Symbolica

You appear in perfection on the horizon of Heaven,
A living disk, the origin of Life!
From the moment that You rise in the eastern skies You fill all beauty with Your beauty;
You are abundance, You are great and shining, rising above the land.

The Great Hymn to Aton,

The Living Wisdom of Ancient Egypt
Christian Jacq

Invite some warmth into your life with the aid of the sun. If you are feeling depressed, melancholic, or dark- the light, warmth and vibrancy that the symbol of the sun invokes will be an extremely helpful tonic. Employ this symbol when kicking off a new project or idea or perhaps when a relationship requires a fresh approach (remember your last holiday in the sun?) It is especially helpful when action is required as the sun is usually associated with new growth, energy and vitality. The sun is nourishing and life supporting- without it most living things would not survive.

I was recently given the symbol of the Sun to use in my Symbol Therapy work (see previous two posts) and found it of immense value to cut through some of my oldest, saddest and darkest thoughts. For me, carrying the image of a particularly magical sunrise in my mind, and recalling the warmth of the sun shining through my window on a cold winters’ day, then breathing these elements through my body and mind daily, was just the trick to get some old stuff moving.

If you are creating magic through ritual, you may like to enhance your sun symbol with other symbols or elements which are connected in some way, either traditionally or personally- for instance you may wish to use the symbol of a LION (Sun rules the astrological sign of LEO) or these natural substances were believed by the ancient magicians to be ruled by the sun- amber, hyacinth, topaz & chrysolite.

In ancient Egypt the Menet bird was a swallow Martin or swift. It appeared to be a ‘day greeting bird’ which announced the dawn and the sun’s approach- Some species of the birds built their nests in holes in the cliffs bordering the Nile- they emerge at dawn and return at sunset. You could use a similar approach if you didn’t wish to be too literal with your depiction of the sun, or if you wish to add more meaning to your sun symbol ie: depicting a bird with a sun disk behind it.

There are a huge array of symbols that have been used to depict the sun, from the ancient planetary sign of the sun , to eagles, winged or plumed serpents, the dragon of China. There are some lovely old glyphs from many different cultures. Go to Symbols.com if you are interested in taking a look. It’s a wonderful site full of so many signs, glyphs and symbols.

The sun has been worshiped and revered as ‘The heart of the Universe’ and ‘Destroyer of darkness’.

In many cultures the sun is associated with masculine energy, the complimentary other to the feminine qualities of the moon – The Yang to the moon’s Yin. Though in the Japanese tradition, for instance, the sun is a lady and a snake divinity Amaterasu’ she who possesses the great sun’.

The Egyptian sun god, Ra or Re was considered the creator of the world. God of birth and rebirth because he was reborn with the birth of each new day.

There is no visible thing, in the world, more worthy to serve as a symbol of God than the sun,
which illuminates with visible life, first itself,
then all the celestial and mundane bodies.- DANTE

My husband bought me a beautiful amber pendant for my birthday and I love it. I have always had a secret desire to own and work with a piece of amber, but felt that the time and circumstance had to be right. It was an interesting adventure when we went out shopping to find the right piece. I nearly succumbed to bracelets of beads or earrings because I thought they looked nice as jewellery. The picture in my mind though was of a single piece, one that I could develop a relationship with and use as an ally in my symbol work. The jewellery I’d seen so far just didn’t speak to me in the right way. Then I spotted a large irregular oval pendant and it was love at first site (though I dithered about the price).

Amber is beautiful (personal taste I realise- but I’m certainly not alone in thinking so), light, warm and natural. Each piece is interesting in it’s flawed state, whether it has insect inclusions or not. If you rub your amber until it is quite warm you should detect the faint aroma of pine. This act is a powerful way to connect you to the ancient pine forest from whence the amber originated, rather like listening to the sound of the sea in a shell.

Amber is the resin from coniferous trees dating back from between 60 to 90 million years ago!

