Tag Archives: symbols

Botticelli’s “Mystic Nativity”

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Sandro Boticelli, Mystic Nativity This beautiful painting has been one of my favourites for many years. I was always touched by the beautiful twelve angels dancing in a circle at the top, the three angels gracing the roof and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Painting | Tagged art, Botticelli, Christmas, Mystic Nativity, nativity, painting, symbolism, symbols | 17 Comments

If Love Be Blind, It Best Agrees with Night

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Edmund Dulac, “Night, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” Act III, scene II of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet begins with a breathtaking monologue of Juliet in which she beckons the night to come faster so that she can start her “amorous … Continue reading →

Posted in The Night | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, Christmas, darkness, goddess, Hymns to the Night, Modranect, night, Novalis, Nut, Nyx, paganism, Rilke, Shakespeare, symbolism, symbols, winter solstice | 32 Comments

Images of the Zodiac: Contemplating Sagittarius

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Johfra Bosschart, Sagittarius 1.“The right art,” cried the Master, “is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and … Continue reading →

Posted in Johfra Bosschart | Tagged alchemy, archery, archetypes, arrow, arrow symbolism, astrology, belly, Centaur, Chiron, Greek myth, Hillman, horse, ideas, Johfra Bosschart, mythology, Sagittarius, symbolism, symbols, Zen, Zeus, Zodiac | 39 Comments

Artemis: the Goddess of Primal Instincts

Posted on December 15, 2013 by Symbol Reader

In this time of the year many of us run after the perfect gifts for our loved ones. A gift I chose for myself this week was a small silver box with an engraved stag. I saw it at a … Continue reading →

Posted in Artemis | Tagged archetypes, Artemis, deer, goddess, Greek myth, Greek mythology, symbolism, symbols, Ursa Major | 24 Comments

The Mysticism of Language

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Symbol Reader

In the beginning was the word, the word That from the solid bases of the light Abstracted all the letters of the void; And from the cloudy bases of the breath The word flowed up, translating to the heart First … Continue reading →

Posted in Language | Tagged achetypes, C.G. Jung, depth psychology, Gemini, Gershom Scholem, Heidegger, Kabbalah, Lacan, language, logos, Nada Brahma, Sagittarius, symbolism, symbols, the name of God, The Red Book, William Blake, words | 53 Comments

The Music of the Elements

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Sufi mysticism has been something I have wanted to delve into for quite some time now. In this book I have come across a beautiful passage on the auditory qualities of the elements: “The earth has various aspects of beauty … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged air, archetypes, earth, ether, fire, Four elements, sacred geometry of sound, sacred sound, Sufi mysticism, symbolism, symbols, water | 35 Comments

The Veiled Speech of the Symbol (2)

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Last month I blogged about a book on symbols that I had just started reading (https://symbolreader.net/2013/10/23/the-veiled-speech-of-the-symbol/). I have finished it now and, while I got some inspiration from it, it did not satisfy me fully. Nevertheless, the nuggets that I … Continue reading →

Posted in The Symbol | Tagged archetypes, C.G. Jung, depth psychology, myth, René Alleau, Ritual, symbols, The Primal Force in Symbol | 28 Comments

Images of the Zodiac: Contemplating Scorpio

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Johfra Bosschart, Scorpio There has been so much Scorpionic energy this month that it has been very hard for me to translate all that subconscious, emotional intensity and tension into language. Also in my personal astrological line-up, Scorpionic energy abounds … Continue reading →

Posted in Johfra Bosschart | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, astrology, C.G. Jung, Dostoevsky, dragon, Ezekiel, four Evangelists, initiation, Johfra Bosschart, kundalini, philosopher’s stone, rubedo, Scorpio, serpent, symbolism, symbols, Zodiac | 43 Comments

The Ever-Fruitful Womb of Darkness

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Symbol Reader

1.“As the Great Creatrix, the feminine is a vessel and passage for an alien, masculine Other that condescends towards her, enters into her, and favors her with the seed of living. Life originates in her and issues from her, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged astrology, death, full moon in Taurus, goddess, rebirth, symbolism, symbols, the great round, womb | 17 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 →