Archetypal Symbolism

Blood

• Life itself

• Divine life

• Magic powers

• Close ties with guilt

• Often represents the end—beginning

Leaf

• Green leaf depicts hope

• Dead leaves—decay and sadness

• “Turning over a new leaf”—start anew

Darkness

• Chaos

• Death and Destruction

• Emblem of bad judgment

• The end of the world

• The Prince of Darkness is the Devil.

Hair

• Symbolizes strength and virility (strength)

• Female seduction or attraction

• Disheveled hair—sign of bereavement

• Free flowing hair—loose and free

Hand

• Strength, power, and protection

• Guilt or healing

• Generosity and hospitality

• Peace

Tree

• Feminine; nourishing; sheltering image of the Great Mother, rooted in the earth and reaching toward the heavens—evocative of eternity

• Tree of Life

• Tree of Knowledge

Cave

• Symbolic of Heart

• A place where the Self and Ego unite

• Entering a cave is entering the womb of Mother Earth

Water

• Birth, Fertility, and Refreshment

• Symbolizing a purification of the Soul

Moon• Immortality• Eternity• Dark side of Nature herself• Inner Knowledge• Middle ground between the light of the sun

and the darkness of night• Symbol of the Soul• Maturity and Pregnancy• Waning moon represents the declining of life

—sleep

Lightening• Sudden illumination and destruction

of ignorance• In dreams, the lightening bolt is an

image of sudden and terrible events• A form of divine message• Phallic relations• Lightening as liberating the Soul