The Prima Materia
The first matter
The chaos from which the work begins: despised, everywhere, and everything.
The Prima Materia: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The alchemists said the first matter was found everywhere and valued by no one, trodden in the street and thrown on the dung heap; they gave it hundreds of names. Jung read the search for it as the projection of the unconscious into matter: what the alchemist sought in his retort was the unknown in himself.
In Psychology and Alchemy he called it the massa confusa, the chaos, from which the work had to begin and to which it returned.
The Prima Materia: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The chaos and the waters of Genesis; Tiamat; lead and Saturn; the dragon; the stone which the builders refused; the long lists of names in Martin Ruland’s Lexicon of Alchemy (1612).
From the Sources
Silberer writes that the alchemists give the prima materia a hundred names, every one of them a riddle.
“They give the prima materia (raw material) a hundred names, every one of which is a riddle.”
Dr. Herbert Silberer, Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism, Part II, Section II, 'Alchemy'. 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
Redgrove quotes Lully that metals cannot be transmuted unless they are first reduced into their first matter.
“Metals cannot be transmuted... in the Minerals, unless they be reduced into their first Matter.”
H. Stanley Redgrove, Alchemy: Ancient and Modern, Chapter III, § 38 (Raymond Lully). Second and revised edition; London: William Rider & Son, Ltd., 1922 (first published 1911) (Project Gutenberg eBook #43240). 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
- Martin Ruland, Lexicon Alchemiae (1612)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: Prima materia, Projection.
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
“The Prima Materia.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/prima-materia.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
The Stone (Lapis philosophorum) · The Dragon (Draco) · The Toad · The Shadow (Umbra) · Projectio (Projection) · The Goat
Nearby in the alphabet: The Planets: The seven wanderers, each ruling a metal, a day, and a temper. Possession: An archetype taking hold of the whole person. The Prison: Bound in the dark, awaiting release.