An Evening With Tim Lyons: The Black Vas Return to the Mother in the Alchemical Womb

 "To be that which you are is the bath of rebirth."

                                                                      --C.G. Jung, The Red Book

The Pretiosissimum Donum Dei, “the most precious gift of God,” a vital 17th century alchemical work, contains an illustration called the “Coniunctio in the Black Vas.” The illustration depicts an entirely black, hermetically sealed vessel resembling a chemistry lab beaker. Lying down within the vas, “married” together, sinking into the bath of “black, blacker than black aqua,” is the naked sacred royal couple. This alchemical womb that embodies the transformational energy of rebirth may present a much-needed opportunity for healing in the darkness of our modern world. 

Our present cycle of oppressive collective circumstances is driven by rigid masculine power drives. Bondage through fear, anti-humanitarian policies, witch hunts, scapegoating, and war are prevailing globally. The way of nurturing, the mother, and the womb are being forgotten. If the uninitiated ego tries to return to the mother’s womb to try to heal from this wounded state, it can become an incestuous act of regression with disastrous consequences for consciousness. If, however, we can approach this return with sufficient awareness, then, as an ancient alchemical text declares: “I find myself, I mate with myself, I generate myself, I gestate myself, I give birth to myself, I am myself,” we may find salvation.

The black "vas" is a symbolic depiction of the nigredo, the blackening stage of the alchemical process. This stage is crucial for creating the Prima Materia and represents a phase of putrefaction, dissolution, and spiritual death before regeneration and the goal of alchemy, the sacred marriage, can occur. The water in the vas may be seen as a metaphor for the flow of consciousness and biochemical life force in the body. The rigid thinking mind is like ice, “frozen in the failure position,” as object relations theorist Donald Winnicott puts it.  If we can generate enough loving warmth from the heart, it can melt the ice and evaporate our attachment to our own character and identity to create space for conception in the vas. The distillation of the bath can be used to extract synchronicities, dreams, telepathy, premonitions, and visions to help guide us to a newly developed sense of meaning and connectedness.

In this presentation, through the lens of depth psychology and neurophysiology, we will examine how this “most precious gift” can manifest as a contemporary vessel of rebirth for both our spiritual and biological body. Alchemical and biochemical marriage with the Self can initiate evolution through love and enable us to start living fearlessly through acts of consciousness. This reborn life force can ultimately lead us to total evaporation and the experience of a state of unity beyond life and death.  

Timothy Lyons, LCSW, is a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist in private practice for individuals, couples and families in Capitol Hill, D.C. and Takoma Park, Maryland. He has a certificate for postgraduate studies from the Philadelphia Jung Institute and is a frequent presenter at the Jung Society of Washington. His postgraduate studies also include infant observation and art therapy. Tim’s work is further enhanced by his studies of Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, yogic philosophies, Hatha yoga and Qi Gong. He has also completed teacher training in Trul Khor (Tibetan yoga). His earlier career as architect and editor includes writing for The Washington Post, and lecturing at the Smithsonian Institution.  https://timothy-lyons.com