Nancy Terrell
Current Gallery: symbolism ( piece)
I have always loved Symbolism and feel that if we try to understand the many symbols that are used within our culture we will have a much better grasp of the meaning implied. Symbolism actually began as the earliest form of writing, which would have been in pictures that illustrated the concept of the writer. For a better understanding of this please Google the Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations and look at their cunniform writing and hieroglyphics. In the 1980s I had the opportunity to visit and to climb most of the Mayan Temples in Mexico and Central America. Images of the snake were everywhere on their petraglyphs. In fact, all ancient peoples reveared the snake as holy and regenerative as the snake is ever re-born as it sheds its skin. When resting it will often curl up into a figure eight which is the symbol for immortality. Before Christianity lamblasted the poor snake and made it stand for evil, it was the symbol for all spiritual rebirth and also the symbol for woman - who gave birth to all; hence Mother Earth, Mother Mary son of God (used in the Catholic rosary, and so forth. The snake also symbolized great wisdom - this is evident as all ancient rulers had staff that were shaped like snakes. When you cut an apple in half you will find that it contains five points - like a star - which actually symbolizes life. The head is at the top with two arms further down and two legs at the bottom - exactly as Leonardo da Vinci's drawing of the universal human. (below left) We have all heard and used the expression, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." This expression is based on a very old superstition, and is one of many associated with apples. You have probably also held an apple in one hand and twisted the stem while reciting the alphabet to ascertain the initial of that "special someone" - the apple of our eye. Most of us have gotten happy feet and sung along with the Andrews Sisters "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me." In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, we are moved by the gracious and dignified austerity of Hester Prynne's declaration that "A is for Apple." There is a very long tradition of prediction and divination with apples. A great many of them, of course, are associated with love and relationships. * Apples were once considered to be the food of the gods; if you cut an apple in half crosswise, the center is revealed to be a five-pointed star. * Apples and apple trees are symbolic of the guarantee of immortality in Irish tradition, and the apple tree is universally esteemed as a holy tree. * The expression "apple of the eye" has biblical origins, and means the pupil of the eye and something or someone that is very precious and in need of protection. (Deuteronomy 32:10, Proverbs 7:2, Lamentations 2:18, Zechariah 2:8) * Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. (Psalm 17:8) Carl Jung interpreted the apple as a symbol of life. Apples were also sacred to the goddess Venus and symbolized her; she "was worshipped on one half of the apple as the evening star Hesper...and as Lucifer, son of morning, on the other." Other symbols that I use in my are are as follows : * The triangle that is wider at the top represents woman - two breasts and further down her genitals * The triangle that is wider at the bottom represents man with an erect penis therefore creating, with the woman the miracle that we know as birth. * The two interlocking triangles, the symbol of Solomon or the Jewish triangle represent the Hierogamas or sacred marriage of all things male and female - yin/yang . * Likewise, all circular objects are seen to be female while all straight lines are male * Circles also represent the womb or wholeness aparent in life; crosses indicate the four seasons, directions, winds and all things represented by four in our world.
I have always loved Symbolism and feel that if we try to understand the many symbols that are used within our culture we will have a much better grasp of the meaning implied. Symbolism actually began as the earliest form of writing, which would have been in pictures that illustrated the concept of the writer. For a better understanding of this please Google the Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations and look at their cunniform writing and hieroglyphics. In the 1980s I had the opportunity to visit and to climb most of the Mayan Temples in Mexico and Central America. Images of the snake were everywhere on their petraglyphs. In fact, all ancient peoples reveared the snake as holy and regenerative as the snake is ever re-born as it sheds its skin. When resting it will often curl up into a figure eight which is the symbol for immortality. Before Christianity lamblasted the poor snake and made it stand for evil, it was the symbol for all spiritual rebirth and also the symbol for woman - who gave birth to all; hence Mother Earth, Mother Mary son of God (used in the Catholic rosary, and so forth. The snake also symbolized great wisdom - this is evident as all ancient rulers had staff that were shaped like snakes. When you cut an apple in half you will find that it contains five points - like a star - which actually symbolizes life. The head is at the top with two arms further down and two legs at the bottom - exactly as Leonardo da Vinci's drawing of the universal human. (below left) We have all heard and used the expression, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." This expression is based on a very old superstition, and is one of many associated with apples. You have probably also held an apple in one hand and twisted the stem while reciting the alphabet to ascertain the initial of that "special someone" - the apple of our eye. Most of us have gotten happy feet and sung along with the Andrews Sisters "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me." In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, we are moved by the gracious and dignified austerity of Hester Prynne's declaration that "A is for Apple." There is a very long tradition of prediction and divination with apples. A great many of them, of course, are associated with love and relationships. * Apples were once considered to be the food of the gods; if you cut an apple in half crosswise, the center is revealed to be a five-pointed star. * Apples and apple trees are symbolic of the guarantee of immortality in Irish tradition, and the apple tree is universally esteemed as a holy tree. * The expression "apple of the eye" has biblical origins, and means the pupil of the eye and something or someone that is very precious and in need of protection. (Deuteronomy 32:10, Proverbs 7:2, Lamentations 2:18, Zechariah 2:8) * Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. (Psalm 17:8) Carl Jung interpreted the apple as a symbol of life. Apples were also sacred to the goddess Venus and symbolized her; she "was worshipped on one half of the apple as the evening star Hesper...and as Lucifer, son of morning, on the other." Other symbols that I use in my are are as follows : * The triangle that is wider at the top represents woman - two breasts and further down her genitals * The triangle that is wider at the bottom represents man with an erect penis therefore creating, with the woman the miracle that we know as birth. * The two interlocking triangles, the symbol of Solomon or the Jewish triangle represent the Hierogamas or sacred marriage of all things male and female - yin/yang . * Likewise, all circular objects are seen to be female while all straight lines are male * Circles also represent the womb or wholeness aparent in life; crosses indicate the four seasons, directions, winds and all things represented by four in our world.
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