You wouldn’t believe the amount of correspondence I get (criminy, I can’t even believe it sometimes).
Some correspondence forces me to question why I persist in writing/speaking about symbolism.
Not for approval. If anything, some of my views and methods have cast me in unfavorable light. Not everybody digs where I come from, and that’s cool.
Not for wealth. Get real. Income-focused mentality involves tactics of compromise (something I totally suck at).
Not for grandeur or status. What a joke. None of us rank higher or lower in the process of living. This kind of subjectivity reinforces the absurdity of status.
So what is it? What is it about symbolism that keeps me writing and returning time and time again?
Symbolism expands reality to accept initiations of enchantment within the theatres of our lives.
I’m talking silver linings here. Promise.
At the very least, looking out with a goal to seek symbolic relevance reconnects hope in some otherwise dismal settings. Wielded rightly, symbolism is a tool for prying loose human potential. The very same human potential that is commonly barricaded and immobilized due to mistruths, judgements and attempts at collective socialization.
Even when the landscape seems utterly bleak, there are supple symbolic subtleties that can be plucked from a barren land.
Like…
- An arc of sunlight – warm gold – Apollonian energy in a beam.
- A slice of moonlight – soft and liquid – making the unknowable an artform.
- Finch footprints – leaving sacred hashmarks – an avian code.
- Reading bark braille – tracing arboreal lineage in a tactile way.
- Numerological scaffolding – rhythmic, chronological, ancient ordering evident in everything.
- Ancestral traditions that peel off biased varnishes painted on by modern slickery and convoluted consciousness.
Symbolism shifts perspective. It’s an axpick chipping away the hardened topcrust of perception.
Symbolism cracks the casing of ordinary and opens vision to extraordinary vistas.
It offers potential and magic. It begs us to move beyond.
And that’s why I keep writing about it.
Very nicely written.
I am shocked that you receive words of criticism for what you choose to write about. Shocked that smoe individuals would be so small minded.
But I guess for me that is part of what symbolism is ~ a way for me to express the things in my heart in a way that means something to me, without putting everything out there for the judgement of others.
~peace~
Please don’t even think about not writing about symbolism!! I for one really appreciate your insites!
Well I think you are on to something about the symbols and mysticism all around us…if we only look! This family of crows have adopted me after I started feeding them and now they come right to my window everyday! I did a little research and found a lot of connection between crows and mysticism in human history…especially with the deity of The Morrigan! So I set up a small simple altar by the window in black and red to honor her and feed my crows daily…and my life has completely turned around since! Two legal victories, a long lost love reclaimed, and good fortune after good fortune! I can’t explain it but there is something there…so I just go with it! I think we need to thank people like you who have the courage to point out that mystic quality to our lives! Thank you!
Lady, you rock and you keep on doing just that!
In a world where so many people are mired in their own self loathing and negativity,they can’t help but want to make others feel the same way (that is why misery loves company). Someone has got to see (and point out) that there is way more than meets the eye and for myself and my husband you have done just that. My search for tattoos led me to you site. I am now sporting a Phoenix which symbolizes more than I can say on this page. My husband just a Hunab ‘Ku which I think he first saw here. So there will always be ney sayers, but there are some of us who appreciate what you do and want you to continue regardless of the reason.
Peace to you
I have been interested in symbolism since i was 12 i guess. And honestly- your websites fascinates me…
What if everything around as and even (or especvially) our life paths are just a flow of
symbols?
Well, collective and personal symbols…
And may be we really evoke our own symbols in a mysical way? I ve been bit sceptical about The Law of Attraction and regarded it as a commercial paradigm of the time (LOL) but now i start to think may be this concept do have a point…That we are evoking our own symbols and they are coming out from the deep – to surround us and to play with us…
Thank you for your work to bring these mysteries up 🙂
V xx
Your biorthyms are low – that’s all. Check and see for you are a total “Breath of Fresh Aire” for those of us that follow you.
Keep up the good work – we love you!!!
honestly, why would someone complain – if they don’t like it they don’t have to visit the page! Love the line about $$$ and compromise; says the way I feel about my art. I’m always being told i should choose more sale able subject matter, but then it wouldn’t be my art…
Love your symbolism blogs and site — its been most helpful in research for my cards!
I have recently found your web page and I love it. I love the way you tell the meanings of the tarot cards, it has really helped me to understand them more and when I do my daily card it is always spot on to what you say. Thank you. x
The greatest symbol of all is a word. The Bible says the earth was spoken into existence. Some quantum thinkers believes form happens when a concept is conceived. For that to happen there must be a symbol.
Maybe there is nothing but symbol.
I have always felt that symbolism is the language of the right side of the brain. Both emotional and visual simultaneously
A poem for A.V.
May ,it finally came our way… with
the last of Aprils showers spilling
over to wet the grass and give our flowers deep drinks before they are birthed into sunlight and the shade of new leaves. Mothers’ day was an original call for peace, for what mother wishes the sadness and sorrow of children lost for good. Beltane
fires burn within our creative hearts. Seeds are planted in acts of planning,& holding hands with faith. Plowshare small bits of earth so we can share
bountifully.
xoxo
vera
Let me just add my praise. Thank the Gods/Goddesses that you are here and that you continue to write.
I absolutely love the way you write and I think this post was some of the most profound explanation of symbolism I’ve seen.
Keep on keepin’ on sister.
Kara
Hello
I am wondering if you can help. 2 years ago my wife and I purchased a monkey statue in Cancun. The monkey looks to be sitting with his hands held out as though he is begging. We are trying to find the symbolism of this statue as it seems that since we have brought it in to our lives we have had terrible luck, financially and medically. Would you be able to assist us in finding the symbolism? Thank you.
I have recently found your web page and I love it. I love the way you tell the meanings of the tarot cards, it has really helped me to understand them more and when I do my daily card it is always spot on to what you say. Thank you. x
Avia,
I think that insatiable urge to delve beyond the surface to what may lie beneath is what makes life so interesting! What’s beyond that obvious meaning, how does the interpreation change the importance of that thing showing up in my life…what does it MEAN? These questions are what both frustrate me and keep me fascinated with life.
We appreciate you,
Licia
I tend to look at symbols as a way to read between the lines of reality. We are constantly awash in messages and guidance from realms outside of our own 3-D human experience and those Guides speak a vast array of languages sure to get the message through – IF we are paying attention. In my shamanic work, Spirit speaks to me through animals, and nature (I was born and raised deep in the woods, where I still reside. Nature is the language of my soul.)
I have frequently pondered this: What if we took the Bible, Koran or any other holy book (which are chock full of symbols) and ‘translated it’ as such – what would story would those texts be telling then?
Being able to see what others can’t is a blessing and a burden. It’s not for us to wonder why we can see it and no one else can, only a responsibility to share the knowledge we are given for the benefit of those meant to hear it. It doesn’t matter why you bother….it matters only that you do.
I love the beauty and elegance of symbolism. ne symbol can convey, origin , history, intent and purpose much more effectively than an entire paragraph of words.
@meredithda @Urbanewsfr J’aime bien les illustrations
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