Lead
Saturn
The heaviest and darkest metal, where the work begins.
Lead: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Lead was the metal of Saturn, the slowest and farthest planet: heavy, dull, poisonous, melancholy. Many alchemists began their work with it, the base matter to be transformed, and Jung read it as the heavy darkness of depression and the shadow, which holds the gold in potential.
Lead: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Saturn devouring his children, the leaden mood of melancholy, white lead, and the lead coffin.
From the Sources
Silberer writes that man in a state of humility or resignation must be specially associated with lead, the soft, dark metal.
“…man in a state of humility or resignation must specially be associated with lead, the soft, dark metal.”
Dr. Herbert Silberer, Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism, Part II, Section III, 'The Hermetic Art'. Translated by Smith Ely Jelliffe, M.D., Ph.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1917 (Internet Archive OCR text). The text, read in part
In the treatise of Johann Isaak Hollandus quoted by Silberer, the child is told that the Philosopher's Stone comes from Saturn, and that in the whole work there is no higher or greater secret than in Saturn.
“My child, know that the stone called the Philosopher's Stone comes from Saturn. And know my child as a truth that in the whole vegetable work [vegetable on account of the symbolism of the sowing and growing] there is no higher or greater secret than in Saturn.”
Dr. Herbert Silberer, Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism, Part II, Section III, 'The Hermetic Art' (quoting Johann Isaak Hollandus). Translated by Smith Ely Jelliffe, M.D., Ph.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1917 (Internet Archive OCR text). The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
In the Materia Medica
White lead: the substance itself, as the old medicine used it and as it is known today.
Where to Read
- Psychology and Alchemy, CW 12
- “The Visions of Zosimos,” CW 13
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: Nigredo, Prima materia.
Also among Metals, Principles, and Substances
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“Lead.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/lead.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
Death (Mortificatio, nigredo) · Putrefactio (Putrefaction) · Mortificatio (Mortification, killing) · The Eclipse (The black sun) · The Bird · The Raven (Caput corvi) · The Tomb · The Prima Materia (The first matter)
Nearby in the alphabet: The Lamb: Innocence offered up. The Lamp: A small light carried into the dark. Lightning: Sudden illumination, and sudden change. The Lion: Royal and devouring power.