Author Archives: Symbol Reader

Reading The Red Book (13)

Posted on November 3, 2019

“In Mark 4.11 Jesus says to his disciples: ‘To you has been given the secret, mysterion, of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables.’” (1) Jung divided The Red Book into two parts: Liber Primus … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged apotheosis, Apuleius, C.G. Jung, Christ, deification, individuation, initiation, isis, Liber Novus, Lion, Mithra, Mithraism, mysteries, opposites, Sol Invictus, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, Underworld | 7 Comments

“One Version of Events” by Wislawa Szymborska

Posted on October 23, 2019

“If we’d been allowed to choose, we’d probably have gone on forever. The bodies that were offered didn’t fit, and wore out horribly. The ways of sating hunger made us sick. We were repelled by blind heredity and the tyranny … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Uncategorized | Tagged poem, poetry, Polish poetry, Wislawa Szymborska | 8 Comments

Reading The Red Book (12)

Posted on October 20, 2019

I. “You may call us symbols for the same reason that you can also call your fellow men symbols, if you wish to. But we are just as real as your fellow men. You invalidate nothing and solve nothing by calling us symbols.” … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged analytical psychology, anima, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Dark goddess, depth psychology, gnosis, Gnostic gospels, Gnosticism, Gospel of the Egyptians, Kali, Liber Novus, Mary Magdalene, Nag Hammadi, Salome, shadow, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, the Self, transformation, unconscious | 1 Comment

Persephone, Lady of the Mysteries

Posted on October 7, 2019

“Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.” William Blake, Proverbs of Hell Is one even allowed to talk about the gods of the underworld? For Rudolf Otto, a twentieth-century theologian, the holy or the numinous … Continue reading →

Posted in Persephone, Uncategorized | Tagged abaton, analytical psychology, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Cancer, Capricorn, Carl Jung, cave, dark moon, Demeter, Demetra George, Dionysos, dismemberment, Eleusinian Mysteries, Eleusis, grain, Greek mythology, mysteries, myth, mythology, Orpheus, Orphism, Persephone, Peter Kingsley, pomegranate, Porphyry, religion, sacred, solstitial gate, sphinx, symbolism, symbols, well, Zeus | 13 Comments

Reading The Red Book (11)

Posted on September 22, 2019

“I am all that has been and is and shall be; and no mortal has ever lifted my veil.” (the words inscribed on the statue of Isis of Sais) The title of Chapter IX of The Red Book (Liber Primus) … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged analytical psychology, anima, archetypes, blindness, C.G. Jung, Carl Jung, dance, dance of the seven veils, Dark goddess, depth psychology, descent, earth mother, Elijah, Eros, goddess, Gustave Moreau, Inanna, Ishtar, logos, Moon, myth, mythology, opposites, Oscar Wilde, pleasure, prophet, Salome, serpent, snake, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, thinking, Underworld, veil | 8 Comments

Reading The Red Book (10)

Posted on September 15, 2019

“The good and the beautiful freeze to the ice of the absolute idea and the bad and hateful become mud puddles full of crazy life.” C.G. Jung, The Red Book (Liber Primus, chapter VIII) Chapter VIII of The Red Book (Liber Primus) … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged analytical psychology, archetypes, C.G. Jung, child, Christ, depth psychology, divine child, God, hell, Jungian psychology, mustard seed, opposites, psyche, seed, Soul, symbols, The Red Book, Underworld | 9 Comments

Beauty and Wonder in Olafur Eliasson’s Art

Posted on September 13, 2019

The Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson is perhaps most known for his stunning The weather project (2003). In a giant hall of the Tate Modern gallery in London, viewers were mesmerized by an installation which consisted of a yellow sun shining through … Continue reading →

Posted in Olafur Eliasson, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, art, environment, myth, mythology, nature, Olafur Eliasson, symbolism, symbols, The weather project | 5 Comments

Reading The Red Book (9)

Posted on September 1, 2019

“In October [1913], while I was alone on a journey, I was suddenly seized by an overpowering vision: I saw a monstrous flood covering all the northern and low-lying lands between the North Sea and the Alps. When it came … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged Age of Aquarius, Age of Pisces, Aion, analytical psychology, archetypes, C.G. Jung, depth psychology, hero, Liber Novus, murder of the hero, rebirth, renewal, Siegfried, solar hero, Sowilo, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, Wagner | 2 Comments

Reading The Red Book (8)

Posted on August 25, 2019

“But how does the mind free itself of its accumulated violence, cultured violence, self-protective violence, the violence of aggression, the violence of competition, the violence of trying to be somebody, the violence of trying to discipline oneself according to a … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged analytical psychology, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Carl Gustav Jung, depth psychology, shadow, Soul, symbolism, symbols, the hero, The Red Book, the sunset, Underworld | 1 Comment

On Silence

Posted on August 20, 2019

I have recently read two magnificent books on the same topic – silence. One was written in 1948 by Max Picard, a Swiss philosopher of art and entitled The World of Silence, the other – called Quest for Silence (published … Continue reading →