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CLIMATE
CLOAK
CLOCK
CLOUDS
CLOVER
CLOWN
COAL
COBWEB
COCK
COFFER
COLD
COLOUR
COLOUR (POSITIVE/NEGATIVE)
COLUM
COMB
COMPASSES
CONCORD
CONE
CONJUNCTION
CONSTELLATION
CORAL
CORNUCOPIA
Climate
The analogy between a state of mind and a given climate as expressed by the interplay between space, situation, the elements and temperature, as well as level-symbolism, is one of the most frequent of all analogies in literature. Nietzsche, for example, embarked upon a passionate quest for the true climate for the exact geographic location corresponding to the inner 'climate' of the thinker The universal value of pairs of opposites, such as high/low, dry/wet, clear/dark, is demonstrated in their continued use not only in physical and material but also in psychological, intellectual and spiritual matters.
Cloak
Within the symbolism of garments, the cloak is, on the one hand, the sign of superior dignity, and, on the other, of a veil cutting off a person from the world The cloak of Apollonius is an expression of the complete self-possession of the sage, isolating him from the instinctive currents that move the generality of mankind The actual position of the cloak is of great importance in determining the secondary symbolic meanings. For example the Heddernheim relief of Mithras slaying the bull has a cloak flying out in the wind like wings, thereby equating the hero and the victim with the celebrated alchemic marriage of the volatile with the fixed The material, adornments, colour and shape of the cloak add further shades of meaning. The two colours of the outside and the inside always correspond to a dual significance arising directly out of the symbolism of colours.
Clock
Like all circular forms incorporating a number of internal elements, the clock may be interpreted as a kind of mandala. Since the essence of the clock is to tell the time, the predominant symbolism is that of number. As a machine, the clock is related to the notions of 'perpetual motion', automata, mechanism and to the magical creation of beings that pursue their own autonomous existence.
Clouds
There are two principal aspects to cloud-symbolism: on the one hand they are related to the symbolism of mist, signifying the intermediate world between the formal and the non-formal; and on the other hand they are associated with the 'Upper Waters' the realm of the antique Neptune. The former aspect of the doud is symbolic of forms as phenomena and appearance, always in a state of metamorphosis, which obscure the immutable quality of higher truth The second aspect of clouds reveals their family connexion with fertility-symbolism and their analogous relationship with all that is destined to bring fecundity. Hence the fact that ancient Christian symbolism interprets the cloud as synonymous with the prophet, since prophecies are an occult source of fertilization, celestial in origin Hence also the conclusion of Bachelard that the cloud should be taken as a symbolic messenger
Clover
(or Trefoil) An emblem of the Trinity. When it is located upon a mountain it comes to signify knowledge of the divine essence gained by hard endeavour, through sacrifice or study (equivalent to ascension) Trifoliate forms, such as the Gothic three-lobed arch, bear the same significance; and, broadly speaking, so do all tripartite forms. In the Middle Ages, triple time in music was regarded in the same light, and it is so used by Scriabin in Prometheus.
Clown
Like the buffoon, the clown is a mythic figure, and the inversion of the king the inversion, that is to say, of the possessor of supreme powers; hence the clown is the victim chosen as a substitute for the king, in accord with the familiar astrobiological and primitive ideas of the ritual assassination of the king. The clown is the last, whereas the king is the first, but in the essential order of things the last comes second. This is confirmed by the folklore custom, mentioned by Frazer, in which village youths, during Spring festivals, would race on horseback up to the tallest mast (symbolizing the world-axis); he who came first was elected Easter king, and the last to arrive was made a clown and beaten
Coal
Like charred wood, the symbolism of coal is closely linked with that of fire. There is a certain ambivalence about it, since it sometimes appears as a concentrated expression of fire, and sometimes as the negative (black, repressed or occult) side of energy. The chromatic relationship between black and red between coal and flames can be seen in myths and legends as recounted by Krappe. According to an Australian tradition, the fire-bearing bird (the demiurge) had a red spot on its black back. Similar beliefs existed amongst the Celts, and in America and Asia
Cobweb
Apart from its association with the spider, the symbolism of the spider's web is identical with that of fabric. Because of its spiral shape, it also embraces the idea of creation and development —of the wheel and its centre. But in this case death and destruction lurk at the centre, so that the web with the spider in the middle comes to symbolize what Medusa the Gorgon represents when located in the centre of certain mosaics: the consuming whirlwind. It is probably a symbol of the negative aspect of the universe, representing the Gnostic view that evil is not only on the periphery of the Wheel of Transformations but in its very centre that is, in its Origin.
