The Magic of Alchemy

ABSTRACT Catherine MacCoun’s book On Becoming an Alchemist offers practical guidance to anyone wanting to learn and apply alchemical principles. She enlightens and surprises us by sharing how alchemy isn’t something left to the past but is, instead, a treasure-trove of knowledge that can help in our daily struggles. Her book brings Jung’s alchemical work into the everyday world. Readable, engaging, and enlightening, MacCoun’s text reveals how alchemical operations can be used to transform such “inferior states” as desire into devotion, vulnerability into compassion, and territoriality into integrity. The downside of her book is a lack of differentiation between magic and alchemy, with the two words used at times interchangeably. Whereas magic has to do with control of supernatural forces through the agency of will, alchemy works through love; one seeks to command change, the other to facilitate the natural flow of life. Because the book conflates alchemy and magic, it does not discern the difference between cause and effect. The magic of alchemy is a felt experience, not a causal agent. Despite this lack of distinction, wisdom shines through in MacCoun’s deftly worded description of the Great Work. I think Jung would have appreciated MacCoun’s book because it gives practical application of his profound insights into the alchemical process.