Author Archives: Symbol Reader

Reflections on Narcissism: The Feminine and Masculine Experience of Sexual Love

Posted on April 5, 2019

“I love myself…I love you. I love you…I love myself.” Rumi You have probably seen this image – the illustration to a short story by Kristen Roupenian’s entitled “Cat Person,” which was published in December 2017 in The New Yorker and … Continue reading →

Posted in Kristen Roupenian | Tagged archetypes, C.G. Jung, Cat Person, depth psychology, Echo, Else Voigtländer, extroversion, Freud, Greek mythology, introversion, Kristen Roupenian, lierature, Murray Stein, myth, mythology, narcissism, Narcissus, psyche, self-love, short stories, Soul, symbolism, symbols | 10 Comments

Symbolism of the River

Posted on March 10, 2019

“I do not know much about gods, but I think that the river is a strong brown god,” so begins the third of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. The divinity of rivers has been recognized by all mythologies since the beginning … Continue reading →

Posted in The River | Tagged ancient Egypt, archetypes, banks, Buddhism, C.G. Jung, Christianity, death, Four Rivers of Paradise, Ganga, Hapi, Hinduism, Kumbh Mela, life, myth, mythology, Nile, nirvana, paradise, rebirth, religion, Rene Guenon, river, Shiva, Source, symbolism, symbols, Upanishads, World Axis | 13 Comments

The Musical Hamilton and its Symbolism

Posted on February 24, 2019

“Sometimes the right person tells the right story at the right moment, and through a combination of luck and design, a creative expression gains new force. Spark, tinder, breeze.” Lin Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter, “Hamilton the Revolution” “Revolution is … Continue reading →

Posted in Hamilton (The Musical), Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, astrology, Cancer, Capricorn, diversity, Founding Fathers, gender, Hamilton, hip-hop, history, inclusivity, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Jones, music, musical, Obama, politics, psychology, race, symbolism, symbols, USA | 12 Comments

Moments experienced intensely: photography of Sebastião Salgado

Posted on February 10, 2019

“All my photos correspond to moments that I have experienced intensely.” Sebastião Salgado, “From my Land to the Planet,” Kindle edition The movie Salt of the Earth (2015) directed by Wim Wenders and dedicated to the life and work of … Continue reading →

Posted in Photography, Sebastião Salgado | Tagged archetypes, art, black and white, deforestation, depth psychology, documentary, earth, exhibition, From my Land to the Planet, Genesis, Instituto Terra, movie, photography, planet, Salt of the Earth, Sebastião Salgado, symbolism, symbols, te environment, the Nenets, Wim Wenders | 9 Comments

The Seeds of the Sixties

Posted on February 3, 2019

“His disciples said to him, ‘When will the kingdom come?’ ‘It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Rather, the Father’s kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people … Continue reading →

Posted in The Sixties | Tagged archetypes, astrology, conjunction, depth psychology, Dionysus, Don Draper, Mad Men, myth, mythology, Pluto, Prometheus, psyche, Ram dass, Richard Tarnas, social change, suffrage, symbolism, symbols, the 60s, The Sixties, the unconscious, Tobias Churton, Uranus | 16 Comments

The Tree of Life in the Vision of W. B. Yeats

Posted on January 25, 2019

One of the most beautiful poems ever written is “The Two Trees” by William Butler Yeats. The poet was a favourite of his beloved Maud Gonne, an Irish revolutionary and his muse. The visual richness of the poem is informed … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged archetypes, hermeticism, Maud Gonne, poetry, symbolism, symbols, The Two Trees, Tree of Life, William Butler Yeats | 15 Comments

The Bembine Table of Isis

Posted on December 31, 2018

“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 Bembine Table of Isis, also known as Mensa Isiaca, is … Continue reading →

Posted in The Bembine Table of Isis, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, ancient Egypt, archetypes, Bembina Table, Bembina Tablet, C.G. Jung, Egyptian mythology, esoteric, esotericism, isis, Manly P. Hall, materia prima, Mensa Isiaca, Museo Egizio, neoplatonism, Plato, symbolism, symbols, Turin | 6 Comments

Roma: Movie of the Year

Posted on December 20, 2018

The movie Roma is a beautiful hymn to women. It tells the story of Cleo, an indigenous (Mixtec) woman who works as a maid to an upper-middle-class Mexican family. She is wonderfully portrayed by Yalitza Aparicio, who had never acted … Continue reading →

Posted in Movie Review | Tagged Alfonso Cuaron, anima mundi, archetypes, domestic work, film, goddess, Hestia, housework, humility, James Hillman, Mixtec, movie, Power, review, Roma, servant, service, serving, Soul, symbolism, symbols, water, woman, women | 21 Comments

Symbolism of the Egg

Posted on December 9, 2018

I. “Set the egg before you, the God in his beginning. And behold it. And incubate it with the magical warmth of your gaze.” II. “And I am the egg that surrounds and nurtures the seed of the God in … Continue reading →

Posted in The Egg, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, C.G. Jung, Carl Jung, Cosmic Egg, cosmogony, egg, incubation, myth, mythology, Orphics, Orphims, Phanes, Protogonos, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, World Egg | 19 Comments

The Reality of Dreams in Henry Fuseli’s Art

Posted on December 1, 2018

Henry Fuseli’s paintings fire up the soul. What is special about this eighteenth-century artist is that he never painted from “nature” but rather he chose to cast his eye inwards and look for inspiration in the fiery depths of his … Continue reading →