“It is the heart that gives birth to all knowledge” – this is a common trait that runs in many traditional cultures, ranging from Ancient Egypt to Islam.
Indeed, ancient cultures thought that the heart, instead of the brain, commanded the rest of the body. In Ancient Egypt the heart was the place from which understanding, will and emotions would come from.
The heart in the Bible is “being from within”. Whilst man sees with his eyes, God sees the heart (First Book of Samuel XVI, 7). In India, the heart is where Atman lies – he is the absolute in Mankind. In Islam, it is in the shrouded heart, protected by many veils, where spirituality and contemplation live.
In our current societies the heart no longer represents the center of being but merely the center of emotions.
Now you take the floor: what do you associate with the heart?
The egg, seen as containing the seed that will give birth to manifestation, runs in all cultures. Indeed the birth of the world from an egg exists in the Celtic, Greek, Egyptian, Phoenician, Tibetan, Chinese, Hindus and Japanese traditions.
It is the process of how this egg evolves that changes from place to place. In Ancient Egypt as well as in China, the egg is spit by a mythical animal and represents the manifestation of the verb. In Hinduism, the egg is born from primeval waters and when it cracks it creates the earth and the sky.
Mircea Eliade, who worked on symbols, sees in all these traditions a common streak - that the egg is an image of totality, usually appearing as the first principle after chaos.
Now you take the floor, what do you associate with the egg?
Even though today the mask is often evoked for dissimulation and deceit, it is interesting to see that it also conveys very different meanings according the different societies as well as different periods of human history.
In the West, the mask has often been used to veil the true identity of a person: hence the use of it during the carnival where people from different social ladders could mingle and do things that – had their identity been revealed – would cause their disgrace. Another interesting example of this can be found in Ancient Rome: the mask, called “persona”, was the social mask needed in order to shield the individual from society.
In the other hand, in Greece as well as in Japan, the mask is not conceived for veiling the identity but rather to replace it. Indeed, masks are used in theater in order to create the catharsis in the public – meaning : to waken in us the deepest and truest emotions.
Hence the ambiguity of the mask – from shield to mirror of truth.
Now you take the floor: what do you associate with the mask?
The serpent is a symbolic animal that has an extremely ambiguous, often contradictory, interpretation.
It is such a rich symbol that it would be impossible to trace here all of its meanings.
Yet, to penetrate in the general symbolism of the serpent, it’s important to understand that this animal is often conceived in opposition (either to another animal - which can be the bird) or to itself. The serpent contains then both light and darkness, good and evil, life and death, the masculine and the feminine.
Having this in mind, maybe it’s normal that we first assimilate the serpent to the Ouroboros, the tail-devouring snake: being the beginning (”materia prima”) and the end (the spirit), androgynous as well as unique and multiple.
It was also believed that the Ouroboros would rest at the base of the world - at the conjunction of chaos and cosmos, the unseen and the manifest.
Now you take the floor: what do you associate with the serpent?
The ring is traditionally the symbol of eternity and of perfection.
In ancient times in Greece and in Rome, only men of great value could use iron rings. Gold rings would in turn only be used by priests of Jupiter and later on warriors.
In the middle ages, the ring symbolized not only marriage but it was also used as a sort of amulet capable of healing those who would wear it. Dead people would also be ridden of their rings so that they could enter the heavens, unburdened by their human condition.
Rings have also caught the imagination since antiquity for their magical powers. Plato in his book The Republic mentions the story of a shepherd called Gyges that found a ring that would turn him invisible. Gyges, given this tremendous power manages to seduce the queen of Lydia and overthrow the king.
Now you take the floor – what do you associate with the ring?
For the ancient Greeks, the rose originated from the death of Adonis, the lover of Aphrodite (Venus). It was believed that his blood made the very first red roses. Since then, roses became the symbol of love, able to overcome death and announcing reincarnation.
In other words, the process of psychic initiation that is described by this story indicates that after the death of the ego and the descent into hell, the rose symbolizes the possibility of spiritual rebirth under the compassionate eye of God. But this love reveals itself through the goddess. No wonder then that Christianity attributed the symbol of the rose to the Virgin Mary.
The rose also symbolizes discretion given that during dyonisiac parties, the guests were invited to use rose crowns that were believed to prevent them of getting drunk. From this belief came the expression “sub rosa” in Latin that means – “under silence”.
Now you take the floor, what do you associate with the rose?
