Symbology of the Divine in Medieval Visions and Alchemy

Sean Hill

“The Christ-symbol is of the greatest importance for psychology in so far as it is

perhaps the most highly developed and differentiated symbol of the self, apart from the

figure of the Buddha.”1 As the theorist/psychologist Carl Jung has observed, the colors,

people, objects and symbols surrounding God and the forms he takes in visions have long

been a subject of scholarly study. This paper will observe and compare different

traditions and visions concerning God’s appearance and immediate surroundings.

One of the first women to record her divine visions, Julian of Norwich, is now

one of the most famous mystics of the 14th century, partially due to the rise in popularity

of medieval female authors. Her popularity is well deserved as she provides some of the

most unusual, insightful visions of her time. In one vision, Julian describes seeing “How

God is to us everything that is good, tenderly wrapping us;’ and all thing that is made.”2:

Also in this he showed a little thing, the quantity of a hazelnut in the palm of my hand; and it was as round as a ball. I looked thereupon with eye of my understanding and thought: What may this be? And it was generally answered thus: It is all that is made. 3

This concept of God as all matter is a major subject of study for Jung.

In his book, Psychologie und Alchemie, Carl G. Jung observes many dreams and

visions of his patients and of those recorded in literature. One of the many symbols for

Christ that Jung discusses is Christ as the rock or cornerstone.4 “The stone is trinus et

unus. It consists of the four elements, with fire representing the spirit concealed in

matter.”5 God is usually considered creator of everything, but in these examples, both

1 Jung, Psychologie und Alchemie. 19.2 Julian of Norwich, A Revelation of Love. 509.3 Ibid4 Cf. Isaiah 28:16, "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation.” Zecheriah 10:4, “From Judah will come the cornerstone.” Ephesians 2: 19-20, “Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” 5 Jung, 346.

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Julian and Jung show how God is matter itself. This reversal of the normal view is

reflected by the reversal of logic in the notion that all matter is contained or symbolized

by a single stone or something “the quantity of a hazelnut.”

A major component of the “God as everything” vision is combination of

opposites. The union of opposites is often worshipped by cultures throughout the world:

“In China, the opposites are yang and yin, odd and even numbers, heaven and earth, etc…

Valentinus: The creator of the world is the mother-father, and in Marcion the Gnostic, the

Primordial Father is hermaphroditic.”6 Jung notes that the first step in alchemical work is

usually “a union of opposites.”7 This theme remains in Julian’s visions:

And thus in our making God almighty is our kindly Father; and God all wisdom is our kindly Mother, with the love and the goodness of the Holy Ghost; which is all one God, one Lord…Thus in our Father, God Almighty, we have our being; and in our Mother of mercy we have our reforming and restoring, in whom our parties are joined and all made perfect man; and by yielding and giving in grace of the Holy Ghost we are fulfilled.8

Julian describes God as being a Father in might and Mother in wisdom. The quote in the

first line of this paper concerning the versatility of Christ’s symbolism comes to mind

since it seems Julian’s vision has taken the trinity and replaced Jesus with a Mother deity.

This exchange is somewhat extraordinary since Julian had to be especially careful to

avoid charges of heresy as a female author in the Middle Ages. How could a 14th century

woman get away with replacing Christ with a mother figure? The trope that Julian seems

to be using is the combination of opposites. She says that we are “joined” with God “and

all made perfect man; and by yielding and giving in grace of the Holy Ghost we are

fulfilled.” Yielding ourselves to the Holy Ghost seems to be a joining of two opposite

6 Ibid, 330-331n.7 Ibid, 231.8 Julian, 519-520.

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things: our bodies (corpus) and the spirit (anima). Also, Julian immediately follows this

passage by commenting on how we are God’s spouse “His loved wife and His fair

maiden, with which wife He is never displeased.”9 This is another joining (coniunctio) of

two opposites. In the following paragraph, Julian describes three attributes of each

member of the godhead; trinities within the trinity.

I beheld the working of all the blessed Trinity, in which beholding I saw and understood these three properties…In our Father almighty we have our keeping and our bliss as our kindly substance, which is to us by our making without beginning; and in the second person, in wit and wisdom, we have our keeping as our sensuality, our restoring and our saving; for He is our Mother, Brother and Savior. And in our good Lord the Holy Ghost we have our rewarding and our yielding for our living and our travail;10

This idea of a trinity within each member of the trinity

was explored earlier by Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th

century anchoress and visionary. She illustrated many

of her visions in a book entitled Scivias. In Trinity,11

the illustration to the left, the light on the outside of the

circle, the fire toward the middle of the circle, and the

sapphire figure in the center represent God the Father,

the Holy Spirit, and Christ, respectively. In the Scivias, Hildegard comments on the

qualities of three parts of creation, a stone, fire, and words, all three being allegorically

charged symbols.

