Tin
Jupiter
The metal of Jupiter, completing the seven.
Tin: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Tin was the metal of Jupiter, the benevolent planet of kingship and abundance, and with gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and quicksilver it completed the seven metals of the seven planets. The alchemists placed it among the stages of the ascent through the planetary spheres.
Tin: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Jupiter the king of the gods, jovial temper, pewter, and the seven metals of the Mithraic ladder.
From the Sources
Ross explains that once electrum dropped out as a separate metal, tin was ascribed to Jupiter, the sign of mercury becoming shared by the metal and the planet.
“Subsequently electrum (an alloy of gold and silver) disappeared as a specific metal, and tin was ascribed to Jupiter instead, the sign of mercury becoming common to the metal and the planet.”
Hugh Munro Ross, Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition: Alchemy, 'Alchemy', on the identification of the metals with the planets. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, as transcribed on Wikisource. The text, read in part
Sendivogius, naming the metals by their planets, says most operators know how to turn iron into copper, or Venus, and how to change Jupiter into Mercury.
“Most operators know how to transmute iron into copper, or Venus, without using gold; they also know how to change Jupiter into Mercury; some can prepare the Moon (silver) out of Saturn”
Michael Sendivogius (author of the tract read), The Hermetic Museum, Restored and Enlarged, 'The New Chemical Light' (Sendivogius), p. 99. 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
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 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
“Tin.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/tin.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Thread: The line of fate, and the way back out. The Throne: The seat of rule, and of what rules the soul. The Toad: Earthbound and poisonous, with a jewel in its head. The Tomb: The grave that is also a womb.