Raff's vision of individuation through the lens of alchemical symbols

books:

	• Jung and the Alchemical Imagination (Jung on the Hudson Book Series) Jeffrey Raff Nicolas-Hays, 2000 - 277 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Quick Path to Bliss

Ignore the complexity of the title. This book is the newest and best handbook on finding your myth. If you are serious about living by guidance from an Intelligence equal to "God", read this book. You need little knowledge of Jung , as Raffe does a great job making him easy to understand. But the power in this book is his focus on the THREE REAL STEPS you must experience as the world of the sub-conscious guides you. Raffe proves this process from the history of Alchemical (read source of all modern chemistry) "scientists". Mystics from world religions are quoted in their experience of the Divine as an Alcemical process. Raffe shows you how you can emulate their process of letting the Ego find it's correct place in your life. My journey goes back 45 years, and this book puts it all together for those of us who seek enlightenment where our heritage is Ocidental. Synchronicity is my myth, and Raffe accurately brings Synchronicity into focus as a major source of finding the sub-conscious guides waiting to help you find your bliss. If you want to know the riddle of what is the "Last Desire" before enlightenment, read the book. The changes associated with the real "straight and narrow" path of one's myth Raffe proves are time tested and proven logically, through the evolution of Alchemy as both real science and the analogy of our soul development. Alchemy and Synchronicity are magic, and both are paradoxical. Raffe shows us how not to fear the often sudden and frightening changes that emerge in a life tuned to expect and accept paradoxical events. And it's done in a non-demoninational process that can produce wholeness and bliss while living in a world of chaos. Raffe is a genuine man, and this book is not the source of an empty fad. This is the real thing, as good as any book from all of the post Jungian writers.

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Psychological Alchemy

This analysand (4 years in Jungian analysis) finally found a post-Jungian book that breaks new ground. Students of alchemy, in any tradition, will find a treasure of meaning in these pages-- especially if you are interested in how alchemy and psychology relate to one another! Raff wells articulates the "transcendent function" in very understandable terms (even for a student not well acquainted with Jung's writings). He then postulates a concept of what he terms the "psychoid." And, that is exactly where the reader will find the pay dirt. I was especially thrilled to find a very concrete discussion of the individuation process using the 17th c. alchemical engravings by the German philosopher Lambsprinck. Raff precisely articulates & operationalizes--in psychological terms-- many of the symbols therein. Since I have been studying that particular set of alchemical symbols for ten years, I was thunderstruck with his discussion. I keep his work by my bed with a copy of my now worn out GOLDEN GAME by Stanislas Kolossowski de Rola. I could not put the book down because this author is a true Kabbalist, as well as a Jungian scholar/healer. Thank you Dr. Raff! What a treasure here!

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Outstanding and Inspiring

If you are looking for a book that shows a step by step process for identifying and partnering with the emergence of the Self, this is it. Never condescending, always challenging, Raff uses well known alchemical prints to show the path to individuation which is really the art of identifying the guidance of the self and allowing the ego to partner with it, without impeding it. Bravo Jeffrey Raff for having such faith in your readers as to allow them to know what the Alchemists have always known: That everything that you need for your transformation in the eternal realm of this life is within you, simply waiting to be utilized and understood. Understanding this book, could change your life.

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Spirtual Psychology

In this book Jeffrey Raff combines years of research into Jung, mysticism and alchemy with extensive practical experience teaching people effective ways to utilize the information in their lives. I think this book will become a classic of spiritual psychology and practical mysticism. Jeffrey Raff uncovers the wisdom that has been hidden within the Western spiritual tradition, dresses it in clear, readable language, updates it with the central terms of Jungian depth psychology, and grounds it in years of personal and professional experience. The result is the birth of a Way to wholeness and enlightment equivalent to Eastern meditation practices - yet fitting for the Western psyche. The Way is active and creative, providing tools for self knowledge, individuation, and human self expression while simultaneously reaching to the deepest spiritual realities. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in Jewish, Christian, or Islamic mysticism. By explaining the methodology of Jungian depth psychology and ancient alchemical processes in clear and understandable writing Jeffrey Raff creates a Western Way.

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Raff's vision of individuation through the lens of alchemical symbols

I wanted a book to explain the psychological individuation process as it was understood and expressed in alchemy, and I feel I received an excellent introduction in Raff's book, and more. Raff, a Jungian psychologist, orients symbols and allegory written by medieval alchemists to the psycho-spirituality envisioned by Carl Jung and the evolution of the soul in the process of individuation. Raff clearly explains his understanding of the relationship of the ego, the Self and the transcendent aspect, and goes on to describe the evolution of this relationship in the individual psyche through the vehicle of imagination toward the unfolding of deeper consciousness. He conveys the value of Jungian active imagination in plain language and draws direct connections (as Jung did) to the Work of the ancient alchemists.

Jung observed that the alchemists engaged consciously in the process of individuation and this was overtly projected on matter in the outer alchemical process (cooking stuff in flasks and observing the changes) but also directly in the inner life as expressed in the symbols they recorded in their manuscripts. Jung noticed that the ancient alchemists universally saw the process of meditation and imagination (imaginatio) as essential to the alchemical Work (see Psychology and Alchemy (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.12) and other works). Raff builds on Jung's work here with his own concept of the Self in relationship with the ego, and how through imagination more of the Self becomes manifest to consciousness and in a more direct relationship with the ego. He brilliantly illustrates a way of seeing the stages of the evolution of the individual through the alchemical stages of development shown by alchemist Gerald Dorn and in the symbols of the Book of Lambspring. He not only interprets the alchemical symbols in a way a lay person can understand but also brings them to life in the book, taking the reader through the three coniunctio stages of development.

Raff also introduces his own concepts into into the background of Jungian understanding in his parsing of imagination and fantasy, his view of the individuation process in terms of the creation of the manifest self through evolving consciousness and the psychoid world as a realm where the imaginal, spiritual *and* physical exist together. He also indicates that the process of expanding consciousness and finding one's self through imagination is not an easy road (indeed it is dangerous) but one that can allow us to live more authentically and with more freedom, and also potentially unity with the divine.

I personally find Raff's book to be intriguing, enlightening, and transformative. While some of his concepts to have a distinctly personal flavor, i generally find them very useful in providing clarity. He expounds on his view in his terms but i also believe he is truly tapping into universal core processes of the soul. In this way, Raff provides the reader a gate to fundamental transformations of consciousness and living. And how many writers can claim to do that?

On the critical side I found the text repetitive, but as I read I imagined Raff teaching these concepts. As one moves further into teaching about unconscious processes, the concepts become more and more slippery for the student/reader. So I could forgive him the repetition on these grounds. However, the editing missed a number of misspellings and I am less forgiving of that in a published book. I found myself writing in the spelling corrections along with my margin notes.

This is an extremely worthwhile read! It could utterly change your life, if you open yourself to it. I recommend it highly.

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