Apollonius of Tyana is one of the most famous magicians in history.
Some even argue that the founders of Christianity used the story of magical power of Apollonius in order to create the miracle stories of Jesus.
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Isopsephy, Gematria, Numerology
Languages such as ancient Greek and Hebrew, did not have the Arabic numerical system, and used the letters from their alphabets as numbers. The ancient Greeks practiced isopsephy, in which the numerical values of the letters in a word or name are added together and then reduced to a single digit. Those that reduced to the same digit were compared and analysed for deeper meaning. This goes back to the Pythagorean tradition. The Hebrews did the same through a practice called gematria, in which they assigned mystical meaning to words and names based on their numerical values, particularly in Kabbalah.
In China, numbers are associated to the sounds they make when said out loud. Some numbers are believed to be auspicious or inauspicious. For example, 4 is related to death, and 8 is related to wealth. Similar practices exist across the world, which reflects the human tendency to find symbolic meaning and patterns in numbers and language.
Today, this practice is known as numerology, popularised in the early 20th century. Pythagoras is considered the father of numerology, because of his interest in the mystical properties of numbers. The resurgence of this practice added a new layer, namely, using numbers to understand oneself. A practice that is prevalent in esoteric circles. Numbers in themselves possess psychological values and meanings, and from their combination, particularly of name and date of birth, the characterological pattern is interpreted. Thus, numerologists, astrologists, and psychologists all have their unique approaches, but their goal is fundamentally the same, it is the age-old maxim, “know thyself.”
Number as the Archetype of Order
The Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Jung stated that mathematics ruined the experience of school for him. Given this distaste, one might expect that Jung would have ignored or dismissed numbers and anything linked to the subject. But not so, Jung had a long fascination for numbers, and came to see them as archetypes (instinctual patterns of behaviour of mankind). He was interested in what the collective unconscious had expressed from time immemorial about each natural number. In his study of alchemy, Jung noticed that many authors associated mystical ideas to numbers. This, he believed, were the first attempts to outline the total order of the collective unconscious, as the sum of the archetypes.
Numbers have existed from eternity, predating humanity itself, and is carried in the heritage of animals and insects, which although they may not possess the same level of abstract mathematical understanding as humans, they often use basic numerical skills for survival, navigation, and communication. Thus, numbers seem to be the simplest and most elementary of all archetypes, being the very matrix of all others, and consequently, they are primordial images which reach farther into the depths of the unconscious than any other archetype.
Jung defines number as the archetype of order which has become conscious. Number helps more than anything else to bring order into the chaos of appearances. That they are archetypes emerges from the psychological fact that natural numbers, given the chance, amplify themselves immediately and freely through mythological and symbolic statements.
For some reason, we intuitively feel that some numbers, like 7, make us feel good, while others, like 13, terrify us. It is as if numbers were linking our soul to that which is beyond ourselves. Even numbers are appealing as they create symmetry, odd numbers, oddly, cause interest.
The Role of Numbers in Dreams
While we consciously use numbers quantitatively, the unconscious uses numbers qualitatively. Dreams speak the language of nature, which is expressed in symbols. Although numbers can appear in dreams explicitly, it is more frequent that they appear implicitly. Instead of dreaming of a specific number, you might dream, for example, of being in the second floor of a building, inside a room with three people, or in a circular garden, etc. Paying attention to these small details can allow one to further amplify the meaning of dreams, and better understand their contents.
Numbers as the Archetype of Wholeness (Self)
From decades of work with patients, Jung came to see that numbers play an exceedingly important role in dreams, for they are frequent images used by the psyche for expressing the coming to consciousness of the Self, the total personality of an individual, which includes one’s conscious and unconscious contents. The Self is the archetype of wholeness, or what Jung calls a God-image. Numbers are the structural characteristics of the Self symbol, and as such, are crucial for individuation, the lifelong path towards psychic wholeness. It is not a linear process, but rather a circular one, which works through a circumambulation (circling around) of the Self.
Numbers as Autonomous Entities
It is generally believed that numbers were invented by man, and are therefore nothing but concepts of quantities, containing nothing that was not previously put into them by the human intellect. But, for Jung, it is equally possible that numbers were found or discovered. In that case they are not only concepts but something more—autonomous entities which not only contain quantities, but also certain qualities. Numbers have life, they are not just symbols on paper.
As archetypes, numbers have the quality of being pre-existent to consciousness, and hence, of conditioning it rather than being conditioned by it. They are discovered inasmuch as one did not know of their unconscious autonomous existence, and they are invented or devised insofar as they are brought into human consciousness, with their presence being inferred from similar representational structures. People don’t have ideas; ideas have people.
