(Scandinavian Bronze Age rock carving)
Graphic symbols play a vital part in practical magic. They are used to visually express and convey relationships and forces that are too subtle, too fundamental, or too complex, to easily be put into words. A symbol may be manipulated in various ways, both mentally and physically. Often it is easier to hold in the mind the symbol for a person, an object, or a circumstance than the image or verbal description of that person, object, or circumstance. Aspects of the greater material world might be difficult to change, but a graphic symbol is easy to work with, and through ritual can be linked with the larger world. The primary act of much of magic consists in equating something in the world with a symbolic design, so that by influencing that symbol, a person, place or thing in the larger universe will be changed in desired ways.
Everyone recognizes certain fundamental symbols, such as the pentagram, as possessed of their own unique identity and mystique, but most individuals would be hard-pressed to define what a symbol is, or to state where graphic symbols end and common images and pictures begin.
Ancient man clearly understood the concept of symbols, and perceived their power. Rock carvings all over the world, from northern Europe to the outback of Australia, bear strikingly similar designs that are notable both for their uniformity and their simplicity.
Modern man has attempted to extend the concept of symbols to include complex images of living things (for example, a dove), manmade objects (a train, a gun), even abstract concepts (liberty, death, fate). This process has been accelerated and rendered more widespread by the popularization of modern psychotherapy and psychology, and especially the work of Carl Jung. No one can deny the emotive power inherent in these evocative, complex images, but it seems to me that a distinction should be made between the kind of extremely basic symbol that appears carved in ancient rock art, and the more complex, compound symbolic images that might better be given other names to categorize them, such as icons, mandalas or archetypes.
I've spent some time thinking about what is necessary to produce a basic symbol. This little essay contains some of my conclusions, which are by no means to be considered final or complete. My definition and its three qualifiers listed below are based upon the need to eliminate complexity and redundancy in graphic figures in order to delineate the minimum requirement for an esoterically significant two-dimensional shape.
A simple or root symbol may be defined as a graphic design consisting of a line, or of two or more attached lines, that possess radial or bilateral symmetry.
For those unacquainted with these terms, bilateral symmetry is when an object has the same appearance on opposite sides. The human body is bilaterally symmetrical -- both hands are the same shape. Radial symmetry is when an object has the same appearance all the way around a central point. A starfish is an example of radial symmetry -- all the legs of a starfish have the same shape.
Two or more detached lines do not constitute a simple symbol under this definition. As a consequence, the astrological glyph for the sign of the zodiac, Aquarius, which has two wavy lines, would be regarded as a compound symbol made up of two similar simple symbols -- the wavy lines.
Compound symbols are always composed of two or more simple symbols, which may be attached or detached.
A figure cannot be termed a compound symbol when it is made of up simple symbols plus extraneous marks that do not constitute a simple symbol.
Lines may be straight, curved, wavy or zigzag. Where similar line segments connect end to end, they are considered for purposes of the definition to be a single line, since they can be drawn with a single stroke of the pen. Where they connect or touch at other then their end points, they are regarded as two separate lines, since two separate strokes are required to make them. For example, the letter L is a single line; the letter T is two lines; the letter F two lines; the letter E two lines. Straight and curved segments are always separate lines regardless of where they touch.
The glyph of the sun, which is composed of a circle with a dot in its center, is a compound symbol. A dot or a point may be treated as a short line segment -- indeed, a line segment without any length at all. A point is the simplest of all basic symbols, and the seed from which all other simple symbols grow. The point is so basic a form that it almost lies outside the definition of a symbol. It is the moving point, in the material form of the tip of a pencil or pen, that defines all symbolic shapes. Graphically, the point is equivalent to the number one, just as the circle is equivalent to the number zero. Point and circle may be equated, as may zero and one. A circle is a point expanded, and both zero and one represent totality.
Various divisions into categories may be made within the definition of simple symbols. A simple symbol may be qualified as either:
Simple symbols cannot be both open and closed at the same time, or be made up of both straight and curved lines, or have lines that both cross and fail to cross. Often, figures with these forbidden combinations are compound symbols, and may be divided into two or more simple symbols.
The most basic of symbols after the point is the straight line segment. It is open because its two ends do not meet; it is straight rather than curved; it is non-crossing since it does not intersect with itself.
