MARCH-APRIL 2025

Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon

JUNG’s alchemical studies Reading Group

with Jason E. Smith, IAAP

Mondays • March 10 - April 14, 2025

4-6pm Pacific / 7-9pm Eastern
6 weeks
All sessions will be available via video recording.

Class Description:

The figure of Paracelsus stands as a bridge between two worlds. On the one hand, his pioneer work in the field of medicine and scientific observation was the harbinger of a new modern era. On the other, he was a man rooted in the traditional world of faith whose philosophical speculations gave new life to the fading world of alchemy. In all of this, Paracelsus is a kind of prefiguration to Jung himself, whose own work also involved the reconciliation of science and religion.

Through his study of Paracelsus, Jung recognized the importance of the relationship between an individual’s philosophical and religious outlook on life and their psychological health. He asserted that the treatment of the psyche was impossible without addressing the whole person, “including the ultimate and deepest issues.” For Jung, the work of Paracelsus brought to light “the beginnings of philosophical, psychological, and religious problems which are taking clearer shape in our own epoch.”

In this latest class in the series on Jung’s Alchemical Studies, we will read through Jung’s essays on Paracelsus. We will explore the questions connected with the need for a religious or philosophical outlook and its relationship to the process of individuation. Finally, we will discuss the ways we might develop such an outlook in our own lives.

Required reading:

Paracelsus (pp. 3 - 12) & Paracelsus the Physician (pp. 13 - 30)
by C.G. Jung (in Collected Works, vol. 15)

Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon by C.G. Jung
(pp. 109 - 189 in Collected Works, vol. 13)

Your Host:

Jason E. Smith

Jason E. Smith is an author and Jungian analyst in private practice in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. He was previously the president of the Training Board of the C. G. Jung Institute in Boston. He received his Master’s degree from Pacifica Graduate Institute and graduated from the C.G. Jung Institute - Boston with a diploma in Analytical Psychology.

Jason is the creator and host of the podcast, Digital Jung: The Symbolic Life in a Technological Age and the author of Religious But Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life (2020).