Symbols

Symbols are graphical depictions that are pointers to represent spiritual realities. Like a character of an alphabet with which we construct language to represent meaning, the symbols are esoteric characters pointing to meaning in the planes or worlds of consciousness.

Placing a symbol before one's inner eye in contemplation and meditation leads to spiritual and esoteric realities (1907-09-13-GA101)

Symbols are therefore part of a language to describe aspects of the Cosmic fractal and the Golden Chain, and branches such as alchemy and astrology use these symbols to study the effects of these spiritual influences in the physical world of Man and the Four kingdoms of nature. For example astrology can be seen as a language for psychology, human character and how the flows of life unfold in one's life.

Because symbols are pointers, or a representation in our physical world, of realities in the higher world (see Schema FMC00.532 below), they are to be approached through meditation using Man's higher states of consciousness (see stages of clairvoyance). In that sense (with reference to Schema FMC00.532) one can imagine them to be like a step-ladder for mind practice and contemplation, because the flat symbol has no specific meaning for one's mundane waking consciousness in the physical world.

Aspects

• most common and ancient symbols
  • astrology: zodiac signs, planets, and houses
  • alchemy: the four elements and astrological processes, see eg Schema FMC00.162
• numbers and characters
  • numbers (from 0 to 10 or 12) are also filled with collapsed meaning, they represent the multiplicity that appears in the cosmos in a multi-dimensional way (across appearances and instances) - see Book of Ten Pages, and also schema illustrations on Tetractys
  • characters in ancients languages such as hebrew and egyptian hieroglyphs were also representing meaning (in contract with characters of our current alphabet which are used to make up words with meaning in different languages, but have no individual meaning as a character)
• seals, as used in magic as sigils (symbols with embedded magical powers)
  • magical seals (specific to a spiritual entity) are used for evocations or summoning individual spiritual entities, see eg Bardon's Practice of Magical Evocation (PME) or the medieval magical grimoirs (for introductory examples, see wikipedia page for Sigil)
  • more complex depictions: eg Apocalyptic seals represent spiritual scientific meaning originating from imagery in the Book of Revelation (see Rudolf Steiner's descriptions on this site for an introduction). To get a feel, hold Schema FMC00.605.jpg next to Schema FMC00.532 (below).
• symbols and divination
  • divination is the process to about discovering information about the nature and condition of things that can help a person gain insight and/or make better decisions. However it is a generally accepted truism that divination is imperfect as the process can have many sources of error. Symbols like tarot (or i ching) are used as a way to connect with what lies beyond a person's waking consciousness; not dissimilar how modern astrologers also work with the symbols of planets, houses and zodiac signs. The information is not in the 'hard stuff', such as the tarot card itself, but the symbol can be used as a kind of gateway to connect. Artists also have this faculty to 'bring down' such inspiration from higher worlds (eg composers, poets), and/or pick this up through improvisation.
  • Rudolf Steiner describes divination as a very broad term .. also including mystical divination, poetic, prophecies, connecting through rituals, nature, gospels as sources, or just 'figuring out by intuition', but always with the clear positioning that this is not the same as the conscious faculties described in spiritual science. (a.i. not the same way to tell or know that any conclusion or intuition is correct).
