Alchemy in the past and today
The meditations of the alchemists focused on scrutinizing the metamorphoses of matter they supposed was inhabited by a spirit. Likewise, the modern unconscious, the definition of which was broadened by Jung, becomes dynamic and operative according to a hermeneutics that makes it analogous to the materia prima of the medieval masters. The spirit Mercury conveyed by this unconscious proves to be a therapeutic factor of the highest order in bringing opposites closer together, treating splits and neuroses, and emerging from unilaterality by accessing a more complex intelligence and sensitivity. And the philosophy of The Emerald Table is still fully relevant, encouraging us to lend as much attention to what we consider to be psychological and spiritual to what we feel as solid and physical, without separating the higher from the lower, and grasping them as a whole. Alchemy, a journey towards full embodiment as well as a spiritual journey, recognized the eternal element in the human being.