There are three qualities in a stone and three in a flame and three in a word. How? In the stone is cool dampness and solidity to the touch and sparkling fire…Now this cool dampness signifies the Father, Who never withers and Whose power never ends; and this solidity of touch designates

9 Julian, 519.10 Ibid11 Hildegard von Bingen, Trinity. Accessed at http://www.oxfordgirlschoir.co.uk.

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the Son, Who was born of the Virgin and could be touched and known; and the sparkling fire signifies the Holy Spirit, Who enkindles and enlightens the hearts of the faithful…And as these three qualities are in one stone, so the true Trinity is in the true Unity.12

Hildegard goes on to extrapolate further analogies, dividing the fire into light, power, and

heat, and the word into sound, meaning, and breath, all of which represent the Father, Son

and Holy Spirit, respectively. This tradition of associating physical objects with divinity

was a central theme to, if not a main purpose of alchemy. Jung explains that the main

processes in alchemy included:

[the uniting of opposites] followed by the death of the product of the union mortifacatio, calcinatio, putrefactio) and a responding nigredo. From this the washing ablutio, baptisma) eather leads direct to the whitening (albedo), or else the soul (anima) released at the “death” is reunited with the body and brings about its resurrection, or again the “many colors”…lead to the one white color that contains all colors.13

Jung describes this albedo stage as the first desirable goal of the alchemical process,

producing quicksilver or Mercurius. He notes that “when the alchemist speaks of

Mercurius, on the face of it he means quicksilver, but inwardly he means the world-

creating spirit concealed or imprisoned in matter.”14 The “color that contains all colors”

and the “world-creating spirit” obviously represent God. Also, the circularity of being

born, dying and resurrecting is achieved only by divinity, the symbol for which is often a

dragon eating its tail. This dragon image creates a circle, signifying eternality, while its

serpentine body resembles the chthonic, and its wings resemble the air and heavens,

representing divinity as a fusion of opposites. Jung notes that “Mercurius stands at the

beginning and end of the work.”15 This concept is strongly present in the Revelation of

12 Hildegard von Bingen, Scivias. 162-163.13 Jung, 231.14 Ibid, 293.15 Jung, 293

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John: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the

End.”16 The goal of creating a substance that contains these qualities is certainly an

expression of a desire for intimacy and familiarity with the divine.

The concept of a color in which all colors are present is central to both alchemy

visionaries. The meaning behind colors, color changes and fusion of certain colors is

significant in both subjects. Jung notes that, in alchemy, the four stages17 each had a

color associated with them: “melanosis (blackening), leucosis (whitening), xanthosis

(yellowing), and iosis (reddening).”18 As explained above, the first desirable stage in

alchemy was the whitening (albedo, leucosis), which still required reddening (iosis or

rubedo) to become gold. Theoretically, this would result in the desired element: “the red

and the white are King and Queen, who may also celebrate their ‘chymical wedding’ at

this stage.”19

Red and white are often paired not only in alchemy, but in visions such as

Hildegard von Bingen’s Choir of Angels, an illustration of which is below.20 The very

center of the circle is white; that divine color containing all colors. The angels

immediately surrounding God are the red seraphim, symbolizing his love or charity

(xarita)21. Julian of Norwich sees Christ as a sufferer, bleeding profusely, “the

16 Revelation 22:13. See also Revelation 1:8 and 21:6.17 On page 229 in Psychologie und Alchemie, Jung says that alchemy had four main stages (the tetramerein thn filosofi/an – quartering of philosophy) symbolizing the four elements and the four humors. 18 Jung, 229.19 Ibid, 23220 Hildegard von Bingen, Angelic Choirs. Accessed at http://www.oxfordgirlschoir.co.uk.21 Cf. the sixth chapter of Dionysius the Areopagite’s Angelic Hierarchies, in which he discusses the fiery attributes of Seraphim. “The name Seraphim clearly indicates their ceaseless and eternal revolution about Divine Principles, their heat and keenness, the exuberance of their intense, perpetual, tireless activity, and their elevative and energetic assimilation of those below, kindling them and firing them to their own heat, and wholly purifying them by a burning and all- consuming flame.” (accessed through http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/)

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plenteousness [of blood] is like to the drops of water that fall on the eaves after a great

shower of rain that fall so thick that no man may number them with bodily wit.”22 Julian

describes the blood as “full thick; and in the spreading abroad it were bright red.” What

is significant about this vision is that Julian received it on what she thought was her death

bed: “and on the fourth night I took all my rites of Holy Church and wened not to have

lived till day.”23 In the same way that Christ, at

around age thirty, lay in a tomb for three days,

Julian received a sickness at the age of thirty and

“lay three days and three nights.” At the end of

their travails, Christ resurrected himself and Julian

was healed of her sickness. The likening of Julian

to Christ is intentional. Christ suffered,

experiencing the redness of pain and blood before

he rose to the whiteness of the glory of heaven. A reflection of this is Julian’s vision

filled with the redness of Christ’s blood before she ascended from her sickbed, the glory

of heaven being symbolized in her life as an anchoress, praying to and meditating on

God. In this way, both Christ and the post-Christ figure experience redness contiguous to

the whiteness of glory.

