Tag Archives: symbolism

Where All Saints and Sinners Rest

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Symbol Reader

“The snow rounded over and built up each smooth and even elevation, with its cross of stone or metal, its small monument adorned with medallions and inscriptions. No soul was to be seen or heard, the quiet remoteness and peace … Continue reading →

Posted in Cemeteries | Tagged All Saints Day, Cemeteries, cemetery, Douglas Keister, funerary art, graveyards, Stories in Stone, symbolism, symbols | 21 Comments

Musings on Great Symbols: Money

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Margin Call, an independent movie about the initial stages of the financial crisis of 2008, took me by surprise. It was hard to believe I could actually enjoy a film set at a Wall Street investment bank. The film is, … Continue reading →

Posted in Money | Tagged Animal Presences, astrology, bull, Charon, financial crisis, James Hillman, Margin Call movie, money, obol, Pluto, Plutus, symbolism, symbols, Taurus, Wall Street, wealth | 24 Comments

Measuring Immensity: Symbolism of Maps

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Symbol Reader

I decided to explore my neighbourhood a little last weekend, and I started my walk by entering into the heart of a dense and dark forest. I let myself wander and get lost, walking round in circles, not paying attention … Continue reading →

Posted in Maps | Tagged Aboriginal songlines, astrology, Borges, Korzybski, Map, Maps of the Imagination, Peter Turchi, songlines, symbolism, symbols, territory, Venice | 56 Comments

The Secret Life of Words: Amen

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Symbol Reader

AMEN. Magic word interpreted as “let it be” in Hebrew, used to evoke divine response to a prayer. Such words often began as deities’ names. This may have originally invoked the Egyptian god Amen (Amun), “the Hidden One” – the … Continue reading →

Posted in Amen | Tagged amen, Amun, Dawn, Let It Be, Paul McCartney, symbolism, symbols | 33 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

The Woman Who Embodied the Goddess

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Aphrodite of Corinth Beyond light and shade, Beyond thing and thought, There is love forever lurking. B.Z. Goldberg, The Sacred Fire Among the many totems of the great Babylonian goddess Ishtar was the fish. Her initiates would eat it as … Continue reading →

Posted in Sacred Prostitution | Tagged Aphrodite, archetypes, Atargatis, Corinth, fish symbolism, Hora, Horae, Ishtar, Pisces, priestess, sacred prostitution, Shulamite, stranger, symbolism, symbols | 23 Comments

Cartography of the Deep Human Psyche (6)

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Having reread the whole chapter dedicated to LSD subjects reliving their own birth, once again, just like after the first reading many years ago, I feel amazed. Our coming into this world is a metaphor of the process of individuation. … Continue reading →

Posted in Stanislav Grof | Tagged Basic Perinatal Matrices, Basic Perinatal Matrix, death, delivery, depth psychology, Grof, LSD research, rebirth, Stanislav Grof, symbolism | 28 Comments

Cartography of the Deep Human Psyche (5)

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Gustave Dore, Dante at the Gate of Hell Just as Adam and Eve are cast out from Paradise, so our blissful sojourn in the mother’s womb comes to an end in the first stage of delivery. This moment marks the … Continue reading →

Posted in Stanislav Grof | Tagged Basic Perinatal Matrices, Basic Perinatal Matrix II, Centaurs, depression, depth psychology, despair, Emil Cioran, evil, Grof, hell, Ixion, LSD research, no exit, Stanislav Grof, symbolism | 46 Comments

Images of the Zodiac: Contemplating Virgo

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Johfra Bosschart, Virgo I adore this image. It reminds me of a precious and delicate porcelain figurine that you hold delicately between your fingers, marveling at its fragile beauty. I like to spend a longer time looking at the Zodiac … Continue reading →

Posted in Johfra Bosschart | Tagged archetypes, Astraea, astrology, Atargatis, Christ, Dike, ear of corn, four Evangelists, grain, Hermes, initiation, isis, Osiris, priestesses, rituals, sacred prostitution, symbolism, symbols, tetramorph, Thoth, Virgin, Virgin archetype, Virgin Mary, Virgo | 46 Comments

Light and Matter: the Perseid Meteor Shower

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Symbol Reader

I am going to watch the Perseid meteor shower tonight. They are very fast moving meteors and they radiate from the constellation Perseus, and Perseus happens to be one of my beloved Greek heroes. The birth of Perseus appears to … Continue reading →