Cock
As the bird of dawn, the cock is a sun-symbol , and an emblem of vigilance and activity. Immolated to Priapus and Aesculapius, it was supposed to cure the sick During the Middle Ages it became a highly important Christian image, nearly always appearing on the highest weathervane, on cathedral towers and domes, and was regarded as an allegory of vigilance and resurrection. Davy comments that vigilance in this context must be taken in the sense of 'tending towards eternity and taking care to grant first place to the things of the spirit, to be wakeful and to greet the Sun Christ even before it rises in the East' illumination
Coffer
Like all objects whose essential quality is that of containing, it sometimes acquires the symbolic character of a heart, the brain or the maternal womb. The heart, the first of these meanings, is a figure characteristic of the symbolism of Romanesque art In a broader sense, receptacles which can be closed up have, from the earliest times, represented all things that may hold secrets, such as the Ark of the Covenant of the Hebrews, or Pandora's box
Cold
In Bachelard's opinion, supported by literary analysis, cold corresponds symbolically to being in the situation of, or longing for, solitude or exaltation. Nietzsche, in his Human, All Too Human, makes a call for 'the cold, wild Alpine lands scarce warmed by the Autumn sun and loveless'. 'Thanks to the cold, the air gains in attacking virtues, it becomes spiritualized and dehumanized. the frozen atmosphere, at higher altitude one finds anothe Nietzschean quality: silence.'
Colour
Colour symbolism is one of the most universal of al types of symbolism, and has been consciously used in the liturgy, is heraldry, alchemy, art and literature. There are a great manse considerations bearing upon the meaning of colour which we cal here do little more than summarize. To begin with, there is thr superficial classification suggested by optics and experimenta psychology.
The first group embraces warm 'advancing' colours corresponding to processes of assimilation, activity and intensity (red, orange, yellow and, by extension, white), and the second cover cold, 'retreating' colours, corresponding to processes of dissimilation passivity and debilitation (blue, indigo, violet and, by extension black), green being an intermediate, transitional colour spanning the two groups. Then there are the subtle uses to which colour mass be put in emblematic designs. The serial order of the colour-range is basic, comprising as it does (though in a somewhat abstract sense) a kind of limited set of definitive, distinct and ordered colours.
The formal affinity between, on the one hand, this series of six or seven shades of colour for sometimes it is difficult to tell blue from indigo, or azure from ultramarine and, on the other hand, the vowel-series there being seven vowels in Greek as well as the notes of the musical scale, points to a basic analogy between these three scales and also between them and the division of the heavens, according to ancient astrobiological thought, into seven parts (although in fact there were sometimes said to be nine). Colour-symbolism usually derives from one of the following sources: the inherent characteristic of each colour, perceived intuitively as objective fact; the relationship between a colour and the planetary symbol traditionally linked with it; or the relationship which elementary, primitive logic perceives. Modern psychology and psychoanalysis seem to place more weight upon the third of these formulas than even upon the first (the second formula acting as a bridge between the other two).
Thus, Dr. Jolan Jacobi, in her study of Jungian psychology, says in so many words: 'The correspondence of the colours to the respective functions varies with different cultures and groups and even among individuals; as a general rule, however, blue, the colour of the rarefied atmosphere, of the clear sky, stands for thinking; yellow, the colour of the far-seeing sun, which appears bringing light out of an inscrutable darkness only to disappear again into the darkness, for intuition, the function which grasps as in a flash of illumination the origins and tendencies of happenings, red, the colour of the pulsing blood and of fire, for the surging and tearing emotions;
while green, the colour of earthly, tangible, immediately perceptible growing things, represents the function of sensation.' The most important of the symbols derived from the foregoing principles are these: red is associated with blood, wounds, death-throes and sublimation; orange with fire and flames; yellow with the light of the sun, illumination, dissemination and comprehensive generalization; green with vegetation, but also with death and lividness (green is therefore the connecting-link between black mineral life and red blood and animal life as well as between animal life and discomposition and death); light blue with the sky and the day, and with the calm sea; dark blue with the sky and the night, and with the stormy sea; brown and ochre with the earth; and black with the fertilized land.
Gold corresponds to the mystic aspect of the sun; silver to that of the moon.
The different conclusions reached by psychologists and by traditional, esoteric thinkers, apparent in the above summaries, can be explained by the fact that in the psychologists' view, symbolic impressions formed in the mind may be merely fortuitous, whereas according to esoteric theory, the three series (of shades of colour, of component elements and natural appearances, and of feelings and reactions) are the outcome of a single, simultaneous cause working at the deepest levels of reality. It is for this reason that Ely Star, and others, maintains that the seven colours are severally analogous to the seven faculties of the soul, to the seven virtues (from a positive point of view), to the seven vices (from a negative viewpoint), to the geometric forms, the days of the week and the seven planets Actually this is a concept which pertains more to the 'theory of correspondences' than to the symbolism of colour proper.
Many primitive peoples intuitively sense that close links exist between all the different aspects of the real world: the Zuni Indians of Western America, for example, make a yearly offering to their priests of 'corn of seven colours', each colour pertaining to a planetary god. Nevertheless, it is worth while bearing in mind the most essential of these correspondences. For example: fire is represented by red and orange; air by yellow; both green and violet represent water; and black or ochre represent earth. Time is usually symbolized by a sheen as of shot silk. About the various shades of blue, ranging from near black to clear sapphire, there has been a great deal of speculation.
The most relevant comments in our opinion are the following: 'Blue, standing for the vertical' and the spatial, or the symbolism of levels 'means height and depth (the blue sky above, the blue sea below)' 'Colour symbolizes an upward-tending force in the pattern of dark (or gloom and evil) and light (or illumination, glory and good). Thus, dark blue is grouped with black, and azure, like pure yellow, is coupled with white.' 'Blue is darkness made visible.' Blue, between white and black (that is, day and night) indicates an equilibrium which 'varies with the tone'
The belief that colours may be grouped in respect of their basic essentials, and within the general tendency to place phenomena in antithetical groups, according to whether they are of positive value (associated with light) or of negative (linked with darkness), is echoed even in present-day aesthetics, which bases the colour-system not upon the three primary colours of red, yellow and blue but upon the implied antithesis of yellow (or white) and blue (or black), taking red as the indirect transition between these two colours (the stages being: yellow, orange, red, violet, blue) and green as the direct (or summational) transition, this being the view of Kandinsky and Herbin.
To sum up, those interpretations of colour symbolism which in our view have most importance: blue (the attribute of Jupiter and Juno as god and goddess of heaven) stands for religious feeling, devotion and innocence ; green (the colour pertaining to Venus and Nature) betokens the fertility of the fields , sympathy and adaptability ; violet represents nostalgia and memories, because it is made up from blue (signifying devotion) and red (passion) ; yellow (the attribute of Apollo, the sun-god) indicates magnanimity, intuition and intellect ; orange, pride and ambition ; red (the attribute of Mars), passion, sentiment and the life-giving principle; grey, neutralization, egoism, depression, inertia and indifference meanings derived from the colour of ashes ; purple (the colour of the imperial Roman paludament, as well as the Cardinal's) provides a synthesis comparable with, yet the inverse of, violet, representing power, spirituality and sublimation ; pink (the colour of the flesh), sensuality and the emotions
One could go on with such interpretations ad infinitum, giving more and more exact meanings to more and more precise shades of colour, but to do so would be to fall into one of the traps of symbolism, that is, the temptation to evolve a hard-and-fast system of allegories. It is important, nevertheless, to bear in mind the analogy between the tone (that is, the intensity of a colour, or the degree of its brightness its place on the scale between the opposite poles of black and white) and its corresponding level-symbolism. It must also be borne in mind that the purity of a colour will always have its counterpart in the purity of its symbolic meaning. Similarly, the primary colours will correspond to the primary emotions, whilst the secondary or tertiary colours will express symbols of like complexity.