    • examples: oracles (Greece) and sibyls (Rome), women chosen by the gods through which divine advice would be spoken through them. Leaders and pilgrims would ask their advice to receive answer of a god.
    • relationship of the faculty of divination with unbalances between Man's bodily principles and the human 'I'. See also Three pre-MoG interventions of Christ#Sibyls, and compare the explanation with symptomatic clairvoyance (eg Alois Irlmaier or others) as explained on Dowsing.
  • for more on divination, see also Evocation.
• various symbols important in spiritual science
  • pentagram is the symbol of (current physical) Man, the pentagram corresponds to five etheric streams in Man, see Human etheric body
  • hexagram
  • the spiral - or vortex
    • symbol of evolution moving forward not continuously but in discrete jumps, the old developing upto a point that the new emerges, see also The two halves of an evolutionary cycle
    • The sign of two spirals joined together represents the stage of development, where one part is ending and another is beginning. There are such vortices everywhere in nature; in star nebulae as, for example, the Orion nebula. (1906-09-04-GA095). Human and animal embryos have a spiral form in the early stages of their development. One part is a picture of the physical; the other part, which spirals around and into the first, is the astral (1906-11-30-GA121) - More on Nebulae
    • observed clairvoyantly, the astral body of the sleeping human appears as if it consists of many streams and sparkles of light and the whole appears like two intertwining spirals, as if there were two 6-figures, one of which vanishes into the physical body, while the other extends far out into the cosmos like the trail of a comet. (1905-02-06-GA090B and 1907-05-26-GA099). See also Human astral body
    • appears in nature as a consequence of the etheric formative forces creating physical reality (eg flower petals in plant kingdom galaxy, whirlpool, shells, see eg John Blackwood: 'Geometry in nature').
      • plant into space (GA214)
    • relation to lemniscate, orbits and space-time (GA324A)
  • caduceus, two serpents around the staff of Mercury or staff of Hermes
    • symbol for the development of consciousness and the human 'I': humanity takes part in the descending and ascending lines incl. its transient states (1907-12-28-GA101); white and black snakes (symbol of astral body), or advances made by day and night, embracing the staff of Mercury (1909-01-07-GA266, 1910-03-28-GA119)
    • the human soul connecting with the path and spiral movement of the Earth (1913-10-14-GA152)
    • staff represents Man himself, with snake symbol as symbol of freedom (1904-07-01-GA090A)
    • and Thinking feeling willing (TFW), re 1918-04-09-GA181
  • ouroboros -the snake biting its own tail
    • see oa Golden rule#1904-12-15-GA053 and Schema FMC00.328 on topic page IAO
  • Symbol of rose cross
  • plant
    • "If we concentrate on a plant growing until the seed is formed and then gradually withering until everything except the seed has vanished, we can visualise this as a simple symbol of growth and decay" (1910-03-28-GA119)
    • see also: [[Christ Module 6 - Principle in image and story#[1.1] - The plant in the sun as a symbol the ancient Mystery teachings]], and Schema FMC00.270 (and variants) and Schema FMC00.110 on that page.
  • monstrance or sanctissimum or - symbol of the transubstantiation
    • see Schema FMC00.191: the shining, like a small Sun, in the sanctissimum wherein the host is carried on a crescent cup ... as well as Schema FMC00.191A also on Holy Supper symbolism - bread and wine
  • the crescent moon and the sun
    • see Schema FMC00.116 (oa on Parsifal topic page): the symbol for Good Friday and Easter: the spiritual sun in the physical sun
    • see also monstrance above
  • similar to the above examples, and the apocalypic seals, many other pictures have similarly been used across the ages to convey certain meaning in some type of encoded or encrypted way, illustration for example Schema FMC00.537

