Oppositions active in the

Anima Mundi

The Philosopher’s Stone.

Oppositions essential to the functioning of the

brain cause conflict in society. Understanding

these natural oppositions will allow us to utilise

them positively and construct a more

enlightened world. Yippee!

Astrologers familiar with ancient systems will recognise the

opposing signs in this model are semi-sextile therefore ‘disjoint’

on the Zodiac.

These are the Opposites on the ZODIAC

+

+

-

-

Cardinal

Fire

Cardinal Air

Mutable Water

Mutable Earth

On the Zodiac positive signs

oppose positive signs, negative

opposes negative, cardinal

opposes cardinal, and fixed

opposes fixed.

Airy Libra seeks justice so

diligently she provokes war (the

Goddess Athena was the

goddess of war as well as

justice). Meanwhile the fiery

Aries warrior fights for peace.

Earthy Virgo is anxiously aware

of Pisces chaos whereas watery Pisces has a quite Virginal antipathy of anything crude.

On the Zodiac Water opposes Earth, and Air opposes Fire. Since Wet Earth is

fertile (sensual feeling), and Fire’s fuel is oxygen (intuitive thinking) you can see the

opposing signs have qualities that work together.

AION is a Greek

word, it means

AGE.

How „THE SELF‟ is expressed in the experience of the individual?

And: The psychological significance of the Christian Era.

Liz Greene introduced me to Jung’s book Aion in 2005. Prior to this I had no idea

that the model in her book Relating, within which the new model was discovered in

1984, had such an exalted provenance.

‘It is what is called ultimo exquadra circulae, the square in the circle,

or the circle in the square. It is an age-old symbol that goes right

back to the pre-history of man. It is all over the earth and it either

expresses the deity or the self;’ Conversations with Carl Jung and Reactions from Ernest Jones. Richard I.

Evans. Publisher: D. Van Nostrand Company. Princeton, NJ. 1964.

‘The lapis (the philosopher’s stone)

consists of the four elements or has

to be put together from them’. Morienus, from Tractatus Aureus, Aion,

p 236-237.

‘And as a man is made up of four

elements, so also is the stone, and

so it is dug out of man, and thou are

its ore’. Ibid, p. 168.

Here are some quotes from Aion.

And here is Liz’s diagram from which I decided the positioning of

signs on the Anima Mundi. On the brain model empiric-thinking,

Air-Earth, is at the top.

Greene, L, Relating; An Astrological Guide to Living with Others on a Small Planet,

UK, Thorsons Publishers Ltd, 1977.

Right Left Left Right

Just to remind you, this is how the astrological archetypes are arranged

when this model is applied to the brain.

Earth Air

Empiric-thinking

Intuitive-feeling

Water Fire

THE OPPOSITIONS

Empiric-thinking

Intuitive-feeling

Sensual-feeling Intuitive-thinking

And here are the oppositions on the new model.

Earth Air

Water Fire

‘Mostly Harmless’

„Through the mixing of the four elements inequalities arose which caused

uncertainty and so necessitated decisions or acts of choice‟.

Paul Anton Lagarde, Clementina, from Aion, p. 56

empiric-thinking

intuitive-feeling

The problem is that our egos have the run of

this world of the inner psyche with no

restrictions imposed. Our awareness

wanders. We concentrate on certain areas at

the expense of others. Our culture actively

encourages absurdity as conceptual fashions

bias us in favour of one direction or another.

Our birth charts predispose us to imbalance.

Imbalance can of course be creative – think

hammer - but not when it‘s a tool in the

hands of an idiot.

The present bias is towards empiric-thinking.

It’s easy to ‘see’ why – business and science

produce wealth.

‘Mostly harmless’ is the entry on planet Earth

in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?

I shall now apply a single word to each of the

signs of the Zodiac.

Of course each sign carries a world of

meanings but in this presentation, for the sake

of simplicity, I have chosen just one word.

Mysticism Philosophy

Mother Father

Death Birth

Physical beauty Theoretical beauty

Practical Intellectual

Business Science

Negative Signs Positive signs

The words I have chosen illustrate something about the

foundation significance of the specific astrological archetype.

