The 4 Letters: D, M, V(Swedish), Madre (Spanish), Mutter (German). And the word water in
Latin is mare, and in French, mer. Then there are such aquatic words as
marine and marsh. Mother and Water are synonymous with this letter
because prenatal life begins in the amniotic sac of Water within the womb
of the mother. M is the 13th letter of all Indo-European alphabets, the
center, just as the womb is located in the center of woman. And, interest-
ingly enough, M is the center of the word “woman.”
In the Bible we read how the Pharaoh’s daughter found a baby afloat
in a small ark: “And she called his name Moses; for she said, I drew him
out of the water” (Exodus 2:10).
The Bible does not explain what the name had to do with Water be-
cause in those days it was well known that Mem (M) represented Water.
Over the years the deeper meanings have been lost to the world in general.
All letters and numbers had mystical meanings in all languages, but M
was considered the most sacred of all since Water is necessary for all life.
It is both feminine and masculine, or androgynous.
There is a connection with W, the first letter of the word Water; for
M is a W upside down, and the womb, which starts with W, is in the
Mother, which starts with M.
The first Phoenician hieroglyph for Mem was a W with a tail down the
right side:. When the Greeks borrowed the sign they eliminated the
tail, turned the letter around, and called it Mu. The Romans adopted it
for their M.
The Romans thought the M looked like a face. They added a dot on
each side for eyes, and when they made the dots larger they became circles,
thus creating “omo.” This became homo, the Latin word for man.
M shows strength of character, and stands well balanced on its own
two feet. The V is prominent in the upper middle of the M. This shows
that it is open to ideas from a higher plane and gives M management
abilities. It is good in positions of authority as it has an orderly mind and
excellent memory.
The 4 is a number of business, and M’s root is 4. The V inside it is the
22nd letter and its root is also 4. Adding 4 plus 4 equals 8, the number of
the executive. This means the managerial abilities are strong in the M.
Women whose names begin with this letter are exceptional homemakers,
and men with this initial like to manage the home.
M is the only letter that is pronounced with the mouth closed. This
signifies the quiet of the great sea whose deepest waters are mute, yet
from it springs all life.
This mute letter ties in with the 13th card of the Tarot, Death. But
this symbol represents change, not the end. A prominent sun on the hori-
zon in the background is to remind us that while the sun sets every day, it
also rises again the next morning. Every symbol on the card points out a
continuation of the life force.