The concept of red and white being at the center

of the divine is continued in medieval art. Red or multi-

colored mandorlas surrounding God in his seat of

judgment or glory are common. To the right is a detail

22 Julian, 510.23 Ibid, 508.

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from Francesco di Ser Cenni’s The Virgin of Humility.24 This painting shows God

surrounded by a mandorla composed of Cherubim and Seraphim, traditionally the two

highest angelic orders. Since God symbolizes purity, light, glory and whiteness, this is

another example of pairing red and white to represent the divine.

Hildegard von Bingen’s Scivias further explains how God is a radiance or brilliant

light.

And then I saw a great star, splendid and beautiful, come forth from the One seated on the throne. And with that star came a great multitude of shining sparks, which followed the star toward the South, looking on the One seated on the throne like a stranger; they turned away from Him and stared toward the North instead of contemplating Him. But, in the very act of turning away their gaze, they were all extinguished and were changed into black cinders.25

A few lines previously, Hildegard describes God as “so bright that I could not behold him

clearly.” The sparks that are emitted from God represent creation, particularly humans.

The vision shows what happens to the sparks who turn away from God, losing their

brilliance and becoming black cinders, representing a place where fire has been, but no

longer burns. As is clear from Exodus chapter three where God appears in a burning

bush, the fire of God is not a consuming fire, but one of love. The opposite is true for

those who “turned away” in Hildegard’s vision.26

The symbology associated with darkness and light in the Middle Ages requires

mention of Dante’s Divine Comedies. This work is famous for how it plays with light or

the absence thereof. In the Inferno, Dante laments, “I have come to a place where every

24 Francesco di Ser Cenni, The Virgin of Humility. 1375-80. Currently in the Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Pedralbes. Accessed at http://www.wga.hu/

25 Hildegard, Scivias. 309.26 Cf. Matthew 3:10, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

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light is silenced.”27 Even the light that allows Dante to see his surroundings is constantly

shrouded by mist or darkness. This is exemplified by Dante’s reference to the people he

sees in hell as “those people who are so punished by the black air.”28 Also, Dante does

not have a shadow in hell, as there is no true light to produce one. One of the first things

he notices when he ascends to the base of Mount Purgatory is his shadow, enforcing the

fact that he is made of flesh and bones. Once he has reached heaven, Dante describes

seeing God:

In the profundity of the clear substance of the deep light, appeared to me three circles of three colors and equal circumference; and the first seemed to be reflected by the second, as a rainbow by a rainbow, and the third seemed like a flame breathed equally from both. 29

Here, we see God the Father as a “deep light,” Christ as a reflection of the light,30 and the

Holy Spirit as “like a flame breathed equally from both.”31

The colors and symbols associated with divinity are able to provide insight to

medieval theology, religious practices and influences. Studying the connections between

Graeco-Roman symbolism, early and medieval Christian symbolism and early modern

alchemical treatises aids in an understanding of humanity’s desire to know the

unknowable. Such a study makes clear how humans have endlessly tried to categorize,

label and familiarize God. Perhaps the most mutable figure of western culture, the Christ

symbol, epitomizes the desire for this personalization and customization of the divine.

27 Dante, Inferno. 65.28 Ibid. 66.29 Dante, Paradiso. 498-49930 Cf. the Nicene Creed, which describes Christ as “God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.”31 Cf. Acts 2:2-4, “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” John 20:22, “And with that he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.”

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This is one reason why, to alchemists, symbologists, allegorists or psychologists, it is “of

the greatest importance.”

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Works Cited

Alighierri, Dante, The Divine Comedy. Translated by C. H. Sisson. Oxford

University Press, 1998.

Hildegard von Bingen, Scivias. Accessed through http://books.google.com/books

Julian of Norwich “A Revelation of Love.” The Broadview Anthology of British

Literature, Volume 1: The Medieval Period. Ed. Joseph Black. Broadview Press, 2006.

505-522.

Jung, Carl G. Psychologie und Alchemie. Translated by R.F.C. Hull. Princeton

University Press, 1993.

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