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Incarnation as coagulatio

Incarnation as coagulatio

In Edinger’s reading, coagulatio and the theological category of incarnation are the same operation seen from two sides. “When something descends from an upper spiritual level to a lower realm, it takes on body as it descends. That is the process of coagulatio. It is the descent of heavenly spiritual stuff that falls into matter” (Edinger 1992). The Gnostic myth of Sophia — who, out of desirousness for her image reflected in lower material realms, falls into the embrace of matter and undergoes embodiment — is his chosen emblem for the psychological operation.

The Christian image is the Incarnation proper. “The lowly circumstances of Christ’s birth correspond to the ordinary and commonplace aspects of being concretely real. The events of the Passion also apply. Christ’s condemnation and execution with criminals present him as a willing carrier of evil. His carrying the cross represents the realization of the burden of one’s being. The outstanding image is the crucifixion itself — being nailed to matter” (Edinger 1985, p. 105). The four arms of the cross are the four elements; the mercurial serpent pictured fixed to the cross is the uncoagulated spirit finding its body.

Edinger’s move is consequential for depth work. An archetypal-image that has not undergone coagulatio — has not been personalized through a specific human relationship — “retains a boundless and primordial power that threatens to inundate the ego if it is approached” (Edinger 1985, p. 98). The Jung letter Edinger quotes closes the argument: “What if this has no roots in the earth? If it is not a house of stone where the fire of God can dwell, but a wretched straw hut that flares up and vanishes? Could God then be born?… Let us therefore be for him limitation in time and space, an earthly tabernacle” (Jung, Letters, in Edinger 1985). Incarnation is what the unconscious requires of the ego.

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