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.532 is a draft pencil scribble or sketch transferred to a digital format for readability, but it should be read as a thought sketch and not as something exact. The Schema expresses how things, patterns of order, structures we find in the physical world 'below' are the result of the higher worlds of consciousness and the Golden Chain.

On the left, the different worlds are shown so as to illustrate our physical world is encapsulated, embedded, as the emanation of the spiritual influences of those higher worlds. The central axis symbolizes this path of the 'golden chain'.

Above, the higher spirit world with spiritual seeds (from the monad, 'atma') is an environment beyond time and space, before form. This is where Man's higher triad and spiritual core has to be positioned. From there on downwards, the Golden Chain pushes down the breath of creation into a sequential realm of time and form in space. It is in the lower spirit world one finds the archetypes with form, that will then be clothed with astral and physical matter. Descending down the astral and etheric the 'illusion' of time gets generated in the physical world, as everything gets clothed in the world of mineral 'substance' through the so-called tetrapolar magnet of the four elements.

It is due to this descent that in the physical world one finds symbols, the multiplicity in nature of number (see Book of Ten Pages), and recurrent rhythms (see Cosmic breathing). On the left of the Schema are shown the formative forces of the Elementary Kingdoms that, combined with the Group souls, generate the four kingdoms of nature. This is what gives rise to forms, symmetry, platonic solids, spirals .. and special patterns and ratio's such as Pi, the golden ratio, fibonacci series, etc.

Now it is because of all this also that certain texts can be read and contemplated in a multidimensional way, they are of a nature that could be called fractal or holographic, as they are like symbolic entry gates to 'folded' higher realities. Rudolf Steiner explains this for the Book of Revelation and the Lord's Prayer, but the same is valid for many ancient spiritual texts (eg Sepher Yetzirah, Vedas). Such texts are basically constructed from pointers connected to ideas in the spirit world and astral world, the sequence of words are just labels or sigils that connect to this higher spiritual reality which is not just sequential or uni-dimensional (and human intellectual rational thought). Hence these texts and words gain higher value with higher stages of clairvoyance such as imagination.

Finally on the right are shown the three dimensions of evolution that 'above' relate to qualities of the three Logoi or Trinity, and find their equivalences - in the manvantara outgoing cosmic breath in the solar system - in Conditions of Consciousness, Life and Form. Mapping form to the lower spirit world, and life to the higher spirit world, then consciousness takes a step change with every planetary stage of evolution at the levels above the higher spirit world (for details, see pralaya, the right of Schema FMC00.389, and coverage of the 1904-11-GA089 lectures on Christ Module 7 - Cosmic dimension). Contemplate the schemas on three dimensions of evolution with this Schema below, to imagine how this lies at the basis of structural threefoldedness in the physical world.

The schema also explains why the Book of Ten Pages, symbols, etc .. and the study of these 'pointers below' have been an essential part of ancient Mysteries through the millenia, even across various stages of human consciousness in its evolution.

Lecture coverage and references

1904-07-01-GA090A

The arbitrary nature or freedom of the human microcosm express themselves in the inclination of the snake. The Hermes staff or rod represents Man himself, and hence the snake symbol as symbol of freedom.

1905-02-06-GA090B

Q&A (p63-64)

Nebulae in astronomy have to be considered as the shining off of the lowest astral conditions. The astral body of Man looks similar to the Orion nebula, like a whirl or cosmic world nebula.

1907-05-26-GA099

When the human being sinks into sleep, his astral body and ego, together with what has been worked upon in the astral body by the I, withdraw from the physical and etheric bodies.

When you observe the sleeping human being clairvoyantly, physical body and etheric body lie there in the bed. These two members remain connected whereas the astral body emerges together with the higher members; with clairvoyance we can see how, when sleep begins, the astral body, bathed in a kind of light, draws out of the other two bodies.

To describe this condition with greater exactitude we must say that the astral body of modern Man appears as if it consisted in many streams and sparkles of light and the whole appears like two intertwining spirals, as if there were two 6-figures, one of which vanishes into the physical body, while the other extends far out into the cosmos like the trail of a comet. Both these trails of the astral body very soon become invisible in their further extensions, so that the phenomenon then has an ovoid [oval] shape.

When the human being wakes, the trail no longer extends into the cosmos and everything draws again into the etheric and physical bodies.

1907-09-13-GA101

From these brief considerations we see how matters stand with regard to the real meaning of a symbol. All signs and symbols that we meet in occultism direct us to such realities, and what is most important is the fact that in due course one receives indications in the use of such figures. They then are the means toward reaching cognition or clairvoyance. No one who ponders the pentagram deeply will be unsuccessful if only he does so with patience. He must immerse himself in the pentagram, as it were; then he will find the currents in the etheric body. There is no sense in thinking out contrived, arbitrary meanings for these signs. One must place them before one's inner eye; then they lead to occult realities. This is the case not only with what can be found in the confines of theosophy, but also with the symbols and signs contained in the most varied religious documents because these documents are based on occultism. Whenever a prophet or a founder of a religion speaks of light and would thereby point to wisdom, this he does not do because he considers it an ingenious picture. The occultist bases his thinking on facts. Hence, it is not important to him to be ingenious, but truthful! As an occultist one must give up lawless thinking; one must not draw arbitrary conclusions and pass judgments. Step by step, with the help of spiritual facts, correct thinking must be developed. This image of the light, therefore, has a deep significance or, rather, it is a spiritual scientific fact.