Numbers, Psychoid, Unus Mundus
Jung writes:
“[W]hole numbers possess that characteristic of the psychoid archetype in classical form—namely, that they are as much inside as outside. Thus, one can never make out whether they have been devised or discovered; as numbers they are inside and as quantity, they are outside… I therefore believe that from the psychological point of view at least, the sought-after borderland between physics and psychology lies in the secret of the number. Hence the saying, fittingly enough, that man made mathematics, but God made the whole numbers.”
Atom and Archetype: The Pauli/Jung Letters (1932-1958)
Psychoid (soul-like) is a term coined by Jung that refers to the irrepresentable nature of all archetypes, which do not fully belong in the psyche, nor in matter, but rather transcends both and yet provides a bridge to them as the unifying element. This is known as the unus mundus(the one world), which is the transcendental unity of existence that underlies the duality of psyche and matter. As the most primitive archetypes, numbers become vital in understanding this connection.
Numbers belong to both worlds, the real and the imaginary, the world of matter and psyche, it is visible as well as invisible, quantitative as well as qualitative. In this connection, Jung writes:
“I always come upon the enigma of the natural number. I have a distinct feeling that Number is a key to the mystery.”
Jung’s Letter to Stephen Abrams – 21 Oct 1957. Letters Vol. 2 (1951-1961)
Numbers are autonomous entities that exist independently of human influence. It is with these inherent truths, that man made all the complex and advanced mathematical concepts and theories. Numbers had their significance before men used them as instruments, however, in the instant that they are used as mere instruments for calculation, they become dry and lose their symbolic meaning. Jung writes:
“To the former [the mathematician], number is a means of counting; to the latter [the psychologist], it is a discovered entity capable of making individual statements if it is given a chance. In other words: in the former case number is a servant, in the latter case an autonomous being.”
Jung’s Letter to Philip Wylie – 22 Dec 1957. Letters Vol. 2 (1951-1961)
Numbers and Synchronicity
Jung coined the term synchronicity to explain how an inner image (dream, thought, vision, mood, premonition, etc.) can appear in the outer world, as if the boundaries between psyche and matter were to collapse.
For instance, you might dream of an important person in your life that you have not talked to for many years, and still have unfinished business with. Then you wake up to find a call from an unknown number, which you later find out is from that person, who could have appeared in subsequent dreams, but instead appeared in reality. That is a synchronicity. One’s inner image, somehow, “appeared” in the outer world. Synchronicity is not based on causality, but rather on a meaningful correspondence of events.
Synchronicity can also appear directly in the outside world, through seeing a particular number or set of numbers appearing in your life over and over, as if there is a message being sent to you. The number 11:11 is a common series of numbers people see. You might also find multiplies of 11, like 22, 3:33, 444, etc. These repeating digit numbers are referred to as angel numbers.
There is something peculiar about numbers that seem to be related to synchronicity, as both share numinosity and mystery as their common characteristics. However, whereas the properties of natural numbers have existed from eternity, synchronistic events are acts of creation in time.That is to say,they appear to be linked up with an individual’s inner development and is in some way dependent on it. Jung calls synchronicitythe parapsychological equivalent of the unus mundus.
Numbers: Link between Psyche and Matter
As Jung grew older, he became increasingly interested in understanding how each number has an individual personality, and wanted to take a further step into the realisation of the unity of psyche and matter through research into the archetypes of natural numbers, especially the first four, which occur with the greatest frequency and have the widest incidence.
Jung began writing notes on the first five natural numbers. Two years before his death, however, he was too old to continue this project and handed his notes over to one of his closest colleagues, Marie-Louise von Franz. After Jung’s death, she was devastated and felt that she couldn’t continue this project anymore. But her conscience would not let her rest, so she eventually picked up the topic and wrote her book, Number and Time: Reflections Leading toward a Unification of Depth Psychology and Physics. A notoriously difficult work, which von Franz herself called “unreadable”.
Despite its difficulty, it is a major elucidation and elaboration of Jung’s work. Von Franz delves into the archetypal and symbolic meanings associated with the numbers 1 to 4. She postulates that representations of this quaternio of archetypes provides the dynamical patterns which underlie all processes of perception and symbol formation in the psyche and account for the structure and transformations of matter and energy in the physical world.
Von Franz was struck, particularly since the discovery of quantum physics in the early 20th century, that just as the psyche has a numerical characteristic “built in” to its very being, so does nature. She explores how the realms of mind and matter—psyche and physis—are both numerically structured, hinting at how the inner world and outer world are united as if they were one, which is what makes synchronicity possible.
Von Franz’s general hypothesis is that all mental and physical phenomena are complementary aspects of the same unitary, transcendental reality. At the basis of all physical and mental phenomena there exist certain fundamental patterns of behaviour called archetypes.
