Symbology of the Divine in Medieval Visions and Alchemy Sean Hill
2 “The Christ-symbol is of the greatest importance for psychology in so far as it is perhaps the most highly developed and differentiated symbol of the self, apart from the figure of the Buddha.”1 As the theorist/psychologist Carl Jung has observed, the colors, people, objects and symbols surrounding God and the forms he takes in visions have long been a subject of scholarly study. This paper will observe and compare different traditions and visions concerning God’s appearance and immediate surroundings. One of the first women to record her divine visions, Julian of Norwich, is now one of the most famous mystics of the 14th century, partially due to the rise in popularity of medieval female authors. Her popularity is well deserved as she provides some of the most unusual, insightful visions of her time. In one vision, Julian describes seeing “How God is to us everything that is good, tenderly wrapping us;’ and all thing that is made.”2: Also in this he showed a little thing, the quantity of a hazelnut in the palm of my hand; and it was as round as a ball. I looked thereupon with eye of my understanding and thought: What may this be? And it was generally answered thus: It is all that is made. 3 This concept of God as all matter is a major subject of study for Jung. In his book, Psychologie und Alchemie, Carl G. Jung observes many dreams and visions of his patients and of those recorded in literature. One of the many symbols for Christ that Jung discusses is Christ as the rock or cornerstone.4 “The stone is trinus et unus. It consists of the four elements, with fire representing the spirit concealed in matter.”5 God is usually considered creator of everything, but in these examples, both 1
Jung, Psychologie und Alchemie. 19. Julian of Norwich, A Revelation of Love. 509. 3 Ibid 4 Cf. Isaiah 28:16, "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation.” Zecheriah 10:4, “From Judah will come the cornerstone.” Ephesians 2: 19-20, “Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” 5 Jung, 346. 2
3 Julian and Jung show how God is matter itself. This reversal of the normal view is reflected by the reversal of logic in the notion that all matter is contained or symbolized by a single stone or something “the quantity of a hazelnut.” A major component of the “God as everything” vision is combination of opposites. The union of opposites is often worshipped by cultures throughout the world: “In China, the opposites are yang and yin, odd and even numbers, heaven and earth, etc… Valentinus: The creator of the world is the mother-father, and in Marcion the Gnostic, the Primordial Father is hermaphroditic.”6 Jung notes that the first step in alchemical work is usually “a union of opposites.”7 This theme remains in Julian’s visions: And thus in our making God almighty is our kindly Father; and God all wisdom is our kindly Mother, with the love and the goodness of the Holy Ghost; which is all one God, one Lord…Thus in our Father, God Almighty, we have our being; and in our Mother of mercy we have our reforming and restoring, in whom our parties are joined and all made perfect man; and by yielding and giving in grace of the Holy Ghost we are fulfilled.8 Julian describes God as being a Father in might and Mother in wisdom. The quote in the first line of this paper concerning the versatility of Christ’s symbolism comes to mind since it seems Julian’s vision has taken the trinity and replaced Jesus with a Mother deity. This exchange is somewhat extraordinary since Julian had to be especially careful to avoid charges of heresy as a female author in the Middle Ages. How could a 14th century woman get away with replacing Christ with a mother figure? The trope that Julian seems to be using is the combination of opposites. She says that we are “joined” with God “and all made perfect man; and by yielding and giving in grace of the Holy Ghost we are fulfilled.” Yielding ourselves to the Holy Ghost seems to be a joining of two opposite 6
Ibid, 330-331n. Ibid, 231. 8 Julian, 519-520. 7
4 things: our bodies (corpus) and the spirit (anima). Also, Julian immediately follows this passage by commenting on how we are God’s spouse “His loved wife and His fair maiden, with which wife He is never displeased.”9 This is another joining (coniunctio) of two opposites. In the following paragraph, Julian describes three attributes of each member of the godhead; trinities within the trinity. I beheld the working of all the blessed Trinity, in which beholding I saw and understood these three properties…In our Father almighty we have our keeping and our bliss as our kindly substance, which is to us by our making without beginning; and in the second person, in wit and wisdom, we have our keeping as our sensuality, our restoring and our saving; for He is our Mother, Brother and Savior. And in our good Lord the Holy Ghost we have our rewarding and our yielding for our living and our travail;10 This idea of a trinity within each member of the trinity was explored earlier by Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th century anchoress and visionary. She illustrated many of her visions in a book entitled Scivias. In Trinity,11 the illustration to the left, the light on the outside of the circle, the fire toward the middle of the circle, and the sapphire figure in the center represent God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Christ, respectively. In the Scivias, Hildegard comments on the qualities of three parts of creation, a stone, fire, and words, all three being allegorically charged symbols. There are three qualities in a stone and three in a flame and three in a word. How? In the stone is cool dampness and solidity to the touch and sparkling fire…Now this cool dampness signifies the Father, Who never withers and Whose power never ends; and this solidity of touch designates 9
