Author Archives: Symbol Reader

The Magic of the Mundane

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Symbol Reader

“The person of higher virtue is like water, benefiting the ten thousand things without struggle. It rests in the lowest places near the Tao. Therefore: In dwelling, choose modest quarters, in thinking, value stillness, in dealing with others, be kind, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged book review, book-reviews, Books, fiction, Haruki Murakami, left hemisphere, Murakami, Perfect Days, right hemisphere, rituals, tao, The City and Its Uncertain Walls, The Master and His Emissary, the shadow, Wim Wenders | 2 Comments

The Symbolism of the Dragon

Posted on March 10, 2024 by Symbol Reader

“Dragons are subterranean, winged, smoke- and fire-breathing creatures, hybrid go-betweens in a magical bond between heaven and the underworld, where they guard secret treasures and reign over fires and concealed palaces.” A description found on Dragon Path on Mount Pilatus … Continue reading →

Posted in Dragons | Tagged Agathis Daimon, alchemy, archetypes, Bilbo, C.G. Jung, Cadmus, Campbell, China, depth psychology, dragon, Dragons, drakaina, drakon, drakontes, etymology, fantasy, Gaia, goddess, gold, golden apples, Greek myth, guardian, Hermes, hero, Hesperides, James Hillman, Krakow, Ladon, Mercurius, Mysterium Coniunctionis, mythology, Nagas, Pilatus, ring, river, shadow, Shesha, Smaug, Soul, Stilbon, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, treasure, Typhon, uoroboros, Vishnu, water, Yggdrasil | 10 Comments

The Sibyls

Posted on February 10, 2024 by Symbol Reader

“But she stood … black like an ancient citadel … as the words, which unrestrained now multiplied in her against her will, screamed and flew around her in incessant circles, while those that had returned home set darkly beneath her … Continue reading →

Posted in The Sibyls | Tagged Aeneas, Aeneid, Apollo, archetypes, Black Madonna, black meteor, cave, Christianity, Cumae, Cybele, Delphi, Gaia, goddess, Great Mother, Greece, Hermes, Libyan Sibyl, Loreto, mythology, oracle, Pausanias, Pessinus, poetry, prophecy, Pythia, Sibylline Books, Sibyls, stone, symbolism, symbols, Tarquinius | 7 Comments

Sedna

Posted on January 6, 2024 by Symbol Reader

The Inuit peoples have a profound connection to the Arctic as their ancestral homeland. Across the Arctic, one deity stands out as an all-powerful goddess of the sea and the underworld. Her name is Sedna. The name itself is an … Continue reading →

Posted in Sedna, Sedna | Tagged Adlivun, archetypes, art, Bitternis, christianization, creation myth, Demeter, dismemberment, goddess, handicapped, Inuit myth, Joanna Bator, limbless, mutilation, mythology, Sedna, shaman, Soul, symbolism, symbols, trauma, Underworld, violence | 2 Comments

Antoni Gaudí and His Sagrada Família

Posted on December 17, 2023 by Symbol Reader

Before the 30-year-old Antoni Gaudí designed the Nativity Facade of the Sagrada Família, he underwent a strict twenty-day fast that left him emaciated. The full name of the Basilica is the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family. Its foundation stone … Continue reading →

Posted in Antoni Gaudi | Tagged Antoni Gaudi, archetypes, architecture, Art Nouveau, basilica, Casa Battlo, Catalonia, Catholic art, Catholicism, image, Modernism, nature, organic architecture, Protestant art, Protestantism, sacred art, Sagrada Familia, scripture, symbolism, symbols, temple, word | 10 Comments

Montserrat and Its Holy Grail

Posted on November 23, 2023 by Symbol Reader

Throughout the world, sacred sites intricately weave together historical facts and legendary tales, rendering the task of distinguishing between the two an impossible challenge. Located approximately fifty kilometers from Barcelona, the Montserrat Monastery derives its name from the mountain upon … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Madonna | Tagged archetypes, Barcelona, black, Black Madonna, Cybele, dark, darkness, Great Goddess, Holy Grail, Montserrat, Moreneta, mountain, prophecy, samadhi, Soul, Spain, symbolism, symbols | Leave a comment

Hekate: World Soul, Cosmic Bridge and a Liminal Goddess

Posted on October 21, 2023 by Symbol Reader

“Ever since the ‘Timaeus’ it has been repeatedly stated that the soul is a sphere. As the anima mundi, the soul revolves with the world wheel, whose hub is the Pole. … The anima mundi is really the motor of … Continue reading →

Posted in Hekate | Tagged anima mundi, Apuleius, archetypes, boundaries, C.G. Jung, cave, Chaldean Oracles, cosmic harmony, daimones, dogs, goddess, Greek myth, Hekate, Helios, Hellenistic era, Hesiod, iynx, Karians, keyholder, keys, kourothropos, liminality, limits, magic, Moon, Olympians, Persephone, Plato, Plutarch, Porphyry, Sibyl, sun, sunthemata, symbola, symbolism, symbols, sympathy, Theogony, theurgy, Titans, torches, Underworld, world soul, Zeus | 3 Comments

The Veil of Isis and the Black Madonna: the Mysteries of Nature

Posted on September 9, 2023 by Symbol Reader

I. “The mother is the first world of the child and the last world of the adult. We are all wrapped as her children in the mantle of this great Isis.” Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 9 (Part 1): … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Madonna | Tagged archetypes, Black Madonna, blackness, C.G. Jung, Chaos, darkness, goddess, Goethe, Hadot, hidden, isis, light, lumen naturae, mystery, nature, Nietzsche, Orpheus, Plutarch, Proclus, Prometheus, Sais, sphinx, symbolism, symbols | 7 Comments

The Symbolic Power of Mushrooms

Posted on August 6, 2023 by Symbol Reader

The Symbolic Power of Mushrooms In the collective consciousness since the recent pandemic, two symbols of self-destruction have emerged, both connected to mushrooms. In the HBO series “The Last of Us,” mind-manipulating mushrooms known as ophiocordyceps possess the minds of … Continue reading →

Posted in Mushrooms | Tagged archetypes, atomic bomb, Aztecs, Bhagavad Gita, C.G. Jung, collective intelligence, creation, depth psychology, destruction, entanglement, evil, farming, fungi, good, Krishna, light, LSD, maya, mushroom cloud, Mushrooms, mycelium, ophiocordyceps, Oppenheimer, psilocybin, psyche, psychedelics, rebirth, regeneration, roots, scapegoat, shadow, Sheldrake, slime moulds, soil, Soul, symbolism, symbols, The Last of Us, the unconscious, wood wibe web | 6 Comments

The Eight Mountains

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Symbol Reader

This post is an attempt at a symbolic reconstruction of a movie I have seen recently. After seeing it, I was so deeply moved that I immediately rewatched it and proceeded to jot down hurriedly ten pages of notes and … Continue reading →