Witnessing with Compassion

Part I
Lunar Consciousness: An Alchemical Perspective

The Rosarium, an alchemical series, presents a template for the transformation of solar (masculine) and lunar (feminine) soul energies. The formation of a deeply reflective lunar consciousness is necessary to facilitate change in social systems. A new “third” is being sought that requires a compassionate stance towards oneself and other.

Jung was fascinated with alchemy and its profound symbolism. His fundamental insight was that the alchemists were projecting unconscious psychic processes onto the transformation of matter in the laboratory. In alchemy he saw the bridge between analytical psychology and early forms of thought, such as Gnosticism – to reach ‘a point outside our own time’ in order to understand how deep change occurs. Jung stated “Alchemy describes, not merely in general outline but often in the most astonishing detail, the same psychological phenomenology which can be observed in the analysis of unconscious processes.”

Jung used the alchemical series, The Rosarium Philosophorum, The Rosary of the Philosophers, in his paper, The Psychology of the Transference, to describe the the unconscious dynamics occurring in the analytic relationship. We will look at this series from a somewhat more social perspective to help understand what is happening during our turbulent times.

This series presents a template for the transformation of solar (masculine) and lunar (feminine) soul energies. My current research into the rosary has provided insight into why the alchemists may have used the image of “the rosary” to describe this series. It points to the creation of a deeply reflective lunar consciousness, a new “third thing” is being sought that requires a compassionate stance towards oneself and other.