The Book of Symbols - Reflections on Archetypal Images

The Book of Symbols combines original and incisive essays on particular symbols with representative images from all walks of life and all eras of history. The highly accessible texts are uniquely combined with nearly 800 magnificent full-color images to convey the veiled dimensions of meaning. Each of these approximately 350 essays examines the psychic origins of a given symbol and how it evokes psychic processes and dynamics. Etymological roots, interplay of opposites, paradox and shadow, the different ways in which various cultures have given rise to a symbolic image: all these factors are taken into account.

Written by authors specializing in the fields of psychology, religion, art, literature, and comparative mythology, the essays resonate in a way that reflects the unexpected correspondences of the psyche.

There are no immutable definitions, which would tend to crush symbols; a still essential symbol remains partially unknown, attracts our attention, and offers itself in new manifestations and new meanings over time.

Rather than offering simple categories, The Book of Symbols highlights how one moves from the visual experience of a symbolic image in art, religion, life, or dreams, to the direct experience of its personal and psychological resonances.

The Book of Symbols sets new benchmarks for the conscious exploration of symbols and their meanings and will appeal to a wide variety of readers: artists, designers, dreamers and dream interpreters, psychotherapists, self-taught individuals, video game enthusiasts, comic book readers, researchers in religion and spirituality, writers, students, and all those interested in the power of archetypal images.