Archetypal Symbols
Carl Jung, the founder of Depth Psychology, helped reconcile the unconscious and conscious halves of his patients’ psyches by studying symbols found through dream analysis and spontaneous artistic expression, thereby enabling people to heal. He proposed that symbols appear when there is a need to express what thought cannot think or what is only divined or felt (Storr, p. 249). Jung said that when we attempt to understand symbols, we are not only confronted with the symbol itself but we are brought up against the wholeness of the symbol-producing individual who is in touch with his unconscious (Jung, p. 92). He explained:

Symbols come from the forgotten depths if they are to express the deepest insights of consciousness and the loftiest intuitions of the spirit, thus amalgamating the uniqueness of the present-day consciousness with the age-old past of humanity (Storr, p. 243).

Jung discovered reoccurring symbols among differing peoples and cultures unaffected by the boundaries of time and space. He called these shared symbols archetypes which are irrepressible, unconscious, pre-existing forms that seem to be part of the inherited structure of the psyche and can manifest themselves spontaneously anywhere, at any time (Storr, 415). Joseph Campbell, world renowned scholar and mythologist, referred to these synchronous symbols as mythic images lying at the depth of the unconscious where man is no longer a distinct individual, but his mind widens out and merges into the mind of mankind, where we are all the same (Campbell, p. 186).

Jung said that symbol sharing is the result of a collective unconscious genetically driving and linking humankind. The collective unconscious is an eternal mental warehouse of universal, archetypal figures dating back to humankind's beginnings. The existence of a collectively shared symbolic system demonstrates that archetypes have an energy, or life, of their own, dynamically working through and with their creators. The intertwining relationship between human and archetypal symbol points to the possibility of a pre-existing, ancestral, genetic "at the dawn of humankind" natural, cosmic intelligence that we call God.

God: A Definition of Terms
For the purpose of this essay, God defined is the unnamable, unknowable, ineffable force that breathes life into all living things. The nature of God is beyond personal or impersonal and exists in spite of definitions, religion, arguments and ownership. God is the pneuma, or breath, that gives unconditionally and exists regardless of recognition or understanding.

The particular age of man or moment in time determines how human beings envision and meet God. Prehistori, nomadic hunter and gatherer tribes were animists and totemists believing spirit or God inhabits all things, particuarlarly animals whose self-sacrifice made them holy teachers that still provide comfort, protection and guidance for many aboriginal peoples. Cave d welling, star gazing, semi-nomads began utilizing hearth and home worshipping the Goddess as symbol for the creative, birth process and life-death-life cycle of the moon and menstruation. Technological changes gave rise to agriculture and sedentary lifestyles altering the face of God from many to one, from woman to man. Today in Western society a Sky or Father God is the source of all while in Eastern and indigenous cultures, God is the vehicle for the source itself.

Joseph Campbell stated that God as Creator lies deepest within the well of our identity and that contemplating his existence is what makes us one with the transcendent, ultimate reality. Like Jung, he believed that if you find the inward thing which you are then you have discovered the "truth." There are as many faces of God as human beings can imagine. There is no one right way to worship or understand our Creator. However, there is one symbol that universally proclaims the absolute reality of a path to God: the spiral.

A Glimpse of the Spiral as a Symbol for the Transcendental Mystery of God
The spiral is the most widely recognized and repeated archetype used to symbolize our inner and outer journey to God and the Self. Spirals symbolically represent a passage into the collective unconscious and then back into the world renewed with a greater psychological understanding of who we are and why we are here. This journey provides what Jung called the transcendental function of the psyche by which we achieve what should be our highest goal: the full realization of the potential of our individual Self (Jung, p. 149).

Spirals symbolize our soul, our essence, remaining the same while experience deepens and elevates our egos, or personalities, simultaneously. The center of a spiral is the center of the Self as it goes through the forward movement of time, yet never loses the essential spirit of its origin. Ascending spirals represent the reconciliation of the old order (unconscious) with some element of new creation (conscious) (Jung, 225). The unfolding of the spiral is the soul incarnate unfolding upon itself time and again throughout our lives.

The spiral image defined for Jung the Gnostic Christian belief of a pleroma which is a void where there is nothing and everything and what exists within it is an eternal process appearing in time as a periodic sequence repeated many times in an irregular pattern (Storr, p. 334). Campbell explained that this eternal process occurring within and without gives rise again to the question of what forces are at work binding us and inspiring the ultimate need of mankind through the ages to point to an omniscient God. The global, collective spiral depicts the truth that as we endeavor to know ourselves, our soul, we come to realize that God, the Creator, is literally, physically within us all.