The world outside is somehow contained within our minds, while at the same time our minds are contained within the world. As above, so below; as within, so without. Therefore, as one delves deeper within the unconscious, one gets a better understanding of the world as well, because we are a microcosm existing within a macrocosm.
The Psychology of the Number 1
We will now move on to interpreting the psychological and symbolic meaning of the most primal numbers (1 to 4), using the works of Jung and von Franz, Pythagoras and his followers, and other works such as Theology of Arithmetic by Iamblichus, and The Three Books of Occult Philosophy: Book II by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa.
Psychologically, the number 1 refers to primal unconsciousness. It is a state of non-differentiation, in which we are not yet aware of our potential, which lies undiscovered and undeveloped. As such, it symbolises the principle of individuation in the state of unrealised potential.
One is no number, hen to pan (one is all). This is expressed in the ancient symbol of the ouroboros, depicting a snake eating its own tail. Jung writes:
“One, as the first numeral, is unity. But it is also “the unity”, the One, All-Oneness, individuality and non-duality—not a numeral, but a philosophical concept, an archetype and attribute of God, the monad.”
Carl Jung. Memories, Dreams, Reflections
It is not surprising that the number 1 or monad is generally treated as a symbol of unity and the origin of all things. The Pythagoreans used a circled dot to symbolise the monad, an infinite circle whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere, a symbol of the unus mundus.
One of the suggested origins of the word “religion” comes from the Latin “religare” (to bind again). The task is to reunite our fragmented dual nature with the One. Likewise, the word “yoga” comes from the ancient Sanskrit word “yuj” (yoke or union). It is the union of the material with the spiritual, the individual self with the supreme self. Totality is superior to the parts. As beings of a dual nature, elevation is motion toward unity.
The Pythagoreans did not consider 1 to be a number at all, because number means plurality, and 1 is singular. The One is the origin of all numbers. All other numbers can be created from 1 by adding enough copies of it. Interestingly, multiplying 111,111,111 times itself equals to: 12345678987654321. Therefore, the monad runs through all the number series, through the one-continuum. With its retrograde relationship to the primal monad each number “reaches across” to its successor. This hen-to-pan aspect is specific to all numbers.
While in the threshold of consciousness numbers appear to be individual entities, in the unconscious they interpenetrate and overlap (as do all the other archetypes).
The unity is itself the active principle, and number is the passive one. For when the One is multiplied it produces no other number than itself. The Unity is the beginning and end of all numbers. It is the source of all things.
The Psychology of the Number 2
Out of the monad, comes the dyad, which Pythagoras associated with “audacity”, because of its boldness of separation from the one, and “anguish” because there is still a sense of tension of a desire to return to oneness. It is also associated with matter, and seen as evil.
Two is actually the first number, as it is the source of polarity, light and darkness, order and chaos, which alone makes existence possible. In the Book of Genesis, God praised all the seven days of creation stating that “it was good”, except the second day, the origin of division in creation. The alchemist Gerhard Dorn says that the number two belonged to Eve. For this reason, the devil first tempted her. A secret relationship thus arose between the number two, the devil, and woman.
This devilish principle of duality sought to build a creation in opposition to God. Thus, it is the number of discord, confusion, and misfortune. It is also, however, the number of charity, marriage, mutual love, and society. As it is said by the Lord, two shall be one flesh. It is better that two be together then one, for if one shall fall, he shall be supported by the other.
Since antiquity, both in the West and the East, even numbers have been regarded as feminine and odd numbers as masculine. It is also present in alchemy. Two is the first even number and also the female principle.
In practically all cultures and religions of the world two identical demons or divine figures are found acting as the guardians of the entrance to the Beyond, in psychological terms, the collective unconscious. For example, in Hindu mythology, Jaya and Vijaya are the two gatekeepers of the abode of Vishnu, known as Vaikuntha (the place of eternal bliss). In Egyptian mythology, the deity Aker appears as a pair of twin lions, guarding the sun-disk, the gate to the Beyond, and the Lamassu are Assyrian protective deities depicted as winged bulls or lions with human heads that were placed at the entrance to palaces or cities to ward off evil forces.
Identical duplications of figures or objects in dreams or in myths, point to the fact that a content is just beginning to reach the threshold of consciousness as a recognisable entity, taking the first step toward manifestation. Whenever a latent unconscious content pushes up into consciousness, it appears first as a twofold oneness. For this reason, nearly all cosmogonies begin their tales of the emergence of world-consciousness with a duality: creator twins, a god and his “helper”, or, as in Genesis, the earth “without form and void”, over which the Spirit of God moved.
