Tag Archives: alchemy

Black Madonna: An Icon of Mystery

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Symbol Reader

“There is a grave aura about many of the Black Virgins, an expression of utter solitude so intense that the child on her knees or in the embrace of her left arm seems strangely appended. She sits, solitary, weighted, at … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Madonna | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, black, Black Madonna, blackness, C.G. Jung, chaosorder, Christianity, creation, Dark Feminine, Dark Virgin, depth psychology, earth, enlightenment, feminine, God, goddess, matter, mysticism, nature, nigredo, religion, Soul, symbolism, symbols, transformation, transmutation, Trinity | 10 Comments

Autumn

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Symbol Reader

Whenever autumn is in full colour, I always remember the alchemical dictum “Nature rejoices in nature, nature conquers nature, nature rules over nature.” In volume 13 of Collected Works, Jung explained it in the following way: “This principle is pagan … Continue reading →

Posted in autumn | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, autumn, C.G. Jung, cauda pavonis, citrinitas, evolution, Hillman, individuation, lumen naturae, metamorphosis, nature, plants, psyche, psychology, rubedo, symbolism, symbols, trees | 6 Comments

The House of the Black Madonna

Posted on September 26, 2021 by Symbol Reader

One of the most important Black Madonna shrines in Europe is The Basilica della Santa Casa (Basilica of the Holy House) in Loreto, Italy. Catholics believe that it enshrines the authentic house where Mary lived, where she heard the Annunciation … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Madonna | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, black, Black Madonna, blackness, butterfly, cave, Dark goddess, death, feminine, fire, goddess, hearth, Hestia, kitchen, Loreto, Mary, medlar, Persephone, psyche, rebirth, sacred, Solothurn, Soul, symbolism, symbols, the underworld, tomb, vessel, womb | 10 Comments

Reading The Red Book (36)

Posted on September 12, 2021 by Symbol Reader

“The place of your work should be in the vault.” C.G. Jung, The Red Book, Scrutinies We have now reached Scrutinies – the third part of Jung’s Red Book. As Sonu Shamdasani points out in his introduction to The Red … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, belief, Brimo, C.G. Jung, Dark goddess, dead, depth psychology, ego, gnosis, HAP, Hekate, I, knowledge, Liber Novus, love, phallus, Philemon, pride, psyche, Scrutinies, Self, shadow, solitude, Soul, symbol, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, vanity | 2 Comments

Symbolism of Mountains

Posted on July 31, 2021 by Symbol Reader

In Memories, Dreams, Reflections, C.G. Jung talks about his childhood dream of going to the Swiss mountains. Owing to the fact that he was born in a poor family his dream came true only in late childhood. One day his … Continue reading →

Posted in The Mountains | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Dalai Lama, divinity, goddess, Jungfrau, life, Meru, Mount Everest, mountain, prima materia, psyche, sherpas, Soul, spirit, symbolism, symbols, The Alps, water | 12 Comments

The Power of Wildness in the Times of Dystopia

Posted on February 14, 2021 by Symbol Reader

At least for me, it has been a season for dystopian novels. After finishing Handmaid’s Tale and its sequel The Testaments, I moved on to rereading 1984. When a cruel new law was recently passed in Poland forbidding abortion in … Continue reading →

Posted in violence against women | Tagged 1984, abortion, alchemy, archetypes, blood, C.G. Jung, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, dystopia, Gilead, Handmaid's Tale, lightning, Margaret Atwood, Moon, Orwell, Poland, protests, psyche, red, stories, storytelling, strike, symbolism, symbols, wild, wildness, wolf, women, women's right | 10 Comments

Women’s Wisdom: Hildegard of Bingen

Posted on November 16, 2020 by Symbol Reader

Hildegard of Bingen, a twelfth-century German Benedictine abbess, was a mystic, a healer and an intellectual, whose achievements are hard to believe if we realize that she lived in the times, when women had very limited opportunities. In the so-called … Continue reading →

Posted in Hildegard of Bingen | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, Blue, canticles, Carl Jung, cosmic tree, egg, Gothic, green, High Middle Ages, Hildegard of Bingen, love, Middle Ages, mysticism, psyche, Soul, symbolism, symbols, universe, viriditas | 14 Comments

Lilith

Posted on August 24, 2020 by Symbol Reader

On the ceiling of the Sistine chapel we can see an atypical depiction of the serpent of Paradise. Michelangelo chose to portray the snake as a red-headed woman, undoubtedly Lilith. Why did Michelangelo decide to include Lilith in his biblical … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Adam, Adam Kadmon, alchemy, Aramaic magic texts, archetypes, Black Madonna, Burney relief, C.G. Jung, Dark goddess, depth psychology, desert, Elijah, evil, Genesis, Gnosticism, huluppuh tree, Inanna, Ishtar, Kabbalah, Lamashtu, Lilith, lilitu, Mandaean Gnosis, materia prima, Mesopotamia, myth, nigredo, paradise, patriarchy, red, sephiroth, serpent, Shekhinah, Sumer, symbolism, symbols, Talmud, the Bible, The Dark Goddess, The Red Sea, Tree of Life, whore of Babylon | 15 Comments

Reading The Red Book (18)

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Symbol Reader

“The stars whisper your deepest mysteries to you, and the soft valleys of the earth rescue you in a motherly womb.” C. G. Jung, Liber Novus We have reached chapter V of Liber Secundus, which is the second part of … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, ancient Egypt, anima mundi, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Christianity, darkness, depth psychology, Egyptian mythology, Helios, khepri, Liber Novus, light, paganism, Philosophical Tree, scarab, shadow, sun, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, tree, world soul | 5 Comments

Jung on the Light of the Darkness

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Symbol Reader

The following passage from Jung’s Alchemical Studies (volume 13 of CW, par. 197) struck me today: “They [alchemists, seekers after truth] discover that in the very darkness of nature a light is hidden, a little spark without which the … Continue reading →