Transformation of the Psyche: The Symbolic Alchemy of the Splendor Solis – Routledge

Written by Joseph L. Henderson, one of the first generation of Jungian analysts, and Dyane N.Sherwood, a practising analyst, this book is a striking and unique contribution to the resurgence of interest in alchemy for its way of representing the phenomenology of creative experience.Transformation of the Psyche is organized around 22 illuminated paintings from the early Renaissance alchemical manuscript the Splendor Solis, and is further illustrated by over 50 colour figures.The images of the Splendor Solis are possibly the most beautiful and evocative alchemical paintings to be found anywhere, and they are widely known to students of alchemy.Jung reproduced several Splendor Solis images in his works, yet prior to this book no one has explored the symbolism of the paintings as a series in relation to the process of depth psychological transformation.This book is the first scholarly study of the paintings in their entirety, and of the mythological and historical allusions contained withi