Psychologically, the number 2 represents a conflict being generated for the purpose of bringing our inner potential to consciousness. The unconscious has a compensatory role, insofar as it compensates the one-sided tendency of one’s conscious attitude.
Jung writes:
“[M]an’s real life consists of a complex of inexorable opposites—day and night, birth and death, happiness and misery, good and evil. We are not even sure that one will prevail against the other, that good will overcome evil, or joy defeat pain. Life is a battle ground. It always has been, and always will be; and if it were not so, existence would come to an end.”
Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols. Part I: Approaching the Unconscious
Every human being is born in a paradisiacal state, in original wholeness—whereby the infant is completely submerged in the unconscious, without a developed ego. This is the state of non-differentiation, where one naively participates in one’s surroundings in a state of uncritical unconsciousness, submitting to things as they are. The infant’s individuality is in complete identification with the mother, who provides protection, comfort and nourishment. As the infant grows up and adapts to the world, he develops an ego (a sense of “I”), which slowly emerges out of the Self, and thus begins the disintegration process necessary for selfhood.
This natural process is described in the Garden of Eden myth with the eating of the forbidden fruit. Another version is the Prometheus myth described by the Greek epic poet Hesiod. Prometheus’s mischief angers Zeus, who decides to hid fire from humans. Prometheus steals the fire back and gives it to mankind, this enrages Zeus and Prometheus is punished. Zeus sends the first woman to live with man, Pandora (literally “all gifts”), who carries a jar with her from which were released sorrow, disease and death; only one thing was left behind—hope, outlining the end of the Golden Age.
Plato describes our prior existence as immortal souls in a state of unity, before our souls descend into the body after drinking from the River of Forgetfulness. We innately know we have come from wholeness, but we come to forget what we once knew. Thus, we spend our lives in search of that which will enable us to remember the wholeness we once knew. A similar idea is found in the Buddhist cycle of birth, death, and rebirth—known as samsara. The process involves the forgetting of past lives and experiences with each new incarnation. The goal is to break free from this cycle through enlightenment (nirvana).
In short, we are born integrated, we disintegrate, and we have to reintegrate. The task of life is to become whole again, but on a higher level of consciousness. This is the sine qua non of all self-realisation.
The primary relationship in all of our lives is that of the dual relationship between ego and Self, what Jungian analyst Erich Neumann has called the ego-Self axis, further elaborated by Jungian analysts Edward Edinger and Michael Fordham. The ego cannot exist without the support of the Self, and the Self needs the ego to realise it. They are necessarily connected, and together provide a vital link to human consciousness.
The ego is like the boat which carries you in the vast ocean of the unconscious. Without it, one would stand no chance against the amoral unconscious forces, which are expressions of nature—they are not as concerned, as we are, with human values and ethics, but belong to a realm closer to the instincts, which Jung calls the images of the archetypes.
Generally speaking, the priority of the first half of life consists in building the ego: education, relationships, work, etc (ego-Self separation), and in the second half of life one turns to one’s inner life: dreams, meditation, contemplation, etc (ego-Self union). However, this may be an oversimplification, as the process of alteration between ego-Self separation and ego-Self union is not a linear process, but seems to occur in a circular process throughout life, both in childhood and in maturity. This connection which provides life vitality may be severed through childhood trauma, or if one spends one’s life focused solely on ego-consciousness.
But how are our conflicts in life resolved? Jung writes:
“[E]very tension of opposites culminates in a release, out of which comes the “third”. In the third, the tension is resolved and the lost unity is restored.”
Carl Jung, C.W. Vol. 11: Psychology and Religion
The Psychology of the Number 3
Out of one comes two, but from the pairing of these two comes the third. This third element or triad is what Jung calls the transcendent function, which arises from the union of conscious and unconscious contents. If we can endure the conflict that is assaulting us, something happens: it is resolved or reconciled. Three is the synthesis to the thesis and antithesis, and thus provides a healing function. Three symbolises the resolution of our human conflict through that which is higher and beyond our will, but which we provoke to come into existence by facing our conflict, which is what wanted to come into consciousness in the first place. The alchemists called it tertium quid (“third thing”), an unidentified and mystical essence that emerged from the union of two known opposing elements.
In China, the progression of numbers correspond to the cosmic rhythms of Yin and Yang, wherein any extreme is opposed in order to restore balance, and is united in the indescribable and nameless Tao. This leads to the paradox that the powers confront one another, but they are not in conflict—as they are held together by a third element. Similarly, Heraclitus believed that the fundamental principle of the universe is change and that opposing forces end up coming together to form a harmonious unity.
Thus, we may say that three consists of what unites the opposites. Three serves as a symbol of a dynamic process, and is the formula of all creation. The belief or hope that the third attempt at something will be successful is expressed in the saying, “third time’s the charm.”
