Tag Archives: darkness

Montserrat and Its Holy Grail

Posted on November 23, 2023 by Symbol Reader

Throughout the world, sacred sites intricately weave together historical facts and legendary tales, rendering the task of distinguishing between the two an impossible challenge. Located approximately fifty kilometers from Barcelona, the Montserrat Monastery derives its name from the mountain upon … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Madonna | Tagged archetypes, Barcelona, black, Black Madonna, Cybele, dark, darkness, Great Goddess, Holy Grail, Montserrat, Moreneta, mountain, prophecy, samadhi, Soul, Spain, symbolism, symbols | Leave a comment

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

Reading The Red Book (39) – Seven Sermons to the Dead

Posted on December 12, 2021 by Symbol Reader

We are still focusing on The Seven Sermons to the Dead, which are part of Scrutinies, the final section of The Red Book. In my previous posts, I looked at sermons one and two while this one is dedicated to the third sermon and … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung | Tagged Abraxas, archetypes, C.G. Jung, darkness, depth psychology, devil, dualism, evil, Gnosticism, good, Hermes, Liber Novus, light, Mercurius, nature, opposites, rooster, samsara, Seven Sermons of the Dead, Soul, summum bonum, sun, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, Time, wheel of time | 6 Comments

Reading The Red Book (24)

Posted on September 6, 2020 by Symbol Reader

Chapter XI of Liber Secundus is called The Opening of the Egg. Having sung his incantations, Jung kneels on the rug and carefully opens the egg. Completely healed, Izdubar appears in front of him. The god relates what his experience … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung | Tagged archetypes, C.G. Jung, darkness, depth psychology, Divine, egg, evil, Gilgamesh, God, good, Izdubar, Liber Novus, Liber Secundus, life, light, Medusa, snake, solar, solar hero, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, the sun | 8 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

Reading The Red Book (17)

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Symbol Reader

Chapter IV of Liber Secundus is called “The Anchorite. Dies 1” and relates the first day of Jung’s encounter with a hermit monk, who lives in the Libyan desert. While reading The Red Book I was particularly struck by all … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged Alexandria, analytical psychology, anchorite, archetypes, C.G. Jung, darkness, depth psychology, Heraclitus, hermit, Jesus, Jung, Liber Novus, logos, night, Philo of Alexandria, silence, symbols, The Red Book, words | 9 Comments

A Reedeming Darkness of The Black Madonna

Posted on December 1, 2019 by Symbol Reader

“Underneath all our conditioning, hidden in the crypt of our being, near the waters of life, the Black Virgin is enthroned with her Child, the dark latency of our own essential nature, that which we were always meant to be.” … Continue reading →

Posted in The Black Madonna, The Dark Goddess, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, Artemis, Black Madonna, body, Buddha, Buddhism, C.G. Jung, Chartres, Christianity, Cybele, Dark goddess, darkness, death, Einsiedeln, enlightenment, Ephesus, fertility, Gnosticism, goddess, isis, Lyons, Mary Magdalene, Montserrat, nothingness, paganism, Paris, Shulamite, shunyata, Songs of Songs, Sophia, Soul, spirituality, symbolism, symbols, tantra, Tara, Underworld, wisdom, womb | 13 Comments

Turin like a Dream

Posted on August 12, 2018 by Symbol Reader

“Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears,” wrote Italo Calvino in Invisible Cities. Though Turin is not the first Italian city I have fallen in love with, what I experienced there had not happened to me before. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Turin, Uncategorized | Tagged 45th parallel, alchemical caves, alchemy, Angelic Fountain, Apis, archetypes, art, “White Magic”, black magic, black magic triangle, Castor, Church of the Great Mother of God, cities, coniunctio oppositorum, darkness, duality, Egyptian Museum of Turin, first capital of Italy, Frejus monument, Giorgio de Chirico, Holy Grail, isis, Italo Calvino, Italy, light, magic, Nietzsche, Nostradamus, occultism, Osiris, Palazzo Madama, Piazza Solferino, Piazza Statuto, Pillars of Hercules, Pollux, shroud of Turin, symbolism, symbols, Torino, Turin, union of opposites, white magic triangle | 7 Comments

Shadow Inhales and Illumination Exhales Light

Posted on February 6, 2016 by Symbol Reader

In his book The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses, Juhani Pallasmaa argues that our culture privileges the senses of vision and hearing as the most sociable, while the sense of smell, touch and taste are deemed archaic … Continue reading →

Posted in darkness and light, Uncategorized | Tagged body, chiaroscuro, darkness, Juhani Pallasmaa, Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, light, senses, The Eyes of the Skin | 6 Comments

“The Canticle of the Void” by Paul Murray

Posted on September 27, 2015 by Symbol Reader

“Smaller than the small I am that still centre within you that needle’s eye through which all the threads of the universe are drawn. Perhaps you think you know me but you do not know me. Of everything that is, … Continue reading →