Spirals Represent the Mythic Hero Quest
Many indigenous cultures use the spiral to show that there is a conscious energy force within all living things. The ancient Celts, for example, used the spiral as their symbol for reaching the soul and thereby, God. Their famous spiraling knotwork derives from their concept of a Great Cosmic Loom that represents the continuity of spirit that never has and never will notexist in some form (Davis, p. 106). The simple and two-dimensional Celtic spirals representing the continuous creation and dissolution of the world are some of the oldest symbols, appearing on Neolithic megaliths and cave entrances (Davis, p. 109). Likewise, during a patient’s dream analysis, Jung discovered a spiral motif relating to the Celtic Holy Grail. The Grail image symbolized the attainment of the neutral, balanced mindset of the middle path necessary for the fulfillment of the spiritual quest for the Self (Jung, p. 225).

The maze or labyrinth is an expounded version of the spiral artist Courtney Davis describes as:

...creating and protecting the still center, allowing entry to its knowledge only in the correct way, through initiation, once all our old ideas and preconceptions have been discarded. The magician (or trickster) directs our path through the labyrinth, and with each step and obstacle that we overcome the scales fall from our eyes and we see anew. For each new step we take is a reawakening to a greater knowledge and an understanding long hidden from our gaze. And though the journey may be hard, he (the magician) takes our hand and leads us to the omphalos at the center, the Cosmic Spiral that links Heaven and Earth (Davis, p. 103).

Labyrinths are a prominent symbol in Celtic Christianity and perhaps the most famous is found on the floor of the Chartes Cathedral. The Chartes labyrinth is traced by slowly walking or crawling its length in a kind of meditative dance. Jung describes walking the maze as a symbolic pilgrimage to the holy land within (Storr, p. 171). This process takes the initiate to the center of the Self where the Christos, the Christ resides.

The Hopi Native Americans use circular and square labyrinths as symbols for Mother Earth and the emergence from her womb upon creation and spiritual awakening. Historian Frank Waters explains the difference between the two:

The square labyrinth is a representation of spiritual rebirth from one world to the succeeding one (Waters, p. 23). The straight, disconnected line running through the center symbolizes an umbilical cord joining the two stages of life: the womb of Mother Earth and humankind after it is born (Waters, p. 24). The circular labyrinth possesses a directly connected central line which symbolizes the Hopi Sun Father who gave life to all things (Waters, p. 24). The lines and passages within these spiral mazes, similar to the Chartes’ labyrinth, form the universal plan of the Creator which man must follow on his Road of Life (Waters, p. 24).

The Hopi subterranean religious dwellings, kivas, physically represent the square labyrinth. These underground rooms can only be entered or exited from a ladder in the kiva ceiling that symbolizes the cosmic umbilical cord. Kivas also have a central hole in the floor representing the Hopi place of becoming, the sipupani. From a Jungian perspective, these underground labyrinths of strange passages, chambers, and unlocked exits recall the old Egyptian representation of the underworld which is a well-known symbol of the unconscious with its unknown possibilities (Storr, p. 209).

Mandalas: The Quest Within
Jung studied the archetypal spiral in mandalas which he described as "magic circles symbolic of the nuclear axiom of the human psyche whose essence we do not know" (Storr, p.213 and p.228). Campbell stated that the creation of a personal mandala is a reflection of inner-values with the center figure representing our aspect of the Self. These symbols assisted Jung in helping his patients complete the individuation process of welding together the different elements of the psyche. He used the mandala for two reasons: to attain a direct experience with the inner center without societal influence, and to restore a lost sense of balance (Storr, p. 213). The circular form of the mandala inherently provides a feeling for its viewers that "life has again found its meaning and order" (Storr, p. 213).

Within mandalas the orientation of the spiral axis symbolizes the permanent collective unconscious where the Self retains its center even through spiritual highs and physical lows (Storr, p. 226). Likewise, there are two opposing yet complementary sides of a mandala that restore a previously existing order and give expression and form to something that is new and unique (Storr, p. 225). Jung explains that the spherical mandala is the ultimate symbol of the completely balanced psyche, including the relationship between man and the whole of Nature (Storr, p. 232). According to Jung modern mandalas do not contain a deity nor any form of submissiveness to a deity whose absence represents a new belief system that recognizes God is within the soul instead of without (Storr, p. 241).

Spirals in Nature: God's Fingerprint
The synchronistic mystery of the archetypal spiral can also be found in the scientific world of reason and logic. Architect Gyorgy Doczi in his novel The Power of Limits: Proportional Harmonies in Nature, Art, and Architecture entered the no-man's land between the borders of science, art, philosophy, and religion in order to study the spiral. By employing mathematics, Doczi demonstrates that the spiral form on a logarithmic scale shows old and new growth stages that overlap because they share the same angles and proportions (Doczi, p. 1). The term he applied to this state is the union of complementary opposites, the Golden Section, A:B= B(A+B), which represents a uniquely reciprocal relationship between two unequal parts of a whole where the small and large parts are directly proportional (Doczi, p. 1). The straight radii and rotating circles within a spiral represent this unequal but harmonious joining of opposites (Doczi, p. 2).

