Psychology and alchemy is volume 12 of the complete works of carl jung jung wrote it toward the end of world war ii and amidst a crisis of values during this time jung really didnt trust humans the book seeks to reach the deepest essence of human beings even that part of our soul that can be rescued through an alchemical process. Carl jung on the method in alchemy the basis of alchemy is the work opus part of this work is practical the operatio itself which is to be thought of as a series of experiments with chemical substances in my opinion it is quite hopeless to try to establish any kind of order in the infinite chaos of substances and procedures. Psychology and alchemy volume 12 in the collected works of c g jung is carl jung s study of the analogies between alchemy christian dogma and psychological symbolism alchemy is central to jungs hypothesis of the collective unconscious this book begins with an outline of the process and aims of psychotherapy as seen by jung