The symbolic meanings of four are linked to that of the cross and square. The number four has generally always been used to signify that which is solid, tangible, what could be touched and felt. It's relationship to the cross made it a symbol of wholeness and universality. The lines of the cross, in terms of longitude and latitude dissect the earth into four portions. There are four cardinal points, four winds, for columns of the universe, four phases of the moon, four seasons, four elements, four arms to the cross, and so on. Four symbolizes the earthly the totality of the created and the revealed.

The Fourth Step is the first one we come to where we are actually required to sit down with a pencil and paper and write. It is to bring our old feelings, issues, resentments, wrongs, hurts, attitudes, etc., from the intangible idea of Three into the material manifestation of Four. We bring them from within ourselves onto paper in front of us so that we can see them as being real rather than confused in headspace. What we come up with is indeed symbolic of the created, and is very much revealed. It isn't until this revelation that we can feel the completion and fulfillment of Four. This Step need not have anything to do with moral standards of society and how we live up to it, but getting in touch with a real and tangible way with those intangible things inside us which have caused ourselves and others harm. It isn't until we can view them as facts before us, that we can change them. It is during this step that we can use the tools of meditation, drawing down energy for strength, performing rituals to bring us the necessary courage to go there. (My favorite is to invoke Artemis in her huntress aspect, to bring me courage, and protect me with her strength, and that she and her dogs provide me guidance as we journey through the dark forests of my Soul together.)

Sometimes in dreams four comes in with the significance of a Two, with accentuated dualities which demand attention. More often, it is the expression of wholeness in the act of formation. Four is clear-cut, but has some of the tension of two. It can be seen as divide and conquer, but is often interpreted as "diving and classifying as an aid to understanding and gaining a better grasp of external phenomena." From Three to Four is a big step. Jung says that the step from three to four is painful, because in the psyche it is associated with painful insights into ourselves. We see ourselves in concrete reality, ven in those things we cannot do and in the things we overdo and so on. The necessary process of the becoming of four can go in hand with denial, flight from confrontation, while due to the very fact of confrontation, it can be a powerful step towards wholeness. Four has a duality of its own, and yet as 2+2=4 and 2x2=4.

WOW! One almost has to wonder if the above was written for the Step Four in recovery, because this is what the problem with Four is all about! It is the problem of confronting ourselves that gives us the greatest fear in this Step, and yet we all know that it is that very confrontation which can bring us healing! Yes, it is painful and yes the insights can be painful too. The step from Three to Four is often so painful and frightening, that many would rather go use than take it! I well recall my first Fourth Step. It WAS painful. But I did it because it came to me out of necessity and pain one day shortly around my last relapse, and I knew that to not do it would mean denial. I had to do it, and it was indeed filled with painful insights and I cried throughout. But it also brought me greater healing and discovery than I had imagined possible. It also was a key to liberation for me, because after I confronted my demons with Four, I knew I could do anything else. As such,t freed me to truly become my recovery in a deeper and more meaningful way.