---
title: "Individuation — Jungian Psychology | 4th Tarot Glossary"
url: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/individuation
description: "The process of psychological growth and self-realization whereby a person becomes the unique, whole individual they are meant to be—the integration of…"
lang: en
---

Back to Glossary (https://4thtarot.com/glossary)

Jungian Psychology

# Individuation

Carl Jung's term for the lifelong psychological process of integrating the conscious and unconscious aspects of the self into a coherent whole. The goal of individuation is not perfection but completeness: the integration of the Shadow, the encounter with the Anima or Animus, the meeting of the Wise Old Man or Woman, and the eventual realization of the Self as the unified center of the psyche. In the 4th Tarot, the 22 Major Arcana cards trace the arc of individuation as a sequential journey from the Fool (0) to the World (XXI). Individuation is understood as cyclical rather than linear: the journey recurs at deeper levels with each pass.

## Appears in These Spreads

### Intentional Adjustment

3 cards

Cessation-Beginning-Continuation
https://4thtarot.com/spreads/stop-start-continue

### Seven Stations of Individuation

7 cards

Seven stages/grounds
https://4thtarot.com/spreads/individuation-stations

### Seven Stages of Alchemy

7 cards

Seven alchemical processes
https://4thtarot.com/spreads/alchemical-transformation

### Sacred Enneagram

9 cards

Ninefold Pattern
https://4thtarot.com/spreads/sacred-enneagram

### Inner Octave

1 card

Musical note/vibration
https://4thtarot.com/spreads/inner-octave

### Contrasexual Bridge

3 cards

Half-female lord (Shiva-Shakti unity)
https://4thtarot.com/spreads/anima-animus

## Related concepts

The World

wholeness

self-realization

becoming whole

integration

personal journey

unique self

psychological maturity

completion

## More in Jungian Psychology

- Abraxas: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/abraxas
- Acceptance of Evil: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/acceptance-of-evil
- Active Imagination: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/active-imagination
- Anima: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/anima
- Animus: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/animus
- Archetype: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/archetype
- Archetypes: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/archetypes
- Collective Unconscious: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/collective-unconscious
- Compensation: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/compensation
- Complex: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/complex
- Confrontation with the Unconscious: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/confrontation-with-the-unconscious
- Coniunctio: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/coniunctio
- Creatura: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/creatura
- Daimon: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/daimon
- Divine Child: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/divine-child
- Ego: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/ego
- Enantiodromia: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/enantiodromia
- Eros: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/eros
- Fantasy: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/fantasy
- Forethinking: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/forethinking
- God-Image: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/god-image
- Hero: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/hero
- Inflation: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/inflation
- Integration: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/integration
- Libido: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/libido
- Logos: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/logos
- Magic: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/magic
- Mandala: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/mandala
- Mater Coelestis: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/mater-coelestis
- Nekyia: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/nekyia
- Persona: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/persona
- Phallos: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/phallos
- Philemon: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/philemon
- Pleroma: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/pleroma
- Projection: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/projection
- Quaternity: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/quaternity
- Rebirth: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/rebirth
- Sacrifice of the Hero: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/sacrifice-of-the-hero
- Salome: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/salome
- Self: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/self
- Shadow: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/shadow
- Spirit of the Depths: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/spirit-of-the-depths
- Supreme Meaning: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/supreme-meaning
- Synchronicity: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/synchronicity
- The Irrational: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/the-irrational
- Transcendent Function: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/transcendent-function
- Tree of Life: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/tree-of-life
- Wise Old Man: https://4thtarot.com/glossary/wise-old-man

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