Carl Jung on “Saturn” – Quotations – Anthology
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He [Jung] notes that around 7 BC there was a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, representing a union of extreme opposites, which would place the birth of Christ under Pisces. Pisces (Latin for “fishes”) is known as the sign of the fish and is often represented by two fish swimming in opposite directions. ~Liber Novus, Page 316, Footnote 273.
Saturn is the ruler of the sign of Aquarius, and it is quite possible that Khunrath meant the coming age, the age of Aquarius, the water carrier, which is almost due now. ~Carl Jung, ETH, Lecture XV, Page 128.
Jung stated that, at the birth of Christ, Saturn the maleficent god and Jupiter the beneficent god were so near to each other that they were almost one star, that is, the star of Bethlehem, when the new self, Christ, good and evil, was born. ~Carl Jung, C.G. Jung Speaking: Interviews and Encounters, Pages 156-163
When, therefore, an alchemist conjured up the spirit of Saturn as his familiar, this was an attempt to bring to consciousness a standpoint outside the ego, involving a relativization of the ego and its contents. ~Carl Jung, CW 9ii, Para 11
But the souls were “brought down from the blessed Man on high, the arch-man Adamas, into the form of clay, that they might serve the demiurge of this creation, Esaldaios, a fiery god, the fourth by number.” Esaldaios corresponds to Ialdabaoth, the highest archon, and also to Saturn ~Carl Jung, CW 9ii, Para 325
These astrological ideas are quite understandable when one considers that Saturn is the star of Israel, and that Jupiter means the “king” (of justice). Among the territories ruled by the Fishes, the house of Jupiter, are Mesopotamia, Bactria, the Red Sea, and Palestine. Chiun (Saturn) is mentioned in Amos 5:26 as “the star of your god.” James of Sarug (d. 521) says the Israelites worshipped Saturn. The Sabaeans called him the “god of the Jews.” The Sabbath is Saturday, Saturn’s Day. Albumasar testifies that Saturn is the star of Israel. ~Carl Jung, CW 9ii, Para 128
In medieval astrology Saturn was believed to be the abode of the devil. Both Saturn and Ialdabaoth, the demiurge and highest archon, have lion’s faces. Origen elicits from the diagram of Celsus that Michael, the first angel of the Creator, has “the shape of a lion.” He obviously stands in the place of Ialdabaoth, who is identical with Saturn, as Origen points out. ~Carl Jung, CW 9ii, Para 128
The parallel between the Hebrew god and Saturn is of considerable importance as regards the alchemical idea of the transformation of the God of the Old Testament into the God of the New. The alchemists naturally attached great significance to Saturn, for, besides being the outermost planet, the supreme archon (the Harranites named him “Primas”), and the demiurge Ialdabaoth, he was also the spiritus niger who lies captive in the darkness of matter, the deity or that part of the deity which has been swallowed up in his own creation. He is the dark god who reverts to his original luminous state in the mystery of alchemical transmutation. As the Aurora consurgens [Part I] says: “Blessed is he that shall find this science and into whom the prudence of Saturn floweth” ~Carl Jung, CW 11, Para 350
Inasmuch as the devil was an angel created by God and “fell like lightning from heaven,” he too is a divine “procession” that became Lord of this world. It is significant that the Gnostics thought of him sometimes as the imperfect demiurge and sometimes as the Saturnine archon, Ialdabaoth. Pictorial representations of this archon correspond in every detail with those of a diabolical demon. He symbolized the power of darkness from which Christ came to rescue humanity. The archons issued from the womb of the unfathomable abyss, i.e., from the same source that produced the Gnostic Christ ~Carl Jung, CW 11, Para 255
In another version of the devouring theme, Mars feeds the body of the King to the famished wolf (fame acerrima occupatus), the son of Saturn (lead). The wolf symbolizes the prima materia’s appetite for the King, who often takes the place of the Son ~Carl Jung, CW 12 Para 440
Valentinus, “Practica,” Mus. herm., p. 394. In another version of the incorporation motif, Mars feeds the body of the King to the famished wolf (fame acerrima occupatus), the son of Saturn (lead). The wolf symbolizes the prima inateria’s appetite for the King, who often takes the place of the Son (fig. 175; cf. also figs. 166, 1 68, 169). ~Carl Jung, CW 12, Page 338, fn 50
The ass is a daemon triunus, a chthonic trinity, which is portrayed in Latin alchemy as a three-headed monster and identified with Mercurius, salt and sulphur. The classical rumour about the worship of an ass in the Temple of Jerusalem, and the graffito on the Palatine showing a mock crucifixion, I will mention only in passing; likewise the saturnine aspect of Jehovah and Ialdabaoth as demiurges, which brings these figures into conjunction with the equally saturnine prima materia ~Carl Jung, CW 12 Para 539
In another version of the devouring theme, Mars feeds the body of the King to the famished wolf (fame acerrima occupatus), the son of Saturn (lead). The wolf symbolizes the prima materia’s appetite for the King, who often takes the place of the Son ~Carl Jung, CW 12 Para 440
