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Tag Archives: Ancient Greece
The Shattering Power of the Theatre
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
“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
“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
“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
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)
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
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
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
Posted in Psyche
Tagged Ancient Greece, archetypes, death, depth psychology, Dionysus, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Hades, life, Pluto, psukhe, psyche, reality, Soul, symbols, thumos
13 Comments
On Genius (2): Genius in Antiquity
“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story…” Homer, “The Odyssey” Gustave Moreau, “l’Inspiration” I am still making my way through a very beautifully written book by Darrin M. McMahon called Divine Fury: A History of Genius. Its … Continue reading
Posted in Genius, Psyche
Tagged Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, astrology, C.G. Jung, daimon, daimones, daimonion, Darrin M. McMahon, depth psychology, Divine Fury: A History of Genius, Genius, Hesiod, Homer, inner voice, inspiration, muse, Octavian Augustus, Plato, poetry, Republic, Socrates, talent
17 Comments