Author Archives: Symbol Reader

Thoughts on Harmony on the Equinox

Posted on September 24, 2017 by Symbol Reader

It was incredibly lucky that around the time of the Autumn Equinox I got to make a trip to Emma Kunz Centre, where this nineteenth-century-born Swiss healer and painter lived and worked. Quiet and secluded, it was an ideal place … Continue reading →

Posted in Emma Kunz, Uncategorized | Tagged art, Balance, Emma Kunz, Emma Kunz Centre, harmony, healing, mandala | 18 Comments

“The Guardian Angel” by R.M. Rilke

Posted on August 27, 2017 by Symbol Reader

“You are the bird whose wings came when I wakened in the night and called. Only with my arms I called, because your name is like a chasm, a thousand nights deep. You are the shadows in which I quietly … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Osiris, Master of Silence and Renewal

Posted on August 16, 2017 by Symbol Reader

Three giant statues of Osiris, Isis and Hapi, the Nile god of fertility, have been placed at the entrance to Museum Rietberg in Zurich. They were recovered from the sea bed by Franck Goddio, a French underwater archaeologist, who directed … Continue reading →

Posted in Osiris, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, ancient Egypt, earth, Egypt, Frankc Goddio, inundation, Nile, Osirian mysteries, Osiris, Rietberg Museum, Seth, Thonis-Heracleion | 12 Comments

In Defense of the Primeval Forest

Posted on August 6, 2017 by Symbol Reader

“The edge of the cancer Swells against the hill-we feel a foul breeze-And it sinks back down. The deer winter here A chainsaw growls in the gorge. Ten wet days and the log trucks stop, The trees breathe. Sunday the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bialowieza, Uncategorized | Tagged Bialowieza forest, ecology, EU, European Court, logging, magic, nature, Poland, primeval forest, self-regulation, shamanism | 8 Comments

Redeeming the World by the Mystique of Words: Tibetan Prayer Flags

Posted on June 17, 2017 by Symbol Reader

“The cairns of piled stones that mark the high passes are spiked with poles where prayer flags fly. Who hung them in these lonely defiles we cannot tell. As the wind funnels through the passes, their inscriptions stream in faded tatters. … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations, Uncategorized | Tagged symbolism, symbols, Tibetan prayer flags | 3 Comments

The Sublime Silence of Stonehenge

Posted on June 11, 2017 by Symbol Reader

“Pile of Stone-henge! so proud to hint yet keep Thy secrets, thou that lov’st to stand and hear The Plain resounding to the whirlwind’s sweep, Inmate of lonesome Nature’s endless year.” William Wordsworth’s , “Guilt and sorrow; or incidents upon … Continue reading →

Posted in Stonehenge | Tagged ancient Egypt, blue stones, healing, Heelstone, isis, light, Lugh, Lughnasadh, numinous, Orion, Osiris, pagan, Paul D. Burley, religion, Romanticism, Rudolf Otto, Stonehenge, summer solstice, sun, symbolism, Winter Hexagon | 20 Comments

Let Your Beauty Manifest Itself

Posted on May 20, 2017 by Symbol Reader

I. “Let your beauty manifest itself without talking and calculation. You are silent. It says for you: I am. And comes in meaning thousandfold, comes at long last over everyone.” Reiner Maria Rilke, “Initial,” translated by Edward Snow, in: The … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations, Uncategorized | Tagged chakras, crown chakra, Initial, poetry, Rilke, symbolism | 11 Comments

The Swelling Sound of Beauty Arriving: The Writing of Elena Ferrante

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Symbol Reader

Two girls grow up in an impoverished neighbourhood in Naples. To merely describe them as friends would be an understatement, for they share a ferocious bond. It all started while they were playing with their dolls alongside each other: “We … Continue reading →

Posted in Elena Ferrante, Uncategorized | Tagged book review, Elena Ferrante, literature, My Brilliant Friend | 5 Comments

Greed and Minimalism

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Symbol Reader

“Take greed. Do you know what greed is? It is eating more food than you need, wanting to outshine others at games, wanting to have more property, a bigger car than someone else. Then you say that you must not … Continue reading →

Posted in Minimalism, Uncategorized | Tagged C.G. Jung, consumerism, enantiodromia, greed, Krishnamurti, Minimalism, Minimalists | 15 Comments

Living the Question: the Voynich Manuscript

Posted on April 8, 2017 by Symbol Reader

It is astonishing how ideas often appear in our awareness in curious juxtapositions. While working doggedly and hopelessly on fathoming the mystery of Stonehenge, my mind was sidetracked by an article on The Voynich Manuscript – an enigmatic medieval volume … Continue reading →