A Dictionary of Symbols [Hardcover]

Juan Eduardo Cirlot (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 477 pages
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Books; 2 edition (April 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880297026
• ISBN-13: 978-0880297028
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #612,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sacred way of looking at the outer world, January 24, 2004

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Dictionary of Symbols (Hardcover)

This is one of the most frequently used and most deeply pondered works of my permanent collection. It is, in my humble opinion, the best single volume on the subject of symbols and symbolism written in modern times.

Symbolism is a sacred way of looking at the outer world. It is a way of connecting the outer and inner worlds. A materialist sees, let's say an eagle, and simply sees a bird, while a symbolist sees an eagle and sees a message, a lesson, or a sermon. To the symbolist, the eagle also represents height, spirit, the sun, nobility, power, the lion of the air, etc. The symbolist doesn't totally ignore the materialist and mundane aspect of the eagle, he just realises that there is immeasurably MORE behind it.

The introduction of this book is an excellent essay of the symbolist mind-set. It covers symbolism in platonic thought, hermetism, renaissance thought, alchemy, heraldry, dream symbolism, as well as, the views of Goethe, Saunier, Bele, Guenon, Eliade, Scheider, and, of course, Jung.

The body of the book is in dictionary form with concise but comprehensive descriptions of topics from a historic and multi-cultural viewpoint. This is assisted by the many excellent line drawings, as well as, two sections of carefully chosen black and white photographs.

This is a book of correspondenses, of resonance, of the common rythym that connects things with a higher, sacred place. You learn that there are immeasurable depths to creation- and that you have merely been skipping across the surface of that creation like a stone across deep waters....