An equally ancient treatise of Arabic provenance attributed to Hermes, the “Tractatus aureus,” says (Mercurius is speaking): “My light excels all other lights, and my goods are higher than all other goods. I beget the light, but the darkness too is of my nature. Nothing better or more worthy of veneration can come to pass in the world than the union of myself with my son.” In the “Dicta Belini” (Belinus is a pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana) Mercurius says: “I enlighten all that is mine, and I make the light manifest on the journey from my father Saturn.” “I make the days of the world eternal, and I illumine all lights with my light.” Another author says of the “chymical marriage” from which arises the filius philosophorum: “They embrace and the new light is begotten of them, which is like no other light in the whole world” ~Carl Jung, CW 13 Para 161
The aim of the tetrasomia is the reduction (or synthesis) of a quaternio of opposites to unity. The names of the planets themselves indicate two dyads, one benevolent (Jupiter and Venus), the other malefic (Saturn and Mars), and such dyads often constitute an alchemical quaternity. Zosimos gives the following description of the transformation process that is needed for the preparation of the tincture: ~Carl Jung, CW 13 Para 358
The Sabbath is therefore the day on which man returns to God and receives anew the light of the cognitio matutina. And this day has no evening. From the symbological standpoint it may not be without significance that Augustine had in mind the pagan names of the days of the week. The growing darkness reaches its greatest intensity on the day of Venus (Friday), and changes into Lucifer on Saturn’s day. Saturday heralds the light which appears in full strength on Sun-day. As I have shown, Mercurius is closely related not only to Venus but more especially to Saturn. As Mercurius he is juvenis, as Saturn senex ~Carl Jung, CW 13 Para 301
It is clear from this description that the tree symbolizes the whole opus. Accordingly Dorn says: “Let therefore the tree [of the planets or metals] be planted and its root be ascribed to Saturn, and let that inconstant Mercurius and Venus, arising in the trunk and branches, offer to Mars the leaves and fruit-bearing flowers.” The relation to the world-tree is also apparent when Dorn says that “nature has planted the root of the [metallic] tree in the midst of her womb” ~Carl Jung, CW 13, Para 409
In Khunrath Mercurius is the “salt of Saturn,” or Saturn is simply Mercurius. ~Carl Jung, CW 13, Para 274
One of the manifestations of Mercurius in the alchemical process of transformation is the lion, now green and now red. Khunrath calls this transformation “luring the lion out of Saturn’s mountain cave.” ~Carl Jung, CW 13, Para 275
From ancient times the lion was associated with Saturn. Khunrath calls him “the lion of the Catholic tribe,” paraphrasing the “lion of the tribe of Judah”—an allegory of Christ. He calls Saturn “the lion green and red.” In Gnosticism Saturn is the highest archon, the lion headed Ialdabaoth, meaning “child of chaos.” But in alchemy the child of chaos is Mercurius. ~Carl Jung, CW 13, Para 275
The mysterious rose-colored blood occurs in several other authors. In Khunrath, for instance, the “lion lured forth from the Saturnine mountain” had rose-colored blood. This lion, signifying “all and conquering all,” corresponds to the πᾱν or πάντα of Zosimos, i.e., totality. Khunrath further mentions (p. 276) the costly Catholick Rosy-Coloured Blood and Aetheric Water that flows forth Azothically. ~Carl Jung, CW 13, Para 283
Pitilessly it is seen from another planet that the king is growing old, even before he sees it himself: ruling ideas, the “dominants,” change, and the change, undetected by consciousness, is mirrored only in dreams. King Sol, as the archetype of consciousness, voyages through the world of the unconscious, one of its multitudinous figures which may one day be capable of consciousness too. These lesser lights are, on the old view, identical with the planetary correspondences in the psyche which were postulated by astrology. When, therefore, an alchemist conjured up the spirit of Saturn as his familiar, this was an attempt to bring to consciousness a standpoint outside the ego, involving a relativization of the ego and its contents. The intervention of the planetary spirit was besought as an aid. When the king grows old and needs renewing, a kind of planetary bath is instituted – a bath into which all the planets pour their “influences.” This expresses the idea that the dominant, grown feeble with age, needs the support and influence of those subsidiary lights to fortify and renew it. It is, as it were, dissolved in the substance of the other planetary archetypes and then put together again. Through this process of melting and recasting there is formed a new amalgam of a more comprehensive nature, which has taken into itself the influences of the other planets or metals. ~Carl Jung, CW 14, Para 504
As we have seen, the filius regius is identical with Mercurius and at this particular stage also with the Mercurial serpent. This stage is indicated in Khunrath by Saturn, the dark, cold maleficus; by the world-egg, obviously signifying the initial state, and finally by the green and red lion, representing the animal soul of the king. ~Carl Jung, CW 15, Para 473
In Khunrath, Sal tartarí mundi maioris is identical with sal Saturni and sal Veneris. It contains—or is—the “scintilla Animae Mundi.” ~Carl Jung, CW 15, Para 703
