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Muhammad ibn Umail's HALL AR-RUMUZ ('Clearing of Enigmas'): Historical Introduction and Psychological Comment

Muhammad ibn Umail's HALL AR-RUMUZ ('Clearing of Enigmas'): Historical Introduction and Psychological Comment

book
author: M.-L. von Franz
in print
1999
ISBN: none

Links: -> Jungiana.ch

Introduction:
This is the last manuscript of Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz, dictated during the last years of her life. It not only contains a brilliant historical survey of alchemy since Egyptian times, but above all a profound comment on a newly translated Arabic alchemical text from the 10th century which is a "Summa" of her whole life's experience and work.

Text Excerpt:
And he said: If the remote substance would be explained, the secret would be revealed. And Hippokrates said: The stone comes out from the sea, it grows in the sea and it germinates in the sea like the corals and it unites all together. Thus it becomes a stone and it is found on the shore of the sea. Thus you find it there, when the waves and the south wind have calmed down.

Comment:
The sea is the symbol of the unfathomable depth of the unconscious or in mystical language of the depth of the Godhead. When the dark inner world calms down, the emotions of love become quiet, one finds the stone on the shore of the sea. The secret of individuation (the stone) is washed up on the shore of the unconscious, suddenly revealed by the grace of God. This passage reminds one of the Greek saying "Go to the sources of the Nile; there you will find a stone which contains a spirit".


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