Tag Archives: psychology

What Is Real

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“As I recalled Bhagavan saying sometimes that unreal (mithya, imaginary) and real (satyam) mean the same, but did not quite understand, I asked him about it. He said, ‘Yes, I do sometimes say that. What do you mean by real? … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged Brahman, illusion, maya, psychology, reality, Sri Ramana Maharshi, the Self, Vedanta | 17 Comments

The Private Self

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Symbol Reader

William Turner, “Choir of Salisbury Cathedral” “Bene vixit, bene qui latuit.” (To live well is to live concealed) Ovid An article on Virginia Woolf’s idea of privacy written by Joshua Rothman has caught my attention recently. The author quotes from … Continue reading →

Posted in Psyche | Tagged Mrs Dalloway, mysticism, privacy, private self, psychology, Saint Teresa of Avila, social media, Soul, The Interior Castle, Virginia Woolf | 33 Comments

The Beneficent Maleficent

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Symbol Reader

I see the movie Maleficent as an apotheosis of the rising feminine power. I only had the chance to see it yesterday and thought the movie was magnificent. I loved it how Maleficent’s character echoed so many powerful and wrathful … Continue reading →

Posted in The Dark Goddess | Tagged archetypes, Dark goddess, Disney, Faust, film, goddess, Great Mother, Lilith, Maleficent, Mephistopheles, mud, psychology, shadow, symbolism, symbols | 30 Comments

Cultivating the Dark Core of Passion

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For … Continue reading →

Posted in Psyche | Tagged culture, discipline, Dostoevsky, Japanese tea ceremony, Kafka, method, obsession, passion, psychology, reason, Seiza, Soul | 31 Comments

A Few Thoughts on Power

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Paul Kane, “Mount St Helens Erupting at Night” “Business has defeated everything in its path. Its last enemies are the oldest: it is still defied by the ancient Gods of blood revenge, territorial tribalism and the strangely recurrent death struggles … Continue reading →

Posted in Power | Tagged archetypes, depth psychology, equality, inequality, James Hillman, justice, Power, psychology, symbolism, symbols, tao te ching | 24 Comments

Tear Down This Wall: on Psychological Defenses

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promise of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand … Continue reading →

Posted in Trauma | Tagged Aion, animus, archetypes, Carl Jung, Christ, depth psychology, Donald Kalsched, Dostoevsky, negative animus, psychology, Self, Soul, symbolism, symbols, the Grand Inquisitor, trauma | 20 Comments

Freeze, Fight or Flight: Dealing with Trauma

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Symbol Reader

1.“When a young tree is injured it grows around that injury. As the tree continues to develop, the wound becomes relatively small in proportion to the size of the tree. Gnarls, burls and misshapen limbs speak of injuries and obstacles … Continue reading →

Posted in Trauma | Tagged archetypes, astrology, domestic abuse, domestic violence, evolutionary astrology, feminism, Fight or Flight, healing, Judith Herman, Mark Jones, Peter A. Levine, psychology, PTSD, reincarnation, subtle body, symbolism, symbols, therapy, trauma, Uranus, Waking the Tiger, wounded healer | 24 Comments

Images of the Zodiac: Contemplating Libra

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Johfra Bosschart, Libra “…to know how to think with emotions and to feel with intellect…” Fernando Pessoa “Let your judgements have their own quiet, undisturbed development, which must, like all progress, come from deep within, and cannot in any way … Continue reading →

Posted in Johfra Bosschart | Tagged 7-pointed star, Ankh, archetypes, Assyrian sphinx sphinx, astrology, C.G. Jung, Egyptian myth, feeling, Hathor, Johfra Bosschart, lemniscate, Libra, maat, psychological types, psychology, scales symbolism, seven-pointed star, sistrum, symbolism, symbols, thinking, Zodiac | 19 Comments

Cartography of the Deep Human Psyche (4)

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Leonardo da Vinci, Studies of Embryos The first nine months of our life are spent in water, where we are surrounded by darkness. We have no conscious memory of that period. Subconsciously, we crave to relive that time later on … Continue reading →

Posted in Stanislav Grof | Tagged Basic Perinatal Matrices, Basic Perinatal Matrix I, cartography of the psyche, depth psychology, pregnancy, psychology, Stanislav Grof, Union with Mother | 30 Comments

Cartography of the Deep Human Psyche (3)

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Perhaps it’s true that things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes. And that when they do, those few dozen hours, like the salvaged remains of a burned house—the charred … Continue reading →