Author Archives: Symbol Reader

Michelangelo’s Immortality

Posted on July 29, 2020

“Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like … Continue reading →

Posted in Michelangelo, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, architecture, art, biography, dome, Florentine Pieta, Freud, Mary Magdalene, Michelangelo, Moses, Pan, Rome, sculpture, St Peter's, symbolism, symbols, the unconscious | 9 Comments

Reading The Red Book (22)

Posted on July 19, 2020

We have reached chapter IX of Liber Secundus, entitled “Second Day.” God Izdubar (Gilgamesh) is resigned to dying; Jung, however, is determined not to let him perish. A thought occurs to him, as he watches Izdubar’s suffering: “And this speech … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged amulet, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Carl Gustav Jung, divinity, egg, fantasy, God, gods, imagination, Izdubar, Know thyself, Liber Novus, psyche, religion, science, Soul, symbols, The Red Book | 4 Comments

Symbolism of the Wetlands

Posted on July 5, 2020

“I enter a swamp as a sacred place, a sanctum sanctorum. … My temple is the swamp.” *** “Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious … Continue reading →

Posted in The Marsh | Tagged alligator, ancient Egypt, archetypes, Carl Jung, crocodile, Field of Reeds, goddess, Great Mother, James Hollis, London, marsh, marshes, moor, New Orleans, Nile, Pan, paradise, Paris, Soul, swamp, swamps, symbolism, symbols, Syrinx, Thoreau, unconscious, Venice | 12 Comments

On Removing Racially Charged Images

Posted on June 21, 2020

The white domination – this tectonic plate that underlies the Western culture – is shifting radically, steering for a massive earthquake. I do not feel I possess the right to express my opinion on the subject; I would rather quote … Continue reading →

Posted in racism, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, blackamoor, George Floyd, history, language, Mohrenkopf, Moors, racism, silence, St James, Switzerland, symbolism, symbols, words | 2 Comments

Reading The Red Book (21)

Posted on June 14, 2020

I. “We spread poison and paralysis around us in that we want to educate all the world around us into reason.” II.”The outer opposition is an image of my inner opposition. Once I realize this, I remain silent and think … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged analytical psychology, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Carl Jung, depth psychology, egg, fantasy, Gilgamesh, Izdubar, Liber Novus, psyche, psychology, science, sick god, snake, symbolism, symbols, the black sun, The Red Book | 1 Comment

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 →