Anima/Animus

In the “conjunction” stage of alchemy, the chemicals combine to create a new substance. Spiritually, this also represents the integration of both positive (socially acceptable) and negative (shadow) personality traits.

The two halves (both dominant and repressed) of one’s personality are expressed in this image as Carl Jung’s “anima/animus,” archetypal qualities of male and female much like the yin/yang principle.

Here they are slightly separated; this shows the psyche in the middle of the conjunction process, on its way to becoming a newer, more wholesome Self.

Redrawn from an anonymous woodcut dissecting the Four Humors.