Three

This goddess appears in three forms. There are Three fates, three Norns, three wyrd sisters, mother maiden crone.

The number three belongs to the juvenile age and to the early days of humanity. Being an odd number, it has been male since primeval times (for instance in China or Greece, but also see the Middle Ages in our region), and it points toward the male attribute and its function. The speculations about the symbolism of numbers in the Middle Ages were concerned with the number three, the Ternarium, as a divine trinity. Nonetheless, the connections with the primitive sexual image are clearly discernible. Like any archetype, the triad or the Ternarium can be represented either primitively by sexual images, or philosophically by abstract notions. An archetype is neither abstract nor concrete. It can express itself in primitive “instinctual language” (for instance, sexually) or “spiritually.” One can replace the other, just as sexual terminology can be replaced by a nutritional one. The Song of Songs, for example, drastically bears witness to this. This archetype in itself is plain “three-ness,” which can be filled with any content

The number half three is not easy to interpret, if we do not simply see it in a concrete way, as the actual hour it stands for. The symbolism of numbers is something special. I refer to the article by Professor Jung, Beitrag zur
Zahlensymbolik.30 One often does not succeed in getting to the bottom of the numbers appearing in a dream. Frequently, one sees the most obvious thing only at the very end, and needs the most detailed knowledge about the dreamer’s environment for a more exact interpretation.
An example: In a dream in which traveling and a train station played a role, the numbers 2.10 and 2.30 appeared. An attempt to break down these numbers in all possible ways failed. Only later was it found out that 2.10 was the phone number of the local train station, and 2.30 the phone number of the inn The Three Kings. The connection could be established. The dreamer did not consciously know these numbers.

The essential point is the number three, here as in the further course of the dream, the time “half three.” This could mean: it is not yet quite three o’clock, there is still a half hour left until then. All over the world the number three has a male meaning; this is in connection with male anatomy. The number three is not yet complete; there is no ripe fruit yet, no sexual maturity.
The post bringing forth a well: this is the motif of boring a well, conceived of as an act of impregnation. This is a parallel to the numerous traditions of fertilizing a field, of the phallic plow, the fertility gods who should fertilize the
fields. Priapus too was simply a post of fig wood. He is the ithyphallic Hermes, simply represented by a wooden post. He also exists already in megalithic form, because the menhir too has a phallic meaning.

Jung on Children’s Dreams

Unknown's avatar

Published by Professor P

My name is Paityn Masters, my friends call me P. I am queer, Pisces, & an ENFP. I am trained as a psychotherapist, and my roots were as a youth pastor. As a psychotherapist, my specialty is in trauma and complex PTSD. I met my best friend and my cosmic partner, Jenni McCullum in graduate school. Together, we began discovering the spiritual world and the psychic gifts that had laid dormant in our psyche. We both went through a wild initiatory process that joyfully and sometimes even painfully expanded our capacity to both SEE and to HEAR, beyond the limits of the five senses. We are both intuitives, and Jenni is also a medium. As traditional psychotherapy frowns on the mystical modality, we had to start our own practice, and sacrifice licensing in order to answer the Call. Fortunately, we found our theoretical home in a branch of psychology known as Depth Psychology, that has its roots in the discoveries made by C. G. Jung, and seeks to study the soul rather than behavior, and sees the whole person on a spiritual level first—then works down to personality, family influence, upbringing, biology, heredity, physicality, status, image, and complexes. We see symptoms as more than something to eliminate, we see them as messages from the Soul. Psyche means Soul, but not many people know this, because our culture can’t seem to get beyond its dependence on the “safety” of the logical/rational mind. “Whenever you are in the realm of Soul, things will always go over your head. The statements of the conscious mind may easily be snares and delusions, lies, or arbitrary opinions, but this is certainly not true of the statements of the soul: to begin with they always go over our heads because they point to realities that transcend consciousness.” (C.G. Jung, Answer to Job). Healing means “making whole,” and many either think they are already whole, or fear they’re broken beyond repair. Healing involves the courage to look at the wounds that caused the brokenness to begin with. Symptoms are a huge help in identifying not only the injury but also the gifts one possesses. Marion Woodman said, “the wound is where the God enters.” So, we look at pain and trauma from the standpoint of Soul Making. I speak of God in my writing quite frequently, and like Soul, God is something that transcends our ability to conceptualize what that means. When I say God… I mean the God that I have discovered within… the same one that is within you. Folded up within each of us is the entirety of the cosmos. How we relate to our inner world determines how we will relate to everything. Our primary wounds and our deepest wounds are in the realm of relationship—beginning with the way we relate to our own inner selves. We are wounded in relationship and so we must be healed in relationship. That’s one of the things that we hope to do in our work here in this earth school. We hope to hold up a mirror so you can see your true nature, the image of your soul; reflection brings about insight, knowledge, and Wisdom.

Leave a Comment