Children instinctively reject all mixed or impure colours, because they mean nothing to them.
Conversely, the art of very advanced and refined cultures has always thrived upon subtle tones of yellowish mauve, near-violet pink, greenish ochres, etc. Let us now consider some of the practical applications of colour-symbolism, by way of clarification of the above. According to Beaumont, colour has a very special significance in Chinese symbolism, for it is emblematic of rank and authority; yellow for instance, because of its association with the sun, is considered the sacred privilege of the royal family For the Egyptians, blue was used to represent truth.
Green predominates in Christian art because of its value as a bridge between the two colour-groups The mother goddess of India is represented as red in colour (contrary to the usual symbolism of white as the feminine colour), because she is associated with the principle of creation and red is the colour of activity per se It is also the colour of blood, and for this reason prehistoric man would stain with blood any object which he wished to bring to life; and the Chinese use red pennons as talismans It is for this reason too that when a Roman general was received in triumph he was carried in a chariot drawn by four white horses which were clad in gilt armour (as a symbol of the sun), and his face was painted red.
Schneider, considering the essential bearing of the colour red upon alchemic processes, concludes that it is to be related to fire and purification Interesting evidence of the ominous and tragic character of orange a colour which in the view of Oswald Wirth is actually a symbol for flames, ferocity, cruelty and egoism is forthcoming in the following passage taken from Heinrich Zimmer, the orientalist: 'After the Future Buddha had severed his hair and exchanged his royal garments for the orange-yellow robe of the ascetic beggar (those outside the pale of human society voluntarily adopt the orange-yellow garment that was originally the covering of condemned criminals being led to the place of execution) ' To wind up these observations upon the psychic significance of colour, let us point to some correspondences with alchemy.
The three main phases of the 'Great Work' (a symbol of spiritual evolution) were prime matter (corresponding to black), mercury (white) and sulphur (red), culminating in the production of the 'stone' (gold). Black pertains to the state of fermentation, putrefaction, occultation and penitence; white to that of illumination, ascension, revelation and pardon; red to that of suffering, sublimation and love. And gold is the state of glory.
So that the series black white red gold, denotes the path of spiritual ascension. The opposite or descending series can be seen in the scale beginning with yellow (that is, gold in the negative sense of the point of departure or emanation rather than the point of arrival blue (or heaven), green (nature, or immediate natural life), black (that is, in the sense of the neoplatonic 'fall') In some traditions, green and black are seen as a composite expression of vegetation manure. Hence, the ascending series of green white red, formed the favourite symbol of the Egyptians and the Celtic druids. René Guénon also points to the significant fact that Dante, who knew his traditional symbology, has Beatrice appear in clothes coloured green, white and red, expressive of hope, faith and charity and corresponding to the three (alchemic) planes which we have already mentioned
The complex symbolism of mixed colours is derived from the primary colours of which they are composed. So, for example, greys and ochres are related to earth and vegetation. It is impossible to give any idea here of all the many notions which may be derived from a primal meaning. Thus, the Gnostics evolved the idea that, since pink was the colour of flesh-tints, it was also the colour of resurrection.
To come back to the colour orange, the beautiful explanation of some allegorical figures in the alchemic Abraham the Jew contains a reference to orange as the 'colour of desperation', and goes on: 'A man and a woman coloured orange and seen against the background of a field coloured sky-blue, signifies that they must not place their hopes in this world, for orange denotes desperation and the blue background is a sign of hope in heaven.' And finally, to revert to green, this is a colour of antithetical tendencies: it is the colour of vegetation (or of life, in other words) and of corpses (or of death); hence, the Egyptians painted Osiris (the god of vegetation and of the dead) green. Similarly, green takes the middle place in the everyday scale of colours.
Colour (Positive/Negative)
The conception of black and white as diametrically opposed symbols of the positive and the negative, either in simultaneous, in successive or alternating opposition, is very common. In our opinion it is of the utmost importance. Like all dual formulae in symbolism, it is related to the number two and the great myth of the Gemini. But some of its particular applications are of great interest; let us begin, for example, with the two sphinxes depicted in the seventh enigma of the Tarot pack.
