Secret Societies and Secret Punctuation

Does anyone know the significance of the strange punctuation that many occult groups use. The punctuation symbol I am talking about is :.

It cannot be recreated easily using normal punctuation. The three dots should form the vertices of an equilateral triangle.

I have seen it used mainly by groups that were associated at one time or another with Aleister Crowley - the A:.A:. etc. Is this just a case of Crolwey being associated with lots of occult groups which already used this symbol, or did Crowley have something to do with this strange punctuation.

To an editor, it means, "stet." Sometimes the editor will also just write the word, "stet."

From Dictionary.com:

To nullify (a correction or deletion) in printed matter.

Basically, in editorial work (for newspapers, literature, magazines, pamphlets, whatever), it is used when an editor makes a mistake; for example, say I am editing a document and I cross out a word. Later, I realize that the word is, in fact, necessary (or spelled correctly, or whatever). I wouldn't want the document to go to final print with that word missing, so I have to let the printer know not to make the change I have indicated with my red pen. So, I either write the word, "stet," next to it, or I put the symbol you indicated above next to the change. That lets the printer know to ignore my initial change.

It is not technically punctuation, but instead a proofreader's mark. Not sure how that relates to secret societies, unless there is some sort of editorial cabal trying to dumb down the world through bad grammar (which, given the kind of butchery I've seen, may be the case).

I know that it is also a vowel marker that was later introduced into the written Hebrew language. I think it is an "e" sound (I could definitely be wrong), but I know that this is most likely WAY out of context.

[edit on 6-9-2005 by Stegosaur]

Originally posted by 23spy
I have seen it used mainly by groups that were associated at one time or another with Aleister Crowley - the A:.A:. etc. Is this just a case of Crolwey being associated with lots of occult groups which already used this symbol, or did Crowley have something to do with this strange punctuation.

I don't know of any special meaning, but if I know fraternal groups there probably is one. It is not only used in connection with Crowley. I have seen it used in nearly every fraternal organization that I have researched, with few exceptions. It is used several times throughout Morals & Dogma; as far as I can tell it works just like a period in an acronym. You can see it in this picture on the spine of M&D, between the letters USA thus: U.'.S.'.A.'.

Check it out:



I dunno what if any special significance it has, besides perhaps the fact that it forms a triangle, which is an important symbol.

[edit on 9/6/05 by The Axeman]

The punctuation was first used back in the old days by the Grand Orient of France, and is today used by both Masons and non-Masonic esoteric organizations because it symbolizes the Delta. At one time in France, Masons were known as the "Brothers Three-Points" because of it.

A .΄. A .΄. is about as close as you can get with Start>Run>charmap [on a Windows box that is]. found it on page 36 in my copy of The Book Of The Law from Magickal Childe Publishing Inc. so, trinity... well, i'm ok with that.

I've seen it, or punctuation similar to it, used to abbreviate a fraternal secret.

Using a fake Greek Letter example, if this entire website were GLO it could be Alpha Tau Sigma. Only members of this website would know that the ATSigma stood for Above Top Secret. So if we were writing a document and wanted to write out those words but in a way that non-members wouldn't understand, we could write it A:. T:. S:. You and I know what goes in that spot.

Are you implying that A-T-S has an esoteric meaning?

.

Speaking of which, I highly recommend the following book by Master M:.(Moira, Morya)





One of the greater works on Esoterism I've read.

Too bad it's unknown to many Occultists.


Don't worry, it's not "channeled" material.




[edit on 22-2-2006 by Tamahu]

Originally posted by dr_strangecraft

Are you implying that A-T-S has an esoteric meaning?

.

no... was just giving an example. I said "fake Greek Letter" and "if..."
The sky is not falling!