Author Archives: Symbol Reader

Symbolism of Amber

Posted on January 19, 2021 by Symbol Reader

Nicola Tesla once said that though we cannot understand the life of crystals, they are nevertheless living beings. When it comes to amber, this precious gem, which is not even a stone per se, seems to vibrate with more life … Continue reading →

Posted in Amber, Uncategorized | Tagged Amber, ancestors, archetypes, Baltic Sea, electron, gems, healing, Helios, Jurate, legend, mythology, Phaethon, Poland, precious metals, resin, stones, sun, symbolism, symbols, trees | 12 Comments

Reading The Red Book (29)

Posted on January 10, 2021 by Symbol Reader

I. “Your sun will rise from muddy swamps.” II. “The lowest in you is the source of mercy.” III. “But the lowest in you is also the eye of the evil that stares at you and looks at you coldly … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung | Tagged analytical psychology, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Chaos, crucifixion, depth psychology, evil, good, language, Liber Novus, life, madness, Neo-Platonism, Nous, Phanes, psyche, shadow, Soul, symbolism, symbols, system, The Red Book, unconscious, words | 5 Comments

The Nymphs

Posted on December 30, 2020 by Symbol Reader

I. To Nereids “O lovely-faced and pure nymphs,daughters of Nereus, lord of the deep,at the bottom of the seayou frolic and dance,fifty maidens revel in the waves, maidens riding on the backs of Tritons,delighting in animal shapes,bodies nurtured by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Ancient Greece, Apollo, archetypes, beekeeping, Calypso, cave, Cave of the Nymphs, Chariklo, childbirth, Chiron, civilization, Crete, Daphnis, Delphi, Dionysos, divination, Dryads, fertility, Greek mythology, healing, Hera, Hermes, Ida, Ithaca, Maia, marriage, mountain, mythology, Naiades, Nereids, nostos, numpholeptos, nymphs, Oceanids, Odyssey, oracle, Pan, Pleiades, Porphyry, psyche, Soul, symbolism, symbols, Syrinx, water, Zeus | 3 Comments

Reading The Red Book (28)

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Symbol Reader

“I see behind you, behind the mirror of your eyes, the crush of dangerous shadows, the dead, who look greedily through the empty sockets of your eyes, who moan and hope to gather up through you all the loose ends … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung | Tagged Anabaptism, animal, archetypes, Bergson, C.G. Jung, Chaos, Christianity, Cook, Ezechiel, Ezekiel, four, instinct, intuition, intuitive method, Liber Novus, madness, mandala, psyche, psychology, Soul, symbolism, symbols, tetramorph, the dead, The Red Book, the Self, the unconscious, unconscious | 3 Comments

Reading The Red Book (27)

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Symbol Reader

The title of Chapter XIV of Liber Secundus, the second part of The Red Book, is Divine Folly. Jung* finds himself in a library, where he engages in a dialogue with a librarian. He summarizes the atmosphere as “troubling-scholarly ambitions-scholarly … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged analytical psychology, archetypes, beatitudes, blessings, C.G. Jung, Christ, Christianity, depth psychology, Eugen Drewermann, imitation, individuation, Jesus, Liber Novus, librarian, life, Nietzsche, psyche, Soul, symbolism, symbols, The Imitation of Christ, The Red Book, the unconscious | 4 Comments

Women’s Wisdom: Hildegard of Bingen

Posted on November 16, 2020 by Symbol Reader

Hildegard of Bingen, a twelfth-century German Benedictine abbess, was a mystic, a healer and an intellectual, whose achievements are hard to believe if we realize that she lived in the times, when women had very limited opportunities. In the so-called … Continue reading →

Posted in Hildegard of Bingen | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, Blue, canticles, Carl Jung, cosmic tree, egg, Gothic, green, High Middle Ages, Hildegard of Bingen, love, Middle Ages, mysticism, psyche, Soul, symbolism, symbols, universe, viriditas | 14 Comments

Symbolist Art: The Mysteriarch (The One Who Presides over Mysteries)

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Symbol Reader

In volume V of Collected Works (Symbols of Transformation, par. 299) Jung quotes a passage from Goethe’s Faust, in which he hero must descend to the realm of the Mothers: “MEPHISTOPHELES: This lofty mystery I must now unfold.Goddesses throned in … Continue reading →

Posted in Mysteriarch | Tagged archetypes, art, C.G. Jung, Faust, George James Frampton, Goethe, mothers, Mysteriarch, psyche, sculpture, symbolism, symbolist art, symbols, unconscious, Underworld | 8 Comments

Reading The Red Book (26)

Posted on October 25, 2020 by Symbol Reader

“There are not many truths, there are only a few. Their meaning is too deep to grasp other than in symbols.” C. G. Jung, The Red Book, Liber Secundus, chapter XIII Chapter XII of Liber Secundus, the second part of The … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, C.G. Jung, depth psychology, Dionysus, dismemberment, Holy Communion, Liber Novus, liver, mandala, Osiris, Prometheus, psyche, sacrifice, Soul, suffering, The Red Book | 8 Comments

Hamnet and Tutankhamun

Posted on October 13, 2020 by Symbol Reader

Shakespeare’s life is a great mystery but we do know that he had a son, Hamnet, who died at the age 11, possibly from the plague. Four years after his son’s death, Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, maybe his greatest masterpiece. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged afterlife, ancient Egypt, archetypes, art, burial, death, fiction, grave, Hamnet, Howard Carter, literature, Maggie O'Farrell, mask, Osiris, Shakespeare, symbolism, symbols, tomb, truth, Tutankhamun, Tutankhamun's mask | 4 Comments

Reading The Red Book (25)

Posted on September 25, 2020 by Symbol Reader

“I know your shadow and mine, that follows and comes with us, and only waits for the hour of twilight when he will strangle you and me with all the daimons of the night.” “The Red Book,” chapter XII “Hell” … Continue reading →