SOURCE

WEALTH

LIFE

WORK

FORM

TIME

Business Science

Practical Intellectual

Physical Beauty Theoretical Beauty

Death Birth

Mother Father

Mysticism Philosophy

These words graphically display the complementary meaning held by paired signs.

‘Complementary’ means ‘to make complete’. Father without Mother is incomplete, etc.

Complements join the signs that share rulers on the old Ptolemaic Order.

COMPLEMENTARY CONNECTIONS

10 11

FORM

TIME

12 9

4

6 3

7

1

5

8

2

Between Birth and Death, a connection I identified as representing passing

‘Time’, and Physical and Theoretical Beauty, which I have interpreted as ‘Form’,

is a point at which the lower and upper sections meet.

space

tim

e

PAST

FUTURE

‘the present’.

Familiar with the Hermann Minkowski space-time diagram I named this

central position ‘the present’.

Back to the perspicacious ancients: ‘Reduce your stone to the four

elements, rectify and combine them into one, and you will have the whole

magistery. The one, to which the elements must be reduced, is the little

circle in the centre of this squared figure. It is the mediator making peace

between the elements’. Tractatus Aureus, Aion, p. 239

This is an IMPORTANT statement.

These ‘complementary connections’ also correlate

extraordinarily successfully with the meanings

carried by the lines of Yijing (I Ching) in

Hexagrams I and 2.

This is the subject of another presentation.

You can think of our conscious awareness as like the Sun

shining on the Earth. Although Sydney and London exist at the

same time in space the Sun can only shine on one city at a time.

When it is daytime in London it is night-time in Sydney. It is the

same with these oppositions on the new model.

Now we will view the oppositions one by one.

The first opposition I have chosen to think about is concerned

with our search for -

Always remember:

„… the little circle in the centre of this squared figure. It is the

mediator making peace between the elements’.

TRUTH

Empiric Thinking

Intuitive Feeling

„Where “truth” or “true” is defined, it

will be to the effect of “that which is a

fact” or “that which is verifiable …‟

William J. Shields, Wikipedia, Truth.

On Faith and Truth …my faith does not

require another to believe it. My faith is

rooted in what I believe is the best path for

me, not for you. If we are all one as I believe,

then there is no right or wrong, for how can

one part of the whole be right and another

part be wrong? Curtis G Schmitt.

TRUTH

Subjective truth vs. objective truth. This is the religion/science divide. John Templeton has left a $1.6 million prize for any scientists prepared to ‘broker a partnership’ between this warring pair’. (New

Scientist, 2 August, 2008, p. 52) Here the scientist opposes the mystic yet they are both on the same quest: both have an imperative inner desire to resolve this conundrum. Scientists seek ‘truth’ through empiric-thinking, earth/air. They explore a world that can be seen, felt, and touched. They poke it and prod it, slice it, measure it and weigh it. With Saturn’s help (the earthy side of empiric-thinking) scientist’s achieve spectacular results - quantitative methodology has won collective respect. It has brought rewards but it is clearly failing to answer our deepest needs. With Jupiter’s involvement (Jupiter is the fire side of intuitive-feeling) the mystic seeks answers through introspection. We are alive! This is an amazing fact. Something, a mystery to the empiric-thinking self but clearly part of a greater whole, is operating. This enigmatic source is full of yearning. Without respect for its opposite this position is responsible for a plethora of dangerous delusions. So science is the enemy of religion and religion is the enemy of science. History supplies us with endless well-documented examples. The Church vs. Galileo, Evolution vs. Creationism. Mysticism, when it unwisely attempts to commandeer the surety of empiric-thinking, results in megalomania. Conversely, arrogantly discounting the enigmatic source puts science on a course set to destroy our world. Only respect for both methods of gaining information will supply us with an accurate picture.

