Author Archives: Symbol Reader

“Stone” by Charles Simic

Posted on March 18, 2018

“Go inside a stone That would be my way. Let somebody else become a dove Or gnash with a tiger’s tooth. I am happy to be a stone. From the outside the stone is a riddle: No one knows how … Continue reading →

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Jung on Alchemy (8): the Coniunctio – part 2 – the White Stone

Posted on February 17, 2018

“When God, disgusted with man, Turned towards heaven. And man, disgusted with God, Turned towards Eve, Things looked like falling apart.   But Crow        Crow Crow nailed them together, Nailing Heaven and earth together—   So man cried, but with … Continue reading →

Posted in Alchemy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Land Art by Andy Goldsworthy

Posted on January 31, 2018

“I believe in the practice and philosophy of what we have agreed to call magic, in what I must call the evocation of spirits, though I do not know what they are, in the power of creating magical illusions, in … Continue reading →

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The Black Madonna

Posted on January 7, 2018

A striking poster advertises an exhibition dedicated to the history of 1000 years of pilgrimage to Einsiedeln Abbey, the seat of the Black Madonna. We see her red robe and the crown but the statue is not there. A veil … Continue reading →

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“The Message of Mr Cogito” by Zbigniew Herbert

Posted on January 2, 2018

“Go where those others went to the dark boundary for the golden fleece of nothingness your last prize go upright among those who are on their knees among those with their backs turned and those toppled in the dust you … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Winter Solstice

Posted on December 20, 2017

“We begin at the southern gate, crowned with the majesty of Christmas. There the Sun enters upon its northward journey — a journey which has been described by seers and poets in beautiful symbolism, for it brings to men, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Fernando Pessoa – Weaver of the Soul

Posted on December 10, 2017

“Weavers of despair, let us weave only shrouds – white shrouds for the dreams we never dreamed, black shrouds for the days when we die, grey shrouds for the gestures we only dreamed of, imperial purple shrouds for our futile … Continue reading →

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Jung on Alchemy (7): The Coniunctio – part 1 – The Mercurial Fountain

Posted on November 26, 2017

“And just as the cosmos is not a dissolving mass of particles, but rests in the unity of God’s embrace, man must not dissolve into a whirl of warring possibilities and tendencies imposed on him by the unconscious, but must … Continue reading →

Posted in Alchemy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

“Alchemy” by Gillian Clarke

Posted on October 31, 2017

“All night the moon stares at the stream strumming its way over stones, stopping it dead in its dream; gazes at the field’s ghost where all the white night long no mouse, fox, hare has passed.   Moon, witch, goddess, … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Two Symbols of the Jewish Warsaw: the Wall and the Palm Tree

Posted on October 26, 2017

I. THE WALL  “In Rome on the Campo dei Fiori baskets of olives and lemons, cobbles spattered with wine and the wreckage of flowers. Vendors cover the trestles with rose-pink fish; armfuls of dark grapes heaped on peach-down.   On … Continue reading →

Posted in The Jews, Uncategorized, Warsaw | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments