The Quintessence
The fifth essence
The fifth, beyond the four: what the elements hold in common.
The Quintessence: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Beyond earth, water, air, and fire, Aristotle set a fifth body, the aether of the heavens; the alchemists sought its earthly counterpart, the quinta essentia, by distilling wine again and again, as John of Rupescissa taught in the fourteenth century.
Jung read the fifth that arises from the union of four as an image of the self: the centre of the quaternity, the one that comes from the four.
The Quintessence: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The aether of the heavens; the centre of the cross; the fifth point of the quincunx; the elixir.
From the Sources
Redgrove quotes Isaac of Holland: the perfect nature is called the Quintessence, the imperfect the dregs or the venomous or combustible oil.
“…the perfect nature is called the Quintessence, the unperfect the Feces or dreggs, or the venemous or combustible oile.”
H. Stanley Redgrove, Alchemy: Ancient and Modern, Chapter III, § 42 (Isaac of Holland). Second and revised edition; London: William Rider & Son, Ltd., 1922 (first published 1911) (Project Gutenberg eBook #43240). The text, read in part
In the passage from Eirenaeus Philalethes quoted by Redgrove, the Stone is the noblest of created things after the rational soul, able to repair all defects in animal and metallic bodies, and is therefore a spirit or quintessence.
“It is the noblest of all created things after the rational soul, and has virtue to repair all defects both in animal and metallic bodies, by restoring them to the most exact and perfect temper; wherefore is it a spirit or 'quintessence.'”
H. Stanley Redgrove, Bygone Beliefs: Being a Series of Excursions in the Byways of Thought, Chapter IX, 'The Quest of the Philosopher's Stone' (quoting Eirenaeus Philalethes). Project Gutenberg eBook #1271. 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
- John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quintae essentiae (c. 1350)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: Self.
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 Quintessence.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/quintessence.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
The Self (Das Selbst) · The Orphan (The abandoned one) · The Anthropos (The cosmic man) · The Mandala (Sanskrit: circle) · The Sphere (The round, the rotundum) · Squaring the Circle (Quadratura circuli)
Nearby in the alphabet: The Quest: The long search for what was lost. Rain: What falls from heaven to make the earth fertile. The Rainbow: A bridge of light between heaven and earth.