Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional SymbolsIn nearly 1500 entries, many of them strikingly and often surprisingly illustrated, J. C. Cooper has documented the history and evolution of symbols from prehistory to our own day. With over 200 illustrations and lively, informative and often ironic texts, she discusses and explains an enormous variety of symbols extending from the Arctic to Dahomey, from the Iroquois to Oceana, and coming from systems as diverse as Tao, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Tantra, the cult of Cybele and the Great Goddess, the Pre-Columbian religions of the Western Hemisphere and the Voodoo cults of Brazil and West Africa. |
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Common terms and phrases
Alchemic Amerindian androgyne aniconic animal Apollo apotropaic aspect associated attribute axis mundi bird Buddha Buddhist bull celestial Celtic centre chaos chariot Chinese Christ Christian chthonic circle colour Cosmic Egg Cosmic Tree creation creative cross crown Cybele darkness dead death deities denotes depicts Dionysos disk divine dragon eagle Egyptian emblem of SS eternal evil fecundity feminine principle fertility fire flower four funerary goddess gods GraecoRoman Greek head heaven and earth Hebrew hence Hindu Hinduism Holy horns horse immortality Islamic Japanese light lion longevity lotus lunar magic male man’s manifestation Marduk masculine Mithra Mithraic moon Mother nature Osiris Paradise perfection phallic pillar portrayed prima materia primordial psychopomp purity Qabalism Queen rebirth represents resurrection rites Roman sacred sacrifice Scandinavian serpent shares the symbolism signifies Siva solar soul spiritual Spring stones SumeroSemitic swastika Taoist temple thunder underworld unity universe Virgin Vishnu waters winged wisdom Zeus Zodiac