Alchemy and the Teacher

Abstract

In order for teachers to reflect deeply upon themselves, they need powerful models and images to guide their introspection. In teacher reflectivity, as in the therapeutic processes, psychic energy must ultimately be "contained" by models and modalities that enable one to make sense out of one's inner and outer experiences. This enables those experiences to form the basis for the transformation of self, setting, and other. In this article, the author would like to introduce and employ a model that he believes can enrich teacher reflectivity at biographical, political and spiritual levels. The author is speaking of alchemy--and specifically, Carl Jung's psychotherapeutic interpretation of it. In the last major phase of his career, Jung, the father of archetypal psychology, turned to the lost art and arcane texts of alchemy in his researches, claiming that alchemical processes subtly embodied and richly symbolized the psycho-spiritual transformations that occur in the course of deep therapy. He asserted that "the world of alchemical symbols definitely does not belong to the rubbish heap of the past, but stands in a very real and living relationship to the most recent discoveries concerning the psychology of the unconscious." In this article, the author shows how alchemy in its psychotherapeutic contexts offers especially rich symbols for exploring oneself as a teacher.