The Seba library treats Filius Philosophorum in 7 passages, across 2 authors (including Jung, Carl Gustav, von Franz, Marie-Louise).
filius philosophorum, 25, 166, 237, 394, 452, 458n, 478, figs. 30, 153, 155 Christ as, 389, fig. 234 end-result of opus, 394 as hermaphrodite, 25, fig. 23 Mercurius as, fig. 22
Jung's index to Psychology and Alchemy enumerates the filius philosophorum's principal identifications — with Christ, with Mercurius, with the hermaphrodite — and explicitly names it the end-result of the opus.
, Psychology and Alchemy, 1944thesis
the filius philosophorum, like Christ, is here interpreted as the world-creating Logos. The words 'in that day, which the Lord hath made, let us be glad,' etc. form the Gradual for East
Von Franz identifies the filius philosophorum with the world-creating Logos, establishing a direct theological parallel between the alchemical son and the Johannine Christ.
, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966thesis
it is the aim of alchemy to beget this light in the shape of the filius philosophorum. An equally ancient treatise of Arabic provenance attributed to Hermes, the 'Tractatus aureus,' says (Mercurius is speaking): 'My light excels all other lights'
Jung connects Paracelsus's light-of-nature doctrine directly to the alchemical goal of generating the filius philosophorum, grounding the figure in the ancient tradition of Mercurius as luminous principle.
, Alchemical Studies, 1967thesis
metals; the renewed king (filius philosophorum) worshipped by the six planets Kelley, Tractatus de Lapide philosophorum (1676), pp. 122, 125.
A caption to an alchemical illustration in Psychology and Alchemy identifies the renewed king — the culminating figure of the transmutation — explicitly as the filius philosophorum, worshipped by the planetary bodies.
, Psychology and Alchemy, 1944supporting
The filius or rex in the form of a hermaphrodite. The axiom of Maria is represented by 1 + 3 snakes: the filius, as mediator, unites the one with the three. Characteristically, he has bat's wings.
Jung's description of the Rosarium philosophorum plate glosses the filius as hermaphroditic mediator whose function is to unite the quaternary tension expressed in the Axiom of Maria.
, Alchemical Studies, 1967supporting
as filius macrocosmi, 118 as forerunner of self, 224
The Mysterium Coniunctionis index aligns the filius macrocosmi with the filius philosophorum as forerunner of the Self, locating the figure within Jung's broader individuation framework.
, Mysterium Coniunctionis: An Inquiry into the Separation and Synthesis of Psychic Opposites in Alchemy, 1955aside
extraction of the spirit of Mercurius from the p[rima materia] … Sapientia (Hermes senex) takes the place of the Son, and the Holy Ghost has a quite separate entity. Together they form a quaternity.
Jung's reading of a coronation mandala in Psychology and Alchemy positions Sapientia in the structural place of the Son, contextualizing how the filius figure participates in quaternity symbolism.
, Psychology and Alchemy, 1944aside