The Coniunctio is a medieval, alchemical concept regarding the union of opposites, king and queen, male and female, to create a complete, whole entity. The historian Mircea Eliade and psychologist Carl Jung were both aware of the religious, symbolic and archetypal significance of this concept with respect to the union of ego and soul within the individual.

The urge to individuatioin, the process of becoming a whole and harmonious individual as expressed in depth psychology, requires that one undertake a dangerous – and glorious – journey to elevated consciousness, where one can simultaneously experience and accept the opposites in one’s life – good and bad, light and dark, male and female. The highest measure of an individual’s worth is the ability to carry the opposites, so that one will not damage the psyche but will carry one’s own shadow.