Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo

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.

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