Axes

The structural diagram of the Archetypal Feminine is built around two axes and four circles. The two axes correspond to the characters of the Feminine: the axis designated as M, to the elementary character — here the accent is on the maternal — while the other axis, designated as A, corresponds to the transformative character.

Neumann establishes the two axes — Elementary (M) and Transformative (A) — as the foundational coordinates of his structural schema for the Archetypal Feminine, each axis carrying a positive and negative pole.

Neumann, Erich, The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, 1955thesis

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We have characterized the intersections of axes M and A with the third circle as fruit-birth, death, inspiration, and madness. The upper part of the axes, leading from development (M) and transformation-sublimation (A) to fruit-birth and inspiration, are distinctly progressive and positive.

Neumann articulates the dynamic quality of the axes by showing that their intersections with the concentric circles generate the four great mythological-psychological phenomena, distributed along progressive/positive and regressive/negative vectors.

Neumann, Erich, The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, 1955thesis

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precisely at this extreme point the negative pole of Axis A can shift into the positive… The schema shows the ‘conceptual symbols’ on either side of each of the four axes.

Neumann demonstrates that the poles of the axes are not rigidly fixed but can undergo reversal at their extremities, and notes that the full schema assigns conceptual symbols to each side of all four axes.

Neumann, Erich, The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, 1955thesis

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axes and poles, 64–65; circles and points of intersection, 65–71… unity of poles and axes, 76–80

The index entry for Schema III in The Great Mother confirms the systematic elaboration of axes, poles, and their unities as central organizing concepts across multiple chapters.

Neumann, Erich, The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, 1955supporting

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Becoming conscious of this axis between the superior and inferior functions allows someone to know who he or she is and makes it easier for the person to hold to that identity with integrity.

Beebe applies the axis concept to Jungian typology, designating the superior-inferior function polarity as the ‘spine’ of personality whose conscious recognition grounds psychological identity.

Beebe, John, Energies and Patterns in Psychological Type: The Reservoir of Consciousness, 2017supporting

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the significance of the horizontal and vertical axes of the birth-chart — horizon and meridian… They form his cross of incarnation. He is universal Life.

Rudhyar treats the horizon and meridian as psychologically charged spatial axes that structure the individual’s ‘cross of incarnation,’ demarcating objective from subjective and conscious from unconscious realms.

Dane Rudhyar, The Astrology of Personality: A Re-formulation of Astrological Concepts and Ideals in Terms of Contemporary Psychology and Philosophy, 1936supporting

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