VIDEO SEMINAR SERIES:

The Spirit Mercurius

JUNG’s alchemical studies Reading Group

with Jason E. Smith, IAAP

Four Sessions
Six Hours

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Devil. Dragon. Trickster. God. The symbol of Mercurius is one of the most fascinating and confusing figures in the literature of Western Alchemy. As changeable as its mythic namesake (Hermes, Mercury), it is a symbol overflowing with a multiplicity of meanings and references. As such, the image of Mercurius offers the potential for great insight, richness, and vitality while, at the same time, being difficult to track and resistant to understanding. It is just these qualities that, for Jung, makes this symbol a particularly apt one for the experience of the unconscious psyche.

In this class, we will read through Jung’s essay The Spirit Mercurius and discover the many, often contradictory, aspects of this important symbol. In the course of our exploration we will see how this multifaceted image can help us to understand the tricky character of the unconscious in our individual psychological lives. Finally, we will learn how to better track the mystery of our own peculiar nature as it unfolds along the path of individuation.

Required Reading:

The Spirit Mercurius by C.G. Jung (in Collected Works, vol. 13)

Class #1: Spirit Mercurius, Part 1: pp. 190 - 203

Class #2: Spirit Mercurius, Part 2(a): pp. 204 - 220

Class #3: Spirit Mercurius, Part 2(b): pp. 221 - 236

Class #4: Spirit Mercurius, Summary: pp. 237 - 250

Recommended supplementary Reading:

The Philosophical Tree by C.G. Jung (CW13)

Anatomy of the Psyche by Edward Edinger (particularly Chapters 1, 2, 5, & 6

Ego and Archetype by Edward Edinger (particularly Chapters 7 & 10)

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Your Host:

Jason E. Smith

Jason E. Smith is an author and Jungian analyst in private practice in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. He was previously the president of the Training Board of the C. G. Jung Institute in Boston. He received his Master’s degree from Pacifica Graduate Institute and graduated from the C.G. Jung Institute - Boston with a diploma in Analytical Psychology.

Jason is the creator and host of the podcast, Digital Jung: The Symbolic Life in a Technological Age and the author of Religious But Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life (2020).