TRUTH

„Philosophy is not the reflection

of a pure existing truth, but, like

art, the act of bringing, truth into

being‟. Ponty, Phenomenology of

Perception, xxii

Empiric Thinking

Intuitive Feeling

Inconsequentiality

Relativism

TRUTH

‘… to see the world and

grasp it as paradoxical, we

must break with our familiar

acceptance of it … and

from the break we can learn

nothing but the unmotivated

upsurge of the world’. Merleau Ponty, The

Phenomenology of Perception, xv.

The one, to which the

elements must be

reduced, is the little

circle in the centre of this

squared figure. It is the

mediator making peace

between the elements’. Tractatus Aureus, Aion, p. 239

So to sum up … Both the mystic and the scientist are seeking truth but while the mystic has faith in the idea that intuitive-feeling as ‘the way’ to find it, the scientist has concluded that empiric-thinking - thinking with facts provided by the senses (which clearly requires experiments carried out on the ’real’ physical world) - is the only reliable method. Either way they both miss out if they do not give credence to the opposing side. When Christian ideology ruled intuitive-feeling won, lately it has been the turn of science. That either should win is a disaster because in both cases they fail. ….Indeed it can be seen that the entailed opposite gains the upper hand. … What about the little circle at the centre? Between Time and Form, is the upsurging ‘reality’ of the moment - the ‘absolutism’ of being here right now. In terms of entailment this axis illustrates the discontinuity between ‘awake’ (Uranus is called the awakener) and asleep (Neptune is the dreamer). You can’t be both at once. Descartes said ‘I think therefore I am’. That’s OK as far as it goes. But this model points out that I also sense, intuit, and feel therefore I am. Should anyone of these modus operandi be excluded the I am is never going to get a grip on the total situation. …….

‘Opposites always entail each other, and can only be separated abstractly and

at the risk of upsetting the rhythm of life by treating them as really inseparable.

Enforcing order produces disorder. Attempts at overt control on behalf of one

half of the dyad at the expense the other half, whether such manipulations be

political or otherwise, simply makes things worse.’

Daodejing, Ames and Hall, p.168, 2003.

The next opposition we look at is

STRUCTURE

Empiric Thinking

Intuitive Feeling

STRUCTURE

Business

Religion

Here we are looking at the opposition between the

Capricornian businessman and the Sagittarian philosopher. What use can the

businessman see in the student, pack on back, off to see the world?

Saturn, Capricorn’s ruling planet, stands for boundaries, for stones and bones, walls,

teeth and skin. The danger in Saturn is crystallisation. Capricornian/Saturnian

structures are necessary but are by nature inflexible. Secular law is cold and

unforgiving. It has literally ‘no give’. Yet Saturn ruled the Golden Age - civilization

depends on society following the rules. Imagine a city where nobody drives on the

correct side of the road and nobody stops for a red light.

Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, optimistic king of the gods. Sagittarius is flexible. The

philosopher seeks the structure in experience. The structure of moral law takes

account of subtleties: ethics are forever reviewable. Sagittarius is intuitive

‘knowledge’. The world is Sag’s oyster, a wonderful place promising adventure and

requiring exploration. The demands made by this position are grow, learn and expand.

Life is regarded as an adventure. The weakness is over-optimism and irresponsibility.

Juno/Hera, Jupiter’s consort, was not a happy wife.

When corrupted by its opposite this position produces fundamentalism.

The Government, the police, the Law Courts, these are Capricornian institutions. The

structure of Sag is ninth house. Universities were set up by the priesthood.

This is also the opposition between Fear (Saturn) and Greed (Jupiter). Perfect

structure, like truth, is in the middle.