Here, one sphinx is white and the other black Again: there is a Catalan tale which relates how some blackbirds which grew up near a magic waterfall had snowy-white breasts, resembling the habits of Sisters of Charity In many primitive rites medicinal dances, for example the dancers dress up in white clothes and blacken their faces The opposition of the two worlds (the subject of the Gemini-symbol) finds its expression in Indo-Aryan mythology in the portrayal of one white and one black horse
The 'watermaidens' of Hispanic folklore wear white rings on the fingers of their right hand and on their left wrist a gold, black-banded bracelet In Tibet, there are rites in which a man is chosen as the sacrificial victim, and his face is painted half white and half black
Jung recounts a dream of a man who saw himself as the pupil of a white magician clothed in black who instructed him up to a certain point beyond which he was told in his dream he would have to be taught by a black magician dressed in white Struggles between black and white knights occur often in legends and folktales. There is a Persian song which tells how a black knight defends a castle against a white knight who fights valiantly to reach the treasure within. Grimm has a myth of Lower Saxony which illustrates the cosmic combat between the positive and the negative principles. In Jung's version , it reads as follows: 'There was once a young ash-tree that grew unnoticed in a wood. Each New Year's Eve a white knight riding upon a white horse comes to cut down the young shoot. At the same time a black knight arrives and engages him in combat.
After a lengthy battle the white knight overcomes the black knight and cuts down the tree. But one day the white knight will be unsuccessful then the ash will grow, and when it is big enough for a horse to be tethered under it, a mighty king will come and a tremendous battle will begin' (implying the destruction of time and the world). Black, in fairly generalized terms, seems to represent the initial, germinal stage of all processes, as it does in alchemy.
In this connexion, Blavatsky points out that Noah released a black crow from the ark before he sent out the white dove. Black crows, black doves and black flames figure in a great many legends. They are all symbols closely related to the primal (black, occult or unconscious) wisdom which stems from the Hidden Source Here, Jung points to the relevance of the 'dark night' of St. John of the Cross and the 'germination in darkness' of the alchemists' nigredo. Let us remember too that darkness for both Victor Hugo and Richard Wagner signifies the maternal, and that light appearing out of the gloom represents a kind of crystallization
Jung also points out in this connexion that carbon the predominant chemical component in Man's organism is black in so far as it is charcoal or graphite, but that, in so far as it is a diamond (that is, crystallized carbon), it is 'crystal-clear water' , thus underlining the fact that the profoundest meaning of black is occultation and germination in darkness In this he is supported by Guénon, who maintains that black stands for all preliminary stages, representing the 'descent into hell', which is a recapitulation of (or an atonement for) all the preceding phases
Thus, the dark earth-mother the Diana of Ephesus was depicted with black hands and face, recalling the black openings of caves and grottos Amongst primitive peoples, black is the colour associated with inner or subterranean zones.
Black also sometimes comes to symbolize time in contrast to white which represents timelessness and ecstasy. The function of white is derived from that of the sun: from mystic illumination symbolically of the East; when it is regarded as purified yellow (that is when it stands in the same relation to yellow as does black to the blue of the deep sea), it comes to signify intuition in general, and, in its affirmative and spiritual aspect, intuition of the Beyond. That is why the sacred horses of Greek, Roman, Celtic and Germanic cultures were white. Even today, in Dithmarschen in the south of Outland, some people still recall the Schimmelreiter, a knight who would ride up on a white horse when the sea-dykes burst and a catastrophe threatened. Most of the words containing the root alWAlberich, the alb-king or elf-king, the river Elbe, the Alps allude to this shining light of the supernatural
Conversely, white, in so far as its negative quality of lividness goes, is (like green and greenish yellow) symbolic also of death and the moon, the latter being the symbolic source of a number of rites and customs. Eliade mentions moonlight dances performed by women with faces painted white
This principle of antithetical dualism is illustrated in a great number of allegories and symbols. The night, as the mother of all things, has been portrayed with a veil of stars, carrying two children in her arms, one white and the other black Very common in Slavonic myth were Bielbog and Chernobog, the white and the black god respectively , closely related to the Gemini. The Ouroboros of the Codex Marcianus (of the 2nd century A.D.) has its top half black and the lower white; this inversion of the expected order imparts a sense of cyclic movement to the figure, further emphasized by the circular impulse suggested by the fact of its biting its tail. It is easy to recognize the bearing this has upon the binary symbol of the Chinese Yang-Yin, and indeed upon every system of graphic symbolism based upon opposites
This, then, is a question of an inversion-symbol one of the basic strands in traditional symbolism which helps to explain the ceaseless alternations of life/death, light/darkness and appearance/disappearance which make possible the continued existence of phenomena.
