TRES CAMINOS Y TRES ETAPAS

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the parallels between the three paths of Christian mystical experience, namely purgation, illumination and union, with the three stages of the alchemical work: nigredo, albedo and rubedo. Thus we resort to the notion of archetype within the tradition of Jungian scholars and, in relation to Christian mysticism, to the scholars of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, which necessarily implies a deepening of the sources that directly or indirectly influenced his conception of spiritual exercises. We conclude that there is a direct relationship that is not about the influence of one current over another, but both share the same cultural environment that leads to this evident proximity between the three paths and the three stages: to purge, is equivalent to the nigredo; to enlighten, to the albedo, and to unite to the rubedo, as a rule symbolized by the "sacred marriage" between the king and the queen.