Symbols

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Symbols
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Symbols

• A symbol is something that stands for something
  else.
• Often a word, color, object, picture, person,
  setting or happening that symbolizes a deeper,
  broader meaning.

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WATER
birth-death-resurrection
creation
the unconscious
fertility and growth
purification and redemption
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The Sea
infinity
life
eternity
spiritual mystery
the unconscious
death and rebirth
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Rivers
death and rebirth (baptism)
death
flowing of time into eternity
life cycle
incarnations of deities
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Rain
sadness
sorrow
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SUN
law in nature
creative energy
masculine Father Principle
consciousness (thinking, enlightenment, wisdom)
passage of time and life
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Rising Sun
birth
creation
enlightenment
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Setting Sun
death
end of time
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MOONLIGHT
romance
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ROSE
Love
lips kindness
lovely woman
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BALANCING SCALES
justice
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COLORS RED
blood
sacrifice
passion
violence
disorder
sensuality
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COLORS GREEN
POSITIVE
sensation
growth
fertility
nature
hope
NEGATIVE
death and decay
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COLORS BLUE
usually highly positive
religious feeling
spiritual purity
truth
security
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COLORS BLACK
evil
darkness
death
primal wisdom
the unknown
mystery
melancholy
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COLORS WHITE
light
POSITIVE
purity
timelessness
innocence
NEGATIVE
blinding truth of cosmic mystery
terror
death
the supernatural
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COLORS YELLOW
light
comprehension
brightness
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CIRCLE or SPHERE
unity
wholeness
completeness
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SEASONS
AUTUMN Last few years of life
SUMMER Prime of life
SPRING New beginnings birth
WINTER End of life
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TREE
redemption (cross)
life (tree of life)
immortality
inexhaustible life
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NUMBERS
Three
(masculine)
spiritual awareness
light
holy
unity
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Three

• Three in Holy Trinity
• Father, Son, Holy Ghost
• Three Phases of Moon
• New, Full, Old
• Three Sun Gods
• Horus, Ra, Osiris (rising, midday, setting)
• Three Levels of Space
• Heaven, earth, abyss

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NUMBERS
Four
(feminine)
spiritual awareness
circle
holy
life cycle
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Four

• Four Ages of World (Ovid)
• Gold, silver, bronze, iron
• Four Cardinal Virtues (Plato)
• Wisdom, courage, temperance, justice
• Four Parts of Day
• Dawn, day, evening, night
• Four Cardinal Points
• North, south, east, west
• Four Faces of Christ
• Lion (ruler), ox (servant), man (earthly), eagle
  (spiritual)
• Four Seasons
• Winter, spring, summer, fall

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NUMBERS
Seven
completeness
perfection
union of three and four
most powerful of all symbolic numbers
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Seven

• Seven Stars in Big Dipper
• Seven Days of Week
• Seven Planets (Old World)
• Seven Days to Create World
• Seven Days to Prepare food (OT)
• Seven Colors in Rainbow

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NUMBERS
TEN
perfection
completeness
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Ten

• Ten fingers
• Ten toes
• Ten Commandments
• Tithing (1/10)

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PLACES
Garden
(Edenic)
innocence
paradise
fertile
unspoiled beauty
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PLACES
Desert
nihilism
spiritual aridity
hopelessness
death
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PLACES
Island
freedom
innocence
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ANIMALS

• FOX

Slyness cleverness
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ANIMALS

• ELEPHANT
• forgetfulness

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ANIMALS

• LAMB
• gentleness
• purity
  sacrifice
• innocence

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ANIMALS

• LION
• nobleness
• ferocity
• royalty

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ANIMALS

• DONKEY
• stubbornness

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SERPENT
(snake or worm)
libido (sexual energy)
evil
mystery
pure force
wisdom
corruption
sensuality
destruction
the unconscious
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MONEY
labor evil
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BIRDS

• caged bird
• imprisonment

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BIRDS

• Dove
• peace
• purity

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BIRDS

• Eagle
• power
• 
  clear-sightedness
• vision
• protection

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BIRDS

• Hawk
• war
• 
  warlike person
• pugnacious

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BIRDS

• Owl
• wisdom

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BIRDS

• Robin
• spring

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BIRDS

• Vulture
• loathsome evil waiting
• to devour man

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BREAD

• life
• 
  material things

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BLOOD

• life
• 
  sacrifice

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FIRE or BURNING

• hell
• punishment
• passion

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NAKEDNESS

• naturalness
• primitive
  instincts
• savagery
• 
  innocence

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MOTIFS or PATTERNS

• These patterns are recurrent in virtually every
  cultural mythology

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Creation

• the most fundamental of all archetypal motifs
• virtually every mythology is built on some
  account of how the cosmos, nature, and mankind
  were brought into existence by some supernatural
  Being or beings

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Flood

• Nearly every culture has a story concerning the
  destruction or near destruction of the world by
  flood.
• Biblical account - Hebrew
• Epic of Gilgamesh - Sumerian
• http//www.godandscience.org/apologetics/gilgamesh
  .html

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Sacrificial Scapegoat/Atonement

• The transfer of the corruptions of the tribe to a
  sacred animal or person to receive the cleansing
  or atonement thought necessary for natural and
  spiritual rebirth.
• The rites of blood sacrifice and purification
  were considered a magical guarantee of
  rejuvenation.

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Sacrificial Scapegoat/Atonement

• The hero, with whom the welfare of the tribe or
  nation is identified, must die (or leave the
  tribe/nation) to atone for the peoples sins and
  restore the land to fruitfulness.
• Christ
• Joseph (OT)
• Shirley Jacksons The Lottery

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Characters The Great Mother

• Represents mysteries of life, death,
  transformation
• Good Mother
• Positive
• Life, birth, warmth, nourishment, protection,
  fertility, growth, abundance
• Demeter
• Ceres
• Mother in Everyday Use

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Characters

• Terrible Mother
• Negative
• Witch, sorceress, siren, whore, femme fatale
• Associated with sensuality, sexual orgies, fear,
  danger, darkness, dismemberment, emasculation,
  death terrifying aspects of the unconscious
• Wicked stepmother in fairy tales
• Medea

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Characters

• Wise Old Man
• Savior, redeemer, guru
• Personification of spiritual
• Spiritual qualities knowledge, reflection,
  insight, wisdom, cleverness, intuition
• Moral qualities goodwill, readiness to help
• Appears when the hero is hopeless or in a
  desperate situation helper

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Characters

• Trickster
• Joker, jester, clown, fool, fraud, prankster,
  picaro (rogue), poltergeist, con man, shaman,
  magician, shape-shifter, witch
• Closely associated with Jungs shadow archetype
• Mischievous, unexpected, disorder, amoral
• Represents primordial, dawning consciousness
• Particularly notable in African and American
  Indian cultures

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Immortality

• Escape from time (return to paradise)
• the state of perfect timeless bliss enjoyed by
  man and woman before their tragic Fall into
  corruption and mortality
• Mystical submersion into cyclical time
  (reincarnation)
• theme of endless death and regeneration
• submission to the rhythms of Natures eternal
  cycle

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QUEST or JOURNEY

• The hero (savior, deliverer) undertakes some long
  journey during which he must perform impossible
  tasks and overcome insurmountable odds in order
  to save the kingdom.

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Animal Motif

• Children nursed/raised by wild animals
• Live by instinct/can never adjust to
  civilization
• Romulus and Remus
• Tarzan
• Jungle Book