Tag Archives: Carl Gustav Jung

Reading The Red Book (4)

Posted on July 14, 2019 by Symbol Reader

“Look into your depths, pray to your depths, waken the dead.” C.G. Jung, “The Red Book” The chapter entitled On the Service of the Soul contains a dire warning: soul work is not a light endeavor. Jung describes his fear … Continue reading →

Reading The Red Book (2)

Posted on June 30, 2019 by Symbol Reader

Chapter 1 of The Red Book bears the title Refinding the Soul. “I have shaken the dust of all the lands from my feet, and I have come to you, I am with you,” says Jung, addressing his soul. He … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged analytical psychology, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Carl Gustav Jung, depth psychology, images, Liber Novus, Soul, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book | 14 Comments

Dark Matter

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Symbol Reader

“You’re sitting here with us, but you’re also out walking in a field at dawn. You are yourself the animal we hunt when you come with us on the hunt. You’re in your body like a plant is solid in … Continue reading →

Posted in Dark Matter | Tagged Carl Gustav Jung, Dark Matter, Rumi, the unconscious | 16 Comments

Chaos, Harmony and the Birth of Alphabet

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Symbol Reader

One of the most beautiful Greek myths, which fascinated Carl Gustav Jung because of its alchemical underpinnings, is the story of Cadmus and Harmony. It is beautifully retold in The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso, who begins … Continue reading →

Posted in Cadmus, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, alphabet, Cadmus, Carl Gustav Jung, Dionysos, Greek myth, Greek mythology, harmony, Mercurius, Phoenicians, Roberto Calasso, snake, Thebes, trickster, Typhon | 11 Comments

Struggle for Love in a Dream

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Symbol Reader

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Poliphilo’s Strife of Love in a Dream or Poliphilo’s Struggle for Love in a Dream), more than just a book but rather a milestone in depth psychology, was published in Venice in 1499. It featured beautiful woodcut illustrations and … Continue reading →

Posted in Hypnerotomachia Poliphili | Tagged archetypes, art, Carl Gustav Jung, depth psychology, dream, dreamlike, Eros, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, psyche, psychology, Renaissance, Soul, Strife of Love in a Dream, symbols | 10 Comments

Rose Red: Symbolism of Blood

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Symbol Reader

1.“White and red combined are the colour of the mysterious rose, the whiteness of milk and the redness of blood, the white of light and the redness of fire.” Eliphas Levi, “The Book of Splendors” 2.“Blood is the first incarnation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Blood | Tagged alchemy, bleeding, blood, body, Carl Gustav Jung, color, Dark goddess, dark moon, depth psychology, family, fate, flesh, goddess, Kali, menstruation, passion, red, rose, rubedo, Sekhmet, symbolism, symbols, ties, whore of Babylon | 15 Comments

Peacock’s Cry of Soul’s Splendour

Posted on December 20, 2014 by Symbol Reader

I.“A Sufi legend, likely of Persian origin, suggests that god created spirit in the form of a peacock. Shown its own divine image in a mirror, the peacock was seized with awe and drops of sweat fell from which all … Continue reading →

Posted in The Peacock | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, Carl Gustav Jung, cauda pavonis, depth psychology, peacock, peacock's cry, peacock’s tail, Soul, symbolism, symbols, Venus, Wallace Stevens | 41 Comments

Awe-Inspiring Sculptures: “Night” by Michelangelo

Posted on November 8, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“Night” by Michelangelo was sculpted in white marble and put to rest on the tomb of Giuliano de Medici in San Lorenzo Church, Florence. Her attributes are an owl and a mask. I remember seeing the sculpture for the first time … Continue reading →

Posted in Sculpture, The Night | Tagged animus, art, Carl Gustav Jung, Chaos, Dark goddess, darkness, Greek myth, Greek mythology, love, Michelangelo, night, Nyx, sculpture, symbolism, symbols | 31 Comments

The Symbolism of Islands

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Symbol Reader

1.“Theseus is cruel because he leaves Ariadne on the island of Naxos. … Just a beach lashed by thundering waves, an abstract place where only the seaweed moves. It is the island where no one lives, the place where obsession … Continue reading →

Posted in Islands | Tagged archetypes, Atlantis, Calypso, Carl Gustav Jung, desert island, Greek myth, Island, Lost, mythology, Odysseus, Ogygia, Saramago, Source, symbolism, symbols, The Tale of the Unknown Island | 37 Comments

The Shadow Archetype

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Mikhail Vrubel, The Demon Where there is light, there must be shadow, and where there is shadow there must be light. There is no shadow without light and no light without shadow. Karl Jung said this about ‘the Shadow’ in … Continue reading →