Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Reality of Radical Evil

Posted on September 27, 2025 by Symbol Reader

“The sight of evil kindles evil in the soul—there is no getting away from this fact. The victim is not the only sufferer; everybody in the vicinity of the crime, including the murderer, suffers with him. Something of the abysmal … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, C.G. Jung, Carl Jung, Chaplin, depth psychology, dragon, evil, grandiosity, Jung, narcissism, psychology, radical evil, Roger L. Moore, Self, symbolism, symbols, The Great Dictator | 10 Comments

Symbolreader on the Black Madonna Speaks Podcast

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Symbol Reader

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Stephanie Georgieff on her podcast The Black Madonna Speaks. We discussed the inspiration behind my blog, Symbolreader, and my pilgrimages to various Black Madonna sites in Switzerland and Spain. Stephanie brings … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Black Madonna, interview, podcast, Stephanie Georgieff, symbolreader, The Black Madonna Speaks | 2 Comments

The Magic of the Mundane

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Symbol Reader

“The person of higher virtue is like water, benefiting the ten thousand things without struggle. It rests in the lowest places near the Tao. Therefore: In dwelling, choose modest quarters, in thinking, value stillness, in dealing with others, be kind, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged book review, book-reviews, Books, fiction, Haruki Murakami, left hemisphere, Murakami, Perfect Days, right hemisphere, rituals, tao, The City and Its Uncertain Walls, The Master and His Emissary, the shadow, Wim Wenders | 2 Comments

Number Three and Its Mysteries

Posted on October 2, 2022 by Symbol Reader

Three is intimately connected with the myth of the goddess and with the three main phases of the moon – waxing, full and waning, corresponding to the three phases of a woman’s life – maiden, mother and hag. Pythia sitting … Continue reading →

Posted in three, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, Aum, Binah, C.G. Jung, Cora, Demeter, Dion Fortune, duality, Ereshkigal, evil, force, form, four, Hekate, Holy Trinity, Inanna, Kabbalah, manifestation, Morrigan, numbers, Pillar of Severity, quaternio, Saturn, symbolism, symbols, The Tree of Life, three, Tridevi, Trimurti, triple goddess, Underworld | 10 Comments

Reading The Red Book (42) – Seven Sermons to the Dead

Posted on May 22, 2022 by Symbol Reader

“… what they rejected will be most valuable to them.” Philemon’s words uttered after the sixth sermon to the dead We have now reached the sixth Sermon to the Dead, which you will find in the third section of The Red … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, C.G. Jung, daimon, depth psychology, Dove, enantiodromia, feminine, goddess, Liber Novus, light of nature, masculine, matter, Mercurius, Paracelsus, psyche, Septem Sermones, Seven Sermons to the Dead, snake, Socrates, Soul, spirit, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book | 3 Comments

Symbolism of Walls

Posted on April 10, 2022 by Symbol Reader

“Our love was born outside the walls, in the wind, in the night, in the earth, and that’s why the clay and the flower, the mud and the roots know your name” Pablo Neruda, “Epithalamium”, translated by Donald D. Walsh … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, civilization, symbolism, symbols, wall, walls | 4 Comments

Durga

Posted on April 5, 2022 by Symbol Reader

I. “Salutations to Thee, O giver of blessings! Dark Virgin, observant of the vow of chastity, Whose form is beauteous as that of the rising sun, And Thy face as that of the full moon; … Thy body is like … Continue reading →

Posted in Durga, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, conch, death, demons, Durga, Durga Puja, eight arms, fortress, Great Goddess, Hindu myth, India, invincible, Kali, Lakshmi, lotus, mace, Mahisha, rebirth, regeneration, Saraswati, seed, sword, symbolism, symbols, Time, trident, universal goddess, War | 7 Comments

Wheat and War

Posted on March 13, 2022 by Symbol Reader

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, еxcept a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”(John 12: 24) Out of the numberless reasons why we are all so … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, death, Demeter, Eleusinian Mysteries, life, sacrifice, symbolism, symbols, Ukraine, Ukrainian flag, War, wheat | 4 Comments

Sisyphus and Stone

Posted on October 3, 2021 by Symbol Reader

Stones symbolize that which is ancient, eternal, impenetrable and unconscious. Unsurprisingly, the first chapter of human history was called the Stone Age. For the ancients stones were infused with the spirit of the gods and ancestors. Stone caves were places … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, Artemis, boulder, fertility, Greek mythology, Jungian psychology, myth, petrus, psyche, rock, Sisyphus, sliding stone, stone, symbolism, symbols, Verena Kast | 13 Comments

Master Arnold Böcklin

Posted on March 13, 2021 by Symbol Reader

Arnold Böcklin (born in 1827) was a Swiss symbolist painter, whose work The Plague (1898) has recently emerged as the emblem of our moment in time. It seems that through his symbolist lens he managed to capture the timeless terror … Continue reading →