This course focuses on the chapters The Yellowing of the Work and Concerning the Stone: Alchemical Images of the Goal in James Hillman’s final and most profound book Alchemical Psychology.
Yellowing is about the way the images ferment in the body and bring about the dawning of a fresh sense that life matters profoundly. After innocence, growth and greening – having gone through a destructive nigredo black, the sadness of the blues and the lunatic reflection of silver – the material goes unconscious again and becomes a seed to ferment for the whole body. Here the image becomes fully embodied.
In Concerning the Stone, Hillman investigates the goals of alchemy and deconstructs the notions of ‘goal’ in general. Here is a fascinating progression of alchemical thought as we move along the tortures, transmutations and ecstasies of the work that poisons us and gives us the profoundest of remedies, exceeding even the notion of health.
11 Classes
Approx. 90 min each class
16.5 hours
What you will receive
11 Audio Recordings
Reflections & Reading Suggestions
Access to your own Jung Platform account where all the content you've purchased will be stored.
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.
Scholarships
We here at Jung Platform want to make these programs available to anyone. If you would love to participate yet can’t pay for the full course, then please send us an email at [email protected] and describe why you feel you qualify for a scholarship, how much you can pay, and what you will do to help the Jung Platform promote this and other programs.
The Jung Platform Guarantee
We stand by our programs. If within 30 days of your purchase or the live course start, you're not satisfied, we offer a replacement or a full refund.