3.2.

1 Nigredo , the blackening

This stage involves a purification of the earthly nature in us through burning, fire.
Just as material death is necessary for the material rebirth of things- an apple, for
example, has to putrefy before its seed can take root and produce more apples- so
spiritual death is necessary for the spiritual rebirth of man.
As Grossinger points out, "Alchemy is thus a form of chemical research into which
unresolved psychic elements were projected. The alchemical nigredo, the initial
phase of the operation which produces 'black blacker than black,' is also an
internal experience of melancholia, an encounter with the shadow." 1
This is also the necessary first stage in Jungian analysis -- confronting that which
has been rejected or repressed is essential to becoming whole. 2 In a painful selfexamination, one enters a conscious dialogue with their shadow, becoming aware
of their unconscious projections, identifications and contradictions3 in order to let
them go. This stage is experienced as entering a dark and chaotic unconscious
inner world and eventually as a death. Images of fire and burning often accompany
the images of death and endings. 4
To move to the next stage however, to the Albedo or, the Whitening, one has to go
through certain sub-stages. Transitions from black to white sometimes go through a
series of other colors,5 notably darker blues, the blues of sobriety, puritan selfexamination; the blues of slow jazz6.
As a turbulent dissolution of the nigredo, the blue transition towards the albedo is
like that sadness which emerges from despair as it proceeds towards reflection.
Reflection here comes from or takes one into a blue distanceThis vertical

1 Alchemy 1973 by Richard Grossinger

2 INTRODUCTION TO ALCHEMY IN JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY by Iona Miller, 1986
3 The Modern Alchemist: A Guide to Personal Transformation 1994 by Richard and
Iona Miller
4 The Alchemical Process of Transformation, Nigel Hamilton, 1985
5 Cf. Nortons Ordinal (HM 11:38 39). Physicians have discovered nineteen colors
intermediate between white and black in urine.... Magnesia (a term for white]
throws out a mild, pure splendor in the subtle stage of our Art; and here we behold
all colors that ever were seen by the mortal eye a hundred colors, and certainly a
good many more than have been observed in urine.
6 For a rich, curious phenomenology of blue, see William Gaas, On Being Blue,
Boston: Godine, 1976.

withdrawal is also like an emptying out, the creation of a negative capability, or a

profound listening7
Blue is like that shadow moving in the darkness, announcing the arrival of
something real. Cezanne based his painting on shadow paths and contours 8 out of
which real things emerged as local high points. The deepest shadow color in
Cezannes paintings, the one which supports the composition and is most
appropriate for shadows, is blue.9 Blue was now recognized as belonging to a
deeper level of existence. It expressed the essence of things and their abiding,
inherent permanence.
Then onto yellowing and finally reddening.
Copper is a chemical element with symbol Cu (from Latin: cuprum) and atomic
number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity.
Pure copper is soft and malleable; a freshly exposed surface has a reddish-orange
color. It is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, a building material, and a
constituent of various metal alloys.

The metal and its alloys have been used for thousands of years. In the Roman era,
copper was principally mined on Cyprus, hence the origin of the name of the metal
as aes yprium (metal of Cyprus), later corrupted to uprum, from which the words
copper (English), cuivre (French), Koper (Dutch) and Kupfer (German) are all
derived.[3] Its compounds are commonly encountered as copper(II) salts, which
often impart blue or green colors to minerals such as azurite and turquoise and
have been widely used historically as pigments. Architectural structures built with
copper corrode to give green verdigris (or patina). Decorative art prominently
features copper, both by itself and as part of pigments.

Copper is essential to all living organisms as a trace dietary mineral because it is a

key constituent of the respiratory enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase. The main
areas where copper is found in humans are liver, muscle and bone.

7 Silver and the White Earth, Chapter : Alchemical Blue and the Unio Mentalis, James
Hillman, 1981, An Annual ofArchetypal Psychology and Jungian Thought.

8 Kurt Badt, The Art of Cezanne, Chapter Shadow-paths and Contours.Univ.

California Press, 1965, P. 56.
9 Kurt Badt, The Art of Cezanne, Chapter Shadow-paths and Contours.Univ.
California Press, 1965, p. 56.

Sulfur or sulphur is an abundant, non-metal. Under. Elemental sulfur is a bright

yellow crystalline solid when at room temperature. Sulfur occurs naturally as the
pure element (native sulfur) and as sulfide and sulfate minerals. Elemental sulfur
crystals are commonly sought after by mineral collectors for their distinct, brightly
colored polyhedron shapes. Being abundant in native form, sulfur was known in
ancient times, mentioned for its uses in ancient India, ancient Greece, China and
Egypt. Sulfur is referred to in the Bible as brimstone (burn stone) in English. It was
needed to make the best quality of black gunpowder. Sulfur is an essential element
for all life, and is widely used in biochemical processes