Three Alchemical Tools to Understand Self-Criticism

The psychiatrist Carl Jung was an influential figure in the history of psychology.

His contributions to personality theory are undeniable as he was the first to distinguish between extraversion and introversion two terms that have become ubiquitous in modern western culture over the last 100 years.

In more recent times, influential psychologists like Raymond Cattell have built on Jung’s theory of personality and his ideas continue to impact the development of personality theory.

This is a fairly conservative description of Jung’s legacy.

His ideas about synchronicity, archetypes, and the collective unconscious are much more interesting yet clinical psychology and more rationally minded depth psychologists tend to give them the side eye.

An example of one of Jung’s more interesting (and I will argue enduring) projects is the synthesis he attempted between depth psychology and a psychological reading of the alchemical process.

For the not yet initiated, the alchemical process is another way to describe for “The Great Work,” “the magnum opus,” or the transformation of lead into gold.

Jung read this psychologically as a description for fulfilling latent potential.

This is interesting because it serves as a major distinction between Jung’s psychology (sometimes called analytical psychology) and other forms of depth psychology.