There is a beautiful, double, complex symbol in the Rigveda (III, ) which well illustrates this dynamic, alternating dualism: fire, although clear and bright in the sky (or the air), leaves black traces on earth (that is a charred object). Rain, although black in the sky (as rain-clouds), becomes clear on earth
This weaving and unravelling of the strands of all the pairs of opposites is precisely the import of the positive/negative aspects of white/black, which we have sought to explain above. The Gemini, a symbol of the necessity of nature to transmute itself into binary and contradictory aspects, is represented by both white and black But mankind has groped towards a way out of the terrible circle divided into two sections by a sigmoid line (such as that symbolized by the Yang- Yin) and this way is that indicated by the axis white/red or red/gold.
Here we would again recall that the ascending scale of colours is black white red. Loeffler, in his examination of mythic birds in legend, links those which are black with inspiration of the mind, those which are white with eroticism and those which are red with the supernatural. We would also emphasize that in symbolism of mediaeval Christian art, black stands for penitence, white for purity and red for charity and love. Through love, then, man can find the way out of the closed, double circle.
Pinedo recounts that St. Bernard's mother, while she was pregnant, dreamed of a white dog with a red back. A similar case to this is that of Blessed Juana of Aza, the mother of St. Dominic Guzman, who went on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Dominic of Silos to beg of him the favour of a son. The saint appeared to her and promised her that her wish would be granted, and she looked down and saw at her feet a white dog with a flaming torch in its mouth In alchemy, white/red is the conjunction of opposites, or the coniunctfo solis et lunae.
Two-headed eagles and representations of the Rebis (a human-being with two heads) are usually coloured white and red, signifying the sublimation of the black/white antithesis. Also characteristic of alchemy is the curious white and red rose, symbolizing the union of water with fire. 'My beloved is white and ruddy', so sings the Song of Songs (v. 10), and the lily and the rose are essential symbols of white and red implicit in all mystic thought When two colours are contrasted in a given symbolic field, the inferior colour is feminine in character and the superior is masculine.
By 'inferior' we mean that which is lower within the alchemic order or series, which runs as follows: yellow, blue, green, black, white, red, gold. So, to take the black/white relationship, black is inferior and ferninine; or, in the case of red/gold, gold is superior and masculine (or celestial, as against the terrestrial implications of the feminine principle). Any symbolic composition that, spatially, does not conform with this order presents us with a clear-cut example of Symbolic Inversion (q.v.). For example, in the normal symbolic pattern, white will be placed above black, red above white, and so on.
Colum
The single column pertains to the cosmic group of symbols representing the 'world-axis' (such as the tree, the ladder, the sacrificial stake, the mast, the cross), but also it may have a merely endopathic sense deriving from its vertical nature, implying an upward impulse of self-affirmation. Of course, there is a phallic implication too; for this reason, the ancients ascribed a column and a dolphin to Ceres as emblems of love and the sea respectively The isolated column is, in short, as closely related to the symbolic tree as to the ritual erection of the megalithic stone or menhir. In allegories and graphic symbols there are nearly always two columns, not one. When they are situated on either side of a shield, they are equivalent to supporters, representing the balanced tension of opposing forces.
They have a similar significance when they act as the supports of a lintel. In a cosmic sense, the two pillars or columns are symbolic of eternal stability, and the space between them is the entrance to eternity. They also allude to Solomon's temple (the image of the absolute and essential principles of building) Variants of this symbol or rather of its significance are to be found in esoteric thought; nearly all of them are the result of applying the symbolism of the number two to the dual columns. Taking them as separate symbols, the two units making up the number two are different in kind.
