Tag Archives: transformation

Symbolism of the Cave

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Symbol Reader

A well-known passage from Plato’s Republic describes how a group of people, chained to the wall of a deep cavern, spend their entire lives looking at the shadows dancing on the cave wall in front of them. The captives are oblivious to … Continue reading →

Posted in cave | Tagged archetypes, C.G. Jung, cave, Cave of the Nymphs, death, Egypt, gnas, goddess, Hermes, incarnation, Plato, Porphyry, Power, rebirth, Soul, symbolism, symbols, tomb, transcendence, transformation, womb | 6 Comments

Black Madonna: An Icon of Mystery

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Symbol Reader

“There is a grave aura about many of the Black Virgins, an expression of utter solitude so intense that the child on her knees or in the embrace of her left arm seems strangely appended. She sits, solitary, weighted, at … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Madonna | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, black, Black Madonna, blackness, C.G. Jung, chaosorder, Christianity, creation, Dark Feminine, Dark Virgin, depth psychology, earth, enlightenment, feminine, God, goddess, matter, mysticism, nature, nigredo, religion, Soul, symbolism, symbols, transformation, transmutation, Trinity | 7 Comments

Jung on the Light of the Darkness

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Symbol Reader

The following passage from Jung’s Alchemical Studies (volume 13 of CW, par. 197) struck me today: “They [alchemists, seekers after truth] discover that in the very darkness of nature a light is hidden, a little spark without which the … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations, Uncategorized | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Democritus, depth psychology, disease, healing, light of nature, lumen naturae, nature, paganism, Paracelsus, symbols, transformation | 8 Comments

Reading The Red Book (12)

Posted on October 20, 2019 by Symbol Reader

I. “You may call us symbols for the same reason that you can also call your fellow men symbols, if you wish to. But we are just as real as your fellow men. You invalidate nothing and solve nothing by calling us symbols.” … Continue reading →

Posted in The Red Book by C.G. Jung, Uncategorized | Tagged analytical psychology, anima, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Dark goddess, depth psychology, gnosis, Gnostic gospels, Gnosticism, Gospel of the Egyptians, Kali, Liber Novus, Mary Magdalene, Nag Hammadi, Salome, shadow, symbolism, symbols, The Red Book, the Self, transformation, unconscious | 1 Comment

Inanna at the Ground of Being

Posted on November 7, 2018 by Symbol Reader

“Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect. They may not be questioned.” “Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer,” translated by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer In the well-known Sumerian myth, Inanna, … Continue reading →

Posted in Inanna | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, axis mundi, Dark goddess, depth psychology, descent, Diane Wolkstein, Dumuzi, eight-pointed star, Enki, Ereshkigal, Gilgamesh, goddess, hermeticism, huluppu tree, Inanna, incarnation, initiation, Jung, Lilith, magic, Mesopotamia, mysteries, myth, mythology, rebirth, seven spheres, shadow, Sumer, Sylvia Brinto Perera, symbolism, symbols, transformation, Underworld, Venus, World Tree | 16 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

Jung on Alchemy (1): The Moist and Earthly Foundation

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Symbol Reader

My upcoming series of posts is going to be based on three works of C.G. Jung: 1) Psychology and Alchemy, volume 12 of the Collected Works 2) Alchemical Studies, volume 13 of the Collected Works 3) Mysterium Coniunctionis, volume 14 of the Collected … Continue reading →

Posted in Alchemy | Tagged alchemy, archetypes, Carl Jung, change, coarse wood debris, death, depth psychology, growth, Psychology and Alchemy, rebirth, regeneration, symbolism, symbols, the unconscious, transformation, water of life | 21 Comments

Eros and Thanatos

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Symbol Reader

I. The Way of the West “… each organism only lives through contact with other matter, assimilation, and contact with other life, which means assimilation of new vibrations, non-material. Each individual organism is vivified by intimate contact with fellow organisms: … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged archetypes, D.H. Lawrence, death, depth psychology, ego, illusion, love, symbolism, symbols, transformation | 17 Comments

Shadow Before Equinox

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Symbol Reader

1. “Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Quotations | Tagged archetypes, D.H. Lawrence, depth psychology, literature, Murakami, Pluto direct, poetry, Self, snake, symbols, transformation | 28 Comments

Images of the Zodiac: Contemplating Gemini

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Symbol Reader

Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake- it’s everything except what it is! ” William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet I. Romeo and Juliet as an alchemical work Many years ago … Continue reading →