Visual Explorations

Philosophy is often presented as the fundamental interpretative tool, but art can also serve this role. Visual Explorations is the online art showcase of the Global Spiral. Every monthly issue will present a “visual exploration” through painting, sculpture, photography, and images from the sciences, expanding our understanding of foundational questions.

Our showcase is open to submissions. Please include the title of the piece, a short biographical sketch, and a brief description of the artwork (in the case of science images, tell what is being portrayed). Send all submissions to visualexplorations@metanexus.net.

The above is one of 38 miniatures in watercolor from the Aurora consurgens ("Rising dawn"), an illuminated manuscript of the 15th century. It contains a medieval alchemical treatise, attributed to Thomas Aquinas in the past, now to an author known as "Pseudo Aquinas." In 1966, Jungian protegé Marie-Louise von Franz published an edited version of the text with commentary under the title: Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy: A Companion Work to C.G. Jung's Mysterium Conjunctionis. As is well known, Carl Jung took the alchemical aim of transmuting base metals into precious metals to be a powerful symbol for the psychical process of individuation.