Symbolic Archetypes 922 23 What is a Symbol

Symbolic Archetypes 9/22 & 23

What is a Symbol? l A symbol is a concrete object used to represent an abstract idea. l Examples

Heaven - Hell • Gods live in the skies or mountaintops • Evil forces live in the bowels of the earth

Water - Desert l Because water is necessary to life and growth, it commonly appears as a birth or rebirth symbol. l The appearance of rain in a work of literature can suggest a character’s spiritual birth. l Conversely, the aridity (dryness) of the desert is often associated with spiritual sterility. l Characters who live in the desert are often “dead” to morals or the “good side”.

Haven vs. Wilderness • Places of safety contrast sharply against the dangerous wilderness. • Heroes are often found in unexpected places. • Wilderness threatens civilization.

Circles • Spheres, eggs, wheels – Wholeness, unity, infinity, continuity, and cycles

Civilization • Cities • Corruption, sin, lust, voluptuous materialism

Colors • The most ancient and universal of symbols. • They can symbolize moods or emotional process. • They can represent pairs of opposites and dualism such as light and dark, masculine and feminine, etc.

Black (darkness) • The shadow; the repressed part of the Self. • Mystery; the unconscious, the underworld, emotional darkness, hidden desires/instinct • Black represents the first step in the transformation process in which the old is destroyed in order for new creation of the Self to occur

Green • In positive terms • • Growth Fertility Hope birth • In negative terms • • Rot Decay Jealousy Envy

Blue • The color of spirit, the heavenly, the divine, intuition and inspiration

Red • Blood, life, anger • Lust and passion • Courage and war

Gold • Divine light, illumination, self-worth/ value

White • Purity, holiness, sacredness, redemption, mystical enlightenment and innocence. • Signifies – the union of opposites to form a whole – the symbolic death of transformation – renewal • In Eastern thought, white is the color of the crown chakra, what is known as the halo in Western thought

Yellow • The sun, illumination and intellect. • The color of fire and thus the purification of flame

Silver • The color of the moon, magic, the Goddess, psychic nature.

Orange • Balance, creative expression, pride and ambition. • As the color of fire, can represent burning away impurities

Sun Cycle • Rising sun – The East, birth, rise of the hero, goodness or optimism

Sun Cycle • Setting Sun – The West, death, fall of the hero, evil or pessimism

Seasonal Cycle Spring Birth phase, rise of the hero, resurrection growth Summer Peak of hero’s power, marriage, triumph, youth Fall Beginning of death, decline of hero, increasing isolation and alienation Winter Death, chaos, fall or death of hero

Seasonal Cycle continued • Deserts – Spiritual emptiness, death, hopelessness, and sterility • Gardens – Paradise, innocence, unspoiled beauty, fertility

Water • Sea – The mother of all life, spiritual mystery and infinity, death and rebirth, timelessness and eternity, the unconscious • Rivers – Father or protector, death and rebirth, baptism, the flowing of time into eternity, transitional phases of life cycles