The alchemical Mercurius : esoteric symbol of Jung's life and works

• Main Author: Mather, Matthew
• Published: University of Essex 2013
• Subjects: 150.1954
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.589451

The word Mercurius hardly features in contemporary works and biographies on Jung. In contrast a study of primary writings indicates that this phenomenon traverses, in a significant way, Jung's life and works. A qualitative study also reveals the great significance of this phenomenon for Jung. Accordingly, the present study claims to have identified neglect of this figure in post-Jungian writing and scholarship. It therefore endeavours both to clarify Jung's experience and portrayal of this phenomenon and to situate it more firmly within contemporary post-Jungian studies. A key method used is the construction of historical and biographical perspectives to allow for a phenomenological interpretation of how synchronistic experiences, coalesced around mercurial themes, may have informed Jung's life myth. Such perspectives also serve as a contextualisation for a close textual analysis of his later works such as Synchronicity, Aion, and Mysterium Coniunctionis. The most notable finding is that placing the alchemical Mercurius as a central concern reveals a Jungian interpretation in which the grail legend, alchemy and precessional astrology converge. In such a treatment Jung's belief in the dawning of a new Platonic month, the Age of Aquarius, emerges as a central consideration. An esoteric perspective on Jung's life and works is thus brought more fully to light and a life-myth interpretation is constructed.