"The deepest core of life is poetry and symbol." - Dane Rudhyar
Wilhelm Kotarbinski, "Water Nymph"
Tag Archives: Greek myth
Chaos, Harmony and the Birth of Alphabet
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
Jung on Alchemy (5): Hermes, the Arcane Interpreter of All
“Mercurius is an adumbration of the primordial light-bringer, who is never himself the light, but…who brings the light of nature, the light of the moon and the stars which fades before the new morning light.” C.G. Jung, Alchemical Studies, par. … Continue reading
Posted in Alchemy, Hermes, Uncategorized
Tagged alchemy, archetypes, Blavatsky, goddess, Greek myth, Greek mythology, hermaphrodite, Hermes, Hermes Trismegistus, hermeticism, Maia, maya, number four, psychopomp, symbols
6 Comments
Ariadne Awakens
“Enter the turret of your love, and lie close in the arms of the sea; let in new suns that beat and echo in the mind like sounds risen from sunken cities lost to fear; let in the light that … Continue reading
Posted in Ariadne
Tagged Ancient Greece, archetypes, Ariadne, art, bull, C.G. Jung, Corona Borealis, depth psychology, Dionysos, Dionysus, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Libera, Minotaur, myth, Naxos, Picasso, Seven Sermons of the Dead, Statue of Liberty, symbolism, symbols, Theseus
8 Comments
Asclepius: Earth-Walking Healer, Son of Apollo
“Coronis was pregnant by Apollo when she found herself attracted to a stranger. He came from Arcadia, and his name was Ischys. A white crow watched over her. Apollo had told the bird to guard the woman he loved, ‘so … Continue reading
Posted in Asclepius
Tagged adyton, Apollo, Asclepius, Asklepios, C.G. Jung, cock, Coronis, death, Demeter, depth psychology, dog, dream, Dreaming, Eleusis, Epidaurus, Greek myth, Greek mythology, healing, Hermes, incubation, medicine, Medusa, Ophiuchus, rebirth, rite, Ritual, rod of Asclepius, serpent, snake, symbolism, symbols
19 Comments
Apollo and the Pythia: the Oracle of Delphi
1.“I count the grains of sand on the beach and measure the sea; I understand the speech of the dumb and hear the voiceless.” The Pythia “Tell the king, the fair-wrought house has fallen. No shelter has Apollo, nor sacred … Continue reading
Posted in Apollo, The Oracle of Delphi
Tagged Ancient Greece, Apollo, archetypes, Clea, Delphi, Dionysos, Dionysus, divination, ethylene, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, omphalos, oracle of Delphi, Plutarch, pneuma, prophecy, Pythia, Socrates, subterranean gas, symbols, vapors, William Broad
16 Comments
To Apollo: The Averter of Evil, the Bringer of Harmony (part 1)
1.“I am the eye with which the Universe Beholds itself, and knows it is divine; All harmony of instrument or verse, All prophecy, all medicine, is mine, All light of art or nature; – to my song Victory and praise … Continue reading
Posted in Apollo
Tagged Ancient Greece, Apollo, archetypes, art, bow, civilization, Daphne, Delos, depth psychology, Greek myth, Greek mythology, Homeric hymn to Apollo, Leto, lyre, muses, music, nymphs, paean, possession, sun god, symbolism, symbols, the Self, Zeus
21 Comments
The Attraction to the Divine Unknown
“I find it relevant to quote here a formulation devised by Dio of Prusa (‘Dio Chrysostom’), a Greek thinker who lived in a period straddling the first and the second centuries CE. In what I am about to quote, taken … Continue reading
Posted in Quotations
Tagged daimon, daimonion, Dio of Prusa, divinity, gods, Greek myth, myth, mythology, theos
13 Comments
On the Birth of Aphrodite
If our exact time of place and birth is like a lodestar to interpreting our qualities and our destiny, it must make a lot of sense to look closely at the birth of Venus and relate what we find to … Continue reading
Posted in Aphrodite/Venus
Tagged Ananke, Aphrodite, apple, archetypes, beauty, birth of Venus, blood, castration, Furies, Gaia, goddess, Greek myth, Greek mythology, harmony, Kronos, love, Ouranos, red, Rilke, rose, sexuality, symbolism, symbols, Titans, Uranus, Venus
17 Comments
The Soul after Death: Hermes and Eurydice
The transitional, in-between state of the soul after death was believed to be the domain of Hermes by ancient Greeks. They worshiped Hermes as the one god who will guide them to the right place of exit after they die. … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry
Tagged death, Eurydice, Greek myth, Hermes, liminality, Orpheus, poetry, psychopompos, Reiner Maria Rilke, Soul, transition
15 Comments
