Tag Archives: light

Winter Solstice

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Symbol Reader

“We begin at the southern gate, crowned with the majesty of Christmas. There the Sun enters upon its northward journey — a journey which has been described by seers and poets in beautiful symbolism, for it brings to men, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations, Uncategorized | Tagged Dane Rudhyar, light, rebirth, sun, winter solstice | 5 Comments

The Sublime Silence of Stonehenge

Posted on June 11, 2017 by Symbol Reader

“Pile of Stone-henge! so proud to hint yet keep Thy secrets, thou that lov’st to stand and hear The Plain resounding to the whirlwind’s sweep, Inmate of lonesome Nature’s endless year.” William Wordsworth’s , “Guilt and sorrow; or incidents upon … Continue reading →

Posted in Stonehenge | Tagged ancient Egypt, blue stones, healing, Heelstone, isis, light, Lugh, Lughnasadh, numinous, Orion, Osiris, pagan, Paul D. Burley, religion, Romanticism, Rudolf Otto, Stonehenge, summer solstice, sun, symbolism, Winter Hexagon | 20 Comments

Shadow Inhales and Illumination Exhales Light

Posted on February 6, 2016 by Symbol Reader

In his book The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses, Juhani Pallasmaa argues that our culture privileges the senses of vision and hearing as the most sociable, while the sense of smell, touch and taste are deemed archaic … Continue reading →

Posted in darkness and light, Uncategorized | Tagged body, chiaroscuro, darkness, Juhani Pallasmaa, Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, light, senses, The Eyes of the Skin | 6 Comments

Drawing with Light: on Photography

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Symbol Reader

It is easy to romanticize the dawn of photography (literally “drawing with light”). I am not pretending I understand the technical intricacies of the entire process but I am drawn to the alchemical feel and terminology of the first photographic … Continue reading →

Posted in Photography | Tagged acheiropoietos, archetypes, art, Barthes, camera obscura, Charles Baudeleaire, daguerrotype, darkness, history of photography, image, light, narcissism, photography, shroud of Turin, Sontag, St Veronica, symbolism, symbols | 18 Comments

The Light that Shines in Darkness

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Symbol Reader

The New Age movement has given women more significance and more power of expression than art, science or politics of the last century. It is said to have been originated by Madame Blavatsky, who was a co-founder of the Theosophical … Continue reading →

Posted in Madame Blavatsky | Tagged archetypes, clarity, darkness, Derek Mahon, Gary Lachman, light, Madame Blavatsky, poetry, symbolism, symbols, the Age of Aquarius, The New Age, the occult, The Secret Doctrine, The Theosophical Society, vision | 26 Comments

“Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines” by Dylan Thomas

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“Light breaks where no sun shines; Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart Push in their tides; And, broken ghosts with glow-worms in their heads, The things of light File through the flesh where no flesh decks the … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, blood, body, darkness, death, Dylan Thomas, life, light, Light breaks where no sun shines, poetry, rebirth, symbolism, symbols | 16 Comments

The Secrets of the Odyssey (10): Return to Ithaca through the Cave of the Nymphs

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Venus the Morning Star (Venus Phosphorus – Light-Bringer) “When on the East the sheer bright star arose that tells of coming Dawn, the ship made landfall and came up islandward in the dim of night. Phorkys, the old sea baron, … Continue reading →

Posted in The Odyssey | Tagged archetypes literature, astrology, Athena, cave, Cave of Nymphs, creation, darkness, Greek mythology, Homer, honey, Ithaca, light, myth, noos, nostos, Odysseus, Odyssey, olive tree, Porphyry, rebirth, Soul, symbolism, symbols, Venus morning star | 11 Comments

The Tectonic Power of the Soul

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Symbol Reader

image credit 1. “Life happens when the tectonic power of your speechless soul breaks through the dead habits of the mind.” John Patrick Shanley, Doubt 2. “The shadow of the light is not darkness, but illumination.” Clement of Alexandria These … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged ego, growth, illumination, John Patrick Shanley, light, mind, shadow, Soul | 20 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 →