Alchemy and Individuation: The Colors of Transformation

Book Synopsis: In this unique book linking alchemy and psychological transformation, Jungian psychologist Lynne Ehlers focuses on the archetypal significance of color and illustrates it with two clinical case studies. Ancient, medieval and Renaissance alchemists, in their attempt to turn base metals into gold or to find the Elixir of Life, generally believed that in order for the alchemical opus to be successful, the matter in their vessels must first turn black, then white, yellow and finally red. C.G. Jung, studying the ancient alchemical texts, contended that what the alchemists were describing was the process of psychological transformation, and that these four colors represented stages of psychological development. Jung’s voluminous writings on the subject have brought alchemy— languishing for two hundred years on what Edward Edinger called “the rubbish-heap of history”—into contemporary consciousness, where it is enjoying a resurgence of interest and respect. This book originated with an epiphany: reading about Jung’s assertions on the alchemical colors as stages of psychological development, Ehlers suddenly wondered if the colors in her dream record followed the same alchemical sequence. Her dissertation offered empirical statistical support that the black, white and red were, indeed, discrete, sequential stages in the process of transformation. Years later, she was thrilled to see that the colors chosen in a client’s sandplay over time followed the same alchemical sequence. However, this is not surprising: alchemy, dreams and sandplay all draw from the profound creative depths of the unconscious and all three share the common language of symbol and metaphor, allowing them to be comfortably woven together into one colorful tapestry. This beautifully written and illustrated book is the story of the author’s and her client’s poignantly transformative journeys, from wounded women toward wholeness, vividly brought to life in the author’s dreams, poetry and experiences in her personal analysis, and in the clinical amplification of her client’s sandplay. Citing Jung, Jungian scholars, alchemists, literary references, religious symbolism and the work of contemporary neuroscientists, and illustrating her ideas with magnificent alchemical manuscript paintings, art and moving sandplay photos, Ehlers opens wide the doors into the emotional and psychological meaning of the colors and opens our hearts to the awesome power of the unconscious to heal.—a powerful corroboration of the alchemist Heraclitus’ observations on color as stages in his opus, described twenty-five centuries ago.