The Value of Symbology

A symbol is that which in some sense stands for or represents something else. All things, without exception, can only be known through their expressions. These expressions are symbolic of the essence of the thing itself. Nature is full of the most wonderful symbology: dawn has a quite different quality to the bright sun of midday; spring stands in sharp contrast to autumn; a rose, with its beautiful bloom and its thorns is distinct from the lotus, with its watery environment and its roots in mud. It is because of the richness of natural symbols that they play such an important part in all stories of whatever kind. Cold and heat, smoothness and thorniness, light and dark, are all qualitatively different. They have a natural symbolism that springs from these innate qualities.

From one point of view all of the Cosmos is symbolic of its Divine origin. Similarly Man, in all his complexity, is described as a likeness of God.

Homer’s Odyssey often talks of “the rosy-fingered dawn” and “the wine-dark sea”. Here the poet is using natural symbols. The storms faced by Odysseus are again natural, even if sent by an angry god, but their symbolism speaks also of Odysseus’s inner journey as well as his outer odyssey. The olive tree at the place where Odysseus lands on Ithaca is traditionally a symbol of Athena; here we have a combination of all that an olive tree might represent along with the traditional connection with the goddess of wisdom.

Symbols are of great value in ordinary life, from the signage on maps and streets to the very words we use to communicate. Symbols are of vital importance in the interpretive arts that seek the truth presented in myth, religion and mysticism. There is nothing that does not have symbolic significance in some sense. Even the simplest of things may be symbolic of the most profound of mysteries. The ‘Mother of God’ has been described as “The Mystic Rose”. The simplest of geometric forms, the circle, may suggest within this simplicity, the nature of Eternity Itself. Anything, whether natural or man-made, contains within itself an unending symbolic potentiality that can carry the subtle mind from the thing itself to the deepest mystery of the origin of all things. Although the simple faith of a child may rightly see the presence of God in the beauty of a daffodil, the art of interpretation of symbols is one that is life-long; and this particular cup, like the horn offered to the god Thor by the giants, is one that can never be drained.

The wonder tales presented on this site are chosen because their symbology has a richness that deserves study and celebration. In pondering the symbols of certain myths and tales we may find ourselves, as it were, walking on sacred ground. These stories are not merely stories, but when approached in the right spirit can lead us to a deeper and fuller appreciation of the extraordinary mystery of creation, its source and the place of mankind within it.