Tag Archives: C.G. Jung

The Symbolism of the Dragon

Posted on March 10, 2024 by Symbol Reader

“Dragons are subterranean, winged, smoke- and fire-breathing creatures, hybrid go-betweens in a magical bond between heaven and the underworld, where they guard secret treasures and reign over fires and concealed palaces.” A description found on Dragon Path on Mount Pilatus … Continue reading →

Posted in Dragons | Tagged Agathis Daimon, alchemy, archetypes, Bilbo, C.G. Jung, Cadmus, Campbell, China, depth psychology, dragon, Dragons, drakaina, drakon, drakontes, etymology, fantasy, Gaia, goddess, gold, golden apples, Greek myth, guardian, Hermes, hero, Hesperides, James Hillman, Krakow, Ladon, Mercurius, Mysterium Coniunctionis, mythology, Nagas, Pilatus, ring, river, shadow, Shesha, Smaug, Soul, Stilbon, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, treasure, Typhon, uoroboros, Vishnu, water, Yggdrasil | 10 Comments

Hekate: World Soul, Cosmic Bridge and a Liminal Goddess

Posted on October 21, 2023 by Symbol Reader

“Ever since the ‘Timaeus’ it has been repeatedly stated that the soul is a sphere. As the anima mundi, the soul revolves with the world wheel, whose hub is the Pole. … The anima mundi is really the motor of … Continue reading →

Posted in Hekate | Tagged anima mundi, Apuleius, archetypes, boundaries, C.G. Jung, cave, Chaldean Oracles, cosmic harmony, daimones, dogs, goddess, Greek myth, Hekate, Helios, Hellenistic era, Hesiod, iynx, Karians, keyholder, keys, kourothropos, liminality, limits, magic, Moon, Olympians, Persephone, Plato, Plutarch, Porphyry, Sibyl, sun, sunthemata, symbola, symbolism, symbols, sympathy, Theogony, theurgy, Titans, torches, Underworld, world soul, Zeus | 3 Comments

The Veil of Isis and the Black Madonna: the Mysteries of Nature

Posted on September 9, 2023 by Symbol Reader

I. “The mother is the first world of the child and the last world of the adult. We are all wrapped as her children in the mantle of this great Isis.” Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 9 (Part 1): … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Madonna | Tagged archetypes, Black Madonna, blackness, C.G. Jung, Chaos, darkness, goddess, Goethe, Hadot, hidden, isis, light, lumen naturae, mystery, nature, Nietzsche, Orpheus, Plutarch, Proclus, Prometheus, Sais, sphinx, symbolism, symbols | 7 Comments

The Symbolic Power of Mushrooms

Posted on August 6, 2023 by Symbol Reader

The Symbolic Power of Mushrooms In the collective consciousness since the recent pandemic, two symbols of self-destruction have emerged, both connected to mushrooms. In the HBO series “The Last of Us,” mind-manipulating mushrooms known as ophiocordyceps possess the minds of … Continue reading →

Posted in Mushrooms | Tagged archetypes, atomic bomb, Aztecs, Bhagavad Gita, C.G. Jung, collective intelligence, creation, depth psychology, destruction, entanglement, evil, farming, fungi, good, Krishna, light, LSD, maya, mushroom cloud, Mushrooms, mycelium, ophiocordyceps, Oppenheimer, psilocybin, psyche, psychedelics, rebirth, regeneration, roots, scapegoat, shadow, Sheldrake, slime moulds, soil, Soul, symbolism, symbols, The Last of Us, the unconscious, wood wibe web | 6 Comments

Christiana Morgan: Her Invisible Life

Posted on April 10, 2023 by Symbol Reader

This is a beautifully written biography of an extraordinary woman, who, as the author puts it, “remains at most a footnote in other people’s history.” She was a prominent patient of Jung’s, who used her paintings and visions as material … Continue reading →

Posted in Christiana Morgan | Tagged anima, archetypes, biography, C.G. Jung, Christiana Morgan, Claire Douglas, depth psychology, earth, Eleusis, Henry Murray, Kafka, muse, psychology, Stach, symbolism, symbols, TAT, veil, visions | 6 Comments

Prague: A Threshold

Posted on March 12, 2023 by Symbol Reader

You may have heard of two magical triangles, one of black, the other of white magic. The origins of that legend are impossible to fathom. The white magic triangle is said to include Lyon, Prague and Turin, while the black … Continue reading →

Posted in Prague | Tagged alchemy, Alphonse Mucha, archetypes, art, Art Nouveau, astrology, Black Madonna, C.G. Jung, Cancer, city, Don Giovanni, Edward Kelley, goddess, Il Commendatore, Jaroslaw Rona, John Dee, Kafka, Kepler, literature, magic, magic triangle, Mother, mystery, Prague, Rudolf II, Secession, Soul, symbolism, symbols, Tycho Brahe | 7 Comments

His Dark Materials

Posted on February 5, 2023 by Symbol Reader

Philip Pullman finished his trilogy of fantasy novels His Dark Materials in 2000. But I feel his epic has a lot to say about the symbolic portents of our times and the near future. I tremendously enjoyed the HBO/BBC adaptation … Continue reading →

Posted in His Dark Materials | Tagged Age of Aquarius, air, alchemy, alethiometer, archetypes, C.G. Jung, consciousness, creativity, daemon, daimon, Dust, freedom, Gnosticism, His Dark Materials, Milton, orthodoxy, Paradise Lost, Philip Pullman, psyche, religion, Soul, symbolism, symbolreader, symbols | 10 Comments

Symbolism of the Cave

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Symbol Reader

A well-known passage from Plato’s Republic describes how a group of people, chained to the wall of a deep cavern, spend their entire lives looking at the shadows dancing on the cave wall in front of them. The captives are oblivious to … Continue reading →

Posted in cave | Tagged archetypes, C.G. Jung, cave, Cave of the Nymphs, death, Egypt, gnas, goddess, Hermes, incarnation, Plato, Porphyry, Power, rebirth, Soul, symbolism, symbols, tomb, transcendence, transformation, womb | 7 Comments

Reading The Red Book (45)

Posted on December 28, 2022 by Symbol Reader

“The one God, to whom worship is due, is in the middle.” C.G. Jung, Black Book 5 “I knew how frightfully inadequate this undertaking was, but despite much work and many distractions I remained true to it, even if another … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung | Tagged Abraxas, Appendices, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Chnoumis, daimon, depth psychology, Elijah, Epillogue, Eros, individuation, inner child, Liber Novus, logos, opposites, Salome, Seven Sermons to the Dead, Soul, symbolism, symbols, Systema munditotius, The Red Book | 6 Comments

Number Three and Its Mysteries

Posted on October 2, 2022 by Symbol Reader

Three is intimately connected with the myth of the goddess and with the three main phases of the moon – waxing, full and waning, corresponding to the three phases of a woman’s life – maiden, mother and hag. Pythia sitting … Continue reading →