author
Herbert Silberer
1882–1922
A little-known early psychoanalyst, he explored dreams, symbolism, mysticism, and alchemy in ways that later readers have found strikingly original. His work sits at the crossroads of Freud’s circle and the wider history of depth psychology.
1 Audiobook
Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts
by Herbert Silberer
About the author
Born in Vienna in 1882, Herbert Silberer was an Austrian psychoanalyst, writer, and journalist. Reliable reference sources describe him as part of the professional world around Sigmund Freud, while also noting his earlier background in sports journalism and athletics.
He is best remembered for writing about dreams and symbols, and for bringing mysticism and alchemy into psychological discussion. That combination gave his work a distinctive place in early psychoanalytic thought, especially for readers interested in the symbolic side of the mind.
Silberer died in Vienna in 1923. Although he is less famous than some of his contemporaries, his writing has continued to attract attention from historians of psychoanalysis and from readers interested in the meeting point of psychology, religion, and the occult.