resources:

Symbol, Psyche & Myth

the power of the unseen world

Our modern culture often over-emphasizes the rational, and overlooks non-rational or symbolic ways of knowing as “unreal.” But humans throughout time have experienced the worlds of symbol, myth, and dream to be representations of reality every bit as real as the physical world. 

Our psyches are steeped in symbolism; our arts and religions, language and writing are symbolic. Money is a symbol. Even science itself, or our unquestioned belief in it, is a kind of modern mythology that pits real-against-unreal in our culture’s insatiable desire to know.

The symbolic mind is not less than the rational mind. It’s an ancient mind that speaks a language our consciousness knows well. If we want to wake up to our deeper intelligence and become more whole, we’re wise to explore the intuitive, nonlinear aspects of life the deepest parts of us have always known.

~Reminder that this resource section is new and the lists are works in progress, not exhaustive by any means. There’s more to add to this page. Suggest a resource here.

resources:

Symbol, Psyche & Myth

the power of the unseen world

Our modern culture often over-emphasizes the rational, and overlooks non-rational or symbolic ways of knowing as “unreal.” But humans throughout time have experienced the worlds of symbol, myth, and dream to be representations of reality every bit as real as the physical world. 

Our psyches are steeped in symbolism; our arts and religions, language and writing are symbolic. Money is a symbol. Even science itself, or our unquestioned belief in it, is a kind of modern mythology that pits real-against-unreal in our culture’s insatiable desire to know.

The symbolic mind is not less than the rational mind. It’s an ancient mind that speaks a language our consciousness knows well. If we want to wake up to our deeper intelligence and become more whole, we’re wise to explore the intuitive, nonlinear aspects of life the deepest parts of us have always known.

~Reminder that this resource section is new and the lists are works in progress, not exhaustive by any means. There’s more to add to this page. Suggest a resource here.

books & articles

On Language and Writing

  • Landmarks, Robert MacFarlane
  • Metaphors we Live By, George Lakoff
  • Thirty-Two Words for Field, Manchán Magan

Traditions of Relational Knowing

  • The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, Mircea Eliade
  • The Nordic Animist Year, Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen (a calendar of the ways traditional Nordic peoples perceived time and seasons)
  • Ever Ancient, Ever New, Dolores Whelan (a similar calendar of ways of some Celtic peoples)

Divination and Dreams

  • The Art of Lucid Dreaming: 60 Powerful Practices to Help You Wake Up in Your Dreams, Clare R. Johnson
  • The I Ching, or Book of Changes, Richard Wilhelm (Translator)
  • The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination, Robert Place

The Feminine and the Masculine

  • Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes, Elizabeth Lesser
  • The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine, Sophie Strand
  • If Women Rose Rooted: A Journey to Authenticity and Belonging, Sharon Blackie
  • Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Articles

films & videos

The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers. This beloved 1988 PBS series, mythologist Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers explore what enduring myths can tell us about our lives.

podcast episodes

from Wake Up, Human:

teachers & organizations

  • Purpose Guides Institute. Offers programs to guide one’s inquiry into the realm of soul, intuitition, and the imaginal realm, to find meaning and purpose within the force of nature that is our human life. 
  • The Trailblazery. A community initiative out of Ireland that seeks to ignite a renaissance of awakening through of language learning, cultural storytelling, and mythic imagination.

May it be of benefit.

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.

~ Joseph Campbell

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.