It is relevant that three is the first odd number and male principle. The poet Virgil sings, “God delights in an odd number”, and Shakespeare says, “There is divinity in odd numbers.”
Jung observed that the idea of a religious trinity is quite old. He writes:
“Triads of gods appear very early, at a primitive level. The archaic triads in the religions of antiquity and of the East are too numerous to be mentioned here. Arrangement in triads is an archetype in the history of religion, which in all probability formed the basis of the Christian Trinity… I would mention as an example the Babylonian triads, of which the most important is Anu, Bel, and Ea.”
Carl Jung, C.W. Vol. 11: Psychology and Religion
These triadic structures of gods and mythological figures appear in different ways, such as one main figure flanked by two companions, which represents the realisation of the unity of its inner opposites, and the emergence of the One in consciousness. For example, in the Roman mystery religion of Mithraism, the god Mithras is accompanied by two figures: Cautes and Cautopates, the first one holds a torch pointing upward, and the second one holds a torch pointing downward.
The triadic structure can also appear with three equally important and identical figures, which represents a preconscious or older form of the archetype. For example, in ancient Greek and Roman mythology, the Fates are three sisters who control the destiny of both human beings and gods. One spins the thread of life, another one measures the thread allotted to each person, and the final one cuts the thread of life when a person’s time has come. In Norse mythology, they are called the Norns. The motif of triple goddesses was widespread in ancient Europe.
The triadic structure we are most familiar with, however, appears as three different deities of equal importance. In the Egyptian myth of creation, there are three deities: Isis, the goddess of magic, motherhood and fertility, Osiris, the ruler of the underworld who is a symbol of rebirth, and Horus, the falcon-headed son of Isis and Osiris, associated with the sky, light, and divine kingship.
Christianity has the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hinduism has the Trimūrti, Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. The most sacred Hindu symbol is “Om” or “Aum”. The latter carries the theme of creation, preservation, and destruction.
Thus, though a plurality is accomplished by the number three, in many respects it clearly maintains its oneness. This “three-oneness” is the rediscovery of unity on a higher level.
Three is seen as a symbol of perfection and completion. The soul, the body, and the spirit; the beginning, the middle, and the end; birth, life, and death; past, present and future.
Three is also a symbol of wisdom, harmony, and piety. In the Hermetic tradition, the syncretism of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth has the epithet “Trismegistus” (Thrice Great). By three the world is perfected. He is the archetype of the Wise Old Man, and author of the Emerald Tablet, which is supposed to contain all the knowledge and mysteries of the world, in just a few lines.
The illusion of separateness is the root of ignorance. There are two types of ignorance: the ignorance of not knowing (which must be elevated), and the ignorance of wrong knowing (which must be dissipated). Wisdom is equidistant from all extremities; it consists of reconciling the divided parts. Aristotle spoke of the golden mean, in which the greatest virtue lies between a deficiency and an excess of a trait, such as confidence between self-deprecation and vanity.
Earth is the middle place between heaven and hell. Dante’s Divine Comedy has three parts: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise; with Purgatory being the place of purification of the soul, where imperfections are burned away; for only truth survives the fire.
The shamanic cosmos has three worlds: The Middle World, the Underworld, and the Sky Realm. These are linked together by a central world axis, the Axis Mundi, at the centre of which is a tree, pillar or mountain; sacred symbols of the Self. Perhaps the most popular image is that of the World Tree. It is a Tree of Life and also a source of the wisdom of the ages. In Norse mythology, it is called Yggdrasil. This mighty and sacred ash tree is at the centre of the cosmos, and around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds. When the tree trembles, it signals the arrival of Ragnarök, the destruction of the gods and of the world.
Plato speaks of the tripartite nature of the human soul. Thumos (roughly translated as “spiritedness”) is the middle region between reason and appetite. In the allegory of the chariot, Plato depicts the human being as a charioteer (who represents thumos). He is being pushed by two winged horses: a mortal dark horse that descends (appetite), and an immortal white horse that ascends (reason). The charioteer must direct these two conflicting forces in order to follow the path of the Good.
The triune, “the Good, the True, and the Beautiful” is rooted in philosophical and theological traditions. The three theological virtues are faith, hope, and charity (love). There is a popular saying that, “good things come in threes”. The threefold path of Asha is considered the core maxim of Zoroastrianism: good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.
In Japanese mythology, there are Three Sacred Treasures: the sword, the mirror, and the jewel, which symbolise valour, wisdom, and benevolence, respectively. Similarly, The Three Treasures or Jewels are the basic virtues in Taoism. Laozi states:
“There are three jewels that I cherish: compassion, moderation, and humility. With compassion, you will be able to be brave. With moderation, you will be able to give to others. With humility, you will be able to become a great leader.”
