Alchemy, Witchcraft, and Magic:
New Looks at Old Archetypal Images
HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
ADA 1500
Division of Social and Behaviorial Sciences
Sullivan County Community College
Loch Sheldrake, New York
by Thomas Rue, M.A., Asst. Prof..
December 1989, 2004. All rights reserved.
This article concerns those aspects of humanistic psychology, moral philosophy, religion and science which come together under the headings of alchemy, witchcraft, and magic.
These three words conjure archetypal images of mystic significance. This may be because their content relates to something in that part of the collective and individual psyche which students of Jung recognize as the shadow (Ulanov, 1977), defined as "the parts of oneself that one considers unpresentable, because they seem weak, socially unacceptable, or even evil" (Mattoon, 1981.)
von Franz (1964) pointed out: "The shadow is not necessarily always an opponent. In fact, [it] is exactly like any human being with whom one has to get along, sometimes by giving in, sometimes by resisting, sometimes by giving love -- whatever the situation requires. The shadow becomes hostile only when [it] is ignored or misunderstood.
Another writer has asserted:
Alchemical symbolism gives us numerous examples of the central archetype as a union of opposites. For example, the philosopher's stone, one of the goals of the alchemical process, was depicted as resulting from the marriage of the red king and the white queen, or from the union of sun and moon, fire and water. The product of such a union is a paradoxical image often described as hermaphroditic. Other images which are often used to express the union of opposites are the reconciliation of opposing partisan factions and the reconciliation of good and evil..." (Edinger, 1968.)
Other writers (Sadoul, 1972; Thompson, 1973) have addressed the archetypal significance of the concepts of alchemy and magic.
From ancient times, humanity's great thinkers have explained existence in terms of duality: androgyny, balance, homeostasis, and karma.
In severing the feminine principle from the Divine, traditions like Juaism, Christianity or Islam seem to deny the very essence of the spiral of Life. Early Greek, Roman, Minoan, Celtic, Native American, and other ancient cultures, reverenced goddess images (conceptual and tangible); a practice in which some find meaning and relevance today (Adler, 1986.)
The fiery and vengeful He-man God of Jerry Fallwell or Jim Baker, known variously as El, Y-H-V-H, Adonai, or the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- seems to some scholars to have been a deliberate corruption by patriarchal conspirators bent on deleting the feminine principle (Berger, 1985; Ranck, 1986; Rowan, 1978; Starhawk, 1979.)
Whether this "changing of the gods," as it has been called (Goldenberg, 1979), was calculated or the result of a neurotic psychic schism in the group consciousness, is both unknown and perhaps of interest more to historians than to psychologists. There is more than one theory concerning exactly when this epic transition took place, but some have postulated that it occurred somewhere around the time of the mythical King Arthur (Bradley, 1977.) Whenever the shift took place, in an age when nuclear destruction is a possibility reassessment of world views and ways of thingking seems essential.
The Goddess has been restored from her obscurity, evidenced by the popularity of such writers as Starhaw, Erica Jong, and Marion Zimmer Bradley. Margot Adler (the granddaughter of Alfred Adler), and others, have given the pagan revival an identifiable presence among Unitarian Universalists, a mainstream religious denomination. Hundreds of independent neo-pagan groups exist in the United States alone (Adler, 1979), ranging from basic units called covens or other small groups designed for study and ritual practice, to national networks and organizations.
Finding local groups is sometimes difficult, but they are definitely out there. Most circles keep their profile in the community rather low, preferring to maintain their religious beliefs or spiritual practices a private matter. But many such groups -- such as, for example, the Covenant of the Goddess, Church Sanctuary, and the Church of All Worlds -- are incorporated and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt churches, thereby making the organization structures a matter of public record.
Ancient paganism is a diverse collection of venerable and not-so-venerable religions. Wicca is one branch of the current-day pagan movement. Modern heavy-metal music and American satanists borrow heavily from pre-Christian symbols such as the five-pointed pentagram, but closer examination reveals the ritual of the infamous Black Mass is a corruption of sacraments of the Catholic church (Gardner, 1959), rather than a vestige of the old religion. The inverted pentagram has become identified with negative elements, but witchcraft predates the idea of an adversarial "Satan" (Buckland, 1987.)
Even some who allege sensationally that "history's most notorious slayers have been controlled by the Occult (Steiger & Smith, 1979) admit:
