Tag Archives: depth psychology

LADY, WEEPING AT THE CROSSROADS by W.H. Auden

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“Lady, weeping at the crossroads Would you meet your love In the twilight with his greyhounds, And the hawk on his glove? Bribe the birds then on the branches, Bribe them to be dumb, Stare the hot sun out … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged archetypes, depth psychology, Lady Weeping at the Crossroads, lunar eclipse, poem, poetry, Soul, symbolism, symbols, W.H. Auden | 22 Comments

On Genius (1)

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Karl Brullof, “Genius of Art“ I have started to read a book Divine Fury: A History of Genius by Darrin M. McMahon. I am approaching this book with a substantial bias: I think that the term “genius“ is an old … Continue reading →

Posted in Genius, Psyche | Tagged Darrin M. McMahon, depth psychology, Divine Fury: A History of Genius, Genius, Juno, patriarchy, Power, Romans, talent, women | 28 Comments

Shadow Before Equinox

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Symbol Reader

1. “Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Quotations | Tagged archetypes, D.H. Lawrence, depth psychology, literature, Murakami, Pluto direct, poetry, Self, snake, symbols, transformation | 28 Comments

The River of Alchemical Mercury

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Symbol Reader

via: http://jhzero.deviantart.com/art/Yin-Yang-357915041 “You all know what mercury looks like-at room temperature it’s a silvery liquid that flows, it’s like a mirror. For the alchemists, and this is just a very short exercise in alchemical thinking, for the alchemists mercury was … Continue reading →

Posted in Mercurius, Quotations | Tagged alchemy, depth psychology, Mercurius, Mercury, mind, symbolism, symbols, Terence McKenna, yin yang | 27 Comments

A Few Thoughts on Power

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Paul Kane, “Mount St Helens Erupting at Night” “Business has defeated everything in its path. Its last enemies are the oldest: it is still defied by the ancient Gods of blood revenge, territorial tribalism and the strangely recurrent death struggles … Continue reading →

Posted in Power | Tagged archetypes, depth psychology, equality, inequality, James Hillman, justice, Power, psychology, symbolism, symbols, tao te ching | 24 Comments

Tear Down This Wall: on Psychological Defenses

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promise of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand … Continue reading →

Posted in Trauma | Tagged Aion, animus, archetypes, Carl Jung, Christ, depth psychology, Donald Kalsched, Dostoevsky, negative animus, psychology, Self, Soul, symbolism, symbols, the Grand Inquisitor, trauma | 20 Comments

The Secrets of the Odyssey (3): Calypso and Phaecians

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Symbol Reader

According to a well-known saying by Whitehead, all Western philosophy is a footnote to Plato. Philosophy may have begun with Plato but storytelling and literature began with minstrel poets such as Homer. Our cultural womb and cradle is ancient Greece; … Continue reading →

Posted in The Odyssey | Tagged archetypes, Calypso, depth psychology, epic poetry, Eva Brann, Florence and Kenneth Wood, goddess, goddesses, gods, Greek myth, Homer, Homer’s Secret Odyssey, Homeric moments, James Hillman, literature, mythology, Nausicaa, Odyssey, Ogygia, Robert Fitzgerald translation, Scheria, symbols, symptoms | 16 Comments

Senex and Puer

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Symbol Reader

image credit The turn of the year is ruled by the senex/puer archetypal polarity. In the most popular allegorical depictions, the old man gives way to a young boy. This happens when the Sun is in Capricorn: the sign of … Continue reading →

Posted in Senex and Puer | Tagged archetypes, depth psychology, James Hillman, puer, senex, symbolism, symbols | 22 Comments

The Mysticism of Language

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Symbol Reader

In the beginning was the word, the word That from the solid bases of the light Abstracted all the letters of the void; And from the cloudy bases of the breath The word flowed up, translating to the heart First … Continue reading →

Posted in Language | Tagged achetypes, C.G. Jung, depth psychology, Gemini, Gershom Scholem, Heidegger, Kabbalah, Lacan, language, logos, Nada Brahma, Sagittarius, symbolism, symbols, the name of God, The Red Book, William Blake, words | 53 Comments

The Veiled Speech of the Symbol (2)

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Last month I blogged about a book on symbols that I had just started reading (https://symbolreader.net/2013/10/23/the-veiled-speech-of-the-symbol/). I have finished it now and, while I got some inspiration from it, it did not satisfy me fully. Nevertheless, the nuggets that I … Continue reading →