Multiplicatio
Multiplying
The finished stone increasing its power.
Multiplicatio: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
At the end of the work the stone was multiplied: fed and dissolved again, it grew in strength until a little of it could transform a great deal of base metal. Jungian writers read it as the way a transformation achieved in one life spreads outward to others.
Multiplicatio: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The loaves and fishes, the mustard seed, the tincture that colours a thousandfold.
From the Sources
Norton writes that fire and earth are the only elements capable of multiplication, earth daily producing fresh herbs, and that they cause the power of multiplication inherent in the Stone.
“For earth daily produces fresh herbs, while one spark of fire is miraculously enlarged only when it is fed with plenty of combustible matter. Fire and earth are the only elements that are capable of multiplication, and they cause the power of multiplication inherent in our Stone.”
Michael Sendivogius (author of the tract read), The Hermetic Museum, Restored and Enlarged, Thomas Norton, "The Ordinal of Alchemy", pp. 40-41. Now first done into English from the Latin original published at Frankfort in the year 1678; in two volumes, Volume II; London: James Elliott and Co., 1893 (Internet Archive OCR text). The text, read in part
Redgrove quotes Ripley's verse bidding the adept keep his glass in the fire and multiply his medicines 'ay more and more'.
“In fyer conteinue thy glas styll, And Multeply thy Medcyns ay more and more, For wyse men done say store ys no sore”
H. Stanley Redgrove, Alchemy: Ancient and Modern, § 44, "Sir George Ripley". Second and revised edition; London, William Rider & Son, Ltd., 1922. 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.
Where to Read
- Psychology and Alchemy, CW 12
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Operations of the Work
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“Multiplicatio.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/multiplicatio.
Nearby in the alphabet: Mortificatio: The killing of what has ruled too long. The Mountain: The height to be climbed, where heaven and earth meet. The Navel: The centre of the body, and of the world. Night: The dark from which the day is born.