1 post tagged “symbolism”

Back to fish. In my post on 12/8, I was discussing my inexplicable affinity for drawing fish. As I mentioned, my friend Kelton Osborn has also been drawn to fish. (Hmmm....draw, drawn. Just looked it up, and "draw" is from the Latin root duco, ducere meaning lead or draw. Draw has many, many meanings. But I digress.)

My sister thoughtfully sent me an entry from an online symbolism dictionary, in the hopes of clarifying the fish attraction. Here are some of the highlights:

"The symbolic nature of fish is as inseparable from that of WATER as the two are connected in life. In psychology, water symbolizes the depths of the unconscious, and fish are the "live material from the depths of the personality, relating to fertility and the life-giving powers of the maternal realms within us" (Biederman, 131). Yet fish are also cold-blooded, not driven by passion, and often represent such emotionless entities.

Can also be seen as wisdom, faith, freedom, wholeness and purity. The symbol of the cosmic philosophy of Tao is yin-yang. This symbol is also popular with New Age followers and shows a couple of fish, Yin and Yang, where Yin's eye is in the Yang fish, and Yang's eye is in the Yin fish. In Japan, the fish means well-being, happiness and freedom. It is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols used in Buddhism imported from China. The fish symbolises living in a state of fearlessness, without danger of drowning in the ocean of sufferings, and migrating from place to place freely and spontaneously."

So that's helpful. Depending on my mood, I can be concerned that I might be an emotionless entity, or be comforted by the knowledge that I'm not in danger of drowning in the ocean of sufferings.

Kelton, my very talented architect/designer/artist friend, was kind enough to send me the darkly beautiful fish lithographs included in this post. Obviously, the smiley pen-and-ink fish is mine.