"The deepest core of life is poetry and symbol." - Dane Rudhyar
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Author Archives: Symbol Reader
The Lake of Dreams, the Sea of Rains, the Gulf of Dews, the Ocean of Fecundity
“What special affinities appeared to him to exist between the moon and woman? Her antiquity in preceding and surviving successive tellurian generations: her nocturnal predominance: her satellitic dependence: her luminary reflection: her constancy under all her phases, rising and setting … Continue reading
Posted in Quotations
Tagged archetypes, James Joyce, Moon, symbolism, symbols, Ulysses, woman
13 Comments
Vesta: Devoted Guardian of the Sacred Flame
I.“The chaos of the ancients; the Zoroastrian sacred fire, …; the Hermes-fire; …the lightning of Cybele; the burning torch of Apollo; the flame on the altar of Pan; the inextinguishable fire in the temple on the Acropolis, and in that … Continue reading
Posted in Hestia, Vesta
Tagged Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, archetypes, earth, flame, goddess, Greek mythology, hearth, Hestia, priestess, Roman mythology, sacred fire, symbolism, symbols, Vesta, Vestal virgin
39 Comments
Jung on Alchemy (3): Meditation and Imagination
Alchemy speaks a secret language, which, provided there is a basic soul readiness, can be learnt through a slow and arduous process, yet abounding in moments of rapture and revelation. Its method of explanation was best summarized by a Latin … Continue reading
Posted in Alchemy
Tagged alchemy, archetypes, C.G. Jung, depth psychology, hermeneutics, images, imagination, meditation, psychology, Psychology and Alchemy, symbolism, symbols, vessel
28 Comments
Two Different Kinds of Soul
I. “The dual fate of Heracles after death, dwelling simultaneously on high with the gods and below in Hades, reflects the Greek notion that we have two different kinds of soul. Thymos is warm, emotional and red-blooded; while psyche is … Continue reading
Posted in Psyche
Tagged Ancient Greece, archetypes, death, depth psychology, Dionysus, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Hades, life, Pluto, psukhe, psyche, reality, Soul, symbols, thumos
13 Comments
The Flames of Passion in Bellini’s “Norma”
While learning Latin in high school, we were supposed to memorize parts of Julius Ceasar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War. The first sentence has been forever etched in my memory: “Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, … Continue reading
“There is a girl inside” by Lucille Clifton
There is a girl inside. She is randy as a wolf. She will not walk away and leave these bones to an old woman. She is a green tree in a forest of kindling. She is a green girl in … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry
Tagged "There is a girl inside", Lucille Clifton, poem, poetry, spring, Spring Equinox
18 Comments
The Birch and Biopoesis
After his wife’s death, a broken man lives in an isolated forest with his little daughter: “Nothing had been able to call him out of the fog that had enveloped him ever since his wife’s death; he saw everything through … Continue reading
Posted in The Birch Tree
Tagged archetypes, Berkano, birch, Celtic tree calendar, Iwaszkiewicz, literature, runes, symbolism, symbols, trees
16 Comments
Nemesis: the Restorer of Cosmic Order
I. ”Nemesis, winged tilter of scales and lives, Justice-spawned Goddess with steel-blue eyes! Thou bridlest vain men who roil in vain Against Thy harsh adamantine rein. Great hater of hubris and megalomania, Obliterator of black resentment, By Thy trackless, churning, … Continue reading
Posted in Nemesis
Tagged archetypes, Greek myth, Greek mythology, griffin, Helen of Troy, hubris, inferiority complex, justice, Leda, Narcissus, Nemesis, psychology, superiority complex, symbolism, symbols, Zeus
32 Comments
Jung on Alchemy (2): The Mandala
“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own souls. They will practice Indian yoga and all its exercises, observe a strict regimen or diet, learn theosophy by heart, or mechanically repeat mystic texts from the … Continue reading
Posted in Alchemy, The Mandala
Tagged alchemy, archetypes, Buddhism, C.G. Jung, centre, Chaos, circle, depth psychology, four, individuation, jewel, lotus, mandala, order, Padma, quaternity, Soul, symbolism, symbols, womb, Womb World mandala
31 Comments
The Light that Shines in Darkness
The New Age movement has given women more significance and more power of expression than art, science or politics of the last century. It is said to have been originated by Madame Blavatsky, who was a co-founder of the Theosophical … Continue reading
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