Julian, 519. Ibid 11 Hildegard von Bingen, Trinity. Accessed at http://www.oxfordgirlschoir.co.uk. 10
5 the Son, Who was born of the Virgin and could be touched and known; and the sparkling fire signifies the Holy Spirit, Who enkindles and enlightens the hearts of the faithful…And as these three qualities are in one stone, so the true Trinity is in the true Unity. 12 Hildegard goes on to extrapolate further analogies, dividing the fire into light, power, and heat, and the word into sound, meaning, and breath, all of which represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, respectively. This tradition of associating physical objects with divinity was a central theme to, if not a main purpose of alchemy. Jung explains that the main processes in alchemy included: [the uniting of opposites] followed by the death of the product of the union mortifacatio, calcinatio, putrefactio) and a responding nigredo. From this the washing ablutio, baptisma) eather leads direct to the whitening (albedo), or else the soul (anima) released at the “death” is reunited with the body and brings about its resurrection, or again the “many colors”… lead to the one white color that contains all colors.13 Jung describes this albedo stage as the first desirable goal of the alchemical process, producing quicksilver or Mercurius. He notes that “when the alchemist speaks of Mercurius, on the face of it he means quicksilver, but inwardly he means the worldcreating spirit concealed or imprisoned in matter.”14 The “color that contains all colors” and the “world-creating spirit” obviously represent God. Also, the circularity of being born, dying and resurrecting is achieved only by divinity, the symbol for which is often a dragon eating its tail. This dragon image creates a circle, signifying eternality, while its serpentine body resembles the chthonic, and its wings resemble the air and heavens, representing divinity as a fusion of opposites. Jung notes that “Mercurius stands at the beginning and end of the work.”15 This concept is strongly present in the Revelation of 12
Hildegard von Bingen, Scivias. 162-163. Jung, 231. 14 Ibid, 293. 15 Jung, 293 13
6 John: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”16 The goal of creating a substance that contains these qualities is certainly an expression of a desire for intimacy and familiarity with the divine. The concept of a color in which all colors are present is central to both alchemy visionaries. The meaning behind colors, color changes and fusion of certain colors is significant in both subjects. Jung notes that, in alchemy, the four stages17 each had a color associated with them: “melanosis (blackening), leucosis (whitening), xanthosis (yellowing), and iosis (reddening).”18 As explained above, the first desirable stage in alchemy was the whitening (albedo, leucosis), which still required reddening (iosis or rubedo) to become gold. Theoretically, this would result in the desired element: “the red and the white are King and Queen, who may also celebrate their ‘chymical wedding’ at this stage.”19 Red and white are often paired not only in alchemy, but in visions such as Hildegard von Bingen’s Choir of Angels, an illustration of which is below.20 The very center of the circle is white; that divine color containing all colors. The angels immediately surrounding God are the red seraphim, symbolizing his love or charity (xaritaς)21. Julian of Norwich sees Christ as a sufferer, bleeding profusely, “the 16
Revelation 22:13. See also Revelation 1:8 and 21:6.
17
On page 229 in Psychologie und Alchemie, Jung says that alchemy had four main stages (the
tetramerein thn filosofi/an – quartering of philosophy) symbolizing the four elements and the four humors. 18 Jung, 229. 19 Ibid, 232 20 Hildegard von Bingen, Angelic Choirs. Accessed at http://www.oxfordgirlschoir.co.uk. 21 Cf. the sixth chapter of Dionysius the Areopagite’s Angelic Hierarchies, in which he discusses the fiery attributes of Seraphim. “The name Seraphim clearly indicates their ceaseless and eternal revolution about Divine Principles, their heat and keenness, the exuberance of their intense, perpetual, tireless activity, and their elevative and energetic assimilation of those below, kindling them and firing them to their own heat, and wholly purifying them by a burning and all-
7 plenteousness [of blood] is like to the drops of water that fall on the eaves after a great shower of rain that fall so thick that no man may number them with bodily wit.”22 Julian describes the blood as “full thick; and in the spreading abroad it were bright red.” What is significant about this vision is that Julian received it on what she thought was her death bed: “and on the fourth night I took all my rites of Holy Church and wened not to have lived till day.”23 In the same way that Christ, at around age thirty, lay in a tomb for three days, Julian received a sickness at the age of thirty and “lay three days and three nights.” At the end of their travails, Christ resurrected himself and Julian was healed of her sickness. The likening of Julian to Christ is intentional. Christ suffered, experiencing the redness of pain and blood before he rose to the whiteness of the glory of heaven. A reflection of this is Julian’s vision filled with the redness of Christ’s blood before she ascended from her sickbed, the glory of heaven being symbolized in her life as an anchoress, praying to and meditating on God. In this way, both Christ and the post-Christ figure experience redness contiguous to the whiteness of glory. The concept of red and white being at the center of the divine is continued in medieval art. Red or multicolored mandorlas surrounding God in his seat of judgment or glory are common. To the right is a detail consuming flame.” (accessed through http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/) 22 Julian, 510. 23 Ibid, 508.
