It’s a good time to deepen our understanding of the language of symbols. Symbols are universal and powerful. Where language can obfuscate, symbols penetrate the truth of what we mean. Nowadays, they’ve morphed into being a representation for a purpose or a feeling, but intuitively we know that actually they are the purpose or feeling. Just as symbols show up in dreams from our collective unconscious, so do they in our waking life. Red on a stop sign means stop because red wakes you up, makes you act … . do it now. A dog is ecstatic with joy at seeing you because their big heart is all about unconditional love. That’s their essential nature, and thus what they symbolize. Numbers have meaning and feeling, and archetypes do also, as do stories, plants, mythology … there’s nothing in our existence as humans that is not a symbol. That may be why I love tarot so much—it is a distillation of so much that Carl Jung and later humanistic psychologists studied and wrote about. As we become more global, more utterly interconnected in protecting our planet, and increasingly empathetic, symbols are vital to communication, intuition, and understanding. The best way to learn more about them is to start noticing them–in dreams, cards, stars, and daily life.
