The Symbolikon Glossary

A reference for the language of symbols. Every term here is a key to a door that has always been there. The definitions are not exhaustive. They are starting points.

A

Alchemy: The proto-science and philosophical tradition that sought to transform base metals into gold and, by extension, to transform the self. The physical operations of alchemy, dissolving, distilling, calcining, coagulating, were understood as mirrors of interior processes. The Great Work (Magnum Opus) was simultaneously a material and a spiritual project. The stages: Nigredo (blackening, dissolution), Albedo (whitening, purification), Citrinitas (yellowing, dawning), Rubedo (reddening, completion).
Amulet: An object worn or carried for protection. Distinguished from a talisman by its function: an amulet wards off harm passively, by its presence. The gorgoneion, the scarab, the evil eye all function as amulets. The object does not act. Its presence is the action.
Anubis: The jackal-headed Egyptian god of the dead and guardian of the underworld. Anubis presided over the weighing of the heart against the feather of Ma'at: if the heart was lighter than the feather, the soul passed into the afterlife. The dog at the threshold of the sacred. The guardian who judges by weight, not appearance.
Apotropaic: From the Greek apotrepein, to turn away. Apotropaic objects or images are designed to turn away harm or evil. The Medusa gorgoneion is the classic apotropaic symbol: the terrifying face placed on shields and temple pediments to deflect what approaches. The evil eye amulet is apotropaic. The function is protective without being aggressive.
Arcana: Latin for secrets, hidden things. The arcana are the hidden or esoteric teachings of a tradition, the knowledge not available to the uninitiated. The Major Arcana of the tarot are the 22 cards representing archetypal forces. The minor arcana are the 56 cards of daily life. In alchemy, the arcanum is the secret principle that makes the transformation possible.
Archetype: From the Greek arche (origin) and typos (imprint). A primary pattern or model. In Jungian psychology, archetypes are universal patterns in the collective unconscious: the Hero, the Shadow, the Anima, the Self. In Platonic philosophy, archetypes are the ideal forms of which physical things are imperfect copies. The lion is an archetype of sovereignty. The wolf is an archetype of the teacher and the pack.

C

Caduceus: The staff of Hermes/Mercury, entwined by two serpents and topped with wings. The caduceus is the symbol of commerce, negotiation, and the messenger function. Distinguished from the Rod of Asclepius (one serpent, no wings), which is the medical symbol. The caduceus represents the balance of opposing forces entwined around a central axis.
Circumpunct: A circle with a point at its center. The oldest surviving abstract symbol in the human record. In Egyptian hieroglyphs: Ra, the sun. In Greek cosmology: the monad, the irreducible one, the source. In alchemical notation: gold. In Pythagorean mathematics: the first principle. The ring defines the center. The center defines the ring. Neither exists without the other. The SYMBOLIKO mark.
Corpus Hermeticum: A collection of texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (Thrice-Great Hermes), composed in Greek between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE. The foundational texts of Hermeticism, covering cosmology, philosophy, alchemy, and theurgy. The most famous line: As above, so below. The principle that the structure of the cosmos is reflected in the structure of the individual, and vice versa.

E

Esoteric: From the Greek esoterikos, inner. Knowledge or teaching intended for or understood by only a small group of people with specialized knowledge. Distinguished from exoteric (outer, public) teaching. The esoteric tradition holds that the deepest meanings of symbols, rituals, and texts are available only to those who have done the preparatory work. Not secret because it is hidden. Esoteric because it requires initiation.
Evil Eye: The belief, present in virtually every culture that has left a written record, that envy or malicious intent can cause harm through the act of looking. The evil eye amulet, the nazar, turns the look back on itself. The apotropaic function: meet the gaze with a gaze. Blue and white in Turkish and Greek tradition. The single eye surrounded by protective geometry.

