The term 'Quaternary' — the fourfold structure or principle of four — occupies a position of axial importance across the depth-psychology corpus, functioning simultaneously as a symbolic form, an archetypal schema, an empirical observation, and a theological problem. Jung established the quaternary as an organizing schema par excellence: an instinctive coordinate system by which psyche divides and orients chaotic multiplicity, manifest in the four functions of consciousness, the four elements, the Gnostic marriage quaternio, and the mandala's four-chamber geometry. He read it as a symbol of the Self and of totality, standing in constant productive tension with the Trinity — the three-versus-four problematic being, for Jung, both a theological and a psychological crux. Von Franz extended this argument into physics and cosmology, correlating the quaternary structure of psychological totality with the four-dimensional space-time continuum of Einstein-Minkowski physics and with the four fundamental forces of modern physics. Pauli, approaching from the history of science, traced the quaternary's roots in Kepler's Pythagorean cosmology and its role as the numerological foundation of music and astronomy. Edward Edinger and Marie-Louise von Franz further anchored the term in Gnostic quaternities and alchemical symbolism. The central tension running through all treatments is whether three or four more adequately symbolizes divine and psychic wholeness — a question the corpus treats as irreducible and revelatory.
The quaternity is an organizing schema par excellence, something like the crossed threads in a telescope. It is a system of co-ordinates that is used almost instinctively for dividing up and arranging a chaotic multiplicity
Jung defines the quaternary as the psyche's fundamental orienting schema, an archetypal coordinate system appearing wherever consciousness confronts undifferentiated multiplicity.
, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, 1951thesis
Jung independently observed that mandalas, which are symbols of the 'psychic totality,' when normal, have a quaternary structure. Moreover, our field of consciousness is based on four fundamental functions: thought, intuition, sensation… and feeling.
Von Franz argues that the quaternary structure of the mandala and the four functions of consciousness find a structural parallel in the four-dimensional and four-force models of modern physics, linking psyche to matter.
, Psyche and Matter, 2014thesis
side by side with the distinctive leanings of alchemy (and of the unconscious) towards quaternity there is always a vacillation between three and four which comes out over and over again.
Von Franz, quoting Jung, establishes that the three-versus-four oscillation is a structural feature of both alchemical symbolism and the psychology of the unconscious, linked to the problem of the inferior function.
, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966thesis
quaternity, 37f, 56ff, 64, 164f, 284n, 447f, 574 in alchemy, 423 and Byzantine liturgy, 219 Christian resistance to, 170 cross as, 283 the devil and, 59f, 170 and the Deity, 190
This index entry from Psychology and Religion maps the quaternary's full theological and psychological range, noting Christian resistance, alchemical usage, the association with the devil, and its function as a universal archetype and symbol of the Self.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958thesis
symbols of the Self are nearly always quaternary, more rarely triadic, structures. The models of the universe of the ancient cosmologies are quaternary, as are all natural symbols of the divine.
Von Franz states categorically that Self-symbols across cultures are quaternary, aligning ancient cosmological models, the Catholic augmentation of the Trinity through the Assumption of Mary, and the numerical symbolism of the square as feminine-static.
, Psychotherapy, 1993thesis
In his description of the four functions of consciousness Jung came upon a quaternary pattern which is of special significance, since he later discovered that the nuclear core of the unconscious also generally manifests itself as a quaternary structure.
Von Franz traces the historical arc of Jung's discovery: the quaternary pattern found in the typological four functions was subsequently confirmed as the structural signature of the unconscious itself.
, C.G. Jung: His Myth in Our Time, 1975thesis
The apotropaic significance of the quaternity is borne out by Ezekiel 9:4, where the prophet… sets a cross on the foreheads of the righteous… As attributes of God and also symbols in their own right, the quaternity and the cross signify wholeness.
Jung reads the biblical cross as a quaternary protective symbol and attribute of divinity, demonstrating wholeness as the theological and psychological content of the fourfold.
, Collected Works Volume 3: The Psychogenesis of Mental Disease, 1907thesis
If we look back over the course our argument has taken, we see at the beginning of it two Gnostic quaternities, one of which is supraordinate, and the other subordinate, to man, namely the 'Positive Moses' or Anthropos Quaternio, and the Paradise Quaternio.
Jung demonstrates through Naassene Gnosticism that the quaternary operates in layered hierarchical pairs — one supraordinate, one subordinate — reflecting the structural position of man between spirit and matter.
, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, 1951thesis
two pairs of opposites, making a quaternio (p3 + p2q + pq2 + q3), are needed to represent physical reality. Here we meet, at any rate in veiled form, the dilemma of three and four alluded to in the opening words of the Timaeus.