By contrast, the circle, another very simple symbol, is closed because it wraps back upon itself and defines a space; it is curved; it is non-crossing. If we take a circle and twist it in the middle so that it has two lobes and looks like a figure-8 on its side, we have another root symbol that is closed, curved, but which crosses upon itself. We know this figure-8 is a simple symbol according to the definition above because it is a curved line exhibiting bilateral symmetry. Were one of the lobes of this figure-8 to be made larger than the other, it would no longer qualify as a root symbol since it symmetry would be destroyed. If we take a circle and break it open so that it forms a crescent or cup-shape, we have created a simple symbol that is open, curved and non-crossing, and have transformed the radial symmetry of the circle into the bilateral symmetry of the crescent.
Many symbols that we might tend to regard as simple are constructed in such a way as to both enclose a space yet have unconnected ends; or with both straight and curved line segments; or with lines that both cross and do not cross. These are compound figures, not simple symbols. Often they possess neither bilateral nor radial symmetry.
A well-known and very powerful symbol that is compound, but might be easily mistaken for a root symbol, is the Egyptian ankh. It does indeed possess bilateral symmetry, and is a single, connected figure, but it contains both straight and curved lines (an egg-shaped loop above a T-shaped cross). Both the loop and the cross are simple symbols in themselves -- together they are a compound symbol. Also, the ankh qualifies as compound because it is both open and closed -- the loop encloses a space, but the cross does not.
(examples of root symbols in accord with the definition and its three qualifiers)
The pentagram, although it is a more complex figure than the ankh, is a true root symbol, since it possesses radial symmetry and encloses spaces with crossing, straight segments that constitute a single line because they are joined at their ends. There is no limit to the number of spaces that may be enclosed by a simple symbol, provided symmetry is preserved.
The swastika is a root symbol because it is made up of two zigzag lines that intersect at right angles at their midpoints, resulting in a connected figure with radial symmetry. True, each arm of the swastika is composed of three line segments, but there is no limit to the number of line segments in a simple symbol, provided they are connected and arranged symmetrically.
When crossing lines exist in a symbol, as in the case of the swastika where two straight segments intersect at the center, segments attached by their ends to the ends of these crossing lines form an extension of these lines. However, if the attachment occurred not at the end, but somewhere along the length of either joined segment, the figure would not be a simple symbol because it would consist of both crossing and non-crossing lines. A root symbol can have any number of crossing lines, or any number of non-crossing lines, but not both.
When a symbol is enclosing, such as the pentagram or a circle, the point that closes the symbol completes its line. Even though another line may be drawn beginning in the same place, it is not attached, but separate. For example, it is possible to draw with one continuous line a pentagram surrounded by a circle that touches its points. In the same way, we might draw a circle bisected by a vertical line. However, these are compound symbols, not root symbols. In completing the line that encloses the space, the line is ended. Even though the pen may not be lifted from the paper, any stroke that proceeds from that point is a new line.
Most traditional sigils that represent the names of spiritual beings, such as those that appear in the famous grimoire of demonic evocation, the Goetia, are compound figures that may or may not be composed of basic symbols. Demonic sigils tend to be unbalanced and irregular. The sigils of angels tend to be more symmetrical, as a general rule. For this reason it is more common to find simple symbols, as I have defined them, within the traditional sigils of good spirits than evil spirits.
Sigils generated from single names applied to the Sigil Rose of the Golden Dawn are formed from a connected line that reflects from letter to letter in the name to produce an open figure with crossing straight segments that meet at irregular angles. Golden Dawn sigils are not radially symmetrical, even though they are formed on a wheel that is radially symmetrical. If such a sigil happened to possess symmetry, it might or might not qualify as a simple symbol, but such symmetry in a Golden Dawn sigil would be accidental -- the Golden Dawn method for generating sigils is not intended to produce root symbols.
A regular crescent is a simple symbol, but a curved line that is more sharply curved on one side than on the other is not a simple symbol, by my definition, because it lacks bilateral symmetry. Symmetry is necessary to root symbols, because it imbues these fundamental graphic designs with power. We might argue over what this power is, or where it comes from, but when we regard a simple symbol such as a circle, we can sense this power inherent in the symbol. It is surely no accident that living things usually exhibit bilateral or radial symmetry.
