Tag Archives: Hermes

Symbolism of the Cave

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Symbol Reader

A well-known passage from Plato’s Republic describes how a group of people, chained to the wall of a deep cavern, spend their entire lives looking at the shadows dancing on the cave wall in front of them. The captives are oblivious to … Continue reading →

Posted in cave | Tagged archetypes, C.G. Jung, cave, Cave of the Nymphs, death, Egypt, gnas, goddess, Hermes, incarnation, Plato, Porphyry, Power, rebirth, Soul, symbolism, symbols, tomb, transcendence, transformation, womb | 6 Comments

Lyon

Posted on August 12, 2022 by Symbol Reader

You may have heard of two magical triangles, one of black, the other of white magic. The origins of that legend are impossible to fathom. The white magic triangle is said to include Lyon, Prague and Turin, while the black … Continue reading →

Posted in Lyon | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Celts, Cybele, dark, Fourvière, France, Gaul, Hermes, light, Lion, Lugdunum, Lyon, magic triangle, Marianne, Mercurius, Mercury, Romans, shadow, Soul, symbolism, symbols, traboules | Leave a comment

Between Hermes and Mnemosyne: Jung and Warburg

Posted on July 16, 2022 by Symbol Reader

In the part of Homeric Hymn to Hermes, in which Hermes and Apollo exchange gifts, Hermes sings about the origins of the gods: “And the first of the gods that he commemorated with his song was Mnemosyne, Mother of Muses, … Continue reading →

Posted in Aby Warburg | Tagged Aby Warburg, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Hermes, image, Kerenyi, Mnemosyne, Mnemosyne Atlas, psyche, Soul, symbolism, symbols | Leave a comment

Matar Kubileya (Cybele)

Posted on June 28, 2022 by Symbol Reader

I. “Numinous sites of the preorganic life, which were experienced in participation mystique with the Great Mother, are mountain, cave, stone, pillar, and rock – including the childbearing rock – as throne, seat, dwelling place, and incarnation of the Great … Continue reading →

Posted in Cybele | Tagged Anatolia, archetypes, beasts, Christianity, Cybele, Galli, goddess, Hermes, Kubileya, Kybele, Lion, lions, Magna Mater, meteor, mother goddess, mountains, naiskoi, Pessinus, Phrygia, Rome, symbolism, symbols, Virgin Mary | 2 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

Hermopolis: the City of Beautiful Renewal

Posted on November 27, 2021 by Symbol Reader

“Let us praise Thoth, the exact plummet of the balance,from whom evil flees,who accepts him who avoids evil,the Vizier who gives judgement,who vanquishes crime,who recalls all that is forgotten,the remembrancer of time and eternity,who proclaims the hours of the night,whose … Continue reading →

Posted in Hermes, Hermopolis | Tagged archetypes, being, creation, death, Egypt, Egyptian myth, Eye of Horus, hare, heart, Hermes, Hermetica, Hermopolis, ibis, Khmnu, life, lotus, maat, Moon, Ogdoad, oneness, Seshat, Set, symbolism, symbols, Thoth, Udjat, Wedjat | 3 Comments

Reading The Red Book (33)

Posted on April 5, 2021 by Symbol Reader

“One can certainly gain outer freedom through powerful actions, but one creates inner freedom only through the symbol.” C.G. Jung, The Red Book, Liber Secundus, chapter XX Chapter XX of Liber Secundus, the middle part of Jung’s Red Book, has … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung | Tagged analytical psychology, archetype, C.G. Jung, Christ, Christianity, cross, Hermes, Jesus, Liber Novus, Liber Secundus, magic, Moses, Nehushtan, prisca theologia, psyche, serpens mercurialis, serpent, snake, Soul, symbolism, symbols, the way of the cross, transcendent function, unconscious, unity of opposites | 3 Comments

Reading The Red Book (30)

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Symbol Reader

“I feel the things that were and that will be. Behind the ordinary the eternal abyss yawns. The earth gives me back what it hid.” Liber Secundus, chapter XVII Chapter XVII of Liber Secundus, the second part of The Red … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung | Tagged analytical psychology, Aquarius, archetypes, astrology, Atman, Atmavictu, Bollingen, breath, Carl Jung, Christ, dragon, gift, Hermes, Holy Grail, kabiri, lapis philosophorum, Leo, Liber Novus, Mercury, opposites, Parsifal, philosopher’s stone, pleroma, polarization, psyche, Saturn, shadow, Soul, stone, symbolism, symbols, talent, Telesphoros, The Red Book, Wagner | 5 Comments

Carl Jung and the Ways of Hermes

Posted on January 25, 2021 by Symbol Reader

Before I continue my journey through Jung’s Red Book, I would like to draw your attention to an excellent essay by Lance S. Owens, The Hermeneutics of Vision: C.G. Jung and Liber Novus. You can download it here along with … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung | Tagged anagoge, analytical psychology, archetypes, Black Books, C.G. Jung, gnosis, hermeneutics, Hermes, interpretation, Lance Owens, language, Liber Novus, mysticism, psyche, Soul, symbols, The Red Book, vision | 3 Comments

The Nymphs

Posted on December 30, 2020 by Symbol Reader

I. To Nereids “O lovely-faced and pure nymphs,daughters of Nereus, lord of the deep,at the bottom of the seayou frolic and dance,fifty maidens revel in the waves, maidens riding on the backs of Tritons,delighting in animal shapes,bodies nurtured by the … Continue reading →