STRUCTURE

ENDURANCE

Physical

Beauty

Birth

ENDURANCE

Sen

sual-fe

elin

g

Intu

itive-th

inkin

g

Sensual-feeling Taurus attempting to conserve physical values opposes pioneering, intuitive-thinking creative Aries. Taurus is concerned with safety, security, and dependability. Its ruling planet is Mother Earth, its house the 2nd house of home. Aries is spring. It is vibrant. It stands for beginnings when all is young and fresh and full of potential. At its best it is progress through change. Its house is the 1st house of birth. I learnt about this opposition through a news broadcast. It described a conflict between conservationists and the building of a new bypass. A Taurus image is the oak tree. Taurus endures through strength and persistence. An Aries image is the warrior. Ruled by the planet Mars it is brimful of vitality, courage and heroism. Every year it brings a new spring. Mars is intuitive-thinking. It is made up of the elements Fire and Air: Fire feeds on oxygen. Martian desire is hot. Taurus, left to its own devises, in spite of its strength, could not endure. Its dark side is ‘materialism’. Aries, like a military tank, left to its own devises would carelessly destroy everything in its path. Its dark side is vandalism. They are both necessary. Together they modify the expression of the other so that life endures.

ENDURANCE

REGENERATION

Sen

sual-fe

elin

g

Romantic

Illusion

Despair

REGENERATION

Intu

itive-th

inkin

g

REGENERATION Scorpio, ruled by Pluto, king of the underworld, is compulsive power. Scorpio is negative and therefore physical. This compulsive power can be seen operating in the sexual act . It is carried out in secret. What is more physical and compulsive than orgasm. It is the power of the contractions that give birth to the child – even if the birth kills. Libra, partnership, ruled by Venus, is romantic love. This is a powerful opposition – Pluto means power. The Greek myth of Pluto and Persephone, the Babylonian myth of Ereshkigal and Innana, they both deal with this Scorpio Libra issue. Pluto wears a helmet of invisibility when he comes to the upper world – he is not pretty. Scorpio is that time of year when leaves fall. Pluto is shit and compost heaps and rotting fruit. His dark side is despair. Pluto breaks down old forms so that they can be re-assimilated into the system. He is also the seed inside the fruit personified by Persephone and symbolised by the pomegranate she carries. He is one end of the regeneration process - Venus is the other. She is the beautiful flower that entices and attracts. Pluto is responsible for fossil fuels which result from the regeneration process. So far he has kept our world clean but he cannot regenerate Plutonium. This is a modern issue that is waiting to be addressed. Venus is attraction. She understands the other. She is beautiful and charming but also manipulative. She knows exactly how to entice. Another name for intuitive-thinking is imagination. Venus uses imagination to conjure up images of romance in her famous mirror. Her dark side is romantic illusion. Each is indispensible to the other but they are very different.

ORGANISATION

Sensing

Intuition

ORGANISATION

ORGANISATION Leo, The King, the Father, the boss, organises

the large scale: kingdoms, companies and families. The planets orbit the Leo

Sun.

Virgo the secretary, the nurse, the servant, organises the details. Virgo is

practicality personified.

Leo is vision. No sunlight and we would require no eyes. Leo sees. We ‘see’ with

our hearts. ‘I see’ means ‘I understand.’

Virgo looks. Seeing and looking are different and entailed.

Conscious awareness (unless it is in the centre) is limited to only one area at a

time just as - I explained previously - the Sun cannot shine at the same time on

Sydney and London.

Looking requires concentrated effort. Most of the time we get along with just

seeing. If you want to draw something accurately you are required to look.

Virgo, ‘complementary’ partner to Gemini, rules libraries, where ideas are stored

in a myriad words and pictures.

Virgo can be involved with detail to the point of neurosis.

Leo can be self-centred to the point of tyranny.

This is where we begin to see exactly how

these functions of perception act in the brain.

Remember, opposites always entail each

other, and can only be separated

abstractly.

When I was in art school our teacher asked us if we knew what a

post box looked like and we all chorused YEAH. So he asked us

to draw one and we failed. We couldn't remember the details.

He sent us out to look.

Virgo LOOKS out into the world. It deals with a myriad details.

Leo can see things with the MIND’S EYE. Cancer memory (water

retains heat) memorises Leo images so we can recognise what

we see. We cannot look and see at the same time. If you are

visualising your front door you will not see what is in front of your

eyes. Try it.

Virgo

Looking

Leo

Seeing

O

Complementary

connection in

operation

The final opposition is concerned

with

This opposition also explains a

familiar entailment but first I want

to introduce you to an even more

amazing piece of information.