Laozi, Tao Te Ching, 67. Translation by John H. McDonald
A central concept in Buddhism is the Triratna (Three Jewels), which reminds disciples of the three core teachings: Buddha (the Awakened One), Dharma (the teachings), and Sangha (the spiritual community).
Three were the gifts of the Magi to Christ: Gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which are symbolic of Christ’s roles as a king, priest or mediator between humanity and the divine, and of a sacrificial saviour.
Fairy tales, which for Von Franz represent the purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes, often contain the number 3: three brothers or sisters, three animals, three items, three quests, three wishes granted by a genie, etc. Therefore, one should pay attention to number symbolism in fairy tales, and the part it plays.
Three may also be seen a number of rebirth. Christ was resurrected after three days. Jonah spent three days in the belly of a great fish.
When two circles overlap, the resulting shape is called the vesica piscis (literally, “the bladder of a fish”). It resembles the ichthys, a fish symbol associated with Jesus. This almond-shaped segment is also called a mandorla, in which we can often see Christ in its centre. This is the hypostatic union that describes Christ as both perfectly divine and perfectly human, having two complete and distinct natures at once (a reconciliation of opposites).
The Psychology of the Number 4
Three is a symbol of perfection. However, Jung was not concerned with perfection, but rather wholeness, and for that imperfection is needed.
“Life calls not for perfection but for completeness; and for this the “thorn in the flesh” is needed, the suffering of defects without which there is no progress and no ascent.”
Carl Jung, C.W. Vol. 12: Psychology and Alchemy
Jung devoted practically the whole of his life’s work to demonstrating the vast psychological significance of the number 4, the symbol for becoming conscious of wholeness.
In his book, Answer to Job, Jung states that the Christian trinity lacks a fourth element, namely, the dark side of God as a compensation to the light side of God, as well as the feminine (Virgin Mary), the earth, and the body.
Von Franz states that “trinitarian thinking” lacks a further dimension. She writes:
“[I]t is flat, intellectual, and consequently encourages intolerant and absolute declarations. It is erroneous to evaluate our insights by naively attributing eternal validity to them. When an individual becomes aware of this differentiation, a transformation of consciousness results, in which the ego no longer identifies its insights with an “eternal” verity, but distances itself and becomes capable of comprehending the insight as only one of many possible revelations contained within the unknown psychic and universal background of existence.”
M.L. von Franz, Number and Time
Three enables the symbol of wholeness to manifest itself, which cannot be attained if the ego is seen as the centre of the total personality, or if we deny the shadow, the unknown and hidden qualities of ourselves. This would cause a psychic imbalance. A proper relationship is expressed in the ego-Self axis, where equal value is put in one’s inner life and outer life. In this way, a new and unique chapter in our life’s story can be realised and lived consciously and humanly in time and space.
Four is a symbol of the Self, represented by the mandala. The psychic images of wholeness which are produced spontaneously by the unconscious are as a rule quaternities, or their multiples (8, 12, 16, etc). The mandala is an image of the unity of life. It is typically used as an instrument of meditation on the sacred wholeness of the world. It contains a mathematical structure, a detail which made Jung realise that the unconscious somehow avails itself of the properties of whole numbers. He writes:
“The mandala symbolises, by its central points, the ultimate unity of all archetypes as well as of the multiplicity of the phenomenal world, and is therefore the empirical equivalent of the metaphysical concept of the unus mundus.”
Carl Jung, C.W. Vol. 14: Mysterium Coniunctionis
These structures not only express order, they also create it. That is why they generally appear in times of psychic disorientation in order to compensate a chaotic state or as formulations of numinous experiences.
Just as the three comes out of a pairing of one and two, so is four related to the prior numbers. This is expressed in the ancient alchemical axiom of Maria Prophetissa, “One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth.”
This means that the number three, taken as a unity related back to the primal one, becomes the fourth. This four is understood not so much to have “originated” progressively, but to have retrospectively existed from the very beginning.
We can compare this with the Tetragrammaton, the name of God in the Hebrew Bible, which contains four letters: yod, he, waw, he (transliterated as YHWH – Yahweh). There are three different letters, with the fourth being a repetition of the second. To that extent, the essential name is a triad. But since the letter “he” is doubled, the name is also a quaternity.
A similar notion is found in Taoism:
“The Tao gave birth to One,
The One gave birth to Two,
The Two gave birth to Three,
The Three gave birth to all of creation.”
Laozi, Tao Te Ching, 42. Translation by John H. McDonald
Thus, we begin at one, and end up at one again. As T.S. Eliot stated, “The end of all our exploring, will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.” We have need of the word, but number is a much more important thing. In essence, number is sacred.
