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This Classic work is now copyright expired and therefore in the public domain. How to Read the Crystal by SepharialVI. SYMBOLS
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Symbols are thought-forms which convey, by the association of ideas, a definite meaning in regard to the mind that generates them. They depend wholly upon the laws of thought, and the correspondence that exists between the spiritual and material worlds, between the subject and the object of our consciousness.
Among the ancients symbols were the original form of record, of communicating ideas, and of writing. The hieroglyphs of the Egyptians, the word-pictures of the aborigines of Central America, the ideographic writing of ancient Mongolia, are all forms of symbolic writing, drawn from natural objects. The Hebrew alphabet, the names of its 22 letters, clearly indicate the nomadic and simple life of those "dwellers in tents." Thus the names of the letters include such objects as ox, tent, tent-door, tent-peg, camel, fish, fish-hook, an eye, a hand, a basket, a rope-coil, a head, an ox-goad, water, etc. From the combination of these simple forms the words are constructed. Thus the word used to signify "knowledge" is derived from three letters, Yod, Daleth, Oin, which mean a hand, a door, an eye. The _hand_ denotes action, power, etc.; the _door_ denotes entering, initiation, etc.; the _eye_ denotes seeing, vision. Therefore the three ideograph; when combined, denote "opening the door to see," which is a very graphic way of conveying the idea of acquiring knowledge. One cannot help seeing the hand of the young Hebrew drawing aside the canvas door of the tent and peeping in to see what secrets may be learned!
All symbols, therefore, may be translated by reference to the known nature, quality, and uses of the objects they represent. Thus a foot signifies a journey, and also understanding; a mouth denotes speech, revelation; an ear news, information, and, if ugly and distorted, scandal or abuse. The sun, shining brightly, denotes prosperity, honours. The moon, when crescent denotes success, increase, and improvement. When gibbous, it denotes sickness, decadence, losses, and trouble. The sun eclipsed shows death or ruin of a man; the moon, similarly afflicted, denotes equal danger to a woman. These are natural interpretations.
Every symbol, however, has a threefold interpretation, and the nature of the inquiry or the purpose for which the vision is sought must determine the meaning of the symbols. If they refer to the spiritual world the interpretation must be agreeable to the nature of the spirit, and similarly if they refer to the intellectual or physical worlds. Thus a pair of scales would denote Divine Justice in the spiritual sense, judgment in the intellectual sense, and obligation in the material sense. If the scales were evenly balanced the augury would be good. But if weighed down on one side it is _Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin_, "Thou art weighed and found wanting"; it shows a corrupt judgment, a wrong conclusion, an unbalanced mind, failure in one's obligations, injustice, etc. And if a sword should lie across the scales or be seen overhead, then a speedy judgment will be meted out.
A ship is a symbol of intercourse, of trading, of voyaging, etc. If in full sail it shows that the communication with the spiritual world is increasing, that news from far-off lands will come to hand, that trade will increase, that a voyage will be taken. If aught is written on the sails it will be an additional source of enlightenment. If the symbol of death be written there, it shows speedy translation to a far-off country in which the subject will die. That far-off country may be the spiritual world itself in which case the death would be a natural one. But if the ship's sails are drooping, then it denotes a falling away of spiritual influx of intelligence, and of trade. Expected news will not come.
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