Esoteric and occult symbols
Symbols of the Western occult and divinatory traditions, and where each came from.
- Crystal and gemstone loreWhat amethyst, rose quartz, moonstone and other stones have been believed to do, from Pliny and the medieval lapidaries to modern crystal healing, and where each belief came from.14 entries
- Pagan and Wiccan symbolsThe triple moon, the pentacle, the horned god, the elements and the Wheel of the Year of modern Paganism and Wicca, what each means to the people who use it, and how recent or old each one is.6 entries
- Sacred geometryGeometric figures given spiritual meaning, from the flower of life to Metatron’s cube, where each figure comes from and when its meanings were attached.6 entries
- Tarot cardsThe 78 cards of the tarot, its 22 trumps and four suits: a fifteenth-century Italian card game that became a tool of divination.78 entries
- Zodiac signsThe glyphs of the twelve signs of the Western zodiac, where each shape came from, and what astrology holds each sign to mean.13 entries
- Occult and alchemical symbolsSymbols from alchemy and the Western occult tradition, where each came from, and how later movements have used them.6 entries
About esoteric and occult symbols
Symbols of the Western occult tradition, starting with the tarot: a card game that eighteenth- and nineteenth-century occultists, from Court de Gébelin to Éliphas Lévi, read as a book of hidden knowledge. Zodiac signs has the glyphs of the twelve signs of the Western zodiac, whose origin is unknown, and what astrologers say each sign means, given as their belief. Occult and alchemical symbols has the ouroboros, which Greek alchemy drew around the words “the all is one”, and Baphomet, a name from the trials of the Knights Templar that Lévi gave to a goat-headed figure in 1856. Sacred geometry has the flower of life, the seed of life and Metatron’s cube, figures from a grid of overlapping circles whose names are modern: they are the terms of the New Age teacher Drunvalo Melchizedek, from his book of 1999. The pages give each symbol's history and the meanings its writers gave it, as theirs.
Sources
- Facts and Speculations on the Origin and History of Playing Cards, by William Andrew Chatto, John Russell Smith, London, 1848 (Project Gutenberg text, on the Internet Archive), Introduction; Tarocchi
- A Descriptive Catalogue of Playing and Other Cards in the British Museum, by W. H. Willshire, Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1876 (scan on the Internet Archive), General history
- Star-Names and Their Meanings: Aquarius, Richard Hinckley Allen, 1899 (reprinted by Dover as Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning), LacusCurtius (Bill Thayer, University of Chicago), Aquarius (on the zodiac signs’ symbols)
- Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs, vol. 1, by Marcellin Berthelot, with Ch.-Em. Ruelle, Georges Steinheil, Paris, 1887 (scan on the Internet Archive), Introduction: Papyrus de Leide; Figures d’appareils, figure 11 (pp. 132–134)
- The History of the Origin of the Sigil of Baphomet and its Use in the Church of Satan, Magus Peter H. Gilmore and Magister Robert Merciless, Church of Satan
- Visit us in Salem: the Baphomet monument, The Satanic Temple, The Baphomet Monument
- MathWorld: Flower of Life, Eric W. Weisstein, MathWorld (Wolfram Research), entry and references
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 1, 2026. How we research