductory

2. Mercurius as Quicksilver and/or Water

3. Mercurius as Fire

4. Mercurius as Spirit and Soul

A. MERCURIUS AS AN AERIAL SPIRIT

B. MERCURIUS AS SOUL

C. MERCURIUS AS SPIRIT IN THE INCORPOREAL, METAPHYSICAL SENSE

5. The Dual Nature of Mercurius

6. The Unity and Trinity of Mercurius

7. The Relation of Mercurius to Astrology and the Doctrine of the Archons

8. Mercurius and Hermes

9. Mercurius as the Arcane Substance

10. Summary

V

The Philosophical Tree

Translated from “Der philosophische Baum,” Von den Wurzeln des Bewusstseins (Zurich: Rascher, 1954).

  I. Individual Representations of the Tree Symbol

 II. On the History and Interpretation of the Tree Symbol

1. THE TREE AS AN ARCHETYPAL IMAGE

2. THE TREE IN THE TREATISE OF JODOCUS GREVERUS

3. THE TETRASOMIA

4. THE IMAGE OF WHOLENESS

5. THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL TREE

6. DORN’S INTERPRETATION OF THE TREE

7. THE ROSE-COLOURED BLOOD AND THE ROSE

8. THE ALCHEMICAL MIND

9. VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE TREE

10. THE HABITAT OF THE TREE

11. THE INVERTED TREE

12. BIRD AND SNAKE

13. THE FEMININE TREE-NUMEN

14. THE TREE AS THE LAPIS

15. THE DANGERS OF THE ART

16. UNDERSTANDING AS A MEANS OF DEFENCE

17. THE MOTIF OF TORTURE

18. THE RELATION OF SUFFERING TO THE CONIUNCTIO

19. THE TREE AS MAN

20. THE INTERPRETATION AND INTEGRATION OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX