Satan,
" He was an initiated rosicrusian"
Interesting thing about them is that alchemy was used not to make gold:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosicrucianism
Michael Maier was ennobled with the title Pfalzgraf (Count Palatine) by Rudolph II, Emperor and King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. He also was one of the most prominent defenders of the Rosicrucians, clearly transmitting details about the "Brothers of the Rose Cross" in his writings. Maier made the firm statement that the Brothers of R.C. exist to advance inspired arts and sciences, including alchemy. Researchers of Maier's writings point out that he never claimed to have produced gold, nor did Heinrich Khunrath or any of the other Rosicrucianists. Their writings point toward a symbolic and spiritual alchemy, rather than an operative one. In both direct and veiled styles, these writings conveyed the nine stages of the involutive-evolutive transmutation of the threefold body of the human being, the threefold soul and the threefold spirit, among other esoteric knowledge related to the "Path of Initiation".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
Psychology
Alchemical symbolism has been occasionally used by psychologists and philosophers. Carl Jung reexamined alchemical symbolism and theory and presented the inner meaning of alchemical work as a spiritual path. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] [non-primary source needed]
Jung saw alchemy as a Western proto-psychology dedicated to the achievement of individuation. [ 24 ] [non-primary source needed] In his interpretation, alchemy was the vessel by which Gnosticism survived its various purges into the Renaissance, [ 26 ] [non-primary source needed] a concept also followed by others such as Stephan A. Hoeller. In this sense, Jung viewed alchemy as comparable to a Yoga of the East, and more adequate to the Western mind than Eastern religions and philosophies. The practice of Alchemy seemed to change the mind and spirit of the Alchemist. Conversely, spontaneous changes on the mind of Western people undergoing any important stage in individuation seems to produce, on occasion, imagery known to Alchemy and relevant to the person's situation. [ 27 ] [non-primary source needed]
His interpretation of Chinese alchemical texts in terms of his analytical psychology also served the function of comparing Eastern and Western alchemical imagery and core concepts and hence its possible inner sources (archetypes). [ 28 ] [ 29 ] [non-primary source needed]
Marie-Louise von Franz, a disciple of Jung, continued Jung's studies on alchemy and its psychological meaning. [citation needed]
