Customer Reviews

Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts

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Despite the title, this appears to be Jeliffe's English translation of Silberer's magnum opus, "Problems of mysticism and its symbolism".

Jung acknowledged his debt to Silberer in his seminal works on alchemy and psychology. However, I don't think he went far enough. Silberer has preceded Jung's major conclusions, and argues his case in a far more objective and less polemical style. Moreover, Silberer effectively provided Jung with signposts to the important works and figures in the history of alchemy and Rosicrucianism. Despite mentioning Silberer, Jung still attributes his interest in alchemy to one of his own dreams (see "Memories, dreams and reflections").

If you are at all interested in Jung's investigations, you need to read this. It is also useful background to help understand why Freud so vigorously rejected Jung after first asking Jung to help defend his new science against "the black tide of occultism" (Silberer hanged himself after his book was rejected by Freud and he was effectively excommunicated from the Vienna circle).

This is a good book, and worth the read. However, don't "buy" the digital edition from Amazon. This book is part of the gutenberg project, and is available for free at a number of websites.