King of Valentines: Saturday Symbol Fairy 2/16/13

This week's symbol is an obvious one given the Valentines Day holiday but it's also a perfect tie-in to the recent discovery of the body of King Richard III: roses.
Roses are a common symbol of love and beauty. However, in various other cultures, the rose also represent fertility, purity, innocence, youth and paradise. In Sufi, specifically, the rose flower symbolizes life's pleasures and the thorns its pains. In many languages, the word "rose" means pink or red. It is the national flower of England.

Moo-ving In: Saturday Symbol Fairy 2/9/13

Thanks to our little fish pond, we get all kinds of wild visitors at the house: deer, coyotes, rabbits, birds, snakes, lizards, butterflies, tarantula hawks (very frightening three-inch long glossy black wasps with bright orange wings) and cows. Yes, wild cows. New Mexico is a fence-out rather than fence-in state so every now and then, we end up with someone's cows wandering through our front lawn. This week, however, the cow that stopped by decided to stay. The owner knows she is here but she is incredibly shy and with 25-acres to roam, she is impossible to find purposefully. In her honor, today's symbol is the cow.
The cow is a symbol of mother earth, female power and nurturing. It is a lunar symbol and therefore associated with creation, nourishment and rebirth. In Hindu culture, the cow is sacred and symbolizes fertility and plenty as well as strength and life.

In Sickness and In Health: the Return of the Saturday Symbol Fairy

The mule deer that visit our pond appear unconcerned by the curse of Cthulhu (statue on far left)

The craziness of life (and my sweetie being home) sent the symbol fairy into hibernation during the holidays but, at long last, the Saturday Symbol Fairy is back...sort of. I feel more dead than alive. I am miserably sick. Have been all week. With strep throat no less. Ugh. Yet thanks to lots of rest, and tea, and doggy love along with some much-needed antibiotics, I am on the mend. So to go with the theme, this week's post is on health. Only I am doing things backwards. Instead of explaining the multiple meanings of a single symbol, I am listing some, but not all, of the items that symbolize good health.
The most obvious symbol of health is the Rod of Asclepius, the serpent-entwined rod wielded by the Greek god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicine. Relatedly, snakes are a symbol of healing but in a dual expression of both helping and harming. Other symbols of good health from around the world are apples, peaches, deer, the color pink, the Elder tree (Celtic), the crane (Japanese), and the tortoise (Chinese). And on the subject of good health, here's to yours!

Autumn's Herald: Saturday Symbol Fairy 9/29/12

Here in New Mexico, autumn is heralded not by a riotous change in the colors of tree leaves but by an abundant outcropping of roadside flowers such as purple aster and sunflowers.

The Spanish name for a sunflower is girasol meaning "turn to the sun," based on the fact the flower's face does exactly that. And so, a sunflower symbolizes the faithful love of God as well as loyalty, adoration and optimism. Because the flower itself looks like a sun, it also represents warmth and happiness.

Of Friends and Lemons: Saturday Symbol Fairy 9/22/12

Today is a day of visitors. First, a few guests will be at my house then after hours and hours of dance and rehearsal, I'll be (stamina-willing) off to see an old friend. Whenever I attend a party, I try to bring, or I'm required to bring, my family's passed-down version of lemon bars. There is truly no better way to say thanks and I love you than the flaky, tangy and sweet deliciousness of lemon custard baked on top of a sugary pastry.

So, therefore, lemon is this weeks symbol! Lemon represents fidelity in love as well as purity, longevity and friendship. A perfect token of hospitality and appreciation!

Saturday Symbol Fairy 8/25/12

Last Sunday, Nia, my corgi-cattledog and I attended "Woofstock" in Edgewood, NM. It was a celebration of and benefit for local dog rescue organizations. I'd heard there would also be agility demonstrations which is one of the reasons we went but sadly, if there was, we missed them. Nia is a rescue herself. I adopted her in Georgia from a group that had saved her one day from euthanization. Nia is such a fun friend, she makes every day special. I can't imagine if the world and I had been denied her presence because someone gave her up to a kill shelter. Being a cross of two herding breeds, Nia is incredibly obsessive. I can't bring her to any ball-based sporting event or she spends the entire time trying to get the ball and barking if she can't. And she adores coursing! Here is one of her coursing runs at the Society for Creative Anarchronism's Estrella War a few years back:

Night before last, in her obsessive need to find any and all creatures hiding in our woodshed, Nia somehow managed to take a huge chunk out of her toe. Poor thing. She bled everywhere. Then, because she sleeps with me, she kept me up half the night trying to remove the bandage I'd made her. So, in her honor, this week I am sharing the symbolism of dogs.
Dogs symbolize fidelity, vigilance and nobility. People born in the Year of the Dog, according to the Chinese Zodiac, are thought to be honest, affectionate, fair and open-minded. In Christian art, the image of a dog depicted at the feet or in the lap of a wedded woman represents faithfulness in marriage. One of the most well-know dogs is Sirius, Orion the Hunter's constant companion, a principal character in Greek mythology and astronomy. Dogs are also associated with the dead, thought to both accompany the soul to the next world and symbolize departed spirits. Some African cultures believe dogs are able to see into the spirit world. Various hounds show up in Celtic mythology, leading heroes in and out of the Underworld or hunting the souls of the dead across the night sky. Celtic lore often connects hounds to the sea (a symbol of the afterlife). This is seen in King Arthur's hound, Cabal who chased Twrch Trwyth into the ocean, the hounds of the sea god Mannanan, Aine's stone which attracted all the mad dogs of Ireland who then fell into the ocean, and Queen Nehellenia, a goddess worshipped at the point where travelers crossed the North Sea from the Netherlands, who is often portrayed with a dog by her side. Dogs are further affiliated with healing because they lick their wounds. Let's hope that works in Nia's favor, granting her a speedy recovery.

 

Shepherd, Rowena and Rupert. 1000 Symbols. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2002.
Ferguson, George. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. New York: Oxford, 1959.

 

Saturday Symbol Fairy 8/18/12

We've had several crazy storms at my house this past week so I'm paying tribute to the power and beauty of nature by discussing the symbolism of lightning.

Lightning symbolizes sudden illumination and the loss of ignorance. It can also represent destructive or creative power as well as angry intervention or retribution by the gods. This is seen in the Tarot, where lightning is interpreted as a sign of divine presence. Similarly symbolic, thunderbolts are a common attribute of many sky gods, embodied in the S-shaped motif on the clothes of the Romano-Celtic sun or sky dieties and in Thor's hammer.

On a related personal note, my sweetie of twenty-two years uses a lightning bolt as a maker's mark and as the division on his Society for Creative Anachronism heraldry.

He chose this emblem because of a scar he's had on his forehead for as long as he can remember. Imagine our surprise when we first learned of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter! Given its meaning, a lightning bolt is the perfect symbol of Harry Potter's adventure and his dealings with Lord Voldemort. And my sweetie? I wonder...

Saturday Symbol Fairy 8/11/12

Having spent all week working on the main illustration of my “Saint George and the Dragon” manuscript, I decided today’s symbol would be the Dragon. The word “dragon” in ancient Greek means “snake.” Many dragon images, past and present, are endowed with snake-like looks and qualities. In Greek mythology, there are many different types of dragons including several that are snake-based like the Hydra and Python, of water and of earth, respectively. In western cultures, dragons are often associated with evil but in East Asia, they are commonly considered beneficiary. The dragon’s ability to fly and breathe fire may stem from an origin belief that meteorites were dragons streaking through the sky. The link between dragons and meteors is strengthened by the Celtic story of King Arthur in which Uther took the surname Pendragon (“chief-dragon”) after he saw a dragon-shaped comet (although some say it was his elder brother who saw it). According to Carl Jung, winged dragons represent the transcendent symbolism of the snake and the bird. Combine that with either water, another transcendent symbol, or fire, a destructive symbol, and the dragon becomes the epitome of transcendence. But a dragon can also symbolize primal force, destruction, devouring, as well as wisdom and longevity (in Oriental culture).

I have always loved dragons. I wore a dragon head pendent for years and decorated my room extensively in dragon art. As a teenager, I was lucky enough to be the subject of a dragon-based illustration by my good friend and incredible artist, Robin Wood. That portrait became later became a Dragon Magazine cover!

Jung, Carl G., ed. Man and his Symbols. London: Aldus Books, 1964.
Shepherd, Rowena and Rupert. 1000 Symbols. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2002.

The birth of the Saturday Symbol Fairy

I chose to start my "symbol a week" posts on 8-4-12 because it is such a phenomenally-appropriate numerological date. Eight is my absolute favorite number and is also a symbol of perseverance, goals and earthly wisdom. Four is symbolic of solidity, stability, and foundation. Twelve is the sum of both so it lends a sense of completion. Why chose to post as a  "symbol fairy?" Well, it seemed appropriate. It ties into the gifting or bestowing of something on another. Plus I've had a run of fairy-oriented events in the last few weeks, so it fits.

And the first ever symbol? A tree! The symbol of evolution, physical growth or psychological maturation, rebirth, longevity or immortality, wisdom, strength, protection, fertility, offspring, agriculture, sacrifice, resurrection, temple, cross, pillar, hope, mother figure, and center of the world. Like all symbols, it can have additional cultural and archaic connotations specific to each person. The symbolism of a tree is not new to anyone who has taken a workshop from me but it is the most appropriate start to this endeavor of mine since I am Sarah SHADE after all...