Symbol Brief — Wind
From William Blake's collection of engraved prints, "Illustrations of the Book of Job," published 1826.
It’s very windy in my part of the world today. The just-budding bushes and trees are knocking at my windows letting me know they’re awake and spring is moving in.
Wind is the world pushing forward, changing, ending and beginning. It stops long enough to pick up and carry off whatever is in its path — from the smallest dirt speck to the biggest ocean wave. It is both powerful and invisible.
Many ancient cultures revered the wind. In ancient China the wind, called “feng,” was worshipped as a bird god. In the Islamic tradition of ancient Islam, the wind was believed to help organize the chaos of the cosmos. Aztecs recognized the power of air by honoring the wind god, Ehecatl.
Jung reminded us that the Greek word “pneuma” means both wind and Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, God comes to Job in a whirlwind. The Hebrew word “ruah,” which is feminine in gender, means wind, spirit and breath.
In her book, Awakening Woman Dreams and Individuation, Jungian analyst Nancy Qualls-Corbett says, “Wind, in religious and mythological thought, is symbolic of creative spirit. For example, four winds were evoked by Ezekiel to bring life to dry bones. . . . Even prior to Christian writing, the sun god was thought to have a long tube connected to him like a phallus from which the procreative winds originated to disperse his fructifying rays.”
I’m in a bit of a winter mood, wondering if certain parts of my life are ever going to move forward again. So I’m thankful I heard the wind today. It reminded me that the winds of change do come, even though they come in their own time and at their own speed. I just have to be patient.
– Writeye
Posted on March 29th, 2009 under Jungian Psychology, Symbol Brief • Tags: wind symbolism. • 
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