My D.Phil. composition portfolio consists of six works including a major work for solo electric guitar. The pieces centre around symbolism and archetypes derived from Hermetic philosophy, alchemical symbolism and the writings of Swiss psychologist C. G. Jung. The role these ideas play in the constructive and performative aspects of each individual composition is explored and analysed. Also, an historical examination of models which resonate and/or have influenced my approach to coalescing these concepts in composition are addressed, particularly the role in which metaphysics and music are integrated in the works of Mozart and Schoenberg, and the alchemical and hermetic treatises of Michael Maier and Robert Fludd.