Following some initial interrogations on the experiential and creative nature of symbolic-metaphorical processes (e.g., Gendlin, 1997; Gruber, 1988) and some work on the production and interpretation of linguistically novel metaphors (e.g., Gibbs, 1994; Lakoff and Turner, 1989), we propose a new, "emotional-experiential" perspective on creative metaphors - perhaps, the most historically and sociologically important type of symbolic constructions. The emotional-experiential perspective accounts for the production and interpretation of creative metaphors through idiosyncratic emotion-based associations. Introspective, laboratory, and illustrative case study evidence from several Western cultures is provided. Implications for broad issues concerning creative metaphor and symbolization are discussed. (LLBA 2001, vol. 35, n. 5)