Editing Proteus (section)

===In alchemy and psychology===
The German mystical alchemist [[Heinrich Khunrath]] wrote of the shape-changing sea-god who, because of his relationship to the sea, is both a symbol of the unconscious as well as the perfection of the art. Alluding to the ''scintilla'', the spark from ‘the light of nature’ and symbol of the {{lang|la|[[anima mundi]]}}, Khunrath in [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] vein stated of the Protean element Mercury:

In modern times, the Swiss psychologist [[Carl Jung]] defined the mythological figure of Proteus as a personification of the unconscious, who, because of his gift of prophecy and shape-changing, has much in common with the central but elusive figure of alchemy, [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercurius]]. The quote below gives further elaboration.

{{blockquote|text=Our Catholick Mercury, by virtue of his universal fiery spark of the light of nature, is beyond doubt Proteus, the sea god of the ancient pagan sages, who hath the key to the sea and&nbsp;... power over all things.|title={{lang|de|Von Hyleanischen Chaos}}|source=[[Carl Jung]], vol. 14:50{{Better source needed|date=April 2012}} }}