1910-03-28-GA119

The advance made by the human 'I' can be indicated by a serpentine spiral. Two serpent forms, one light and one dark, wind around a vertical staff. The light curves represent the experiences of the day, the dark curves the forces working during the night. The vertical line indicates the advances made. Here, then, we have a different symbol representing the life of Man.

We can make both complicated and simple symbols. The following would be an example of a simple one.

If we concentrate on a plant growing until the seed is formed and then gradually withering until everything except the seed has vanished, we can visualise this as a quite simple symbol of growth and decay.

• In the Rose-Cross we have a symbol of Man's development from his present stage to his purification;
• in the Staff of Mercury we have a symbol of Man's development through the experiences of day and night and the advance made by the I.

1915-03-02-GA157

The fact is that both unity and multiplicity are concepts which are of value only in the physical world, so people believe that they must be of value in the spiritual world as well. But that is not so.

People must realize that although unity can be glimpsed, it must immediately be superseded for it reveals itself as multiplicity. It is unity and multiplicity at the same time.

Nor can ordinary calculation, physical mathematics, be carried into the spiritual world.

One of the very strongest and at the same time most subtle of Ahrimanic temptations is the desire to carry into the spiritual world, just as they are, concepts acquired in the physical world. We must approach the threshold without “bag or baggage,” without being weighed down with what we have learned in the physical world; we must be ready to leave all this at the threshold.

All concepts—precisely those we have taken the most trouble to acquire—must be left behind and we must be prepared for the fact that in the spiritual world new concepts will be given; we will become aware of something entirely new.

This clinging to what the physical world gives is extremely strong in the human being. He would like to take with him into the spiritual world what he has conquered in the physical. He must have the possibility, however, of standing before a completely clean slate, of standing before complete emptiness and of allowing himself to be guided only by the thoughts which then begin to come to life. This entrance into the spiritual world has been called fundamentally the Gate of Death, because it really is a greater death than even physical death. In physical death we are persuaded to lay aside the physical body; but on entering the spiritual world we must resolve to lay aside our concepts, our notions, and our ideas and allow our being to be built up anew

2023-09 - Rawn Clark on astrology

taken from facebook post in public domain.

Notes:

• Uses specific terminology like 'essential meaning' (at the level of the higher spirit world) and 'temporal realm', (everything below, from the lower spirit world downwards); for a positioning of these terms, see the right of Schema FMC00.133
• the rhythms of essential meaning that are described link to the nature of the Spiritual hierarchies and their eigenperiods, as the spiritual hierarchies, in terms of structural make-up, 'span' from across the higher spirit world into the lower worlds and temporal realm.

Someone asked me to explain how astrology works.

Imagine, if you will, we stand within the great River of Life. The water that rushes past is essential meaning. There are countless streams that make up the whole body of rushing water; they mix and separate but are always in combination wherever they flow.

In the temporal realm where change is constant and infinite, different streams flow through at different times and the essential meaning composing the present moment is ever so lightly different than the next.

We call this stream over here, “Moon” because it somehow reminds us of the moon, and every time we experience this stream of essential meaning, this type or flavor, we call it “Moon”. And we notice over time that every time the physical moon in our sky is entering the sign of Cancer, that same stream of “Moon” is also flowing especially strongly; and so we say that “Moon” rules “Cancer” and every time we experience that same flavor of essential meaning, we say that “the Moon is in Cancer” and see that it is physically true.

Point of fact: at the astra-mental level at which these symbols exist there IS a correlation between the physio-astra-mental movement of the planets and the presence/movement of essential meaning throughout the present moment of time-space. It is an astra-mental correlation with a physical phenomenon.

