Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo: Cultural Complexes and the Redemptive Power of the Abjected Feminine

Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of contents
Figures
Acknowledgments
Prelude: Preparing the canvas
Part I The death of Remedios Varo and the science of all things
	Chapter 1 Varo’s alchemical practice of painting and the problem of patriarchy
		Alchemy and art as modes of deep inquiry
		Mother, father, and the making of an alchemist
		The nature of the alchemical first matter
		Black and blue: Imagination and the importance   of the nigredo
		All art is propaganda: Patriarchy and Varo’s alchemical practice of painting
		Mirror of the marvelous: Art, psyche, and the experience of the numinous
		Wonder, Surrealism, and Jungian psychology
		Psychology, alchemy, and the mercurial nature of the prima materia
		Note
		References
	Chapter 2 The fructifying bonfire of trauma and death
		Remedios as remedy: The replacement child and a search for identity
		Tension of opposites: Masculine and Feminine in the theater of war
		Prison: Varo in the underworld
		The trauma complex, art, and the healing capacity of imagination
		References
	Chapter 3 Putting the canvas on the easel: Surrealism, alchemy, and the unconscious
		Surrealism and alchemy: Re-enchanting the world
		The heroine’s quest: Symbolic alchemy and the transformation of deep suffering
		References
	Chapter 4 The end as beginning: Varo’s dream of the executioner, last painting, and death
		The dream of the executioner and the renewing   aspect of the dangerous secret
		Still Life Reviving: Varo’s last painting and   preparation for death
		Threads of change: Death, rebirth, and the dream of the executioner
		Note
		References
	Chapter 5 Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle: Psychology, alchemy, and weaving the garment of a new world
		Premonition: Weaving a woman’s mystery
		Toward the Tower: Varo, the beehive, and the retelling of a traitorous truth
		Women at work: Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle and the alchemical Feminine
		Self-representation and the transformative concept of the double
		Feeding the caged moon: Patriarchy, the Feminine, and Jung’s theory of complexes
		Raveling: Varo and the transformation of cultural complexes powered by patriarchy
		Secret recipes: Alchemy, creation, and the art of political weaving
		References
	Chapter 6 Voyage to the center of the inner world: The Feminine quest, the labyrinth, and the dangerous secret
		Quest of the Feminine: Art, psyche, and female initiation
		Spiral Transit: Spiritual gold and the journey of the soul
		Dead Leaves: The labyrinth, Ariadne’s thread, and rewinding the myth of the male hero
		Notes
		References
	Chapter 7 Cauldrons of color: Dead Leaves and the alchemical movement between death, life, and rebirth
		The blackening: The human soul and its need for death to come alive
		The blue thread: Imagination and initiation into the labyrinth of one’s own being
		The two whitenings: The furnace of distress and the death of innocence
		Silvered imagining: The hammered soul and the symbol as a living presence
		Three ravens: Black, white, and the red that brings all things to an end
		Note
		References
	Chapter 8 Birds and eggs: Symbol of the liberated soul and image of immortality
		Art and the alchemical symbolism of the egg
		The egg in the alchemical paintings of Leonora Carrington
		The egg, the liberated soul, and the dream of the executioner
		Notes
		References
	Chapter 9 The dream of the executioner: A paradigm shift
		The archetypal Masculine and the man in the egg
			The Juggler: The alchemical androgyne and the union of opposites in the world
			Still Life Reviving: Image as soul food
		Facing death without fear: Dream 9 and the menace within
			The Encounter: The egg, an owl, and an image of the dangerous secret
		The artistic diary: Toward the culmination of the work, the coniunctio
		Manifesting the sacred
		The dream of the executioner and the dangerous secret: A paradigm shift
		Dreams of alchemy: Love, wonder, and the creative forces that animate the soul
		References
Part II Mystical sisters
	Chapter 10 Kindred spirits: Varo, Carrington, and the possibilities of woman’s creative power
		Crookhey Hall: Carrington and the prima materia of childhood
		Down Below: The onset of war and the female body as alchemical vessel
		From mayhem to madness: Carrington in the asylum of the patriarchy
		Destruction as the cause of coming into being
		Notes
		References
	Chapter 11 Breaking out: Varo, Carrington, and blackening the patriarchal paradigm
		The Terrible Mother and the voice of the eternal Feminine
		Woman Leaving the Psychoanalyst: Challenging the authority of the father
		A feminist Surrealism
		Exposing the big con and the project of female empowerment
		References
	Chapter 12 In the footsteps of Virginia Woolf: Humiliated Manhood and the re-visioning of the Feminine
		A woman’s war: Woolf, words, and the will to power
		The difference a friendship made
		Note
		References
	Chapter 13 Alchemy in exile: Varo and Carrington in Mexico City
		Stirring the cauldron: Varo and Carrington in the alchemical kitchen
		Varo’s death: Alchemy and the bath that kills and vivifies
		Note
		References
	Chapter 14 The way they loved each other: The crucible of friendship and the unmaking of patriarchy
		Reclaiming the place of the Feminine
		The distorted and dislocated Feminine: The surrealism of Wifredo Lam
		Horns of the goddess: The Minotaur in the work of Varo, Carrington, and Lam
		Female sexual objectification and other problems of patriarchy
		Note
		References
Part III Symbols of transformation
	Chapter 15 Imaginal dialogues: The alchemical treasure of the Feminine
		Note
		References
Index