Hermetic

Hermetic symbols and meanings

Late antique and Renaissance readings of a cosmos that mirrors itself.

8 marks in the lexicon. A symbol can sit in more than one tradition. The page says which use is which.

• OuroborosThe serpent that eats itself, and so has no outside.
• Tree of lifeTen stations of emanation, and a way back up.
• PentagramFive lines in one stroke. The doctrines came later, and they disagree.
• MercuryThe go-between. Metal, planet, principle, and a god who travels.
• Eye of ProvidenceA claim that you are seen. The dollar bill did not invent it.
• BaphometA name extracted under torture, and a goat drawn centuries later.
• יהוה
  TetragrammatonFour letters. In Jewish practice, not a word you sound out.
• Philosopher’s stoneNot a rock. The name of the goal, and a diagram of a problem.