Treasure House

This is the treas-ure-house in which are treasured up all the sublime things of science or wisdom or the glorious things which cannot be pos-sessed. . . . The house in which these treasures are is closed with four doors and they are locked with four keys

This passage establishes the Treasure House as the central alchemical symbol of Wisdom's totality, accessible only through mastery of all four elemental keys, constituting the passage's — and chapter's — defining thesis.

von Franz, Marie-Louise, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966thesis

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Alphidius in his book speaketh of the treasure house, which he teacheth can be opened by four keys, which are the four elements.

Von Franz cites Alphidius to anchor the Treasure House specifically within the quaternary elemental framework, linking access to wisdom with fourfold differentiation.

von Franz, Marie-Louise, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966thesis

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In our text the treasure-house of Wisdom is built upon fourteen pillars, whereas in Proverbs 9:1 it is 'hewn out of seven pillars'—no doubt as a reflection of the cosmos with its seven planetary spheres.

Von Franz reads the treasure-house numerology as encoding cosmological significance, relating the fourteen pillars to a doubling of the seven-planetary schema and to the heavenly Jerusalem.

von Franz, Marie-Louise, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966thesis

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Whosoever by his science shall open this house shall find therei[n] . . . for it is founded upon a sure rock, which cannot be split unless it be anointed with the blood of a most fine buck-goat or be smitten three times with the rod of Moses

The passage frames the opening of the Treasure House as an initiatory act requiring specific ritual conditions, aligning it with typological and sacrificial symbolism.

von Franz, Marie-Louise, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966supporting

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the treasure-house is implicitly compared, stands upon twelve foundations (Apoc. 21:14ff.). The house and courts of the Lord (Psalm 35:9, 83:5, 11), and is equated with Christ as the 'door' to salvation

Von Franz situates the alchemical treasure-house within patristic Christological typology, identifying the structure with the heavenly Jerusalem and with Christ as the mediating threshold.

von Franz, Marie-Louise, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966supporting

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This is a secret en-trusted to the keeping of the wise alone . . . In the midst of a mighty rock, a most recondite firmament, there is set a Palace which is called the Palace of Love. This is the region wherein the treasures of the King are stored

A Zoharic parallel cited by von Franz amplifies the Treasure House as a hidden royal treasury of divine love, accessible only to the wise, confirming the motif's cross-traditional depth.

von Franz, Marie-Louise, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966supporting

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the snake-pit had become a slot for money, a 'poor-box,' and the cave a 'hoard.' . . . Fear of the deadly maternal womb has become the guard-ian of the treasure of life.

Jung traces the etymological and archaeological transformation of the chthonic maternal space into a treasure repository, revealing the guardian serpent as the psyche's defensive threshold to inner wealth.

Jung, Carl Gustav, Symbols of Transformation, 1952supporting

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treasure, 163, 179, 199, 203, 218, 258, 259, 271; in field, 259; kingly, 145; motif, 258; secret, fig. 14; tree as guardian of, 314 treasure-house, 85, 88

An index entry from Jung's Collected Works confirms that 'treasure-house' is a catalogued technical term within Jungian alchemical scholarship, adjacent to the treasure motif, the kingly treasure, and the tree-as-guardian.

Jung, C. G., Collected Works Volume 3: The Psychogenesis of Mental Disease, 1907aside

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