Author Archives: Symbol Reader

Orpheus and the Taming of the Wild

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Orpheus, a Roman mosaic I have recently read a fascinating article by Liz Locke, under the title “Orpheus and Orphism: Cosmology and Sacrifice at the Boundary” (Folklore Forum 28:2, 1997). Orpheus is a figure that hides many mysteries. He was … Continue reading →

Posted in Orpheus | Tagged Apollo, creation myth, Dionysos, Dionysus, Eurydice, Greek myth, Liz Locke, Orpheus, orphic creation myth, Orphics, Orphism | 10 Comments

The Secrets of the Odyssey (5): Lotus-Eaters, Auriga and Polyphemus

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Symbol Reader

What makes the Odyssey so fascinating to me is the constant presence of gods and goddesses, who ceaselessly impinge on the human world. In Homeric Moments, Eva Brann, reflects on the qualities of Greek gods: “Living lightly is the god’s … Continue reading →

Posted in The Odyssey | Tagged archetypes, Athene, Auriga, Cyclop, Cyclopes, giant, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Homer, Homer’s Secret Odyssey, Odysseus, Odyssey, Pallas, Polyphemus, Poseidon, symbolism, symbols | 18 Comments

The Gift of Otherness

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Joseph Conrad, a Polish writer who wrote in English and lived in England, summarized beautifully what I also feel to be the role of an artist: “The changing wisdom of successive generations discards ideas, questions facts, demolishes theories. But the … Continue reading →

Posted in Krakow | Tagged Agora, astrology, Buber, dialogue, Kapuscinski, Levinas, maidan, Mars retrograde in Libra, nationalism, otherness, Poland, symbolism, symbols, the Other, tolerance, Ukraine | 31 Comments

White Magic

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“Standing before the mirror of silence with her hands in her hair, Barbara pours into her glass body silver droplets of her voice. And then like a jar she fills with light and glasslike filters stars through herself and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged “White Magic”, Krzysztof Kamil Baczynski, poetry, Polish poetry | 9 Comments

The Secrets of the Odyssey (4): A Tribute to Penelope

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Penelope While Odysseus, cursed by Poseidon, cannot find his way home and lives through a series of fantastical adventures, his wife Penelope is experiencing a deep wound of longing and despair. She is left to run the kingdom of Ithaca … Continue reading →

Posted in The Odyssey | Tagged archetypes, bird, Fates, goddess, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Greek myths, Homer, Homer’s Secret Odyssey, Moirai, Odysseus, Penelope, Pleiades, Rene Guenon, symbolism, symbols, weaver, weaving | 22 Comments

Images of the Zodiac: Contemplating Pisces

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Johfra Bosschart, “Pisces” One of the best novels I have read in my whole life is without any shadow of a doubt Gould’s Book of Fish: A Novel in 12 Fish by Richard Flanagan. Its narrator, William Buelow Gould, is … Continue reading →

Posted in Johfra Bosschart | Tagged Age of Pisces, archetypes, astrology, Dane Rudhyar, divine feminine, Egyptian mythology, fish, goddess, Gould’s Book of Fish: A Novel in 12 Fish, Johfra, myth, mythology, ocean, Osiris, Pisces, redemption, Richard Flanagan, symbolism, symbols, synthesis, water, wholeness, Zodiac | 27 Comments

Famous Paintings: “Anatomy of the Heart” by Enrique Simonet y Lombardo

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“The Spanish painter Enrique Simonet y Lombardo, in the last year of the nineteenth century, … produced an admirable canvas showing the anatomic exploration of a woman’s body. … an old man holds in his hand the heart he has … Continue reading →

Posted in Painting | Tagged Anatomy of the Heart, art, autopsy, Enrique Simonet y Lombardo, heart, painting, symbolism, symbols | 26 Comments

The Secrets of the Odyssey (3): Calypso and Phaecians

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Symbol Reader

According to a well-known saying by Whitehead, all Western philosophy is a footnote to Plato. Philosophy may have begun with Plato but storytelling and literature began with minstrel poets such as Homer. Our cultural womb and cradle is ancient Greece; … Continue reading →

Posted in The Odyssey | Tagged archetypes, Calypso, depth psychology, epic poetry, Eva Brann, Florence and Kenneth Wood, goddess, goddesses, gods, Greek myth, Homer, Homer’s Secret Odyssey, Homeric moments, James Hillman, literature, mythology, Nausicaa, Odyssey, Ogygia, Robert Fitzgerald translation, Scheria, symbols, symptoms | 16 Comments

Dionysus and Pisces

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Symbol Reader

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Healing through Relationships

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Symbol Reader

During one of my walks recently I went along the Planet Trail, learning about the size and properties of the planets. I was happy to discover that the dwarf planet Ceres had her place along the trail, and, what is … Continue reading →