G

Gorgoneion: The image of the Gorgon head, particularly Medusa, used as an apotropaic symbol. Placed on shields, armor, temple pediments, coins, and jewelry to deflect harm. In the oldest stratum of Greek mythology, Medusa was a guardian, not a monster. The face so concentrated with divine power that to meet it unprepared was to be turned to stone. Protection, from the right side of it.
Grimoire: A book of magical knowledge, containing instructions for rituals, spells, the summoning of spirits, and the creation of talismans and amulets. The most famous grimoires include the Key of Solomon, the Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton), and the Book of Abramelin. The grimoire tradition encodes symbolic knowledge in practical form.

H

Hermeticism: A philosophical and religious tradition based on the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. The core principles: mentalism (all is mind), correspondence (as above so below), vibration, polarity, rhythm, cause and effect, and gender. Hermeticism influenced Renaissance magic, alchemy, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and the Western esoteric tradition broadly.
Hieroglyph: From the Greek hieros (sacred) and glyphe (carving). Sacred carving. The Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system used pictographic symbols that functioned simultaneously as phonetic signs, ideograms, and symbolic images. The hieroglyph was understood as a sacred technology: writing that was itself a form of magic.

I

Initiation: A ritual passage from one state or level of knowledge to another. Initiation typically involves a symbolic death and rebirth: the candidate enters as one kind of person and emerges as another. Mystery schools, shamanic traditions, and esoteric orders all use initiation as the threshold between exoteric and esoteric knowledge. What cannot be told must be experienced.

K

Khepri: The Egyptian god of the rising sun, represented as a scarab beetle. Khepri pushes the solar disc across the sky each morning, descends into the underworld at night, and emerges again at dawn. The scarab amulet is associated with Khepri: the symbol of the cycle that guarantees return. What goes down comes back. The morning that follows every night.
Kitsune: The fox spirit of Japanese Shinto tradition. Kitsune are messengers of Inari, the deity of rice, fertility, and worldly success. They are shape-shifters, tricksters, and keepers of esoteric knowledge. The kitsune grows more tails as it ages and accumulates wisdom, up to nine. Intelligence as a spiritual quality. The ability to move through the world without being stopped by its apparent obstacles.

L

Labyrinth: A single-path design that winds inward to a center and back out again. Distinguished from a maze, which has dead ends and multiple paths. The labyrinth has one path and one correct route. To walk it is to make a journey: into the center, which represents the self or the sacred, and back out into the world. Medieval cathedrals installed labyrinths in their floors as pilgrimage substitutes. The Minoan labyrinth at Knossos.

M

Memento Mori: Latin: remember that you will die. A practice in Stoic philosophy, Roman tradition, medieval Christianity, and Renaissance art. Not morbidity but precision: the awareness of mortality as a tool for living more deliberately. The skull is the most common memento mori symbol. Vanitas still life paintings, with their flowers, hourglasses, and skulls, are memento mori compositions. Marcus Aurelius returned to the practice throughout his Meditations.
Monad: The irreducible one. In Pythagorean and Neoplatonic philosophy, the monad is the first principle, the source from which all things proceed. It is represented by the circumpunct: the point within the circle. Everything else is derived from it. It is not part of a series. It is the origin of the series.
Morrigan: The Celtic goddess of fate, war, and death. Associated with ravens and crows. The Morrigan's presence on the battlefield was understood as knowledge that the outcome had already been decided at a level inaccessible to the participants. Not a goddess of death but a goddess of fate: the one who sees what has already been determined.

N

Nazar: The evil eye amulet. A blue and white glass bead in the shape of an eye, used across Turkish, Greek, and broader Mediterranean traditions to deflect the evil eye. The nazar meets the gaze of envy with a gaze of its own. Apotropaic function. The protective symbol that requires no action from its wearer.

O

Occult: From the Latin occultus: hidden, concealed. The occult refers to knowledge and practices that are hidden from ordinary understanding, including astrology, alchemy, ceremonial magic, divination, and esoteric philosophy. The word carries no moral charge in its original sense: occult simply means hidden. What is hidden can be found. The tradition is not secret because it is dangerous. It is hidden because it requires preparation.
Ouroboros: The serpent eating its own tail. One of the oldest symbols in human history, appearing in Egyptian iconography, Gnostic texts, alchemical manuscripts, and Norse mythology (Jormungandr). The ouroboros represents the cycle that does not break: the end that feeds the beginning, the snake that sheds its skin and is renewed, time as a cycle rather than a line. The first appearance in recorded history is in an ancient Egyptian tomb from the fourteenth century BCE.