“The quaternity, above all, is an essential archetype. The square, the cross. The squaring of the circle by the alchemists. The cross in the circle, or, for the Christians, Christ in ‘glory.’”
C.G. Jung Speaking: Encounters and Interviews
The squaring of the circle is a symbol of the philosophers’ stone, where all the principles of alchemy take place. In the image, we first have the outer circle, a representation of wholeness. Within it, is a triangle, representing salt, sulphur and mercury. Then we have a square (the four elements). When all these are brought together, we get once again the circle of totality. This can be repeated ad infinitum.
Hippocrates, considered as the father of medicine, formulated humourism, in which four bodily fluids affect human personality traits. This proto-psychological theory indicates four personality types: phlegmatic, melancholic, sanguine, and choleric, which can be compared to Jung’s four basic psychological functions: thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition, that are identical to the four elements: air, water, earth, and fire. The Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus compared the elements to four nature spirits: slyphs, undines, gnomes, and salamanders.
Jung writes:
“[A]s soon as the unconscious content enters the sphere of consciousness it has already split into “four”, that is to say, it can become an object of experience only by virtue of the four basic functions of consciousness. It is perceived as something that exists (sensation); it is recognised as this and distinguished from that (thinking); it is evaluated as pleasant or unpleasant, etc. (feeling); and finally, intuition tells us where it came from and where it is going.”
Carl Jung, C.W. Vol. 10: Civilisation in Transition
Jung uses the equation “3 + 1 = 4” to express the psychological fact of our 3 differentiated functions, plus 1 that is undifferentiated, called “the inferior function”. The number 4 represents the totality of the personality—this is why in the psychology of religion, the “4” represents to Jung the necessary complement to the Christian Trinity, as the “dark”, feminine element completing the Trinity to the Quaternity as a totality.
However, because of its contamination with the collective unconscious, the inferior function is very difficult to confront, as it is archaic, mystical and primitive, the complete opposite of our “dominant function.” For example, the inferior function of a thinking type would be feeling. It is where you are likely to encounter the shadow, which also contains the “treasure hard to attain”.
The alchemists thought that all nature consisted of four elements, and that the quintessence was the common substance of these, so that the four elements go back to their oneness in the fifth essence or aether, the material that fills the region of the universe. Similarly, Plato compared these five elements to the five platonic solids, the fifth of which “the god used for arranging the constellations on the whole heaven.”
One of the most important teachings in Buddhism are the Four Noble Truths, which represent the awakening and liberation of the Buddha, and the potential for his followers to reach the same liberation as him.
The English visionary artist William Blake speaks of four types of vision, each with increasing intensity. The ultimate one is fourfold vision, a glimpse of eternity, whereby the smallest things in the world hold the cosmic truth for those with eyes to see. He writes: “To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour.”
Classical philosophy and Christian theology speak of the cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.
The four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are associated with the cherubim, winged chimeras that have four faces, usually described as that of a lion, an ox, a human, and an eagle. This association is known as the tetramorph. The cherubim are the moving forces of the ophanim, the wheels of God’s fiery chariot, which appear as four wheels within wheels in constant motion, and covered with eyes.
In the Book of Revelation, four angels stand on the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse also appear, often identified as personifications of Death, Famine, War and Conquest. According to the Prose Edda in Norse mythology, four dwarfs hold up the sky, supporting the world after it was made by the gods.
There are four seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter), and four cardinal points (East, West, North, and South). In various mythologies and cultures, the “four winds” are associated with specific deities representing the cardinal directions. The Mesopotamians identified them as four-winged beings, three of which are male and one female. In China there are the Four Symbols, the Azure Dragon of the East, the White Tiger of the West, the Black Tortoise of the North, the Vermilion Bird of the South.
The Roman poet Ovid speaks of the Four Ages: The Golden Age (justice, peace, happiness, and abundance of resources), the Silver Age (agriculture, architecture, the emergence of seasons, competition, and social organisation), the Bronze Age (a decline in morality and increase in violence), and the Iron Age (the lowest point in human history: impiety, greed, crime, moral decay). The same theme is found in the four yugas or world ages of Vedic astrology.
Four is called the tetrad and early Pythagoreanism associates it with justice. The sum of the first four numbers equals to ten (the decad), which Pythagoras considered as the most holy number of all. All things spring from ten, which symbolises unity arising from multiplicity. This is present in the Tetractys, a sacred Pythagorean symbol, which initiates were required to swear a secret oath to, as it is what contains the source and root of eternal nature. It is a triangular figure consisting of ten points in four rows. The first row or single point is God, the second row is duality, the third row is the union of matter and spirit, and the fourth row represents the quadrivium “the four ways” (arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy).