Jung formulates mathematically that the representation of physical reality requires a quaternio of two paired opposites, locating the three-versus-four dilemma in Platonic philosophy and its implications for depth psychology.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958thesis
In this symbolic image we see, first of all, an indication of the quaternary in the cross, four lines being arranged so as to meet in a common point. Joined with the number 3, which denotes the moon, the sun, and fire, this [quaternary] will produce the number 7
Pauli, through Kepler, shows the quaternary as the foundational arithmetical and cosmological principle underlying the proportions of music and astronomy, symbolized by the cross and generative of the number seven.
, Writings on Physics and Philosophy, 1994thesis
tota Natura 4 terminis comprehenditur, videlicet substantia, qualitate, quantitate, et motu… Ab unitate ergo incipit et in quaternitate definit.
Kepler's argument, cited by Pauli, claims that all of Nature is comprehended in four terms — substance, quality, quantity, and motion — and that the number quaternary begins in unity and defines itself in fourfoldness.
, Writings on Physics and Philosophy, 1994supporting
Nature herself, deriving her origin from the Godhead, also lays claim to this number as to her fundamental principle.
Pauli documents Kepler's theological argument that the quaternary is both the principle of the divine name and the fundamental structural principle of Nature, bridging theology and natural philosophy.
, Writings on Physics and Philosophy, 1994supporting
Adam would then be a quaternarius, as he was composed of red, black, white, and green dust from the four corners of the earth, and his stature reached from one end of the world to the other.
Jung interprets the alchemical and Midrashic figure of Adam as a quaternarius, a fourfold cosmic being whose composition from the four cardinal directions embodies the quaternary as an anthropological and cosmological archetype.
, Mysterium Coniunctionis: An Inquiry into the Separation and Synthesis of Psychic Opposites in Alchemy, 1955supporting
Joachim of Flora makes the following accusation against Peter Lombard… that the Lombard ascribed not Trinity, but Quaternity to God, that is to say, three Persons, and that common Something as a fourth.
Jung cites the Fourth Lateran Council's condemnation of Peter Lombard to illustrate the historical theological resistance to the quaternary view of the Deity and its proto-psychological implications.
, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, 1951supporting
Like the four seasons and the four quarters of heaven, the four elements are a quaternary system of orientation which always expresses a totality… The orienting system of consciousness has four aspects, which correspond to four empirical functions.
Jung links alchemical quaternary symbolism — four elements, seasons, and quarters — directly to the four empirical functions of consciousness, calling this alignment an archetypal arrangement.
, Alchemical Studies, 1967supporting
Alchemical speculations led to the idea of four states of aggregation, to the model of a space-time quaternion of four dimensions, and finally to different modern quaternarian models of the subatomic world.
Von Franz traces a continuous line from alchemical quaternary symbolism through Newtonian states of matter to modern four-dimensional space-time and subatomic quaternarian models, presenting it as a development of the same archetype.
, Psyche and Matter, 2014supporting
the problem of the four functions has increasingly evolved in Jung's thought and also turns up in his thought in the religious form of the problem of three and four.
Von Franz identifies the four psychological functions as one expression of a deeper symbolic problem — the opposition of three and four — which migrates between typological, religious, and mythological registers in Jung's thought.
, Psychotherapy, 1993supporting
The lapis quaternity, which is a product of alchemical gnosis, brings us to the interesting physical speculations of alchemy.
Jung introduces the lapis quaternity as an alchemical Gnostic product that bridges psychological symbolism and early physical speculation about the four elemental states of fire.
, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, 1951supporting
trinity and quaternity symbols occur fairly frequently in dreams, and from this I have learnt that the idea of the Trinity is based on something that can be experienced and must, therefore, have a meaning.
Jung grounds the theological debate between trinity and quaternity in empirical dream observation, arguing that both number motifs arise spontaneously and point to experiential psychic realities.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958supporting
The inhabitant, in his turn, has a relationship to the quaternity, and to the fifth as the unity of the four. The water appears in modern dreams and visions as a blue expanse reflecting the sky
Jung elaborates the quaternary's symbolic derivatives — city, house, vessel — and introduces the quinta essentia as the unity that transcends and crowns the four, linking it to modern dream imagery.
, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, 1951supporting
Three of the four orienting functions are available to consciousness… His inferior function will be feeling (valuation), which remains in a retarded state and is contaminated with the unconscious.
Jung's description of the four psychological functions as a quaternary orientation system includes the structural asymmetry whereby the fourth or inferior function remains unconscious, producing the three-versus-four tension empirically.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958supporting
The quaternary teaching of the Noble Eightfold Way can be replaced or interchanged with the ternary formulation of the doctrine of the Threefold Studies.
Spiegelman extends the three-versus-four problematic into Buddhist doctrine, noting a structural equivalence and interchangeability between quaternary and ternary formulations of the path to enlightenment.
, Buddhism and Jungian Psychology, 1985aside