Chapter 14 of Aion continues with the series of quaternity images from the Gnostic texts. We have previously considered four quaternities:
Anthropos Quaternio
Shadow Quaternio
Paradise Quaternio involving the four rivers of the Garden of Eden
Lapis Quaternio, representing the alchemical process whereby the prima materia is split into four elements and then synthesized again into the Rotundum
FOUR QUATERNIOS CONNECTED
TO ONE ANOTHER
These four quaternios that Jung has elaborated, are connected to one another by common images. They fall into a “string” as indicated in the lower diagram.Jung proceeds to turn the “string” or chain into a circle by putting the tail of it into the mouth of the first figure. This procedure is reflected in a circular or square structure. In doing this the image of anthropos and rotundum overlap and are considered the same, so it is now anthroposrotundum that starts the sequence
AL ¶ 0JUNG TAKES THIS SEQUENCE
ONE STEP FURTHER
Later in the chapter, Jung takes this sequence one step further and turns it into an abstract formula. For the present let us examine this fourfold formula in more detail and see what the various elements represent psychologically
AL ¶ 0FOUR DIFFERENT REALMS
OR ASPECTS
The four separate entities represents four different realms or aspects of the psyche, and wholeness can manifest itself in any one of them. When it does, a quaternity pertaining to that realm arises. Certain typical symbolism and imagery is associated with each of these four realms
AL ¶ 0EACH REALM HAS A
TRIAD BUILT INTO ITS STRUCTURE
In addition, each one of these realms has a triad built into its structure, not only is it a quaternity, but it also contains a triadic or developmental process. So we have a quaternity representing the static aspect of that realm of the psyche, and a triad representing the developmental process whereby that realm unfolds
AL ¶ 0THE FOUR QUATERNITIES
Each of the four quaternities are separately summarized below:
AL ¶ 0ANTHROPOS:
SPIRITUAL QUATERNITY
The images that represent this aspect of the psyche pertain to the upper regions, the heavens, the celestial, with images of light so that the atmospheric, the cosmic phenomenon belong here. Sublimatio symbolism is particularly at home
AL ¶ 0An example would be the vision of the heavenly rose which concludes Dante's Divine Comedy. Dante's image is essentially a great rose of light
AL ¶ 0SHADOW:
ANIMAL QUATERNITY
This represents the lower, dark, carnal realm symbolized by dubious human figures or by animals, including all warm-blooded animals, but also descending on the evolutionary scale to the cold-ones. This realm refers to the chthonic world
AL ¶ 0FOUR SONS OF HORUS
Dreams or images involving dubious human beings or animals. A classical example would be the four sons of Horus who were divine guardians buried with the deceased in ancient Egypt. One son had a jackal head, one a falcon head, one a dog head, and one a human head
AL ¶ 0FOUR CREATURES OF EZEKIEL
The vision of Ezekiel include creatures that are very similar symbolically to the four sons of Horus. Each creature had four faces. One of the faces was that of a lion, one was that of an ox, one was that of an eagle and one was that of a man
AL ¶ 0FOUR CHRISTIAN EVANGELISTS
The same symbolism was taken over intact in Christian mandalas involving Christian evangelists who are represented as a lion, ox, eagle, and man
AL ¶ 0Examples of the “Shadow” quaternity can also be found in the dream series in Psychology and Alchemy, ( CW12 ). For instance, in one of the dreams, a gibbon is to be reconstructed in a square. In another, animals are being transformed into men, again in a square ( CW12: pars. 164ff. )
AL ¶ 0PARADISE:
QUATERNITY
This realm involves vegetable, plant, tree and garden symbolism. It is an image of wholeness set in the plant world. Trees are important in this category. An example is Jung's “Liverpool dream,” which had as its central feature a magnolia tree on an island illuminated in perpetual sunshine. In the dream series in Psychology and Alchemy, there are dreams of a garden under the sea, of a green plant growing out of a sphere, of a green tree in a circle
AL ¶ 0LAPIS:
QUATERNITY
This involves fourfold structures that are composed of stone, jewels, crystals, or pertain in some way to the inorganic world. A good example is the image of the Heavenly Jerusalem found at the end of the Book of Revelation. This heavenly city descends from above and to the extent that it derives from heaven it belongs to the anthropos / spiritual quaternity. As it is described, however, it is made up of precious stones
AL ¶ 0It is a grand image of a fourfold structure made up of inorganic stuffstone, an example of the Lapis Quaternio
AL ¶ 0These quaternity realms are something to keep in mind, because one encounters dream imagery involving them all the time. Very frequently the quaternities one encounters are not pure at all, but are mixed or overlapping. Indeed, the more differentiated quaternities that have undergone the circulatio process will be highly mixed. Each one of these four realms will have an effect on the other
AL ¶ 0