SURVIVAL

Mercury

ruled

Gemini

Moon

ruled

Cancer

yang

yang

yang

yang

yang

The Receptive The Creative

Earth Heaven

These are the Complementary Connections as they line up

in the I Ching, the positive signs on the right and the

negative signs on the right.

Check out the Ruling Lines.

Thinking

Feeling

SURVIVAL

We say:

I AM ME

These ruling lines tell us that these positions are of major

significance.

And they ARE!

We pat our hearts when we use the word me.

‘Me‟ is the centre of the throbbing mass that is my

body (the Receptive Earth). ‘I‟ seems to hang

out somewhere in my head.

Cancer is gut feeling. Gemini is the wits. They work for our survival. The guts will throw up if anything endangers the digestive system, this will embarrass the wits no end, on the other hand the guts would not survive without the wits to work out how to get us the next meal. Cancer is ruled by the instinctual Moon. This is the place of the physical heart. Straight square great without purpose’. The heart pumps the blood around the body, its ‘complement’, Leo, supplies the energy, the beat. The dark side of Cancer is self-pity (this is not Neptunian martyrdom). Poor me. … The dark side of Gemini is superficiality. Gemini, ruled by Mercury, messenger of the gods, is a ‘flying dragon in the heavens’. It is pure thought. Gemini rules the journalist. Mercury is not particularly interested in facts - facts can get in the way of a good story . It is not intuitive either so here we see it as ruling pure Air on the philosopher’s stone. It is invisible but it has a profound reality and is so important we have given it a name. We call it „I‟. The Dao De Jing begins by defining this pair, ‘Desire nothing and you will know the nameless’. ‘I’ can only be directly experienced when the mind chatter is off. ‘Desire and you will know the manifest.’ The physical body has needs that must be satisfied. ‘They are the same and yet different, a gateway of life’. Consciousness says ‘I am me‟. Our sense of ourselves is the product of entailed, opposite, cognitive functions, neither I nor me but the result of the interaction between the two. We are back at the middle again.

SURVIVAL

hearing

listening O

?

And here another ‘entailment. ‘Hearing’ and ‘listening’. After years of thought I have finally decided with confidence which word fits which position. Listening suggests an innate understanding of the meaning held by a sound. Grrrrrrrrrrr – the meaning in this is obvious.

My husband was watching Wallander. It has subtitles – the words were written on the screen. ‘I need to turn up the sound’, he said. Ah Ha! He needed the extra information given by the intonations. Much underlying meaning is carried by the intonations. The Moon reacts instinctively to dangerous intonations. Mercury is concerned with understanding the actual words.

To understand this entailment concentrate on the sounds in your environment. When you do this it is difficult to also understand exactly what people are saying.

SURVIVAL

And here is further entailment concerning these two.

Cancer is Water – pure feeling. If you concentrate on how

your big toe feels or on listening to your heart beat

you will have to suspend thinking.

Try it. Thinking

Feeling

MIND and

Brain specialists equate the frontal part of the brain with MIND. The older

part of the brain is at the back. This is the instinctive brain. We can think of

it as Heart.

Nothing we have learnt from studying the archetypes on our model would

disagree.

HEART

‘The mandala first comes into consciousness as an impressive point or dot’. Tracticus

Aureus, Aion, p. 32.

This point ‘being nothing and consisting of nothing, becomes a ‘certain magnitude

incomprehensible by thought’. Hyppolitus, Aion, p.199.

Here is the Philosopher’s Stone. again

I think that it is beautiful. I hope it helped you to understand the opposites.

So Jung’s model directs attention to the circle in the middle where all

the various archetypes come together in a ‘point’ to create our

experience of reality.

This is the incarnation point of each moment where TRUTH,

STRUCTURE, ORGANISATION, REGENERATION, ENDURANCE

and SURVIVAL join forces to create our experience of LIFE.

We are here now!

How did the ancients know to intuit this? I am overcome

with amazement reflecting on the genius of their insight.

THE END

© Chrissy Philp