Carl Jung on “Soror Mystica” – Anthology
A remarkable contribution to the role of feminine psychology in alchemy is furnished by the letter which the English theologian and alchemist, John Pordage, wrote to his soror mystica Jane Leade. In it he gives her spiritual instruction concerning the opus. ~Carl Jung, CW 16, Para 506
We also meet this phenomenon in alchemy, where a woman adept often plays the role of the soror mystica (Zosimos and Theosebeia, Nicolas Flamel and Peronelle, John Pordage and Jane Leade, and in the nineteenth century Mr. South and his daughter, Mrs. Atwood) ~Carl Jung, CW 18, Para 1703
A younger anima figure emerged in place of a mother-anima.
At that time he met Toni Wolff, who became his helper in the intellectual penetration of the world of psychic images and remained his helper until her death in 1953. Alchemically, she was his “soror mystica.” ~Aniela Jaffe, From the Life and Work of C.G. Jung, Page 104
Many of those old philosophers had found out that there is no real philosophy if you don’t face the anima, so many of them had a so-called soror mystica, a friend in God, a woman friend. ~Carl Jung, Dream Symbols of the Individuation Process, Page 275
Women played a very great role in the early al-chemist tracts.
There were quite a number of them: for instance, one of the oldest is Maria the Jewess, or Maria the Egyptian; then Paphnutia; then Zosimos dedicated his works, or addressed his works, as if they were written to this woman friend, his soror mystica, Theosebeia. ~Carl Jung, Dream Symbols of the Individuation Process, Page 275
Likewise, her [Toni’s] copy of Psychology and Alchemy (1944) bears a dedication to his “soror mystica.”
In public, he acknowledged her active role in all the phases of analytical psychology in his introduction to her collected papers. ~The Black Books, Vol. I, Page 97
A woman is made: in alchemy the femina alba (white woman), the anima or soror mystica, in the Tantric text in the form of the yoni.
These extracts of both the masculine and of the feminine are put together, and out of this emerges a true wholeness. ~Carl Jung, Psychology of Yoga and Meditation, Page 207
Elijah connects him with the later description of Philemon.
In “On the Psychological Aspects of the Figure of the Kore” (1941), Jung described these episodes as follows:
“In an underground house, actually in the underworld, there lives an old magician and prophet with his’ daughter.’
She is, however, not really his daughter; she is a dancer, a very loose person, but is blind and seeks healing” (CV\f 9, pt. 1, § 360 ).
This description of Elijah connects him with the later description of Philemon.
Jung noted that this “shows the unknown woman as a mythological figure in the beyond (that means in the unconscious).
She is soror or filia mystica of a hierophant or ‘philosopher,’ evidently a parallel to those mystic syzigies which are to be met with in the figures of Simon Magus and Helen, Zosimus and Theosebia, Comarius and Cleopatra, etc.
Our dream-figure fits in best with Helen” (ibid.,§ 372). For Jung’s commentary on this entry, see LN, pp. The Black Books, Vol. III, Page 196, fn 149
The Christian images express the same fundamental thought: that Christ is a divinity who is eaten in the Last Supper. His death transforms him into bread and wine, which we relish as mystical food. The relation of Agni to the soma-drink and of Dionysus to the wine should not pass without mention here. ~Carl Jung, CW 5, Para 526
Carl Jung Depth Psychology Blog
Carl Jung Depth Psychology on Instagram