There is a rhythm to essential meaning and its variation through time. To a great extent, there is (in the short term at least) a predictable pattern and this is the essence of astrology. It even takes account for those moments when a totally new essential meaning emerges out of the blue.

The present moment is awash with essential meaning, affecting everything we do, think, feel, see, etc. And it is ever-changing; or rather, there are an infinite number of changes happening every moment. So the essential meaning of the present moment is a vastly, unimaginably complex thing when we look at it in detail. Even a superficial perception of its essential meaning can be overwhelming; but when one perseveres and stays with the perceiving, we see that there are many big themes or similarities to parts of the overall flow. And we see that it changes at the smaller level each time we change place; sometimes drastically, and at others, hardly at all; but always there is the main current, the overriding theme.

There exist an infinite number of particles of distinctly unique essential meanings. Here in the temporal realm of sequence, not all of the essential meanings exist at the same time, in the same place. They all exist in the NOW moment but not all in the same place: they are spread out through the infinite universe. In our little corner of the universe, we experience only a portion of the total number of essential meanings, with new ones entering our domain periodically and old ones leaving. And it all moves with rhythm and form and balance; as it must because that is the nature of essential meaning.

And here’s an important thing .. to learn about the real universe: the movement of the planets through the zodiac, and everything that happens in the cosmos, is the manifestation of the essential meaning that permeates the universe.

So when the physical moon is in Cancer is does effect us in specific, predictable ways because in that moment, that specific stream of essential meaning is passing through and affecting us. The astra-mental is connected with the physical! The physical is the manifestation of what’s happening at an astra-mental level. Even that region of space that we arbitrarily call “Cancer” indicates a specific flavor of essential meaning, a specific stream that mixes with that of moon by virtue of its spatial conjunction.

It’s all connected . . .

Discussion

Note 1 - Platonic solids

Introduction

The five Platonic solids are unique in that they are the only regular polyhedra that exist, they are named after Plato who also studied them. These highly symmetrical, convex polyhedrons have the following properties: a) all faces are congruent (identical in shape and size) regular polygons; b) the same number of faces meet at each vertex; c) they are convex, meaning all points on the surface bulge outwards with no caving in.

• Tetrahedron – 4 faces, each an equilateral triangle
  • eg see topic page Earth and the Earth as a tetrahedon (1924-09-18-GA354)
  • connects the numbers 3 and 4, as it consists of four triangles, see Book of Ten Pages#Of three and four
• Cube (Hexahedron) – 6 faces, each a square
• Octahedron – 8 faces, each an equilateral triangle
• Dodecahedron – 12 faces, each a regular pentagon
• Icosahedron – 20 faces, each an equilateral triangle

Archimedian solids

  Platonic solids:

•        All faces are identical regular polygons.
•        Each vertex has the same arrangement of faces around it.

  Archimedean Solids:

•        Faces are still regular polygons, but there can be more than one type of polygon.
•        Each vertex has the same arrangement of polygons, but the faces are not all identical.

Example of an Archimedian solid:

The icosidodecahedron, has both triangular and pentagonal faces.

See for example also: Language of creation#Note 2 - On Rawn Clark's golems

Rudolf Steiner's Foundation Stone

In Rudolf Steiner's Foundation Stone, a double pentagon-dodecahedron made of copper was used

1923-12-25-GA260

what lies at the foundation of all aspects of the being of Man. In the substance of the universe there works and is and lives the spirit which streams from the heights and reveals itself in the human head; the force of Christ working in the circumference, weaving in the air, encircling the Earth, works and lives in the system of our breath; and from the inmost depths of the Earth rise up the forces which work in our limbs.

When now, at this moment, we unite these three forces, the forces of the heights, the forces of the circumference, the forces of the depths, in a substance that gives form, then in the understanding of our soul we can bring face to face the universal dodecahedron with the human dodecahedron.

Out of these three forces: out of the spirit of the heights, out of the force of Christ in the circumference, out of the working of the Father, the creative activity of the Father that streams out of the depths, let us at this moment give form in our souls to the dodecahedral Foundation Stone which we lower into the soil of our souls so that it may remain there a powerful sign in the strong foundations of our soul existence and so that in the future working of the anthroposophical society we may stand on this firm Foundation Stone.

