Towers

On my morning walk through Osterville, one of the houses near the beach had its tower lit up. I began thinking about towers and they convey ascent, the link between heaven and earth, man, strength, power, purity, aspiration (especially toward God), phallus, height, and the supreme deity. Probably the most famous tower in the world picture to the left is the Eiffel Tower.

Symbol of the Frog

I have been reading a great book right now called "Empowering your Soul through Meditation" and on page 84 there is a story about two frogs who spent their life in a well. One day one of the frogs jumped out ot the well and disappeared. He was gone for several days, and when he returned, the other frog asked him where he had been. "There is such a whole big world out there beyond the well," said the first frog to the second frog, and he began to describe all the sights and sounds he saw and heard. "You must be making all this up," said the second frog. "There is nothing but this well. You are imagining all the things you have told me. If there was all the those things you describe, then surely you would be here in the well. I have not seen them. They cannot possibly exist." The frog conveys fecundity, fertility, resurrection, lasciviousness, related to the moon, creation, and coldness. 

Saint Nicholas Symbols

December 6th is the feast day of Saint Nicholas. His life, for the most part, is a mystery but we know he was the bishop of Myra (now Mugla in southwestern Turkey) during the fourth century. He is known as a bishop of loving kindness and there are many legends associated with him. He is said to have saved three girls from prostitution by providing three gold bags for dowries, three unjustly condemned men from death and rescued three sailors from drowning (thus the image we saw last month.) In all cases, three is a symbol of the trinity (Father, Son and Holy Ghost.) Many of his patronages come from these stories and the most popular are his patronage of children. In the Low Countries (Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg), he associated with giving presents to children on his feast day. This is the basis of the modern Santa Claus. In Dutch settlements of North America, he was known as Santa Claus and it was merged with Scandinavian folklore tales about a wizard who rewarded good children with presents.