World of Symbols by Michelle Snyder

Excerpt from Art and Symbols Once Upon a Time

Michelle Snyder is an author, speaker, columnist, blogger, and teacher. Her post-graduate degree is from the University of Wales, Religious Studies Department, in the discipline of decoding ancient symbols. She has been teaching art and symbology to students of all ages for 35 years and her artwork has appeared in galleries from Massachusetts to California. Michelle is co-owner of White Knight Studio in Arlington, MA, with her husband Jay.

“Creative expression seems to be part of being alive. Music, poetry, literature, sculpture, artwork – all are expressions of the mind and spirit. Some expressions mimic reality and some are abstract, some are beautiful, some are ugly, but their essence is the same. They all say something.

Images are a language of sorts. Like letters (which are symbols) grouped into words and then arranged into sentences - shapes and colors are put together forming a visual language. Symbolism is that kind of language. For millennia symbols have recorded the history, knowledge, and lives of those who lived on Earth.

This book is a collection of my expressions. Some are unique, others are renderings of classic symbols. Brief explanations accompany each image. Dedicated to those of us who like more picture and less writing.”

Acrylic on canvas, 12” x 23”

Dragons guard treasures and beautiful damsels. Dragon mythology has its root in stories

and legends told by explorers, ca. 4000 BC, who discovered great beaked, winged

dinosaur bones at the Flaming Cliffs of Asia in Mongolia. The potent beasts became

mythological icons of power, both good and evil. They symbolize well-being, prosperity,

and nobility, and they have friends in high places. These powerful creatures have come

to represent everything from chaos, destruction, and the ultimate foe, to wisdom, protection,

and the unconscious.

Acrylic on canvas, 12’ x 12”

Study of the Sri Yantra mandala, surrounded by icons of time of day. Mandalas are

associated with wheels and are used as an aid for meditation. Creating a personal

mandala is considered a healing activity, encouraging internal balance, centering the

mind and spirit.

Acrylic on canvas, 6”

Alchemy symbols protected the records of processes and discoveries taking place in

an alchemy lab. They provided a way to pass on this information through the underground

stream - a chain of hand-picked initiates. The alchemists recorded their formulas

and knowledge with secret symbols, eschewing their written documentation. These

“magician scientists” were sought out either for their knowledge, or to be put in the

dungeon. The esoteric recording system protected them, as well as their

information. These serpents are two halves of an ouroboros, the winged representing

volatile elements, the other, stable elements. They can be compared in philosophy to

the yin-yang, symbolizing complementary opposites within the greater whole.

Colored pencil on paper, 4” x 6”

Basilisk legends also stem from ca. 4200 BC, where cattlemen observed enormous

beaked dinosaur bones at the Flaming Cliffs of Asia. Basilisk means “Little King”;

he is the king of small serpents and dragons. This fearsome creature came to represent

kingly power that destroys all who do not show respect. In the Middle Ages the basilisk

was given a golden crown and considered one of the “Keepers of the Treasure”.

Colored pencil on paper, 4” x 6”

Study of an Etruscan chimera. The chimera was once identified with the constellation

Capricorn (the serpent-tailed goat). Homer wrote that the chimera - lion, goat, and

great serpent - is the Great Goddess with calendar symbols. The chimera triadic represents

the divisions of the year, the lion being spring, the goat, summer, and the serpent,

winter. There was likely a fourth animal to the calendric - possibly an eagle - to represent

autumn.

Colored pencil on paper, 6”

Unicorns are associated with monarchy, stressing courage, grandeur, wisdom, nobility,

and justice. Old esoteric writings describe unicorns as having a white body, red

head, and blue eyes. Added to the symbolism and mythology associated with unicorns,

this description indicates royal Celtic origins, perhaps a symbol for kings and

princes and for royal bloodlines.

Pen and ink on paper, 5” x 9”

One of the most ancient human symbols, the equal-armed cross appeared tens of thousands

of years BC. It was the first symbol for direction: north, south, east, and west.

Over time, one arm of the cross was lengthened to differentiate the directions. The extended

arm of the cross denotes south. The cross and the circle symbolize the

position of the sun at the winter solstice, the sun at its lowest point at the Tropic of

Cancer (more accurately represented by an ellipse).

Michelle is a regular columnist for The Arlington Advocate, writing about symbols as “The Symbologist.” Many of Michelle’s and Jay’s articles are published on their blog: Once Upon a Time: The World of Symbols, on Debra L. Martin’s blog Two Ends of the Pen, and in the online news publication Wicked Local.

Other books by Michelle:

Symbology: Decoding Classic Images

World of Symbols: Secrets of the Mermaids, ebooklette

World of Symbols: ebook

You can find Michelle’s articles, books, and artwork at her website and blog:

www.whiteknightstudio.com, and www.whiteknightstudio.blogspot.com