For the first unit corresponds to the masculine, affirmative and evolutive principle, whereas the second represents the feminine, negative, passive or involutive. It is for this reason that Saunier gives the particular significance of the two columns rising up at the entrance to temples as that of evolution and involution, or of good and evil (comparable with the Tree of Life and the Tree of Death or Knowledge in the Garden of Eden). On occasion, this abstract duality goes hand in hand with the physical duality of the material; thus, in the legendary temple of Hercules at Tyre, one of the columns was made of gold and the other of a semi-precious stone
In Hebrew tradition, the two columns are known as Mercy and Severity To return now to the single column, we cannot fail to see in it a projection of or an analogous correspondence with—the spinal column; the same kind of correspondence is to be seen in all forms of bilateral symmetry in art, as well as in such organs of the human body as the kidneys or the lungs. The vertebral column may be equated also with the worldaxis, in the same way as the skull-image is equated with the sky, within the general relationship of the microcosm and the macrocosm.
Comb
According to Schneider the relationship between the comb and the (rowing-) boat is so close that both symbols seem to merge in a way that is suggestive of the reconciliation of fire and water Since the comb is the attribute of some fabulous, female beings, such as lamias and sirens, there is in consequence a relationship between it and the fleshless tail of the fish, in turn signifying burials (or the symbolism of sacrificial remains for instance the bucraneum or of devouring).
Compasses
An emblematic representation of the act of creation , found in allegories of geometry, architecture and equity By its shape, it is related to the letter A, signifying the beginning of all things
Concord
Concord expresses conformity, reconciliation and harmony in diversity, or the state of peace reached between beings or between the various forces and urges of being; its symbol is the linking of hands or arms, an embrace, or interlacing lines. It is an essential concept in the Psychomachia (the Struggle of the Soul) by the Hispanic Latin poet Aurelius Prudentius Clemens 48-410), author also of the Peristephanon (the Book of Crowns).
Cone
The symbolic significance of the cone is very complex and may be derived from the association of the circle with the triangle. In Byblus it was a symbol of Astarte, but in various parts of Syria, according to Frazer, it was symbolic of the sun—further indication that it can be given no precise meaning. It can also be taken as a symbol deriving from the pyramid ; it would then signify psychic Oneness.
Conjunction
A great many symbols touch upon the great myth of coniunctio or unification, representing the coincidentia oppositorum and, more particularly, the reconciliation of the separate sexes in an eternal synthesis, after the platonic legend. In Jungian psychology, this conjunction has a purely psychological meaning within the psyche of one individual, as a counterpart of and a substitute for the synthesis achieved through platonic love between two different beings. Mystic longing has its being in the profound yearning for absolute unity of all that is particularized and separate. In conjunction, then, lies the only possibility of supreme peace and rest. The union of heaven and earth in primitive, astrobiological religions is a symbol of conjunction, as is also the legendary marriage of the princess with the prince who has rescued her 3, 38).
Constellation
In Chinese symbolism, it is the third Element. The first is the active, bright force called Yang, and the second the passive, dark force called Yin. The constellation signifies the connexion between the Upper and the Lower Worlds, or what binds together all that is different. It is one of the imperial emblems
Coral
Coral is the aquatic tree. It therefore partakes of and blends together the symbolism on the one hand of the tree as the world-axis, and on the other that of the (lower) ocean or abyss. Hence, it may be equated with the roots of the terrestrial tree. On the other hand, being red in colour, it is also related to blood; hence it has, besides its abyssal connotation, a visceral significance which is well captured in alchemic symbolism According to Greek legend, coral grew out of the drops of blood of the Gorgon Medusa.
Cornucopia
In mythology, it was the goat Amalthea who fed the infant Jupiter with milk. Given that the general symbolism of the horn is strength, and that the goat has maternal implications, and in addition that the shape of the horn (phallic outside and hollow inside) endows it with a complex symbolism (including that of the Iingam, or symbol of generation), it is easy to understand its allegorical use as the horn of abundance. Piobb points out also that the cornucopia is an expression of prosperity deriving from its association with the zodiacal sign of Capricorn