Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols - Adele Nozedar - Страница 98

It might seem as though the book is such a commonplace object that it should not really have much significance as a secret symbol. However, this isn’t the case. Take, for example, the High Priestess card in the Tarot. The Priestess holds a book or scroll, half concealed within the folds of her robe. Here, the book symbolizes knowledge and hidden secrets, and in a wider sense the book symbolizes the very Universe itself. There are also parallels with the book and the Tree of Life; like a tree, the book has “leaves” that represent individual ideas and concepts and that collectively represent the sum total of all knowledge, occult or otherwise.

If we delve into word meanings, we find more analogies between books and trees. The etymology of “book” comes from the Old English bokiz, or the Germanic buche, meaning beech. This is likely to be because runes were initially inscribed on beechwood tablets. Similarly, the word “library,” originally meant the “inner bark of trees.”

A book that is closed is a book that conceals its secrets; sometimes we refer to an inscrutable person as a “closed book.” An open book is the opposite, ready to share its information with all and sundry.

The Book of the Dead, for the Ancient Egyptians, was the series of magical charms that were interred with the dead in order that they might journey safely into the next world, and that would provide answers to the questions posed by those casting judgement on the soul. This book, effectively, symbolizes the secrets of the divine that are revealed only to those who have undergone the ultimate initiation: death. The Book of Shadows is a sort of recipe book of spells, charms, and rituals, generally belonging to the Wiccan practitioner, written by hand and often in code. This book is the personal property of its owner, and can be a series of traditional texts as well as a personal journal, containing secrets that are passed down from generation to generation.