Hello, I'm looking for an excellent and respected online Symbol Dictionary that can be used both for dream work and for literary endeavors. Any recommendations? Thank you.
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Thank you for your suggestions. I am familiar with ARAS, but have not yet had a chance to look at Biedermann's Dictionary of Symbolism. I am going to check it out this next week and will let you know what I think. I am also going to do some more hands on writing with ARAS as a reference/guide. We'll see how it goes!
In response to your questions, I need references to use while writing--which is dealing with both established symbolic relationships and more evocative dream-like material. I am working with both objective and subjective material, but am not in a therapeutic setting. Thanks again for the feedback, and if you have any more ideas, please share!
I'd echo Mark and encourage you to join ARAS. Their online repository is remarkable and the work and approach to symbolism is so much richer and more deep than the sort that ends up in most reference works.
Can I ask your reasons for asking, though? Sometimes working with a dream symbol over time--instead of 'solving' it using a dictionary--can help you develop your own 'mythology,' so to speak. Meaning is sometimes made in those wrestlings...
I think you have walked into the "great debate" of Jungian and archetypal psychology. I suggest: find a good "dictionary" for literary endeavors but stick more closely to the human text in the way of dream work.
I would suggest avoiding symbol dictionaries. They often lead to forclosing on the meaning that is emerging within a dream and frequently leads to cookie cutter interpretations rather than dreamwork that is alive. My suggestion is to join the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism www.aras.org. It provides much more indepth research than the average symbol dictionary. The ARAS archive contains approximately 17,000 photographic images, each cross-indexed and accompanied by scholarly commentary. The commentary includes a description of the image with a cultural history that serves to place it in its unique historical and geographical setting. Often it also includes an archetypal commentary that brings the image into focus for its modern psychological and symbolic meaning, as well as a bibliography for related reading and a glossary of technical terms. They don't tell you "what an image means" but rather give you the tools to form your own conclusions.
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Thank you for your suggestions. I am familiar with ARAS, but have not yet had a chance to look at Biedermann's Dictionary of Symbolism. I am going to check it out this next week and will let you know what I think. I am also going to do some more hands on writing with ARAS as a reference/guide. We'll see how it goes!
In response to your questions, I need references to use while writing--which is dealing with both established symbolic relationships and more evocative dream-like material. I am working with both objective and subjective material, but am not in a therapeutic setting. Thanks again for the feedback, and if you have any more ideas, please share!
I'd echo Mark and encourage you to join ARAS. Their online repository is remarkable and the work and approach to symbolism is so much richer and more deep than the sort that ends up in most reference works.
Can I ask your reasons for asking, though? Sometimes working with a dream symbol over time--instead of 'solving' it using a dictionary--can help you develop your own 'mythology,' so to speak. Meaning is sometimes made in those wrestlings...