The Book of Symbols combines original and incisive essays about particular symbols with representative images from all parts of the world and all eras of history. The highly readable texts and almost 800 beautiful full-color images come together in a unique way to convey hidden dimensions of meaning. Each of the c. 350 essays examines a given symbol's psychic background, and how it evokes psychic processes and dynamics. Etymological roots, the play of opposites, paradox and shadow, the ways in which diverse cultures have engaged a symbolic image—all these factors are taken into consideration.
Authored by writers from the fields of psychology, religion, art, literature and comparative myth, the essays flow into each other in ways that mirror the psyche's unexpected convergences. There are no pat definitions of the kind that tend to collapse a symbol; a still vital symbol remains partially unknown, compels our attention and unfolds in new meanings and manifestations over time. Rather than merely categorize, The Book of Symbols illuminates how to move from the visual experience of a symbolic image in art, religion, life, or dreams, to directly experiencing its personal and psychological resonance.
The Book of Symbols sets new standards for thoughtful exploration of symbols and their meanings, and will appeal to a wide range of readers: artists, designers, dreamers and dream interpreters, psychotherapists, self-helpers, gamers, comic book readers, religious and spiritual searchers, writers, students, and anyone curious about the power of archetypal images.
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Beverly Moon, Ph.D., the editor of this volume, is a historian of religions trained at the University of Chicago and Columbia University. A professor of world religions at Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan, she recently published "Goddesses Who Rule" together with Elizabeth Benard.
Although this volume is out of print, you can generally find new or used copies via the Internet. Amazon.com is one possible source.
"ARAS was conceived with the grand idea of making the collective unconscious of mankind manifest. The psyche is an image organ, a 'picturing' of vital activities. True to that fact, the central feature of ARAS' book is a collection of 'primordial images,' an iconography of the soul, which has the power to evoke itself within the individual. To ground each image and to balance its evocative power, the editors have supplied a detailed assemblage of facts and commentary. This book offers the responsive reader probably the best opportunity outside of personal analysis for a glimpse into the collective unconscious. For the practicing analyst it is an invaluable tool for the amplification of dream images."
~ Edward F. Edinger
The Author, George R. Elder, Ph.D., is a historian of religions trained in Christian studies at Union Theological Seminary and in Buddhist studies at Columbia University. He was a professor for many years at Hunter College, City University of New York, and is a Jungian counselor and the author of numerous scholarly essays.
You may purchase copies of this volume at Amazon.com
A stunning collection of color images and text organized around mythic themes that follow the solar calendar from cosmos and creation to death, transformation, and rebirth. In this second volume, the focus is the human body as a carrier of deep psychological insights and sacred meanings. One hundred stunning color plates detail, carved, painted, and sculpted artifacts from prehistory to the recent past, from the caves of France to the temples of East Asia. Images such as The Footprints of the Buddha from India, the ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus, the Cretan Goddess with Bared Breasts, and Dielectrics painting Jacob Wrestling with the Angel are accompanied by commentaries on their cultural, and symbolic significance, a record of the work's identity and location, and bibliographies of related readings. An extensive, detailed index is also included. "These stunning images are gifts that enable symbolic contemplation... we learn that they come from inside us, and get outside by being made flesh, so that we learn better what flesh is, what outside is and what inside is -- and that they are in fact one."
~ Roger Kennedy - Director, The National Museum of American History