8 from Francesco di Ser Cenni’s The Virgin of Humility.24 This painting shows God surrounded by a mandorla composed of Cherubim and Seraphim, traditionally the two highest angelic orders. Since God symbolizes purity, light, glory and whiteness, this is another example of pairing red and white to represent the divine. Hildegard von Bingen’s Scivias further explains how God is a radiance or brilliant light. And then I saw a great star, splendid and beautiful, come forth from the One seated on the throne. And with that star came a great multitude of shining sparks, which followed the star toward the South, looking on the One seated on the throne like a stranger; they turned away from Him and stared toward the North instead of contemplating Him. But, in the very act of turning away their gaze, they were all extinguished and were changed into black cinders.25 A few lines previously, Hildegard describes God as “so bright that I could not behold him clearly.” The sparks that are emitted from God represent creation, particularly humans. The vision shows what happens to the sparks who turn away from God, losing their brilliance and becoming black cinders, representing a place where fire has been, but no longer burns. As is clear from Exodus chapter three where God appears in a burning bush, the fire of God is not a consuming fire, but one of love. The opposite is true for those who “turned away” in Hildegard’s vision.26 The symbology associated with darkness and light in the Middle Ages requires mention of Dante’s Divine Comedies. This work is famous for how it plays with light or the absence thereof. In the Inferno, Dante laments, “I have come to a place where every 24
Francesco di Ser Cenni, The Virgin of Humility. 1375-80. Currently in the Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Pedralbes. Accessed at http://www.wga.hu/ 25
Hildegard, Scivias. 309. Cf. Matthew 3:10, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 26
9 light is silenced.”27 Even the light that allows Dante to see his surroundings is constantly shrouded by mist or darkness. This is exemplified by Dante’s reference to the people he sees in hell as “those people who are so punished by the black air.”28 Also, Dante does not have a shadow in hell, as there is no true light to produce one. One of the first things he notices when he ascends to the base of Mount Purgatory is his shadow, enforcing the fact that he is made of flesh and bones. Once he has reached heaven, Dante describes seeing God: In the profundity of the clear substance of the deep light, appeared to me three circles of three colors and equal circumference; and the first seemed to be reflected by the second, as a rainbow by a rainbow, and the third seemed like a flame breathed equally from both. 29 Here, we see God the Father as a “deep light,” Christ as a reflection of the light,30 and the Holy Spirit as “like a flame breathed equally from both.”31 The colors and symbols associated with divinity are able to provide insight to medieval theology, religious practices and influences. Studying the connections between Graeco-Roman symbolism, early and medieval Christian symbolism and early modern alchemical treatises aids in an understanding of humanity’s desire to know the unknowable. Such a study makes clear how humans have endlessly tried to categorize, label and familiarize God. Perhaps the most mutable figure of western culture, the Christ symbol, epitomizes the desire for this personalization and customization of the divine. 27
Dante, Inferno. 65. Ibid. 66. 29 Dante, Paradiso. 498-499 30 Cf. the Nicene Creed, which describes Christ as “God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.” 31 Cf. Acts 2:2-4, “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” John 20:22, “And with that he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.” 28
10 This is one reason why, to alchemists, symbologists, allegorists or psychologists, it is “of the greatest importance.�
11 Works Cited Alighierri, Dante, The Divine Comedy. Translated by C. H. Sisson. Oxford University Press, 1998. Hildegard von Bingen, Scivias. Accessed through http://books.google.com/books Julian of Norwich “A Revelation of Love.� The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume 1: The Medieval Period. Ed. Joseph Black. Broadview Press, 2006. 505-522. Jung, Carl G. Psychologie und Alchemie. Translated by R.F.C. Hull. Princeton University Press, 1993.