The Twelve
The whole circle of time.
The Twelve: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Twelve completes the circle of the year and the heavens: three times four. Jung’s Aion is built on the great year of the zodiac, the passage of the spring equinox through the twelve signs, and the alchemist George Ripley divided the work into twelve gates.
The Twelve: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The zodiac, the twelve months, the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles, the labours of Heracles, the twelve hours of the night through which the sun sails in Egyptian texts.
From the Sources
In Revelation's heavenly city the tree of life bears twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.
“…was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
The King James Version of the Bible, Revelation 22:2. Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
Thurston records the reading that twelve, as the product of three and four, betokens the penetration of matter with spirit.
“Twelve is the product of three and four, and it consequently betokens the penetration of matter with spirit.”
Herbert Thurston, Symbolism, Section on the symbolism of church building (the twelve consecration crosses). The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 14; New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912 (New Advent online text). The text, read in full
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
Where to Read
- Aion, CW 9ii
- George Ripley, The Compound of Alchymy (1471)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Numbers
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Twelve.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/twelve.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Trickster: The shape-shifter who breaks every rule. The Trinity: Threeness, process, and the missing fourth. The Twins: The pair who are one, one mortal and one divine. The Two: The first division, and the tension that drives the psyche.