Esoteric Meaning of Numbers (5-10)
Here ends the psychological exploration of numbers. We’ll now look at some esoteric and symbolic meaning of the numbers 5 to 10.
The number five is the sum of the first even and odd numbers (2 and 3). In alchemy, it represents the holy marriage (hieros gamos) of male and female, the sun and the moon, King and Queen, the anima and the animus. This leads to the union of opposites and the creation of the philosophers’ stone or the Self. The Pythagoreans call the pentad “lack of strife”, and it is linked to life and vitality. There are five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch).
Five is a holy number in Christianity, as Christ suffered five wounds during his crucifixion: the nails on his hands and feet and the wound from the Holy Lance which pierced His side. These wounds have been the focus of prayer and contemplation, “by his wounds we are healed.”
Six is considered the first perfect number, since it is both the sum and the multiplication of the first three numbers. The perfection of six is shown in the six days of creation in Genesis, where God saw that all the things which he had made were very good. This is cosmic order and harmony. On the sixth day, man was created in the image of God.
Seven is considered the most mystical of all numbers. It symbolises fullness and completion, as it is the day God finished his work, blessed it, and rested. Thus, it is known as the Sabbath, the day of rest. Seven is the most repeated number in the Bible. Of the unclean animals, God tells Noah to take one pair, male and female, into the ark. But of the clean animals and birds, Noah was to take seven pairs. It is a number of purification (“Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean”), of divine praise (“Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments”), and of divine planning, seven people were named before their birth by the angels or God.
There are seven colours, seven days of the week named after the seven classical planets, associated with the seven Roman gods. In Mithraism, there were seven degrees of initiation, connected to the seven planetary spheres, through which the soul rose to paradise.
There are seven archangels, seven sacraments, seven deadly sins (and virtues), seven chakras, seven enlightened sages in ancient India, etc. In Judaism and Islam there are seven heavens.
The number eight is often associated with infinity, given its shape. Its symmetry suggests balance and harmony, and it is a multiple of 4 (symbol of wholeness). The Chinese consider it the luckiest number, as its pronunciation, bā, sounds similar to fā (wealth or prosperity). In Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is a fundamental teaching, consisting of eight steps that lead to enlightenment.
Nine is the highest single-digit number and represents the ultimate achievement and completion of a cycle. It is a symbol of spiritual attainment and the return to the divine. In Dante’s Paradise, the ninth celestial sphere is the Primum Mobile (the First Mover), it is the last sphere of the universe, moved directly by God, and the abode of angels. From here, Dante ascends to the Empyrean, the abode of God, where he experiences the ineffable and union with God.
Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism, is known for his book, The Enneads, compiled by his student in six groups of nine treatises. For the Neoplatonist, the highest task of life is union with what they call “the One”, attained through theurgy (working with God).
Nine is dedicated to the Nine Muses, the inspirational Greek goddesses. There are also nine choirs of angels arranged in a hierarchy based on their proximity to God.
Finally, ten is the universal number, complete, and signifying the full course of life. There are ten commandments in the Bible, and in Jewish mysticism, the Kabbalistic Tree of Life is composed of ten sephiroth or spheres, which are emanations of Ein Sof (The Infinite).
As we have mentioned, Pythagoras considered the decad to be the holiest number. It flows back into a unity, from whence it came so everything that is flowing is returned back to that from which it had the beginning of its flux. Water returns to the sea, the body returns to the earth, time returns into eternity, the spirit returns to God. The decad is the limit of all number: for they run their course by wheeling and turning around it. The sum of the parts of any number until it is reduced to one single digit is always between 1 and 9.
Conclusion
This concludes the brief exploration of the numbers 5 to 10. Now, it may be good to revisit the prior main themes. We started by emphasising the importance of numbers as having not just quantitative properties but also qualitative ones (for Pythagoras they were divine). We mentioned how in ancient times people associated mystical meaning to words and names based on their numerical value, which became the basis for 20th century numerology that seeks to understand personality through numbers. Then we looked at how number is the most primitive archetype (the archetype of order), and provides a vital link between matter and psyche (united by the unus mundus), which explains synchronicity.
Our main focus, however, was on the psychological exploration of the first four numbers which form the basis for all the rest of the numbers, and as such it is not surprising that they are the most recurring ones in the psyche: 1 being a state of unity, non-differentiation and potential; 2 the origin of a conflict for bringing the potential to consciousness; 3 the resolution of that conflict through a synthesis, and 4 the integration of the unconscious insight into human consciousness, in order to progress towards wholeness—a return to unity on a higher level of consciousness—which remarkably symbolises the human creation myth and the purpose of life.
To paraphrase Pythagoras, “Number rules the universe.”
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