Category Archives: Uncategorized

On Removing Racially Charged Images

Posted on June 21, 2020 by Symbol Reader

The white domination – this tectonic plate that underlies the Western culture – is shifting radically, steering for a massive earthquake. I do not feel I possess the right to express my opinion on the subject; I would rather quote … Continue reading →

Posted in racism, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, blackamoor, George Floyd, history, language, Mohrenkopf, Moors, racism, silence, St James, Switzerland, symbolism, symbols, words | 2 Comments

Reading The Red Book (21)

Posted on June 14, 2020 by Symbol Reader

I. “We spread poison and paralysis around us in that we want to educate all the world around us into reason.” II.”The outer opposition is an image of my inner opposition. Once I realize this, I remain silent and think … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged analytical psychology, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Carl Jung, depth psychology, egg, fantasy, Gilgamesh, Izdubar, Liber Novus, psyche, psychology, science, sick god, snake, symbolism, symbols, the black sun, The Red Book | 1 Comment

The Innocent Weaving of Stories

Posted on May 31, 2020 by Symbol Reader

“To begin with, it is not true that the Gods dwell only in the Heavens, for all things are full of the Gods.” Iamblichus In this current season of Venus retrograde in Gemini I have been feeling a deep desire … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, Arundhati Roy, Borges, collections, forty, Franz Schubert, Iamblichus, Istanbul, Jorge Luis Borges, literature, museums, novels, Orhan Pamuk, Osvaldo Ferrari, quarantine, songs, stories, storytelling, sunthemata, symbolism, symbols, the Museum of Innocence, Venus retrograde | 6 Comments

Reading The Red Book (20)

Posted on May 17, 2020 by Symbol Reader

“Neither good nor evil shall be my masters.” C.G. Jung, “The Red Book” Chapter VII of Liber Secundus, the second part of The Red Book, is called “The Remains of Earlier Temples.” It is preceded by a curious blue mosaic … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged analytical psychology, archetypes, C.G. Jung, depth psychology, Enkidu, Galla Placidia, Gilgamesh, Izdubar, Leo, Liber Novus, mosaic, solar hero, sun, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book | 8 Comments

The Salon de la Rose † Croix

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Symbol Reader

I. “A call to arms for the worship of beauty, the Salon de la Rose + Croix (R + C) was founded in Paris by … Joséphin Péladan. … The Salon aimed to transcend the mudane and material for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Painting, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, art, Jean Moréas, Joséphin Péladan, painting, Salons de la Rose + Croix, symbolism, symbols | 10 Comments

Gilgamesh: He Who Saw the Deep

Posted on May 3, 2020 by Symbol Reader

If you happen to have some time on your hands, I strongly recommend that you take a look at Ancient Masterpiece of World Literature (https://www.edx.org/course/ancient-masterpieces-of-world-literature), a course which Harvard University is currently offering online free of charge. You can also … Continue reading →

Posted in Gilgamesh, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, Carl Gustav Jung, cedar, culture, death, deluge, depth psychology, Divine, Enkidu, epic, flood, Gilgamesh, goddess, human, humbaba, immortality, Inanna, Ishtar, Mesopotamia, myth, mythology, nature, Rilke, Sumer, Sumerian, symbolism, symbols, Underworld, Uruk, Utnapishtim | 12 Comments

“Epidemics and Society” by Frank M. Snowden

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Symbol Reader

We all feel the portentousness of the current moment in history. I was struck recently by a short passage from The Guardian article, which said: “… whenever crisis visits a given community, the fundamental reality of that community is laid … Continue reading →

Posted in Epidemics, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, bacteria, Black Death, bubonic plague, cholera, coronavirus, COVID, disease, epidemic, Epidemics, forty, health, Italy, pandemic, Plague, purification, quarantine, solidarity, symbolism, symbols, Virgin Mary, virus | 14 Comments

Reading The Red Book (19)

Posted on April 11, 2020 by Symbol Reader

I. “… opening The Red Book seems to be opening the mouth of the dead.” James Hillman in James Hillman and Sonu Shamdasani, “Lament of the Dead: Psychology After Jung’s Red Book” II. “We need the coldness of death to … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged "The Dead", analitycal psychology, ancient Egypt, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Carl Jung, death, depth psychology, James Hillman, Liber Novus, opening of the mouth, rebirth, Shonu Shamdasani, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book | 7 Comments

Symbolism of the Door

Posted on March 31, 2020 by Symbol Reader

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” V. Woolf, A Room of One’s Own My favourite master of symbolism, J.E. Cirlot … Continue reading →

Posted in The Door, Uncategorized | Tagged ancient Egypt, archetypes, Bachelard, door, doors, doorway, false door, Poetics of Space, religion, safety, security, shelter, symbolism, symbols, the new, threshold, torii | 7 Comments

Egyptian Pyramids as a Symbol of Rebirth

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Symbol Reader

“Ancient Egypt was an agrarian society, and the Egyptians’ view of the world was determined in part by agricultural life along the Nile. Each year, spring rains in the Ethiopian highlands fed the source of the Nile and eventually raised … Continue reading →