Triple deity

Shiva (left), Vishnu (center), Bhrama (right) are referred as Trimurti, the central deities of Hinduism.

A triple deity is a deity with three apparent forms that function as a singular whole. Such deities may sometimes be referred to as threefold, tripled, triplicate, tripartite, triune, triadic, or as a trinity. The number three has a long history of mythical associations and triple deities are common throughout world mythology. Carl Jung considered the arrangement of deities into triplets an archetype in the history of religion.^[1]^[2]^[3]

In classical religious iconography or mythological art,^[4] three separate beings may represent either a triad who typically appear as a group (the Greek Moirai, Charites, and Erinyes; the Norse Norns; or the Irish Morrígan) or a single deity notable for having three aspects (Greek Hecate, Roman Diana).^[5]

^ Bentley Lamborn, Amy (2011). "Revisiting Jung's "A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity": Some Implications for Psychoanalysis and Religion". Journal of Religion and Health. 50 (1): 108–119. doi:10.1007/s10943-010-9417-9. ISSN 0022-4197. JSTOR 41349770. PMID 21042858. S2CID 21332730.
^ Stein, Murray (1990). Moore, Robert L.; Meckel, Daniel (eds.). Jung and Christianity in dialogue: Faith, feminism, and hermeneutics. New York: Paulist Press. ISBN 9780809131877.
^ "Triads of gods appear very early, at the primitive level. The archaic triads in the religions of antiquity and of the East are too numerous to be mentioned here. Arrangement in triads is an archetype in the history of religion, which in all probability formed the basis of the Christian Trinity." C. G. Jung. A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity.
^ For a summary of the analogous problem of representing the trinity in Christian art, see Clara Erskine Clement's dated but useful Handbook of Legendary and Mythological Art (Boston, 1900), p. 12.
^ Virgil addresses Hecate as tergemina Hecate, tria virginis, ora Dianae (Aeneid, 4.511).

[lamborn-1] Bentley Lamborn, Amy (2011). "Revisiting Jung's "A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity": Some Implications for Psychoanalysis and Religion". Journal of Religion and Health. 50 (1): 108–119. doi:10.1007/s10943-010-9417-9. ISSN 0022-4197. JSTOR 41349770. PMID 21042858. S2CID 21332730.

[Stein-2] Stein, Murray (1990). Moore, Robert L.; Meckel, Daniel (eds.). Jung and Christianity in dialogue: Faith, feminism, and hermeneutics. New York: Paulist Press. ISBN 9780809131877.

[3] "Triads of gods appear very early, at the primitive level. The archaic triads in the religions of antiquity and of the East are too numerous to be mentioned here. Arrangement in triads is an archetype in the history of religion, which in all probability formed the basis of the Christian Trinity." C. G. Jung. A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity.

[4] For a summary of the analogous problem of representing the trinity in Christian art, see Clara Erskine Clement's dated but useful Handbook of Legendary and Mythological Art (Boston, 1900), p. 12.

[ReferenceA-5] Virgil addresses Hecate as tergemina Hecate, tria virginis, ora Dianae (Aeneid, 4.511).

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