Category Archives: Uncategorized

“Blessed is he who leaves” – “Flights” by Olga Tokarczuk

Posted on July 8, 2018 by Symbol Reader

This year’s Man Booker international prize went to a Polish author, Olga Tokarczuk for Flights. It is an absorbing tale, or rather a collection of tales, devoted to the nomad in everyone of us. More than that, a large part … Continue reading →

Posted in Novel review, Uncategorized | Tagged Bieguni, body, book review, Flights, International Man Booker Prize, literature, nomads, Olga Tokarczuk, relics, symbolism, symbols, wanderers | 11 Comments

The Suffering of Perseus and Medusa

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Symbol Reader

“I wasn’t hurt enough when I should have been, Kino admitted to himself. When I should have felt real pain, I stifled it. I didn’t want to take it on, so I avoided facing up to it. Which is why … Continue reading →

Posted in Medusa, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, Cellini, Gorgon, Greek mythology, healing, Jungian psychology, Medusa, Men Without Women, monster, Murakami, myth, patriarchy, Perseus, shadow, suffering, symbolism, symbols, trauma, wound | 2 Comments

On Play

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Symbol Reader

The vision of the world as an unfolding game is a very alluring idea. Once you start viewing all reality through that lens, it is quite hard to step back into ordinary perception. In Hinduism, the concept of Lila, divine … Continue reading →

Posted in Play, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, Brahman, child, consciousness, dice, Eric Berne, gambling, Game, Hinduism, homo ludens, Huizings, Kairos, leela, lila, number seven, Parvati, Play, prakriti, purusha, Shiva, Smoley, symbolism, symbols, transactional analysis | 16 Comments

Native Americans: Stories in Stone

Posted on April 29, 2018 by Symbol Reader

I. “Whenever, in the course of the daily hunt, the red hunter comes upon a scene that is strikingly beautiful or sublime–a black thundercloud with the rainbow’s glowing arch above the mountain; a white waterfall in the heart of a … Continue reading →

Posted in native Americans, Uncategorized | Tagged Carl Jung, Charles Eastman, Crazy Horse, First Nations, genocide, Great Mystery, Great Spirit, Kent Nerburn, Korczak Ziolkowski, native Americans, Osage murders, petroglyphs, rocks, Rushmore, Soul, stones, symbolism, symbols, Wounded Knee | 16 Comments

“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 →