Alchemy Course: Yellowing and the Stone

Course Description

James Hillman was a past master of alchemical psychology. This field uses metaphors derived from ancient alchemy to elucidate deep structures in the creative imagination. We tend to forget that creative processes are not random. Imagination embodies along lines that become apparent when we ponder the frequently incomprehensible images of alchemy.

The book, Alchemical Psychology, covers a lifetime of studies and is quite difficult to read by someone who is not deeply steeped in alchemy, the work of C.G. Jung or James Hillman. Robert Bosnak and Patricia Berry have studied these thinkers for well over 40 years.

James Hillman was the primary training analyst of Robert Bosnak, who developed the field of embodied imagination: the way in which images can be felt in the body and shape our embodied condition.

This course goes through Alchemical Psychology and engages with the chapters Yellow and The Stone page by page – and frequently line by line – sometimes dropping even between the lines into the great mystery itself. For those who have tasted these mysteries, there is no way back. One is haunted by them for life. It was so with Jung, Hillman, and with Bosnak as well. It will happen to you if you’re open to it.

This course is ideal if

• You want to learn more about and understand how - in the creative process - yellowing is a crucial phase to bring about change, art, and creation into the world.
• You are interested in learning how to take on an alchemical perspective about the goal of life.

Course Overview

This 11 class course focuses on the following chapters from James Hillman’s Alchemical Psychology: 

• The Yellowing of the Work
• Concerning the Stone: Alchemical Images of the Goal

Further courses on the subsequent chapters of Alchemical Psychology are also available on Jung Platform:

• Alchemy course: The imagination of Air and the Azure Vault
• Alchemy course: Yellowing and the Stone
• Alchemy course : Silver and the White Earth
• Alchemy course: Embodying James Hillman Alchemical Psychology
• Alchemy course: Salt, Black and Blue

By the end of this course, you will

• Have tools to approach your creativity more practically.
• Have tools to reflect on the importance of the goal of life.