Related pages

• Cosmic fractal
• Symbol of rose cross
• Alphabet
• Divination

References and further reading

• August Horneffer: 'Symbolik der Mysterienbünde' (1923)
• Johann Jakob Bachofen (herausgegeben von Carl Albrecht Bernouilli): 'Urreligion und antike Symbole : systematisch angeordnete Auswahl aus seinen Werken in drei Bänden' (1925)
• Carl G. Jung: 'Man and His Symbols' (1964 in EN, in NL 'De mens en zijn symbolen ; De werkelijkheid van het onbewuste'
• Ernst Lehner (1895-1968 (or 1971?)): 'Symbols, signs & signets' (1969)
• J. E. Cirlot: 'A Dictionary of Symbols' (1971)
• James A. Hall: 'Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art' (1974)
• Eugène Canseliet (1899-1982): ' Alchimie: Études Diverses de Symbolisme Hermétique et de Pratique Philosophale ("Alchemy: Various Studies on Hermetic Symbolism and Philosophical Practice") (1978)
• Fred Gettings (1937-2013): 'Secret Symbolism in Occult Art' (1987)
• Jean Dubuis: 'The Fundamentals Of Esoteric Knowledge', Lesson 4 on Symbols
• Hans W. Nintzel, Philip N. Wheeler: 'Alchemical Symbols (2018)
• Eric Chaline: 'Symbols of the Occult' (2021)

Tarot

a selection, as there are thousands of books on the topic

• Paul Foster Case: 'Book of Tokens-Tarot Meditations' (1934)
  • also: An Introduction to the Study of the Tarot (1920), A Brief Analysis of the Tarot (1927), Tarot Revelations (1931), The Highlights of Tarot (1931), Learning Tarot Essentials (1932), Oracle of the Tarot - A Course on Tarot Divination (1933), Tarot Fundamentals 4 volumes (1936), Tarot Interpretations 4 volumes (1936), The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages (1947)
• 'Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism' (1985 in EN, original 1980 in FR as 'Méditations sur les 22 arcanes majeurs du Tarot')
  • the 'anonymous author' was later revealed through research and correspondence to be Valentin Tomberg (1900–1973) who chose anonymity to emphasize the universal nature of the teachings and discourage focus on the author rather than the content.

Other

• A.E. Waite: 'The Pictorial Key to the Tarot' (1910)
• William G. Gray: 'Sangreal Tarot: A Magical Ritual System of Personal Evolution' (1988)
  • not just another book about the tarot. It can be used with any deck of cards, for it looks at the symbols of the tarot from the Sangreal viewpoint to teach you a new way of meditation that will enhance your pursuit of the Western Mystery Tradition. Gray combines the symbolism of the Quabbalistic Tree of Life with the symbolism inherent in the traot so you can learn the secret language of the tarot while looking at it through the lens of the mystical path. The ten fundamental types of consciousness will be explored using the four worlds of the qabbalah that also appear in the four suits in the tarot, and Mr. Gray will explain how he works with the meanings of the major and minor arcana. Also included is the Journey of the Fool, that mystical journey of the soul that each person who quests for the Holy Grail must take. Mr. Gray does recommend that you use the cards for fortunetelling, but rather that you use them to help your spiritual growth. By working with the cards, they will begin to talk to you, and as you better understand the symbolism, you will learn the true value of what you hold within yourself.
• Rachel Pollack (1945-2023)
  • Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom (1998)
  • also: Tarot (1985), The Haindl Tarot (1990), The New Tarot (1990), Tarot Readings and Meditations (1991), The Shining Tribe Tarot (2001), Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot (2002), Tarot Wisdom (2008)
• Alejandro Jodorowsky and Marianne Costa: 'The Way of Tarot' (2004)

internet

• tarot-heritage.com
• www.tarothermeneutics.com
• benebellwen.com