If you contemplate the length of time your amber has existed on this earth, and how that makes you feel, you may begin to connect with the overwhelming longevity and power of earth itself. (which is considered by geologists today to be about 4.54 billion years old)

When rubbed amber becomes charged with static electricity and our modern word ‘electricity’ comes from the Greek name for yellow amber ‘electron’. It symbolises the psychic line between individual and cosmic energy.

Therefore it is excellent to use as an aide for any psychic work and connecting to the spirit world. Amber is very popular with people who work in the field of witchcraft.

Over history, many different cultures have had a variety of uses and associations for amber. Here is a link to a Andzia’s Amber Jewellery- quick facts about amber page, which contains lots more interesting cross cultural tidbits regarding amber. The most popular uses appear to be as amulets for protection, preservation and youthfulness. It has been closely associated with the sun, in fact it has been considered to be made of ’solidified sunbeams’ . It has also been employed for all kinds of medicinal purposes.

One of my favourite tidbits, which comes from The Dictionary of Symbolism, regarding amber is that the Chinese word for amber (hu-po) means ‘Tiger’s soul’ as it was believed that tigers sank into the earth upon death and transformed into amber.

Richard Busch has written an informative page with some good tips for detecting fake amber (which appears to be quite prevalent.)

So what might be a relevant reason to employ amber today?

• Spiritual work/psychic work/meditation- an aide to connection between yourself and Spirit/the cosmos/or God.
• Connection to the Earth (particularly the past)- through sensory perception.
• Connection to the sun and it’s energetic qualities- new beginnings/sunrise, warmth.
• A need for preservation- perhaps there is something in our lives that needs preserving. It could be a physical thing or it could be a memory. A good example could be using amber in a wedding ceremony.
• Desire for youthfulness- perhaps here rather than fighting the forces of nature and resisting the ageing process, we could link back to the energy of the sun. We could look at our internal youth, focussing on qualities like- play, silliness, laughter, joy, innocence. It could be a good amulet to give a youth as an acknowledgement of approaching adulthood, accompanied by the encouragement of maintaining some of their youthful qualities.
• Protection- I like to think of this as an ally or support in times that we may feel vulnerable or afraid. We all experience these times and to have something or someone familiar to you on hand when you need them is of great importance. To work with an object that has been employed by many in the past for the same purpose will add to its power and effectiveness.
• If you are a lover of the tiger as I am then you could use you amber to evoke the power of all those tiger spirits out there. Goodness knows what you could achieve with a power like that- just keep it friendly!

Oh wise, industrious little Honey Bee,
Buzzing away in your studio of creation.
Will you energise us with your song and nourish us with your honey?

The bee is a perfect symbol for artists of all kinds. It’s dual nature symbolises not only the material but also the spiritual aspect of life.

Working with the symbol of the bee can be especially helpful for someone who is feeling listless or uninspired creatively. Contemplating the bee can encourage us to let go of our egos in order to return to the flow of creative activity.

The bee symbol is a good reminder that our works of art can nourish and sustain our community as well as ourselves.

Because of the major role of the queen bee and the thousands of female ‘workers’, the bee has long been associated with the feminine aspects of nature. Therefore she can be used to develop the creative feminine aspects within us all.

Historically the bee has been employed by many cultures. The ancient Egyptians used the bee symbol within their hieroglyphs to depict royalty. Incidentally in my research I found that the honey bee would also be a good symbol for any women out there called Melissa, as the name has a Greek origin meaning ‘honey bee’.

What sets the honey bee apart from insects like the equally industrious ant, is it’s ability to fly, it’s very important flower pollinating duties, and the act of distilling honey from the nectar of flowers.

The bee is equally revered for it’s collective work within the hive as well as it’s individual qualities.
As an individual she has been used to symbolise the vital principle, and is an incarnate of the soul.

“Busy as a Bee”
“Working bee”
“A bee in your bonnet”
These relatively modern uses of the word ‘bee’ all invoke focussed and busy activity. Either working collectively or individually.