Class VII: Signs & Symbols
“Before there was writing, there were pictures. The desire to control the forces of nature led
Paleolithic humans to create images of the world around them. If the gods made the world, then
graphic imitation was a godlike act that carried with it the illusion of power.” —Leonard Shlain
(The Alphabet versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image, p. 45)(“wedge-shaped”)
symbols were made by
gouging tiny wedge-
shaped marks with
sharp sticks into wet
clay. By 2800 BCE, each
symbol represented an
object, action, idea, or concept. For centuries, Sumerian
scribes only used this writing to record transactions
of offerings to the temples. Only much later was cu-
neiform used to transcribe deeds of kings, religious
rites, myths, poetry—and even later, divination, math-
ematics, medicine, and law.Egyptian: Hieroglyphics, Demotic
() & Hieratic ()
Around 3000 BCE, the ancient Egyptians devel-
oped a very complex form of pictorial writing we call
hieroglyphics (HY-ro-GLIF-ix, “sacred carvings”).
Each glyph, or image, served three functions: 1. repre-
sentation of a thing or action; 2. standing for the sound
of a syllable; 3. clarifying the meaning of adjoining
glyphs. For concepts that could not be expressed in
pictures, the scribes in-
vented 25 special symbols
to stand for each of their
language’s spoken conso-
nants, allowing the reader
to sound out the words.
This is the principle of the
alphabet, although the
Egyptian scribes failed to
realize its potential and used
it but sparingly.
During Egypt’s New Kingdom (1550-700 BCE),
scribes resurrected an older alternative form called
Hieratic (hy-RAT-ik) script, which began to replace
hieroglyphics. They converted the glyphs represent-
ing the consonants into abstract letters. Unlike hiero-
glyphics, which could go in any direction, hieratic
script was always written horizontally. Oddly, it seems
not to have occurred to the scribes that they no longer
needed the larger number of glyphs (6,000 of them!),
which they still retained.
The inhabitants of the imperium of Meroe in Ethio-
pia selected just 23 out of the thousands of Egyptian
hieroglyphics to create a simplified alphabet, known
as Demotic. Many magickal orders, past and present,- Introduction: Magickal
Symbolism
SYMBOL IS SOMETHING THAT REPRE-
sents something else by associa-
tion, resemblance, or convention.
The word is derived from the
Greek symbolon, which was a to-
ken used for identification by
comparison with a counterpart. In
essence, a symbol is something
that is given an authority by being paired or connected
with another thing. The chief difference between a
magickal symbol system and the mundane symbol
systems we use everyday is that magickal symbols
are arranged in layers of correspondences (see 3.6:
“Correspondences”). Each association of a symbol is
like a band of light in a spectrum, or a note in an oc-
tave. The different attributions of magickal symbols
can be considered as expressions of the spirits of those
symbols in different states of being. Every object, ev-
ery thought, every emotion is but the symbol of an
eternal principle. The arcana (“secret knowledge”) of
the Mysteries were never revealed to the uninitiated
except through symbols. Temples of the ancient Mys-
teries each evolved their own sacred symbolism and
languages, known only to their initiates and never
spoken outside the sanctuary.
The magician constructs rituals so that every ob-
ject in the range of the senses has a symbolic connec-
tion with the idea and intention of the ceremony. In a
ritual context, the objects, symbols, and colors take
on a magickal quality in and of themselves, holding or
creating the energy necessary to accomplish the de-
sired results.Lesson 2. Ancient Writing
Cuneiform (cuneiorm)
The oldest known form of writing was developed
in ancient Mesopotamia (“Land between the Rivers”),
between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers—in the coun-
try that is now Iraq. As some of the world’s first cities
arose here, this area is often referred as “the Cradle of
Civilization.” It’s greatest capital was Babylon, estab-
lished around 2000 BCE. The first Mesopotamians were
known as Sumerians, and their principal cities were Ur
and Uruk. Beginning in 3100 BCE, the first cuneiformCorrected pages 3rd printing.1.p65 46 6/10/2004, 3:00 PM