Tag Archives: earth

Black Madonna: An Icon of Mystery

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Symbol Reader

“There is a grave aura about many of the Black Virgins, an expression of utter solitude so intense that the child on her knees or in the embrace of her left arm seems strangely appended. She sits, solitary, weighted, at … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Madonna | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, black, Black Madonna, blackness, C.G. Jung, chaosorder, Christianity, creation, Dark Feminine, Dark Virgin, depth psychology, earth, enlightenment, feminine, God, goddess, matter, mysticism, nature, nigredo, religion, Soul, symbolism, symbols, transformation, transmutation, Trinity | 7 Comments

From Lascaux Cave Paintings to Greta Thunberg

Posted on December 15, 2019 by Symbol Reader

It fascinates me when similar ideas come to me simultaneously from completely different directions. The first revelation was a must-read article in The Guardian on how the cave paintings of Lascaux remind us that “in our self-obsessed age, the anonymous, … Continue reading →

Posted in Psyche, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, earth, ego, Ferdinand Hodler, Freud, Greta Thunberg, humility, landscape, Lascaux, narcissism, nature, painting, psyche, subject, symbolism, symbols, unconscious, Yeats | 7 Comments

Moments experienced intensely: photography of Sebastião Salgado

Posted on February 10, 2019 by Symbol Reader

“All my photos correspond to moments that I have experienced intensely.” Sebastião Salgado, “From my Land to the Planet,” Kindle edition The movie Salt of the Earth (2015) directed by Wim Wenders and dedicated to the life and work of … Continue reading →

Posted in Photography, Sebastião Salgado | Tagged archetypes, art, black and white, deforestation, depth psychology, documentary, earth, exhibition, From my Land to the Planet, Genesis, Instituto Terra, movie, photography, planet, Salt of the Earth, Sebastião Salgado, symbolism, symbols, te environment, the Nenets, Wim Wenders | 13 Comments

Osiris, Master of Silence and Renewal

Posted on August 16, 2017 by Symbol Reader

Three giant statues of Osiris, Isis and Hapi, the Nile god of fertility, have been placed at the entrance to Museum Rietberg in Zurich. They were recovered from the sea bed by Franck Goddio, a French underwater archaeologist, who directed … Continue reading →

Posted in Osiris, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, ancient Egypt, earth, Egypt, Frankc Goddio, inundation, Nile, Osirian mysteries, Osiris, Rietberg Museum, Seth, Thonis-Heracleion | 12 Comments

The Scent of Autumn Earth

Posted on September 23, 2015 by Symbol Reader

“September 13, 1907 (Friday) . . . never has heather so touched and almost thrilled me as recently, when I found those three twigs in your sweet letter. Since then they have been lying in my Book of Pictures and … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged autumn, earth, fall, Letters on Cezanne, Reiner Maria Rilke, scent | 12 Comments

Jung on Alchemy (4): Prima Materia – The One, Who Art All

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Symbol Reader

In this vignette found in Michael’s Maier’s Tripus Aureus Jung saw “the double face of alchemy.“ On the right hand side, a man is busy at a furnace, engaged full on in the physical and transformative experience, while in the library three … Continue reading →

Posted in Alchemy | Tagged alchemy, anima mundi, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Dark goddess, dragon, earth, isis, materia prima, Mercurius, stars, symbolism, symbols, water, Yliaster | 28 Comments

Vesta: Devoted Guardian of the Sacred Flame

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Symbol Reader

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

The Music of the Elements

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Sufi mysticism has been something I have wanted to delve into for quite some time now. In this book I have come across a beautiful passage on the auditory qualities of the elements: “The earth has various aspects of beauty … Continue reading →