Summary

The following points are made:

• Crossdressing is likely related to the process of a man's coming to terms what Jung called the anima. Therefore, rather than being a mere aberration, crossdressing should be viewed as a part of a normal developmental process of individuation.

• Following Jung's theories, this perspective is optimistic and suggest a path by which a man might come to terms with the anima, thereby outgrowing the need to crossdress.

• Jung devoted considerable attention to understanding Alchemy as a proto-psychology, rich in symbolic meaning. A principle concern of Alchemy is the integration of male and female aspects of the psyche; this is discussed and illustrated here.

Jung and Alchemy

Since having written the article, Jung's Anima Theory and Crossdressing, I have continued to explore the implications of Jung's theories for crossdressers. There is more good material there than I originally realized..

The other article discussed the anima--the inferior, female part of a man's psyche. Jung believed that coming to terms with ones anima is one of the most difficult yet important things a man can do.

Jung's research led him to the study of ancient alchemy. He found that the alchemists of old weren't mainly trying to make gold. Alchemy was a spiritual practice, its goal being to transform the base, natural mind of man with into something better.

Jung devoted the second half of his long career to studying alchemy as a metaphor for psychological growth. His voluminous work on this subject, culminating in the book Mysterium Coniunctionis, makes for difficult reading. But the main ideas, which relate in a direct way to crossdressing, can be easily understood.

In the spiritual alchemy model, each person needs to reconcile two important pairs of contraries:

• male and female
• spiritual and material parts of human nature

To appreciate how these basic contraries relate to and define "the human condition," just consider the story of Adam and Eve. Even first pages of the Bible present all these elements: male and female (first one person and then divided), a tree (a symbol connecting heaven and earth), God, a serpent, temptation, desire, sexuality, shame, knowledge. These are all given as parts a puzzle we somehow must solve.

Alchemy might be considered the West's version of tantrism. (I use the term, 'tantrism,' in the broader sense that includes things like yogic practices and Tibetan deity imagery, and not the narrow sense of sexual practices.) In fact, Alchemy, like tantrism, is sometimes called a "left-hand path." This contrasts it with "right-hand" paths, such as philosophy and psychology.

We can make this clearer. Scientists now know that the human brain is highly lateralized. Brain functions like reason and language are mainly localized in the left brain. Intuition and emotion are mainly localized in the right brain. The right brain controls the left side of the body. Hence practices which follow an intuitive, symbolic, feeling-based logic are "left-handed.'

Like tantra, Western alchemy makes extensive use of symbolic images. Sometimes these images were arranged in sequences which describe an entire process of psychological change.

A substantial part of alchemy was concerned with repairing the disconnection between male and female aspects of a person. By male and female here we don't mean what clothes one wears. The concern is more basic--with the essences of the psyche. The male part--Logos--is more concerned with Thought, Reason, Will and Action. The female part--Eros--is more concerned with Feeling, Intuition, Experience, and Emotion.

To better appreciate this, here are a few example alchemical emblems.

Colored images (c) Adam McLean

Note that the Sun represents male and the Moon represents female. An interesting feature is that the female figure is generally on the left and the male on the right. The motif of figures with two heads, one male and one female, frequently seen in these emblems, seems especially relevant.

The Work

This can easily become needlessly arcane. I believe that once one gets the basic idea--how the metaphor works--then the details are incidental and each person works them out spontaneously.

What does this mean to you as a crossdresser? Here are some of the important points:

1. You can be reassured to learn that conflict between male and female parts of the mind is a basic, universal, and very difficult part of being human.

2. If you have difficulty working it out--welcome to the human race!

3. Very few people actually do solve the problem.

4. Studying a little of the psychological principles of alchemy can help us can formulate a solution to the problem.

Accordingly, I sketched below a model for crossdressers that involves only three basic steps.

At first our psyche is a primitive, poorly differentiated, chaotic mass--what alchemists called "first matter." For a crossdresser, this is our initial state of confusion. We believe we are male, but we have 'female' urges. We are conflicted and unhappy either way: as a male, we are awkward and inhibited; but when we try to be female, guilt and other inhibitions come into play. Neither our male nor our female sides are adequately developed.

1. Separation. Separation occurs when we first start to think of ourselves as having separate and distinct male and female sides. As this develops, a CD might, for example, gives himself permission to dress fully, or otherwise develop the female side in some organized sense. The important thing is that the female side is fully permitted into consciousness. It is still a confusing and conflicted time. But at least the CD lets the female parts of himself to be expressed.

2. Conjunction. As things progress, the CD may develop almost two personalities. The male side has a concept of the female as almost a different person. He may even refer to 'her' in the third person. At the same time the reverse may happen. The female may see the male as like a different person.

   This might seem like "multiple personalities" making people think it's bad. But it isn't a psychiatric disorder. With multiple personalities, different personalities within the same person are unaware of each other. Here both the male and female parts are completely aware of each other.

   At first they may be critical and antagonistic towards each other. This is a crucial stage. The important thing is that they reach a point of understanding. The male can admit that the female has good qualities and respect those. And the female can do the same. At this point, one reaches the point of "conjunction."

   The ultimate goal of the alchemical process is called the Philosopher's Stone. We can understand that as the emergence of a fully realized and integrated psyche, or what modern psychologists call a Self-actualized person. We are partway there.

   Here I believe the crossdresser has basically three options. One is to stay at this level, essentially living a dual life. For a married CD, this can be problematic. For a single CD it less problematic, but still one fails to take the last step. The goal is not to produce a "reasonably well adjusted person." It is to produce a superior person.

   Other CDs take a curious turn. After reaching this stage they let the female part become dominant in their life. Here is where you see some decide, fairly late in life, to start taking hormones and dressing even more, maybe even fulltime. This, however, goes against the alchemical goal which seeks fullest expression of both male and female characteristics. This isn't about losing abilities. It's about gaining.

3. Transcendence. Working together, the refined inner male and female can cooperate to tackle the real problem--the animal nature and it's disorganized, impulse-driven orientation. In this step (through a series of substeps which involve of purification and of growth of both male and female sides) a new person emerges.

   This is neither male nor female, but a higher order of being altogether. It's like the boundaries of the self expand to encompass both the male and female. Now, instead of alternating between male and female mode, one approaches the world with their total being. They process every situation, they relate to the world, with both halves of their brain.

   That is a really fantastic situation. The combination is vastly greater than the sum of the two parts.

How to Use This

• View one or two of the sequences of alchemical images below:

  • Rosarium Philosophorum, c. 1550
  • J.D. Mylius Philosophia reformata, Frankfurt, 1622.

  Let the symbols speak. Even if your male side doesn't understand in logic, your female side (right hemisphere intuition) very well might.

• Do a little research, but don't get obsessed. While the core of this material is sound, it has gotten very "New Agey" lately.

Above I suggested a CD might, for a while, give themselves permission to dress. I have certain misgivings about that. I definitely don't want to tell people, "Hey, you need to crossdress." In my case it did seem to work, but there might be other and betters ways to handle this.

Ultimately each person is different, and you need to figure out your own path. Alchemy can arm you with some very helpful principles, but it does not provide a single blueprint for each person.

To Find Out More

• Wikipedia article: Jung, Carl
• Online article: C. G. Jung and the Alchemical Renewal
• Book: C. G. Jung. Mysterium Coniunctionis (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.14) (Paperback) Bollingen. ISBN 0691018162 .
• Website: Alchemy Website