Tag Archives: Ancient Greece

The Underworld in Finnish and Greek Myth

Posted on January 25, 2020 by Symbol Reader

I have been reading The Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert MacFarlane, which is a dazzling exploration of the author’s daring travels into the bowels of the earth. He devotes space to mining, caving, cave painting, Parisian catacombs, glaciers … Continue reading →

Posted in "The Underland" by Robert MacFarlane, Uncategorized | Tagged "The Dead", Acheron, Ancient Greece, archetypes, Cocytus, descent, five rivers of Hell, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Hades, Kalevala, katabasis, Lethe, myth, mythology, Phlegethon, Robert MacFarlane, Styx, symbolism, symbols, The Underland, the underworld, Tuonela | 5 Comments

Symbolism of the Labyrinth

Posted on June 2, 2019 by Symbol Reader

The myth of Minotaur tells the story of greed and tyranny, which led Minos to deny a sacrificial bull to Poseidon. The angry god punished the king by making his wife fall in love with the bull. The fruit of … Continue reading →

Posted in Labyrinth, Uncategorized | Tagged Ancient Greece, archetypes, bull, C.G. Jung, cathedral, Chartres, Crete, depth psychology, double axe, ego, Greek myth, instincts, labrys, Labyrinth, Mary, maze, Minoan civilization, Minotaur, mystic rose, myth, mythology, rose, Self, symbolism, symbols, Taurus, The Red Book, zoe | 13 Comments

The Shattering Power of the Theatre

Posted on June 25, 2016 by Symbol Reader

I. “I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be … Continue reading →

Posted in The Theatre, Uncategorized | Tagged Ancient Greece, art, Birth of Tragedy, Dionysus, dithyramb, drama, Mahabharata, mask, Nietzsche, Peter Brook, Samuel Beckett, symbolism, symbols, theatre, tragedy | 11 Comments

Last Worshippers of Artemis: Cats Walking the Ruins of Ephesus

Posted on November 28, 2015 by Symbol Reader

“But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.” “…when the moon gets up and night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all … Continue reading →

Posted in Cats, Ephesus, Uncategorized | Tagged ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Bast, Bastet, cats, Ephesus, Seven Wonders of the World, symbolism, witch-hunt, witches | 15 Comments

Ariadne Awakens

Posted on November 1, 2015 by Symbol Reader

“Enter the turret of your love, and lie close in the arms of the sea; let in new suns that beat and echo in the mind like sounds risen from sunken cities lost to fear; let in the light that … Continue reading →

Posted in Ariadne | Tagged Ancient Greece, archetypes, Ariadne, art, bull, C.G. Jung, Corona Borealis, depth psychology, Dionysos, Dionysus, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Libera, Minotaur, myth, Naxos, Picasso, Seven Sermons of the Dead, Statue of Liberty, symbolism, symbols, Theseus | 8 Comments

The Fateful Shipwreck of Antikythera

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Symbol Reader

“All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.” Ecclesiastes 1:7 I have had the opportunity recently to see a splendid exhibition that arrived in Basel, … Continue reading →

Posted in The Antikythera | Tagged Ancient Greece, Antikythera, archetypes, art, astrology, Basel, Bronze, collective unconscious, exhibition, fate, marble, mechanism, sculpture, ship, ship symbolism, shipwreck, symbols | 17 Comments

Apollo and the Pythia: the Oracle of Delphi

Posted on September 6, 2015 by Symbol Reader

1.“I count the grains of sand on the beach and measure the sea; I understand the speech of the dumb and hear the voiceless.” The Pythia “Tell the king, the fair-wrought house has fallen. No shelter has Apollo, nor sacred … Continue reading →

Posted in Apollo, The Oracle of Delphi | Tagged Ancient Greece, Apollo, archetypes, Clea, Delphi, Dionysos, Dionysus, divination, ethylene, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, omphalos, oracle of Delphi, Plutarch, pneuma, prophecy, Pythia, Socrates, subterranean gas, symbols, vapors, William Broad | 17 Comments

To Apollo: The Averter of Evil, the Bringer of Harmony (part 1)

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Symbol Reader

1.“I am the eye with which the Universe Beholds itself, and knows it is divine; All harmony of instrument or verse, All prophecy, all medicine, is mine, All light of art or nature; – to my song Victory and praise … Continue reading →

Posted in Apollo | Tagged Ancient Greece, Apollo, archetypes, art, bow, civilization, Daphne, Delos, depth psychology, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Homeric hymn to Apollo, Leto, lyre, muses, music, nymphs, paean, possession, sun god, symbolism, symbols, the Self, Zeus | 21 Comments

Vesta: Devoted Guardian of the Sacred Flame

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Symbol Reader

I.“The chaos of the ancients; the Zoroastrian sacred fire, …; the Hermes-fire; …the lightning of Cybele; the burning torch of Apollo; the flame on the altar of Pan; the inextinguishable fire in the temple on the Acropolis, and in that … Continue reading →

Posted in Hestia, Vesta | Tagged Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, archetypes, earth, flame, goddess, Greek mythology, hearth, Hestia, priestess, Roman mythology, sacred fire, symbolism, symbols, Vesta, Vestal virgin | 39 Comments

Two Different Kinds of Soul

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Symbol Reader

I. “The dual fate of Heracles after death, dwelling simultaneously on high with the gods and below in Hades, reflects the Greek notion that we have two different kinds of soul. Thymos is warm, emotional and red-blooded; while psyche is … Continue reading →