Vitriol
V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
Go down into the earth, and you will find the hidden stone.
Vitriol: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The alchemists read the name of the green salt as an instruction: Visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultum lapidem, “Visit the interior of the earth; by rectifying you will find the hidden stone.” The acrostic appears in the Azoth attributed to Basil Valentine (1613).
It is the counsel of the whole work read inward: the stone is found by descent, and by purifying what is found there.
Vitriol: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The descent of Orpheus and of Dante; the treasure hidden in the ground; the cave of initiation; the substance itself, in the Materia Medica.
From the Sources
Silberer reports that the alchemists formed an acrostic from the letters of the word Vitriol: Visita Interiora Terrae, Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem, 'Visit the interior of the earth; by purifying you will find the hidden stone'.
“…and form an acrostic from the initial letters of this word: " Visita Interiora Terrae, Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem " [ = Visit the interior of the earth; by purifying you will find the hidden stone].”
Dr. Herbert Silberer, Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism, Part II, Section IV, 'Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry' (on the plate of the 1660 Paris edition of the 'Twelve Keys'). 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
The author of the Golden Tract warns that vitriol misleads many by its wonderful qualities, since part of it changes into copper and it can turn iron into copper.
“What shall we say of vitriol which misleads many by its wonderful qualities, especially as some part of it changes into copper, and itself has the power of transforming iron into copper?”
Arthur Edward Waite (signed preface to the English edition), The Hermetic Museum, Restored and Enlarged, 'The Golden Tract concerning the Stone of the Philosophers', p. 25. Now first done into English from the Latin original published at Frankfort in the year 1678; in two volumes, Volume I; 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.
In the Materia Medica
Vitriol: the substance itself, as the old medicine used it and as it is known today.
Where to Read
- Basil Valentine (attributed), Azoth (1613)
- Edward F. Edinger, Anatomy of the Psyche (1985)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: philosophers’ stone.
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
“Vitriol.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/vitriol.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
The Treasure Hard to Attain · Squaring the Circle (Quadratura circuli) · Gold (Aurum)
Nearby in the alphabet: Violet: Where the spectrum passes beyond sight. The Virgin: One-in-herself: whole, and belonging to no one. The Volcano: Fire breaking up from below. The Wasteland: The barren land of a wounded king.