The question of operativity in Jungian “alchemy”

Although the concept of operativity does not appear as such in Jung’s writings, it nevertheless underpins the transformation process Jung called individuation. Considered to be the psychological equivalent of the accomplishment of the alchemical Magnum Opus, this process proves to be operative in that it puts “to work” (self-realization) a dialectic of the conscious and unconscious punctuated by symbols which bear a great similarity to those of alchemy. This article strives to specify the nature and scope of this particular type of symbolic effectiveness. It is divided into three parts: the Middle Way taken by Jung (“between knowing and believing”), Jung’s interpretation of the history of ideas and the importance he granted to alchemy (“the re-implementation of a forgotten tradition”), and, lastly, on operativity as inseparable from a paradoxical approach to psychic phenomena (“Jung attentive to Nature”).