Author Archives: Symbol Reader

The Innocent Weaving of Stories

Posted on May 31, 2020

“To begin with, it is not true that the Gods dwell only in the Heavens, for all things are full of the Gods.” Iamblichus In this current season of Venus retrograde in Gemini I have been feeling a deep desire … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, Arundhati Roy, Borges, collections, forty, Franz Schubert, Iamblichus, Istanbul, Jorge Luis Borges, literature, museums, novels, Orhan Pamuk, Osvaldo Ferrari, quarantine, songs, stories, storytelling, sunthemata, symbolism, symbols, the Museum of Innocence, Venus retrograde | 6 Comments

Reading The Red Book (20)

Posted on May 17, 2020

“Neither good nor evil shall be my masters.” C.G. Jung, “The Red Book” Chapter VII of Liber Secundus, the second part of The Red Book, is called “The Remains of Earlier Temples.” It is preceded by a curious blue mosaic … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged analytical psychology, archetypes, C.G. Jung, depth psychology, Enkidu, Galla Placidia, Gilgamesh, Izdubar, Leo, Liber Novus, mosaic, solar hero, sun, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book | 8 Comments

The Salon de la Rose † Croix

Posted on May 8, 2020

I. “A call to arms for the worship of beauty, the Salon de la Rose + Croix (R + C) was founded in Paris by … Joséphin Péladan. … The Salon aimed to transcend the mudane and material for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Painting, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, art, Jean Moréas, Joséphin Péladan, painting, Salons de la Rose + Croix, symbolism, symbols | 10 Comments

Gilgamesh: He Who Saw the Deep

Posted on May 3, 2020

If you happen to have some time on your hands, I strongly recommend that you take a look at Ancient Masterpiece of World Literature (https://www.edx.org/course/ancient-masterpieces-of-world-literature), a course which Harvard University is currently offering online free of charge. You can also … Continue reading →

Posted in Gilgamesh, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, Carl Gustav Jung, cedar, culture, death, deluge, depth psychology, Divine, Enkidu, epic, flood, Gilgamesh, goddess, human, humbaba, immortality, Inanna, Ishtar, Mesopotamia, myth, mythology, nature, Rilke, Sumer, Sumerian, symbolism, symbols, Underworld, Uruk, Utnapishtim | 12 Comments

“Epidemics and Society” by Frank M. Snowden

Posted on April 19, 2020

We all feel the portentousness of the current moment in history. I was struck recently by a short passage from The Guardian article, which said: “… whenever crisis visits a given community, the fundamental reality of that community is laid … Continue reading →

Posted in Epidemics, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, bacteria, Black Death, bubonic plague, cholera, coronavirus, COVID, disease, epidemic, Epidemics, forty, health, Italy, pandemic, Plague, purification, quarantine, solidarity, symbolism, symbols, Virgin Mary, virus | 13 Comments

Reading The Red Book (19)

Posted on April 11, 2020

I. “… opening The Red Book seems to be opening the mouth of the dead.” James Hillman in James Hillman and Sonu Shamdasani, “Lament of the Dead: Psychology After Jung’s Red Book” II. “We need the coldness of death to … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged "The Dead", analitycal psychology, ancient Egypt, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Carl Jung, death, depth psychology, James Hillman, Liber Novus, opening of the mouth, rebirth, Shonu Shamdasani, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book | 7 Comments

Symbolism of the Door

Posted on March 31, 2020

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” V. Woolf, A Room of One’s Own My favourite master of symbolism, J.E. Cirlot … Continue reading →

Posted in The Door, Uncategorized | Tagged ancient Egypt, archetypes, Bachelard, door, doors, doorway, false door, Poetics of Space, religion, safety, security, shelter, symbolism, symbols, the new, threshold, torii | 7 Comments

Egyptian Pyramids as a Symbol of Rebirth

Posted on March 28, 2020

“Ancient Egypt was an agrarian society, and the Egyptians’ view of the world was determined in part by agricultural life along the Nile. Each year, spring rains in the Ethiopian highlands fed the source of the Nile and eventually raised … Continue reading →

Posted in Osiris, Quotations, Uncategorized | Tagged ancient Egypt, benben, death, Duat, Egyptian mythology, Nefertum, Nut, Osiris, pyramids, rebirth, seed, the Nile, the sun | 7 Comments

Reading The Red Book (18)

Posted on March 22, 2020

“The stars whisper your deepest mysteries to you, and the soft valleys of the earth rescue you in a motherly womb.” C. G. Jung, Liber Novus We have reached chapter V of Liber Secundus, which is the second part of … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, ancient Egypt, anima mundi, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Christianity, darkness, depth psychology, Egyptian mythology, Helios, khepri, Liber Novus, light, paganism, Philosophical Tree, scarab, shadow, sun, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, tree, world soul | 5 Comments

Jung on the Light of the Darkness

Posted on March 20, 2020

The following passage from Jung’s Alchemical Studies (volume 13 of CW, par. 197) struck me today: “They [alchemists, seekers after truth] discover that in the very darkness of nature a light is hidden, a little spark without which the … Continue reading →