This child, this tincturing life, must be assayed, proved, and tried in the qualities of nature; and here again great anxiety and danger will arise, seeing that it must suffer the damage of temptation in the body and womb, and you may thus lose the birth. For the delicate Tincture, this tender child of life, must descend into the forms and qualities of nature, that it may suffer and endure temptation and overcome it; it must needs descend into the Divine Darkness, into the darkness of Saturn, wherein no light of life is to be seen: there it must be held captive, and be bound with the chains of darkness, and must live from the food which the prickly Mercurius will give it to eat, which to the Divine Tincture of life is naught but dust and ashes, poison and gall, fire and brimstone. It must enter into the fierce wrathful Mars, by whom (as happened to Jonah in the belly of hell) it is Astrological symbolism swallowed, and must experience the curse of God’s wrath; also it must be tempted by Lucifer and the million devils who dwell in the quality of the wrathful fire. And here the divine artist in this philosophical work will see the first colour, where the Tincture appears in its blackness, and it is the blackest black; the learned philosophers call it their black crow, or their black raven, or again their blessed and blissful black; for in the darkness of this black is hidden the light of lights in the quality of Saturn; and in this poison and gall there is hidden in Mercurius the most precious medicament against the poison, namely the life of life. And the blessed Tincture is hidden in the fury or wrath and curse of Mars. ~Carl Jung, CW 16, Para 510
Here, as you see, there is great danger, and the Tincture of life can easily be spoiled and the fruit wasted in the womb, when it is thus surrounded on all sides and assailed by so many devils and so many tempting essences. But if it can withstand and overcome this fiery trial and sore temptation, and win the victory: then you will see the beginning of its resurrection from hell, death, and the mortal grave, appearing first in the quality of Venus; and then the Tincture of life will itself burst forth mightily from the prison of the dark Saturn, through the hell of the poisonous Mercurius, and through the curse and direful death of God’s wrath that burns and flames in Mars, and the gentle love-fi re of the Venus quality will gain the upper hand, and the love-fire Tincture will be preferred in the government and have supreme command. And then the gentleness and love-fire of Divine Venus will reign as lord and king in and over all qualities. ~Carl Jung, CW 16, Para 513
The old masters were wont to call this work their white swan, their albification, or making white, their sublimation, their distillation, their circulation, their purification, their separation, their sanctification, and their resurrection, because the Tincture is made white like a shining silver. It is sublimed or exalted and transfigured by reason of its many descents into Saturn, Mercurius, and Mars, and by its many ascents into Venus and Luna. This is the distillation, the Balneum Mariae: because the Tincture is purified in the qualities of nature through the many distillations of the water, blood, and heavenly dew of the Divine Virgin Sophia, and, through the manifold circulation in and out of the forms and qualities of nature, is made white and pure, like brilliantly polished silver. And all uncleanliness of the blackness, all death, hell, curse, wrath, and all poison which rise up out of the qualities of Saturn, Mercury, and Mars are separated and depart, wherefore they call it their separation, and when the Tincture attains its whiteness and brilliance in Venus and Luna they call it their sanctification, their purification and making white. They call it their resurrection, because the white rises up out of the black, and the divine virginity and purity out of the poison of Mercurius and out of the red fiery rage and wrath of Mars. ~Carl Jung, CW 16, Para 515
The ruler of my birth, old Saturnus, slowed down my maturation process to such an extent that I became aware of my own ideas only at the beginning of the second half of my life, i.e., exactly with 36 years. I beg your pardon for using old astrological metaphors. “Astrology” is another of those “random phenomena” wiped off the desk by the idol of the average, which everybody believes to be reality itself while it is a mere abstract. Soon a little book of mine which I have published with the physicist Prof. W. Pauli will come out in English. It is even more shocking than Job , but this time to the scientist, not the theologian. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Pages 232-233
The treatise begins: “The element Omega is round, it consists of two parts: it belongs to the seventh zone, that of Saturn in the language of the corporeal beings.” At that time Saturn was the most distant planet, the others were not yet discovered. ~Carl Jung, ETH, Page 47.
While I was engrossed in thinking of the opposites a voice seemed to say to me: “Look at me in the center of Jung’s Stone. I stand between the opposites. As the center of this mandala I am between the four radiating lines of energy. I am between the Moon and the Sun and Jupiter and Venus; Mars is beneath my feet and Saturn is above my head. ~Maud Oakes, The Stone Speaks, Pages 43-44
