Working with a Symbol – A Workbook for a Seven-Day Journey (PDF)

• Digital PDF workbook, A4 print size
• Page count: 67 pages
• Language: Finnish (English translation coming in autumn 2026)
• Author: Minna Kirsi / Semiphoras Oy
• Delivery: download link sent by email after purchase

A single symbol can open up an entire inner world.

Have you ever had a dream that continued to trouble or fascinate you long after you woke? Or has a figure or image arisen spontaneously in your mind whose meaning you could not explain? In the pages of this workbook, you can explore what such a symbol may begin to reveal.

The workbook teaches a self-guided method developed by Minna Kirsi. It takes you on a seven-day journey with a single symbol. Day by day, you approach it from different perspectives and observe what it evokes in your mind, body, memories, shadow and actions.

During the process, you explore your chosen symbol from a range of perspectives. You examine its connection to your own life, its personal, cultural and archetypal meanings, the opposites and shadow aspects it evokes, and your bodily responses to it. Finally, you bring together what the process has brought into your awareness and consider what this new understanding means in your own life.

Alongside the exercises, the workbook provides in-depth material on the psychology of symbols, the unconscious and the thought of C. G. Jung. It also explores perspectives on memory, bodily responses and the formation of meaning.

What can a symbol tell you about yourself?

In this workbook, a symbol can be any image, figure, object, animal, place, word or other element that, for some reason, feels more meaningful to you than the ordinary. It may recur in dreams or thoughts, repeatedly catch your attention in everyday life, or remain vividly in your mind after a single powerful experience.

In Jungian thought, symbols can bring into consciousness psychological material that we do not yet recognise or understand within ourselves. The "Working with a Symbol – A Workbook for a Seven-Day Journey" teaches you a method for exploring and understanding the message conveyed by a symbol: why this particular symbol has emerged, what it evokes in you, and how it may be connected to your life situation, emotions and inner world. Symbols are the language of the unconscious. Through them, the unconscious communicates information, and by working with symbols we can develop a relationship with our own unconscious.

The workbook gives you a method you can return to whenever a new symbol emerges or a familiar symbol begins to feel significant again.

In the workbook, you will work with

• the personal meaning of your symbol
• cultural and archetypal meanings
• the shadow and opposites
• bodily responses evoked by the symbol
• experiential methods of working
• applying the understanding gained through the process to your own life

The workbook is designed for independent, self-guided work. You can progress at your own pace and return to the method later with new symbols.

What does the "Working with a Symbol – A Workbook for a Seven-Day Journey" include?

• a clear seven-day structure for the process
• daily writing and observation exercises
• in-depth sections on symbols, the shadow, archetypes and the unconscious
• space for your own responses and observations
• guidance from identifying your symbol through to integration

About the author

The workbook was written by Minna Kirsi, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and founder of Semiphoras Oy. She has spent many years working with inner psychological processes and has studied symbols, dreams, archetypes and the workings of the unconscious for decades. The Symbol Work method grew out of this professional experience, long-term study and her own personal work with symbols.

Learn more about Minna Kirsi

Please note

This guide is intended for self-directed symbol work. It is not a substitute for psychotherapy, psychological counselling, medical assessment or other professional support.