Author Archives: Symbol Reader

“Stone” by Charles Simic

Posted on March 18, 2018 by Symbol Reader

“Go inside a stone That would be my way. Let somebody else become a dove Or gnash with a tiger’s tooth. I am happy to be a stone. From the outside the stone is a riddle: No one knows how … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Jung on Alchemy (8): the Coniunctio – part 2 – the White Stone

Posted on February 17, 2018 by Symbol Reader

“When God, disgusted with man, Turned towards heaven. And man, disgusted with God, Turned towards Eve, Things looked like falling apart. But Crow Crow Crow nailed them together, Nailing Heaven and earth together— So man cried, but with … Continue reading →

Posted in Alchemy, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, C.G. Jung, coniunctio, feminine, luna, masculine, Psychology of Transference, Rosarium Philosophorum, Sol, Soul, Sylvia Plath, unconscious, white stone | 8 Comments

Land Art by Andy Goldsworthy

Posted on January 31, 2018 by Symbol Reader

“I believe in the practice and philosophy of what we have agreed to call magic, in what I must call the evocation of spirits, though I do not know what they are, in the power of creating magical illusions, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Andy Goldsworthy, Uncategorized | Tagged Andy Goldsworthy, archetypes, art, documentary, earth art, land art, Leaning Into the Wind, nature, stone, symbolism, symbols | 16 Comments

The Black Madonna

Posted on January 7, 2018 by Symbol Reader

A striking poster advertises an exhibition dedicated to the history of 1000 years of pilgrimage to Einsiedeln Abbey, the seat of the Black Madonna. We see her red robe and the crown but the statue is not there. A veil … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Madonna, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, Black Madonna, Czestochowa, Dark Forest, Dark goddess, divine feminine, Einsiedeln, Loreto, symbolism, symbols | 9 Comments

“The Message of Mr Cogito” by Zbigniew Herbert

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Symbol Reader

“Go where those others went to the dark boundary for the golden fleece of nothingness your last prize go upright among those who are on their knees among those with their backs turned and those toppled in the dust you … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Uncategorized | Tagged Message of Mr Cogito, poetry, Zbigniew Herbert | 7 Comments

Winter Solstice

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Symbol Reader

“We begin at the southern gate, crowned with the majesty of Christmas. There the Sun enters upon its northward journey — a journey which has been described by seers and poets in beautiful symbolism, for it brings to men, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations, Uncategorized | Tagged Dane Rudhyar, light, rebirth, sun, winter solstice | 5 Comments

Fernando Pessoa – Weaver of the Soul

Posted on December 10, 2017 by Symbol Reader

“Weavers of despair, let us weave only shrouds – white shrouds for the dreams we never dreamed, black shrouds for the days when we die, grey shrouds for the gestures we only dreamed of, imperial purple shrouds for our futile … Continue reading →

Posted in Fernando Pessoa, Uncategorized | Tagged Book of Disquietude, confession, diary, Fernando Pessoa, heteronyms, literature, poetry, Soul | 18 Comments

Jung on Alchemy (7): The Coniunctio – part 1 – The Mercurial Fountain

Posted on November 26, 2017 by Symbol Reader

“And just as the cosmos is not a dissolving mass of particles, but rests in the unity of God’s embrace, man must not dissolve into a whirl of warring possibilities and tendencies imposed on him by the unconscious, but must … Continue reading →

Posted in Alchemy | Tagged alchemy, C.G. Jung, coniunctio, depth psychology, Mercurial Fountain, Mercurius, Psychology of Transference, Rosarium Philosophorum, Soul, spirit, symbolism, symbols, The Fountain of Mercurius | 9 Comments

“Alchemy” by Gillian Clarke

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Symbol Reader

“All night the moon stares at the stream strumming its way over stones, stopping it dead in its dream; gazes at the field’s ghost where all the white night long no mouse, fox, hare has passed. Moon, witch, goddess, … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, Gllian Clarke, Moon, poetry | 14 Comments

Two Symbols of the Jewish Warsaw: the Wall and the Palm Tree

Posted on October 26, 2017 by Symbol Reader

I. THE WALL “In Rome on the Campo dei Fiori baskets of olives and lemons, cobbles spattered with wine and the wreckage of flowers. Vendors cover the trestles with rose-pink fish; armfuls of dark grapes heaped on peach-down. On … Continue reading →