COAGULATIO: The Alchemy of Settling Down

COAGULATIO marks the psychological moment when possibility takes shape. Uncertainty recedes as we commit to our choices, and life slows and “thickens” into stable commitments and a predictable path.

Join Jungian analysts Lisa Marchiano and Joseph Lee as we continue our exploration of Jung’s alchemical stages. This week, we discuss the concept of coagulatio, or the solidifying of what was once liquid.

Coagulatio involves settling into a path, a vocation, a relationship, or an identity. Yet these stages of solidification also carry with them loss. Incarnating something in the real world, whether in our creative life, marriage or career, means letting go of infinite possibility. Coagulatio can be seen as an antidote to puer psychology; signifying the demanding task of growing up and settling down.

We also investigate the process of coagulatio in the consulting room, where finding language or images with an analyst can shape our distress into something we can work with. Similarly, dream work offers the chance to condense our psychic turmoil into tangible, relatable images that can be used in a process of growth or transformation.

Coagulatio is not a permanent state: the alchemical phrase “solve et coagula” indicates a dynamic rhythm between dissolution and solidification. In the course of our life, we may find our stable path starts to feel joyless and rigid, at which point we may return to solutio, when structures loosen again and must be re-formed.

Read the dream we analyze and find this episode’s resource list on our website: https://thisjungianlife.com/coagulatio/

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