Tag Archives: Jung

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

Inanna at the Ground of Being

Posted on November 7, 2018 by Symbol Reader

“Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect. They may not be questioned.” “Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer,” translated by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer In the well-known Sumerian myth, Inanna, … Continue reading →

Posted in Inanna | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, axis mundi, Dark goddess, depth psychology, descent, Diane Wolkstein, Dumuzi, eight-pointed star, Enki, Ereshkigal, Gilgamesh, goddess, hermeticism, huluppu tree, Inanna, incarnation, initiation, Jung, Lilith, magic, Mesopotamia, mysteries, myth, mythology, rebirth, seven spheres, shadow, Sumer, Sylvia Brinto Perera, symbolism, symbols, transformation, Underworld, Venus, World Tree | 16 Comments

Symbolism of Gardens

Posted on August 13, 2016 by Symbol Reader

I.”The men where you live,” said the little prince, “raise five thousand roses in the same garden–and they do not find in it what they are looking for.” “They do not find it,” I replied. “And yet what they are … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardens | Tagged depth psychology, Eden, garden of Earthly Delights, Gardens, Hieronymus Bosch, Hortus Conclusus, Jung, paradise, rock garden, rocks, Song of Songs, Soul, stones, symbolism, symbols, Zen garden | 20 Comments

Jung on Alchemy (6): Sol and Sulphur – the Fiery Ferment of the Soul’s Hidden Depth

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Symbol Reader

“As in the hand a sulfur match flares white and sends out flicking tongues on every side before it bursts into flame –: in that ring of crowded onlookers, hot, eager, and precise her round dance begins to dart and … Continue reading →

Posted in Alchemy | Tagged alchemy, Black Sun, devil, fire, gold, Jung, Lucipher, Mysterium Coniunctionis, psychology, Sol, Soul, sulfur, sulphur, sun, symbolism, symbols, Venus | 10 Comments

Eros and Psyche (3)

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Symbol Reader

“Love sets up resonances in the deepest abysses of our being. It is a lightning flash of the eternal within the flow of time.” Aldo Carutenuto, Eros and Pathos: Shades of Love and Suffering Butterflies are very popular funerary motifs. … Continue reading →

Posted in Eros and Psyche | Tagged Aphrodite, Apuleius, archetypes, butterfly, C.G. Jung, child archetype, coniunctio, death, divine child, Eros and Psyche, Greek myth, Greek mythology, individuation, Jung, myth, number four symbolism, Psyche’s Knife, rebirth, sacred marriage, symbolism, symbols, The Golden Ass | 32 Comments

Eros and Psyche (2)

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Symbol Reader

The story of Psyche and Eros is a tale of soul-making and deep transformation. As Elisabeth Eowyn Nelson, author of Psyche’s Knife, put it: “Just as Psyche’s fate is entwined with Eros, the soul’s fate is always erotic. We work … Continue reading →

Posted in Eros and Psyche | Tagged Apuleius, archetypes, child archetype, divine child, Eros and Psyche, Greek myth, Greek mythology, individuation, Jung, knife, myth, Psyche’s Knife, symbolism, symbols, The Golden Ass | 29 Comments

I Love You, My Secret Raven

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Symbol Reader

It is entirely conceivable that life’s splendor forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fulness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If … Continue reading →

Posted in Franz Kafka | Tagged archetypes, astrology, Cancer, Daryl Sharp, depression, donkey, Franz Kafka, Gemini, individuation, Jung, Kafka, Kafka's horoscope, Kafka's natal chart, literature, Piotr Dumala, raven, secret raven, symbolism, symbols, The Castle, the shadow, transcendence | 52 Comments

The Shadow Archetype

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Mikhail Vrubel, The Demon Where there is light, there must be shadow, and where there is shadow there must be light. There is no shadow without light and no light without shadow. Karl Jung said this about ‘the Shadow’ in … Continue reading →

Posted in The Shadow | Tagged 1q84, Antony Sopranos and the ducks, archetypes, Carl Gustav Jung, darkness, duck dream, evil, good, Jung, light, Murakami, shadow, The Sopranos, Tony Soprano | 48 Comments

In My Dreams I Paint Like Vermeer van Delft…

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Symbol Reader

The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the psyche, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego-consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far … Continue reading →

Posted in Dreams | Tagged Archangel Gabriel, archetypes, Carl Gustav Jung, dream interpretation, dreams, dreamwork, Egyptian myth, Jung, Nun, psychology, symbolism, symbols, the collective unconscious, Zohar | 31 Comments

The Eight-Point Star to My Wandering Bark

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Symbol Reader

I never wanted my blog to be an encyclopedia of symbols. First of all, I am not an expert and encyclopedias are written by experts. But more importantly, I think talking about symbols should rather resemble telling stories, showing images, … Continue reading →