Blinking Green Light

I don't know how books are taught in school anymore, but I'll never forget the way we were taught books like The Great Gatsby. 

The green light blinking on the pier is a symbol for unattainable dreams. 

TJ Eckleburg's eyes on the billboard are the eyes of God. 

Gatsby's parties represent the corruption of the American dream. 

I'm not getting on this soapbox to argue whether books should be taught like that, or not, though I lean toward the latter – but I want to stand up on this point of reality from my high school career and take a better look around.  

I was an English and Language Arts kid. Happy to read. Happy to write. Five paragraph essays didn't scare me! So when I got to college, I chose to be an English Literature semi-adult, job market be damned! I think I can credit the 9th grade analyses of symbolism in books to some of my fascination with symbolism as a whole, but then there's probably also a great deal of that in my DNA. Humans have been inventing and using symbols as long as there has been recorded history, and even before that when you remember how we've marked up caves and rocks all over the world. 

As I survey the landscape of my life, I can see that my fascination with symbols has deep roots. Tarot. Sigils. Witchcraft. Tattoos. Literary analysis and Coen Brothers movies.  

In my day-to-day life I select jewelry and clothing colors based on meanings and intentions that I want to hold close.  

And even down to my artwork, I can see a fixation on symbols and their patterns. The circle that is just a circle but also something more, and the circle that is a moon. The stars. The dots. The dots that are sometimes stars, but sometimes energy. Some of my earliest "serious" creative endeavors were rooted in messing around with sigils and symbols.  

With so many of my interests rooted in symbolism, it's not that I could ever come full-circle...there was no wandering away, no orbit to complete, but I could, and I have, come to a staircase. A fissure in the earth. A way down, through, and into, where I might look more closely at these roots and see what mysteries there are to explore. 

I know it might not look like much right now. After all, I'm just starting to explore this path consciously. I'm giving myself time to play with these new symbols, to build the library and my relationship with them, and to see how adding them to my artwork feels and looks.  

This reconnection to symbolism in my art may be a turning point. Or, perhaps, it could be a blinking green light out beyond the dark waters. I'll get back to you with a five paragraph essay before Friday.