Those of us who are awakened and sensitive to the magical vitality that underlies the universe can perceive the power in basic symbols -- there are many human beings, unfortunately, who have lost this sensitivity to the structural building blocks of reality. For instance, they cannot comprehend the energies and unique identities of numbers, but regard each number as merely an addition of one -- they see the number six as nothing more than five plus one, the number three as only two plus one; as for one itself, they are told by their teachers that it is axiomatic, too simple for definition. In effect, this means that they define all numbers as mystery+mystery. Just as they cannot perceive the souls of numbers in the way Pythagorean philosophers knew them, so have they lost the power to sense the meaning of simple graphic symbols.
Although the meanings of symbols can be sensed and understood on an intuitive level, they cannot be translated into words without losing the essence of meaning. We can describe part of the meaning of a basic symbol such as a circle, or a cross, or a triangle, but we can never capture all of its meaning, its wholeness or identity, in words, any more than a poem can be translated into ordinary prose without sacrificing its living heart. A simple symbol evokes a fundamental, potent meaning in our minds when we gaze upon it that belongs to it alone, and is shared by no other symbol or image or set of words.
Similar symbols convey similar meanings, but it is their differences that identify each as unique. A horizontal wavy line is not the same as a horizontal zigzag line, even though they convey a similar impression. The first is more fluid and gentle, the second sharp, jagged, abrupt. Both may be likened to water, but water in differing states; the first to a gently flowing stream, the second to a bubbling mountain torrent that tumbles over rocks; the first to rolling waves of the sea, the second to white-capped waves that break on a beach.
A triangle with a point uppermost represents ascent, a thrusting heavenward -- it is a flame that rises, a mountain, a blade of grass pushing through the soil to the sunlight. A triangle with its point downward inverts these qualities, and represents descent. It is the blade of a plow that cuts the soil, a stake driven into the ground, a chisel, a nail, a shovel, an oar that cleaves the wave. Even though the shapes of these symbols are identical, they are distinguished by their attitude, either point up or point down.
In order to convey a better grasp of what is and is not a simple symbol, I will briefly examine a few common shapes.
The regular spiral is a simple symbol because it is made up of a single curved, non-crossing, open line that it radially symmetrical -- that is, arranged equally around a single central point. Were such a spiral made from a wavy line (a form often encountered in primitive art) it would still qualify as a simple symbol provided it preserved its symmetry, but if it were irregular, the radial symmetry would be lost, along with its status as a simple symbol.
The astrological glyph of Venus is not a simple symbol because it is composed of a curved line (the circle) and two intersecting straight line segments (the cross). By the definition above, no simple symbol can have both curved and straight lines together, even though multiple straight lines alone, or multiple curved lines alone, are permissible.
The astrological glyph of the moon is a simple symbol because it is formed of two crescent lines connected at their points. These crescents are not identical, but each is bilaterally symmetrical -- that is, each side is a reflection of the other side. The glyph of the moon may thus be categorized as is a simple symbol with bilateral symmetry that is formed from curved, non-crossing, connected lines that enclose a space.
A bent line is a simple symbol provided that both sides are the same length -- but if one side is longer than the other, bilateral symmetry is destroyed, and the figure cannot be called a symbol, either simple or compound.
The glyph for Capricorn is not a simple symbol, both because it contains straight and curved lines together, and because it lacks symmetry.
The glyph of Cancer is not a simple symbol, since it is composed of two completely unconnected curved lines. Nor is each side a simple symbol, since the sides lack symmetry in themselves, despite the fact that one is a double-reflection of the other.
It is interesting to consider the glyph of Gemini, which can never be a simple symbol. Usually it is formed out of two vertical straight lines, with horizontal curved lines at its top and bottom. Curved and straight lines cannot both be present in a simple symbol. Even if the glyph is made from four straight lines, as is sometimes the case, it is not a simple symbol because its lines are both enclosing and open -- the ends of the horizontal lines at the top and bottom of the figure project past its verticals. It violates the definition when both an enclosed space, and dangling ends of lines, are present in a figure.
Thus, a triangle is a simple symbol, but a triangle with a line extending upward vertically from its uppermost point (a common figure in magic and alchemy) is not a simple symbol, since it is both enclosing and open at the same time. It is composed of two simple symbols -- the triangle, and the vertical line segment -- that just happen to touch.
It may seem to some readers unnecessarily technical and precise to attempt to define what constitutes a basic symbol, but unless we examine the nature of symbols we cannot hope to understand them. The very act of defining what a symbol is provides excellent mental exercise, and opens the awareness to this vitally important, but often neglected, aspect of practical Western magic.