Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo Cultural Complexes and the Redemptive Power of the Abjected Feminine Research in Analytical Psychology and Jungian Studies Series

Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo offers a depth psychological analysis of the art and life of Remedios Varo, a Spanish surrealist painter. The book uses Varo?s paintings in a revolutionary way: to critique the patriarchal underpinnings of Jungian psychology, alchemy, and Surrealism, illuminating how Varo used painting to address cultural complexes that silence female expression.

The book focuses on how the practice of alchemical psychology, through the power of imagination and the archetypal Feminine, can lead to healing and transformation for individuals and culture. Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo offers the first in-depth psychological treatment of the role alchemy played in the friendship between Varo and Leonora Carrington?a connection that led to paintings that protest the pitfalls of patriarchy.

This unique book will be of great interest for academics, scholars, and post-graduate students in the fields of analytical psychology, art history, Surrealism, cultural criticism, and Jungian studies.

Acknowledgments

Prelude: Preparing the Canvas

Part I — The Death of Remedios Varo and the Science of All Things

One — Varo’s Alchemical Practice of Painting and the Problem of Patriarchy

Two —The Fructifying Bonfire of Trauma and Death

Three — Putting the Canvas on the Easel: Surrealism, Alchemy, and the Unconscious

Four — The End as Beginning: Varo’s Dream of the Executioner, Last Painting, and Death

Five — Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle: Psychology, Alchemy, and Weaving the Garment of a New World

Six — Voyage to the Center of the Inner World: The Feminine Quest, the Labyrinth, and the Dangerous Secret

Seven — Cauldrons of Color: Dead Leaves and the Alchemical Movement Between Life, Death, and Rebirth

Eight — Birds and Eggs: Symbol of the Liberated Soul and Image of Immortality

Nine — The Dream of the Executioner: A Paradigm Shift

Part II — Mystical Sisters: Varo, Carrington, the Eternal Feminine, and the Unmaking of Patriarchy

Ten — Kindred Spirits: Varo, Carrington, and the Possibilities of Women’s Creative Power

Eleven — Breaking Out: Varo, Carrington, and Blackening the Patriarchal Paradigm

Twelve — In the Footsteps of Virginia Woolf: Humiliated Manhood and Re-Visioning of the Feminine

Thirteen — Alchemy in Exile: Varo and Carrington in Mexico City

Fourteen — The Way They Loved Each Other: The Crucible of Friendship and the Unmaking of Patriarchy

Part III — Symbols of Transformation: The Golden Key, the Black Door, and the Inestimable Value of the Living Third Thing

Fifteen — Imaginal Dialogues: The Alchemical Treasure of the Feminine

Dennis Pottenger is a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist and award-winning literary journalist based in the USA.

Rebecca Livingston Pottenger is a licensed psychotherapist, feminist scholar, and adjunct faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA.