Since the image of the tetractys was invested with such sacred meaning by the ancients, I think we can assume it carries some pretty important symbolism and psychologically is worth our consideration. I'm going to offer you certain reflections of my own about its meaning. These are tentative efforts to sketch out what may lie behind the tetractys, but what I have to say does not by any means exhaust the symbolic meaning of this image. Apply your own creative reflections and see what your unconscious comes up with:
The essence of the three stages of the coniunctio are as follows:
ML p.278UNIO MENTALIS AS UNION OF
SOULSPIRIT SEPARATED FROM THE BODY
Stage 1 is called the unio mentalis, which means “mental union.” It refers to the union of the soul with spirit that is separated from the body. The idea is that the organism is composed of three entities: body, soul, and spirit and at the beginning they are all mixed up with one another. This first stage of the coniunctio, the unio mentalis, brings about the union of soul and spirit over and against the body. They link up as partners and go against the body:
REUNION OF SOULSPIRIT AND BODY
In Stage 2, the united spirit and soul, which were previously separated from the body, are now reunited with the body. They say, in effect, we love you after all, so you can come back and join us. That's the unio mentalis united with the body
UNUS MUNDUS AS UNION OF
SPIRITSOULBODY WITH THE WORLD
Stage 3, unus mundus, refers to yet another union: the united spiritsoulbody, achieved in the second stage, is now united with the world. That union brings about the unus mundus
THE TETRACTYS AS EPITOME OF THE
PROCESS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
Among other things, the tetractys can be considered as an epitome of the process of psychological development and as an analogy to the three stages of the coniunctio.I think of the process of psychological development as twofold:
ML p.279First, a movement down through the sequence of numbers
Second, a movement back up through the sequence
We can think of the sequence as having four stages and three transitional steps
ML p.279The direction of the process is indicated by the down and up arrows respectively:
MOVEMENT DOWN
IN THREEFOLD CONIUNCTIO
Transition Step (a)
Transition Step 2
Transition Step 3
MOVEMENT UP
IN THREEFOLD CONIUNCTIO
Transition Step 3
Transition Step 2
Transition Step 1
THE THREE STAGES OF THE CONIUNCTIO
ARE IMPLIED IN THE MOVEMENT UP AND DOWN
Here are some of my thoughts about the symbolic implications of the tetractys and about how the three stages of the coniunctio can be implied in the movement up and down the first four numbers:
ML p.282STAGE 1 OF THE DESCENT
Stage 1, would be represented by that single little pebble at the top, which would signifying the state of original wholeness before any consciousness enters the picture
THE UNIO MENTALIS UNITES SOULSPIRIT
WHILE SEPARATING FROM THE BODY
Stage 1 of the coniunctio involves a process whereby the original conditionthe unio naturalis is split as the unio mentalis is being created. The unio mentalis unites the soul and the spirit, and at the same time separates them from the body. This amounts to a mortificatio and a death of the body at the same time as it brings about a sublimatio of the combined soul and spirit. It also corresponds to the symbolism of the albedo, the whitening process
TRANSITION STEP (A)
Then an even takes place, transition step (a), which leads to a split, something like cell division. The original Self divides into two, corresponding to the theme of the separation of the World Parents
STAGE 2 OF THE DESCENT
Stage 2 of the descent is the beginning of ego development, which is characterized by the separation of subject and object. Here the ego begins to experience itself as separate from the world while still being caught in the polarity between Nature (Mother) and Spirit (Father)
ML p.279THE UNIO MENTALIS AS SOULSPIRIT
UNITES AGAIN WITH THE BODY
In Stage 2 the unio mentalis, created in the first stage, is united again with the body. This is brought about in Dorn's recipe, by combining the caelum with other ingredients, of which probably the most important is blood. This stage involves bringing the consciousness of wholeness, which in the first stage is a kind of abstract realization, into full-blooded reality, so that one lives it out fully in everyday life. And this phase corresponds to the alchemical rubedo, also called reddening
It is not easy to get the unio mentalis to embrace the body, since it has previously devoted all its efforts to separating from the body. An enantiodromia is required and that is not so easy because what had previously been seen as a bundle of greeds, lust, power-striving and unconscious negatives of all kinds must now be invited back in. In order to bring about such a total reversal there must be some reason that justifies a sacrifice on the part of the purified unio mentalis
TRANSITION STEP (B)
The next transition, step b, is a full separation from the Mother (Nature)
STAGE 3 OF THE DESCENT
Stage 3 involves a union of the previously united substances with the worldat least that is the simplified version. More strictly speaking, the third phasethe creation or realization of the unus mundusis a transcendent, symbolic condition that defies any comprehensive or adequate description. It refers to a superlative experience of unity in which subject and object, inner and outer, are transcended in the experience of a unitary reality really beyond our grasp
ML p.296This leads to stage 3, autonomous, independent thinking
TRANSITION STEP (C)
Transition step c then brings about separation from the Father (Spirit)
STAGE 4 OF THE DESCENT
This leads to stage 4 which is characterized by independent, autonomous being, a state where original unity has been differentiated into a fourfold multiplicity and the individual is living fully in the world. Eventually this fourth stage living in the worldbegins to pall, as Jung puts it in ( CW14: par. 657 ):
ML p.280Jung says: [The four elements begin] to fall apart, as it were, in four directions. As the four elements represent the whole physical world, their falling apart means dissolution into the constituents of the world, that is, into a purely inorganic and hence unconscious state. Conversely, the combination of the elements and the final synthesis of male and female is an achievement of the art and a product of conscious endeavour. The result of the synthesis was consequently conceived by the adept as self-knowledge, which, like the knowledge of God, is needed for the preparation of the Philosophers' Stone. Piety is needed for the work, and this is nothing but knowledge of oneself. ( CW14: par. 657 )
THE FOUR ELEMENTS
START FALLING APART
So at a certain point, when one has achieved a full life in the world and, in a certain sense, full psychic differentiation, the inadequacy of that state of being becomes more and more manifest. Then the four elements start falling apart and the specific task of individuation is activated. This task of individuation can be thought of as an ascent back up through the number series of the tetractys
STAGE 1 OF THE CONIUNCTIO
The event that must take place to ascend from level 4 to level 3 is the first stage of the coniunctio, namely the unio mentalis. That would correspond to a reductive analysis of the shadow, a mortificatio. Here is what Jung has to say in CW14: pars. 671 about this process of the unio mentalis, the first stage of the coniunctio that corresponds to moving back up from level 4 to level 3:
ML p.280Jung says: But in order to bring about their subsequent reunion, the mindmust be separated from the bodywhich is equivalent to “voluntary death”for only separated things can unite. By this separationDorn obviously meant a discrimination and dissolution of the “composite,” the composite state being one in which the affectivity of the body has a disturbing influence on the rationality of the mind. The aim of this separation was to free the mind from the influence of the “bodily appetites and the heart's affections,” and to establish a spiritual position which is supraordinate to the turbulent sphere of the body. This leads at first to a dissociation of the personality and a violation of the merely natural man. ( CW14: par. 671 )
Jung continues: This preliminary step, in itself a clear blend of Stoic philosophy and Christian psychology, is indispensable for the differentiation of consciousness. Modern psychotherapy makes use of the same procedure when it objectifies the affects and instincts and confronts consciousness with them. ( CW14: par. 672 )
That puts it all very concisely and as you go along, if you have trouble understanding what this unio mentalis really is, I suggest you reread and reflect on these two paragraphs
So the unio mentalis brings about a state where the ego is separated from the unconscious, and is able to take an objective and critical attitude toward affects and desirousnessthe spirit and soul are joined together and separated from the body. When this is achieved, Level 3 of the ascent is reached
STAGE 2 OF THE ASCENT
Then the next step up is brought about by the second stage of theconiunctio. In this stage, the previously achieved unio mentalis is reunited with the body. Jung describes this operation in CW14: pars. 679 and 680 :
ML p.281REUNITING THE SPIRITUAL
POSITION WITH THE BODY
Jung says: The second stage of conjunction, the re-uniting of the unio mentalis with the body, is particularly important, as only from here can the complete conjunction be attainedunion with the unus mundus. The reuniting of the spiritual position with the body obviously means that the insights gained should be made real. An insight might just as well remain in abeyance if it is simply not used. Stage 2 of the conjunction therefore consists in making a reality of the man who has acquired some knowledge of his paradoxical wholeness. ( CW14: par. 679 )
Jung continues: The great difficulty here, however, is that no one knows how the paradoxical wholeness of man can ever be realized. That is the crux of individuation, though it becomes a problem only when the loophole of “scientific” or other kinds of cynicism is not used. Because the realization of the wholeness that has been made conscious is an apparently insoluble task and faces the psychologist with questions which he can answer only with hesitation and uncertainty, it is of the greatest interest to see how the more unencumbered symbolical thinking of a medieval “philosopher” tackled this problem. ( CW14: par. 680 )
STAGE 3 OF THE ASCENT
Stage 3 of the ascent has been reached on our way up, and at this level the ego has achieved the acceptance of the opposites and is able to endure the paradox of the psyche's two-sidedness. This brings into reality the insights that Jung describes in the passage quoted above. The event that then takes place is the third stage of the coniunctio, the so-called union with the unus mundus
ML p.281STAGE 4 OF THE ASCENT
Stage 4 of the ascent leads one up to level 1, in which universal unity prevails. It represents a union of the ego with the Self and with the world. Now the Philosophers' Stone as the saviour of the macrocosmthe great worldhas been created. At this level, time and eternity are united and synchronicity prevails. It is perfectly evident that this is a borderline state that one can only glimpse from afar; once you are totally in it you are out of the ego world as we know it. So the assumption is that the final, total translation to unity is consummated only at deathat best, that is, because death doesn't automatically bring it about either
ML p.281