When the symbols themselves are allowed to live, their meaning can continue, and Jung says they have strong power to do so:
Luckily for us, symbols mean very much more than can be known at first glance. Their meaning resides in the fact that they compensate an unadapted attitude of consciousness, an attitude that does not fulfill its purpose, and that they would enable it to do this if they were understood. But it becomes impossible to interpret their meaning if they were reduced to something else.
