The term ‘Three Ones’ does not circulate in the depth-psychological corpus as a single, stable technical concept but rather as a convergence zone where numerological, theological, and alchemical traditions intersect around the motif of threeness resolving into, or coexisting with, unity. Jung’s most sustained treatment occurs in his analysis of Trinitarian symbolism, where he reads the theological formula ‘these three are one’ as an archetypal expression of a psychological process — the differentiation and reintegration of psychic functions. Von Franz, working through the Aurora Consurgens, follows the alchemical axiom ‘tria et tria sunt unum’ to show how body, spirit, and soul constitute a philosophical trinity whose unity mirrors the Christian model. Edinger extends this into developmental psychology, arguing that triadic rhythm is the structural signature of individuation, while carefully distinguishing the threefold process from the fourfold goal. The Philokalia contributes the Eastern Orthodox insistence that three hypostases constitute one uncreated nature — a theological formulation whose psychological resonance Jung explicitly explores. Across these authorities a productive tension persists: whether ‘three ones’ names an ontological identity, a dynamic process culminating in wholeness, or an incomplete symbol requiring quaternary completion.
Tria et tria sunt unum. Deinde dixerunt in uno sunt tria, et spiritus, anima, et corpus sunt unum, et omnia sunt ex uno.
The alchemical Aurora Consurgens directly enunciates the formula ‘three and three are one,’ equating spirit, soul, and body as a triune unity from which all things derive, providing the primary alchemical substrate for depth-psychological readings of the Three Ones.
, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966thesis
these three are One, [which the Philosopher would have to be] body, spirit, and soul, for all perfection consisteth in the number three
Von Franz’s commentary establishes that the alchemical ‘three are one’ maps onto the Christian Trinity while simultaneously grounding it in the triad of body, spirit, and soul, treating perfection itself as numerologically inherent in threeness.
, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966thesis
there are three that bear witness: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three are one
Jung cites the Comma Johanneum as evidence of the Trinitarian ‘three are one’ structure within the New Testament, then interrogates its late interpolation status to question the dogmatic weight traditionally assigned to the formula.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958thesis
The Good that is beyond being and beyond the unoriginate is one, the holy unity of three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is an infinite union of three infinites.
Maximos the Confessor articulates the Eastern Orthodox formulation of Three Ones as an infinite union of three infinite persons in one transcendent Good, providing the apophatic theological counterpart to alchemical and psychological readings.
, The Philokalia, Volume 4, 1995thesis
The rhythm is built up in three steps but the resultant symbol is a quaternity. This statement clearly implies that the threefold rhythm and the fourfold goal are separate symbolic entities
Edinger identifies the ‘three ones’ as the structural rhythm of developmental individuation, arguing it must be held distinct from the quaternary goal — a key distinction for depth-psychological appropriation of Trinitarian symbolism.
, Ego and Archetype: Individuation and the Religious Function of the Psyche, 1972thesis
Egyptian theology asserts, first and foremost, the essential unity (homoousia) of God as father and son… we can actually speak of a triunity of God, king, and ka, in the sense that God is the father, the king is the son, and ka the connecting-link between them.
Jung traces ‘Three Ones’ to pre-Christian Egyptian theology, finding in the triunity of God, king, and ka a prefiguration of the Christian Trinity and its psychological analogue as the archetype of threefold unity.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958supporting
we find these trinities of gods all over the earth, from which we may assume that that symbol must be based upon a universal psychological condition
Jung argues that the ubiquity of divine triads cross-culturally grounds ‘Three Ones’ symbolism in a universal archetypal condition of the psyche, specifically the initial differentiation of one function from the collective unconscious.
, Dream Analysis: Notes of the Seminar Given in 1928-1930, 1984supporting
The one engenders the two, the two engenders the three and the three engenders all things.
Edinger cites the Tao Teh Ching to situate the Three Ones within a cosmogonic sequence in which threeness is the generative fulcrum between primordial unity and the multiplicity of manifest reality.
, Ego and Archetype: Individuation and the Religious Function of the Psyche, 1972supporting
Two implies a one which is different and distinct from the ‘numberless’ One. In other words, as soon as the number two appears, a unit is produced out of the original unity
Jung’s numerological analysis establishes that the progression to Three requires first the emergence of Two from primordial unity, making the Three Ones formula intelligible as the dialectical re-synthesis of an original undifferentiated one.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958supporting
we believe in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the trihypostatic Godhead, one simple, non-composite, uncreated, unseen, incomprehensible nature
The Philokalia presents the ‘trihypostatic Godhead’ as one incomprehensible nature, affirming the Eastern theological version of Three Ones that informs the contemplative traditions Jung and von Franz engage.
, The Philokalia, Volume 4, 1995supporting
The hall also contains a wonderful depiction of the Three Pure Ones, on the wall of the central niche.
The Daoist ‘Three Pure Ones’ (Sanqing) are noted as an iconographic triad in Quanzhen religious architecture, providing a comparative reference point for the cross-cultural depth-psychological reading of triadic unity.
, Daoism Handbook, 2000aside
We dangle one single stalk, thereby representing the three [i.e., the three powers, or Heaven, Earth, and Man].
Wang Bi’s commentary on the I Ching presents a cosmological Three Ones in the triad of Heaven, Earth, and Man represented by a single stalk, offering an East Asian structural parallel to the alchemical and theological formulations.
, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, 1994aside
there are three steps and then a finale… The three are always clear units: 1, 2, 3, with a certain similar repetition, which is why the fourth is so often ignored
Von Franz observes that fairy-tale structure organizes experience in three rhythmically similar units before a qualitatively different fourth, situating ‘three ones’ within narrative symbolism as a recurring structural motif distinct from the quaternary conclusion.
, The Interpretation of Fairy Tales, 1970aside