You will not find these
seven grouped in your
celestial atlas,
though they do ride
the ecliptic arc,
appearing south south east
near eight pm this mid
January night.
War goddess, raised spear
about to thrust down
and slay some monster below.
No? Do tell.
What do you make of it?
There are no wrong answers.
A constellation
but the imagination
wrapping itself
around a pattern like this.
This is an invitation for artists and writers, creators of any medium, to participate in a group exercise.
A symbol is provided, and participants are asked to share at least twice to generate an amplification of that symbol.
Regarding the value of amplification of symbolic content, Heba Zaphiriou Zarifi writes:
“From circle to circle of interconnected nodal points, a web is created, an archetypal pattern intimated, knitting the original meaning to the rediscovered. A field of information is developed, leading toward the centre, which is a manifestation of being. The more that amplifications increase in distinctness and scope, the more closely they circumambulate the centre. Furthermore, these central points tend to self-amplify, forming a “nucleus for an aggregation of synonyms and antonyms”, as pairs of opposites needing to be united. There, meaning is unwrapped, engulfing all the parts into a cohesive structure of completeness, bringing us to a new psychological standpoint, with the symbol now in relation to ego consciousness. Out of the necessity of chaos a sequential and rhythmic order unfolds creatively, bridging the immanent with the transcendent. The alchemist would claim that meaning is hidden in the crevasses of matter, and that amplificatio is a way of releasing the spirit embedded within.”
Amplification, by Zafifi
Carl Jung championed approaching unconscious symbolic material with an ‘as-if’ attitude. Jung taught that meaning may be circumscribed, but not described.
1. Participants self-select.
2. Responses are placed in the comments to this post.
3. Each participant replies with an amplification of the symbol.
4. Each participant replies with an association to another participant’s amplification.
5. Participants are encouraged to repeat steps 3 and 4 as often as they wish.
6. Participants are encouraged to reflect on the group results of the exercise to provide an impetus for future creative work.
Postscript: Consider linking back to this post with any work this exercise generates. Links from this post to any work generated will be shared below.
(For further information, as well as an example of a completed group response mind map, see the inaugural Amplification Effect)
Join us in the comments below!
Dusk Comes Early in Winter, by Richard Reeve