P

Prima Materia: Latin: first matter. In alchemical tradition, the prima materia is the undifferentiated raw material from which all things are made and to which all things can be returned. It is the starting point of the Great Work. Paradoxically, it is described as everywhere and nowhere, the most common and the most hidden thing. The alchemist's first task is to identify the prima materia in their own work.

S

Sacred Geometry: The study of geometric forms that appear to carry inherent meaning or to reflect universal principles. The Flower of Life, the Fibonacci spiral, the golden ratio, the Platonic solids, the vesica piscis. Sacred geometry holds that certain forms are not invented but discovered: they are present in the structure of the universe and become visible to anyone who looks carefully enough. The spiral of a nautilus shell and the spiral of a galaxy are the same form at different scales.
Scarab: The dung beetle, sacred to ancient Egypt as a symbol of Khepri and the rising sun. The scarab amulet was the most common protective object in Egyptian material culture, placed over the heart of the mummified dead and worn by the living. The function: a claim on the cycle of return. I will rise again. What is buried emerges. The morning is guaranteed.
Sigil: A symbol created for a specific magical purpose. In the Western esoteric tradition, sigils are typically created by abstracting letters or symbols associated with an intention into a single image. The sigil encodes the intention. In the SYMBOLIKO context, a sigil is a symbol that carries a specific function: the Ferocious Sigil names the quality of the wolf, the Seer Oracle Sigil names the quality of Medusa's awareness.
Symbolon: The ancient Greek practice and the object it produced: an object broken in two, each half kept by one party to a relationship. When the two halves were brought together and the join confirmed, this served as proof of the bond. The origin of the word symbol. SYMBOLIKO takes its name from symbolikos: of or belonging to a symbolon. Every piece in this collection is made as one half of something. The wearer carries the proof.

T

Talisman: An object made or prepared for a specific magical purpose. Distinguished from an amulet by its active function: a talisman attracts or generates something, while an amulet protects passively. Talismans are typically made at astrologically significant moments, inscribed with symbols or names, and consecrated through ritual. The ring of Solomon. The pentacle. The object charged with intent.
Thoth: The Egyptian god of writing, knowledge, magic, and the moon. Thoth is the scribe of the gods, the keeper of divine records, the one who invented language itself. He is associated with Hermes Trismegistus in the syncretic tradition of late antiquity, giving rise to Hermeticism. The ibis-headed god who writes what is real into existence.
Triskelion: Three spirals or three legs radiating from a center. The triple spiral found at Newgrange in Ireland (c. 3200 BCE) is the oldest known triskelion. The symbol appears across Celtic art, Greek coinage, Sicilian heraldry, and Manx tradition. Associated with the three domains of earth, sea, and sky; the three phases of the moon; and the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

V

Vanitas: A genre of seventeenth century Dutch still life painting in which objects of beauty, learning, and pleasure are arranged alongside memento mori symbols, particularly skulls and hourglasses. The Latin word means vanity or emptiness. The vanitas painting says: all of this is temporary. The skull in the corner is not a threat. It is information.
Vesica Piscis: The almond-shaped figure formed by the intersection of two circles of equal radius whose centers each lie on the circumference of the other. In sacred geometry, the vesica piscis is the first form to emerge from the monad: the moment the one generates the two. It appears in Gothic cathedral architecture, in the mandorla surrounding Christ in Romanesque art, and in the geometry of the Flower of Life.

W

Wyrd: The Old English concept of fate or personal destiny. Wyrd is not predetermination. It is the woven nature of a person's life: the threads of past actions, choices, and relationships that form the fabric of what comes next. The Norse Norns weave wyrd at the roots of Yggdrasil. The word is the origin of the English word weird, which originally meant having a fate or destiny before it shifted to mean strange.

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The glossary grows. Return when you need a word. Every symbol in this collection has a deeper etymology than its surface suggests. The Tablets of Memory go further on each one.