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I feel a little bit like an elementary school teacher: OK, everyone, we're going to learn to read Minoan art!
We're all a bit past elementary school, but learning to understand the iconography of any ancient culture is a big step toward understanding their religion and worldview. Iconography is the set of symbols (icons) that have meaning in religious art.
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"I know the pond in which all the little children lie, waiting till the storks come to take them to their parents."
-Hans Christian Andersen, "The Storks"
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I own about a dozen books dedicated to symbolism, and (surprisingly) only one addresses the symbolism of nakedness. I thought for sure that Barbara Walker's Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects would address the topic--or even The Book of Symbols by Taschen.
Alas, no.
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Over three years ago, I made a post here called The Evolution and Re-Interpretation of Symbols (or, The Coffee Tarot Leaves Me Cold). Click here to read that post.
You may recall that someone said to me:
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Just got done watching a powerful video featuring Jim Carrey and his painting process (yes, that Jim Carrey).
One of the things he said struck a chord with me:
...Tonight Canada had a moment kind of like the moon landing or Woodstock or JFK's assassination. Years from now we'll be telling our grandchildren where we were when we watched The Tragically Hip's farewell concert.
Yeah, you probably don't even know who they are, do you? At the most you're scratching your heads and muttering, "Yeah, that's some Canadian band, right?" Yeah, okay, you're right, and you're horribly wrong too. For about thirty years the Hip has been writing Canada's soundtrack for life. We often wondered why they never seemed to catch anywhere outside of our big-but-small country, especially since they would fill every stadium to standing room only when they played in any major Canadian city. But now we know the answer. It's because they're as Canadian as mounties, beavers and inukshuks; as Montreal steak and poutine; as curling and lacrosse and hockey. Probably it's just that no one else but us could fully appreciate them.
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“We are a society built on signs and symbols. Our ancestors recognized their significance, assembling powerful messages around the signs and symbols they noted in their surroundings. They looked to Mother Nature for inspiration, and they then took this to another level, choosing shapes and signs and turning them into physical symbols that they could use in sacred rites and rituals.” – From Discovering Signs and Symbols: Unlock the Secrets and Meanings of These Ancient Figures by Kirsten Riddle (Ryland Peters & Small, 2015)
From the triangle to the clover, the caduceus to the Eye of Horus, signs, shapes and symbols permeate our social, religious, artistic and commercial landscape. Recognizing such symbols and tracing their origins is one thing (the crux of most symbol books), but incorporating them into a meaningful, enriching and personal context is quite another.
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