From the author: the articles were written for the Popular Encyclopedia of Psychoanalysis, published in 1998 by the Olympus Publishing House. Alchemy is a medieval teaching that relates equally to the world of nature and the world of the human soul. One goal of alchemists was to transform base metals into noble ones - gold or the philosopher's stone. Another, no less important task was to free the spirit from the shackles of matter. Thus, the alchemist sought to develop his own spiritual power and gain power over the natural world. In psychoanalysis, alchemy is considered primarily as the ancestor of modern research into the unconscious. C. G. Jung drew attention to the fact that the symbolism of dreams, those mysterious images that we see in our dreams, are in many ways similar to alchemical symbols. In his works, he often used alchemical symbols to designate certain psychological states of a person. For example, in alchemy, three worlds are often mentioned - black, white and red, which the human soul needs to go through. Each of these worlds has its own images and experiences. Jung drew attention to the fact that a dream can be attributed to one of these three worlds in order to understand at what stage of his spiritual path this person is. The first of these worlds, black, is called nigredo. This world is scary, creepy, sad, it is filled with disgusting images: heaps of dung, skeletons, snakes, rats, sharks, handcuffs, sewer pipes... In a word, what we usually see and experience in nightmares. Such dreams are associated with tragic moments in life, for example, when a person loses someone close to him, or is disappointed in previous values, and does not know how to live further. These life situations are associated with difficult experiences, but they are necessary and even useful in their own way. After all, without experiencing the destruction of the old, without saying goodbye to it, it is impossible to move on. When old relationships (or values) have already outlived their usefulness, you need to allow them to collapse, go into the past in order to build something new in the vacant place. Nigredo is called the world of darkness - it is as if a person finds himself immersed in the darkness of the night, where there are no stars or moonlight. The second world, white, is called albedo. About the transition from the world of nigredo to the world of albedo, C. G. Jung wrote this: “The obscurity slightly dissipates, like the darkness of the night when the moon appears in the sky... This timid light refers to albedo, moonlight.” This world is characterized by a thoughtful, dreamy mood and the absence of strong emotions. When a person is in such a state, then in a dream he can see the surface of waters and mirrors, sailing without a rudder or sails; pearls, glass and crystal. The animals that inhabit this world are polar bears and sheep, moths, owls and butterflies, frogs and salamanders. At this stage of the alchemical process, the decay of the old has already been completed, and the new is just beginning to appear. It is no coincidence that at this time images of pregnant women or birds hatching eggs often appear in dreams. This is a period of passive waiting, when new values ​​and guidelines are barely beginning to take shape in a person’s soul. The third world, rubedo, is the world of the Sun. What was nurtured and matured in the world of albedo is now coming into being. In this world there is clarity and order, certainty in all actions and relationships. This is the kingdom of reason, common sense. If the worlds of nigredo and albedo symbolize the life of the unconscious and the processes occurring in it, then the world of rubedo is a symbol of consciousness. Rubedo is a world of active actions, rapid development of relationships, especially relationships between a man and a woman, which is why in psychoanalysis it is called the world of libido. “The alchemists call this world rubedo,” writes K. G. Jung, “In it, a marriage of a red-haired man and a poor-faced woman takes place. Opposites not only repel each other, but also strive for each other, because endless enmity is incompatible with life and cannot last forever.” Dream images accompanying the rubedo stage - birds soaring high in the sky, rockets and space.