Moving towards Soul – an alchemical journey. Rehabilitation of women suffering from ‘chronic pain’ in a clinical and Jungian context

The aim of this paper is to explore the connection between symptom and symbol in the body of women suffering from chronic pain, diagnosed as fibromyalgia. The working hypothesis has been that the symbol that emerges from the symptom in the body can bridge the gap to a deeper meaning of pain and suffering, thereby becoming the agent of change for healing of the bodymind and the experience of pain in the physical body. To explore this subject I will introduce some recent research from the field of fibromyalgia, and the concepts of agency and affect systems in the body, which are important cornerstones in my work. I will briefly present my clinical concept of ‘Form and Freedom’. From this theoretical base I give some clinical examples of what I see as an alchemical journey towards soul, presented through vignettes, images and the words of three women – Maria, Riba and Ishtar. I conclude with how I see analytical psychology taking its rightful place alongside, informing or in conjunction with, as in my case, other psychotherapeutic modalities, working in creative ways that enhance healing in patients who suffer from chronic pain.     

The Alchemical Oedipus: Re-Visioning the Myth

The Oedipus myth is foundational to depth psychology due to Freud’s use of Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex in the creation of psychoanalysis. But analytical psychology’s engagement with the myth has been limited despite the importance Jung also places upon it. The absence of a developed Jungian response to Oedipus means the myth’s psychologically constructive elements have been overlooked in favour of reductive Freudian interpretations. I examine whether analytical psychology can fruitfully re-engage with Oedipus by reinterpreting his story as a paternal rebirth. This is achieved by reincorporating those parts of the myth that occur before and after the period portrayed in Oedipus Rex. Such a move reintegrates Oedipus’ father, King Laius, into the story and unveils important parallels with the alchemical trope of the king’s renewal by his son. Using Jung’s method of amplification, Oedipus is recast as Laius’ redeemer and identified with the archetype of psychological wholeness, the Self. The contention is that such an understanding of Oedipus supports a clearer recognition of the potentially generative quality of human suffering, restoring to the myth the quality of moral instruction it possessed in antiquity.     

Alchemy in the image of the analyst

The author aims to demonstrate the activation in the transference relationship of a figure representing 'sameness' in a number of forms. In the first clinical vignette, she shows how a child projects his own difficulty symmetrically on to the analyst, with the aim of creating the conjunction of opposites which the psyche needs for its growth.
During the archetypal reworking which adolescence provides we again find this figure of 'sameness' in the foreground, in the phase of homosexual object choice. A second clinical vignette shows how this figure of 'sameness' can be represented in the fantasy or the desire of becoming an analyst.
The author puts forward the hypothesis that this fantasy represents an imago whose characteristics include being a tool for linking feeling and thinking in the inner world; it is constituted in the entre deux , the space between self and other, and, like Winnicott's transitional object, it facilitates the capacity to symbolize. Being 'off centre' with regard to infantile positions in relation to the parental imagos, this imago offers a vantage point for 'evaluation' ( sich auseinandersetzen ) and 'consideration' ( betrachten ). Finally this imago is transistory, because its destiny is to be deconstructed (as shown in the third clinical vignette which concerns an adult patient), in order to be integrated through the work of analysis.     

One Thousand Dreams

The dreams in Psychology and Alchemy were important to Jung because they portray a natural process in the unconscious in which the mandala symbolism gradually takes form, with emphasis on a centre. The dreamer is led through a labyrinth of archetypal symbolism which lays in evidence the dynamic structure of the psyche.
Jung was obviously not permitted to reveal the identity of the man behind the dreams. This paper introduces the historical dreamer, Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958), together with a sample of his significant dreams as discussed by Jung. The intent is to bear witness to the suffering which hides behind the archetypal imagery, as well as the transformative power of the archetype, lending support to Jung's statement that 'behind every neurosis there is a religious problem'.
Pauli was a genius, who as a Nobel laureate ranked with the top physicists of this century. As a one-sided intellectual atheist alienated from his feelings, in his early thirties he met with an emotional crisis, which led him to Jung for treatment. The dreams that Pauli experienced at that time carried him through a depth experience, a nekyia, that transformed his attitude toward life. They were also a precursor to a dream life that stimulated his investigation of non-causal influences common to quantum physics and (analytical) psychology, i.e. the 'psychophysical problem', including synchronicity.
A legacy of Pauli's life was to show that the non-rational unconscious can give meaningful expression to the functioning of a scientific mind.     

Editorial

This paper is a response to William Meredith-Owen’s paper presented at the inaugural joint conference on ‘Alchemy, a bridge to Jung’s objective psyche’, for The Society of Analytical Psychology and the West Midlands Institute of Psychotherapy in autumn 2020. The paper presents a way of understanding the collective unconscious through the functioning of the core self, and thus offers a bridge which addresses the indivisibility of the personal and collective psyche/unconscious, referencing Mary Williams’ (1963) classic paper. Specifically, this is applied to Winnicott’s dream of destruction that he had after reviewing Memories, Dreams, Reflections, as well as to parts of the psyche that were dissociated due to significant early deprivation – the primary narcissistic wounds. Alchemical metaphors are shown to relate to the analytic process, which allows the primitive core self (with its identificatory, participatory, connecting nature), when integrated through relationship, to sink back into the unconscious and function as the Self.     

The little obsessional alchemist

Using the psychoanalytic experience with an obsessional child, this paper looks at the moment of insight, that precipitation of coherence which occurs when we say that we suddenly realize something. This is contrasted with the approach of consciously trying to fit theory to the observed facts. Analogies with alchemy are drawn. In addition, the balancing process occurring in obsessional mentality is compared with strangulation by hanging, the opposing forces being comprised of prematurely solidified states of mind such as mania or paranoia which interfere with that fluid state of mind optimal for the precipitation of insight.     

What implications does The Red Book have for my clinical practice?

The Red Book takes us to the heart of Jung's project, exposing the fundamentally religious nature of his work. Jungian analysts who heed the religious imperative will find themselves caught - as Jung was - between the 'spirit of this time' and the 'spirit of the depths', which raises significant questions for our clinical work.     

The psychologist who is not a psychologist: a deconstructive reading of Wolfgang Giegerich's idea of psychology proper

This paper represents an archetypal and deconstructive reading of the work of Wolfgang Giegerich. In an attempt to extend and philosophically develop Jung's late‐life view of the objective psyche, Giegerich, via Hegel, defines psychology proper as fundamentally separate from the everyday person and the ‘human, all‐too‐human’ aspects of the soul. It is argued that, in so doing, Giegerich removes the human person from being the primary focus of his psychology and creates instead a hierarchy of ideas and values privileging syntax over semantics, the logical over the empirical, and thinking over imagination. This bypasses the emotionality of the everyday person/patient and also renders psychology proper unable to address the day‐to‐day practice of the analyst. Giegerich attempts to rectify this problem by re‐incorporating what he had previously rejected, making his theory more complex than is apparent in his binary oppositions. In the end, however, it remains a question to what extent Giegerich is successful in avoiding a binary scission (Saban 2015) or a tendency to regularly de‐emphasize the human aspect of the soul (Hoedl 2015) in his need to continue to heroically push off from the ego seeking total freedom from neurosis and from our humanity.