Tag Archives: symbolism

Symbolism of Lakes

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Symbol Reader

“And near him stood the Lady of the Lake, Who knows a subtler magic than his own– Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful. She gave the King his huge cross-hilted sword, Whereby to drive the heathen out: a mist Of incense … Continue reading →

Posted in Lakes | Tagged archetypes, Avernus, Byron, Chillon Castle, contemplation, death, Lady of the Lake, lake, Lake Geneva, Lausanne, Lausanne Lyrics, Mickiewicz, mirror, poetry, reflection, Romantic poetry, Shelley, symbolism, symbols, transition | 22 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

Insects: Smaller-Than-Small in Appearance, Bigger-Than-Big in Effect

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Symbol Reader

Jainism, an Indian religion prescribing a path of nonviolence towards all living beings, professes a doctrine of Ahimsa (non-injury, absence of desire to harm), one expression of which is sweeping the ground with very small brushes before stepping on it … Continue reading →

Posted in Insects | Tagged ahimsa, Animal Presences, animals, archetypes, Breaking Bad, bugs, C.G. Jung, Crime and Punishment, depth psychology, Dostoevsky, dung beetle, evil, Hades, insects, Jainism, James Hillman, khepri, Pluto, Raskolnikov, symbolism, symbols, vermin, Walter White | 29 Comments

Salammbô

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Symbol Reader

I.“Her hair, which was powdered with violet sand, and combined into the form of a tower, after the fashion of the Chanaanite maidens, added to her height. Tresses of pearls were fastened to her temples, and fell to the corners … Continue reading →

Posted in Salammbo | Tagged archetypes, experience, goddess, Gustave Flaubert, initiation, innocence, literature, Moon, Salammbô, Scorpio, serpent, sex, snake, symbolism, symbols, woman | 12 Comments

Jung on Alchemy (4): Prima Materia – The One, Who Art All

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Symbol Reader

In this vignette found in Michael’s Maier’s Tripus Aureus Jung saw “the double face of alchemy.“ On the right hand side, a man is busy at a furnace, engaged full on in the physical and transformative experience, while in the library three … Continue reading →

Posted in Alchemy | Tagged alchemy, anima mundi, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Dark goddess, dragon, earth, isis, materia prima, Mercurius, stars, symbolism, symbols, water, Yliaster | 28 Comments

Reflections on Don Quixote: The Universe of Fiction

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Symbol Reader

“Idle Reader: Without my swearing to it, you can believe that I would like this book, the child of my understanding, to be the most beautiful, the most brilliant, and the most discreet that anyone could imagine. … I wanted … Continue reading →

Posted in Don Quixote | Tagged archety, beheading, Cervantes, chivalry, creativity, Don Quixote, fantasy, fiction, imagination, knight, knighthood, language, literature, Mercurius, Mercury, reality, symbolism, symbols, trickster | 19 Comments

Color Symbolism: Purple

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Symbol Reader

In Woody Allen’s movie “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” Mia Farrow’s character, frustrated by her marital woes, falls in love with a character in a movie. The movie character also becomes attracted to her, and exits the screen to profess … Continue reading →

Posted in The Color Purple | Tagged archetypes, C.G. Jung, color, crown chakra, depth psychology, immanence, individuation, purple, seventh chakra, Soul, spirit, symbolism, symbols, transcendence, transformation, violet | 30 Comments

The Lake of Dreams, the Sea of Rains, the Gulf of Dews, the Ocean of Fecundity

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Symbol Reader

“What special affinities appeared to him to exist between the moon and woman? Her antiquity in preceding and surviving successive tellurian generations: her nocturnal predominance: her satellitic dependence: her luminary reflection: her constancy under all her phases, rising and setting … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged archetypes, James Joyce, Moon, symbolism, symbols, Ulysses, woman | 13 Comments

Vesta: Devoted Guardian of the Sacred Flame

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Symbol Reader

I.“The chaos of the ancients; the Zoroastrian sacred fire, …; the Hermes-fire; …the lightning of Cybele; the burning torch of Apollo; the flame on the altar of Pan; the inextinguishable fire in the temple on the Acropolis, and in that … Continue reading →

Posted in Hestia, Vesta | Tagged Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, archetypes, earth, flame, goddess, Greek mythology, hearth, Hestia, priestess, Roman mythology, sacred fire, symbolism, symbols, Vesta, Vestal virgin | 39 Comments

Jung on Alchemy (3): Meditation and Imagination

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Symbol Reader

Alchemy speaks a secret language, which, provided there is a basic soul readiness, can be learnt through a slow and arduous process, yet abounding in moments of rapture and revelation. Its method of explanation was best summarized by a Latin … Continue reading →