Citrinitas, or sometimes xanthosis,
[Joseph Needham. ''Science & Civilisation in China: Chemistry and chemical technology. Spagyrical discovery and invention : magisteries of gold and immortality.'' Cambridge. 1974. p.23] is a term given by
alchemists to "yellowness." It is one of the four major stages of the alchemical
magnum opus
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
. In alchemical philosophy, citrinitas stood for the dawning of the "solar light" inherent in one's being, and that the reflective "lunar or soul light" was no longer necessary. The other three alchemical stages were
nigredo (blackness),
albedo
Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refl ...
(whiteness), and
rubedo (redness).
Psychologist
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phil ...
is credited with interpreting the alchemical process as analogous to modern-day psychoanalysis. In the Jungian archetypal schema, nigredo is the Shadow; albedo refers to the
anima and animus (contrasexual soul images); citrinitas is the
wise old man (or woman)
archetype
The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...
; and rubedo is the Self archetype which has achieved wholeness.
References
*Nigel Hamilton (1985), ''The Alchemical Process of Transformation''
*
C. G. Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phi ...
, ''Psychology and Alchemy'' 2nd. ed. (Transl. by R. F. C. Hull)
*
E. J. Holmyard
Eric John Holmyard (1891–1959) was an English science teacher at Clifton College, and historian of science and technology.
Scholar
Holmyard studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society. His scholarly ...
, ''Alchemy'' New York. Dower Publications. 1990
Notes
Alchemical processes
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