Doczi credits the snake as inspiration for the first spiral pattern(s) (Doczi, p. 26). The snake gods do not die in mythology and their immortality can be translated and symbolized in two ways: as reincarnation (eternal recurrence) and the ultimate transcendence to everlasting, unfailing light (Campbell, p. 294, p. 300). Doczi explains that spirals timelessly exist in our physical body, celestial galaxies, and natural world leading to a generative power running across and through our psyche. He calls this power dinergy. The spiral growth patterns of daisies and sunflowers; cylindrical spirals within sea shells; and the proportional similarities between differing sizes of fish demonstrate the dinergetic process (Doczi, pp. 3-6, pp. 53-64).

The most illuminating examples of the spiral exist in the human body. Within the cochlea, brain, fingertips, and entire nervous system is a dinergetic double structure consisting of peripheral and central component systems united by the brain - the ultimate spiral form (Doczi, p. 27). Even the smallest measure of life, molecular DNA, is a double helix spiral that brings together the reflection of its creator: man himself (Doczi, p. 27).

Joseph Campbell explained that the circular center of the spiral symbolizes home and we are the home and God is the totality we achieve when we leave home (our self) and return. Jung and Campbell taught that the need to make the mythical, spiritual and psychological spiral pilgrimage to God is genetically woven into our psyches. The spiral journey is a death and rebirth process of continual growth and becoming. Layers of connected information fit together in a spiraling psychic web that has no conceivable beginning or end.

If we courageously, heroically choose to become aware of the spiralling spiritual and psychological awakening taking place in our lives at all times, then we will find ourselves face to face with Divinity. The author agrees with Campbell, Jung, Doczi and others who believe that one person’s effort can make a difference. While studying the spirals in this essay, I have been religiously and spiritually infused with awe, vitality and amazement at the connections between humans, animals and the entire natural world. I am still reeling from seeing the spiral pattern in the Milky Way and knowing the spiraling pathways in the brain contain the master plan code for the entire future development of living organisms (Doczi, p. 27).

Spirals in nature, the body, brain and soul reflect our kinship with God. Jung said the spiral shows there is nothing but God -- man is God become concrete (Storr, pp.344-345). The spiral represents the cyclical ebb and flow of God's energy that is always moving the collective mind, body and spirit of humanity toward balance and health. God's existence is witnessed through spiral archetypes in art, dreams, symbols and the synchronous, collective unconscious that bridges the gaps of culture, time, space, and reality.

© Copyright Paula Vaughan
Not to be reprinted without permission.

References

Campbell, Joseph. The Mythic Image. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1974.

Campbell, Joseph. The Power of Myth: The Masks of Eternity. New York: Apostrophe S. Productions, 1988. (Mystic Fire Video in association with Parabola Magazine. Please note that Campbell quotes not directly referenced may be found within this video.)

Davis, Courtney. The Art of Celtia. United Kingdom: Blandford, 1993.

Doczi, Gyorgy. The Power of Limits: Proportional Harmonies in Nature, Art, and Architecture. Boulder and London: Shambhala Publishing, 1981.

Jung, Carl G. editor, additional authors M.L. von Franz, Joseph L. Henderson, Jolande Jacobi, Aniela Jaffe. Man and His Symbols. New York: Doubleday, 1974.

Storr, Anthony. The Essential Jung. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1983.

Waters, Frank. Book of the Hopis. New York: Penguin Books, 1977.

Resources for further study

Spiral as Spiritual Symbol

Psychological Importance of the Hero Quest

Sacred Geometry

Mandalas

The Labyrinth

Spirals, Labyrinth and Mandala Internet Sites
Spirals in Photographs from Wikipedia - amazing!
Spirals: Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Section

Labyrinths
Labyrinth Project
Caerdroia - the journal of mazes and labyrinths

Mandalas
Mandalas
mandalaZone.com
The Medicine Wheel Project
Tibetan Buddhist: Yamantaka Sand Mandala, Oglethorpe University Museum of Art - Mystical Arts of Tibet Exhibit
Tibetan Buddhist Mandalas
Earth Mandalas
Lindy Longhurst- Serpent Mandalas
Hildegard of Bingen
Celtic Mandalas
The Mandala Project
Mandalas in Print
Mandala Links
Exploring the Mandala