Drawn to symbolism?

Is there something in the symbolism used among secret societies that is tied to our subconscious awareness? Think about it carefully for a second. What drew you in to this subject to begin with? What made you aware of the topic? Were you drawn unconsciously to the symbols of various secret societies before you even knew what they implied? Why those over any other symbolism prevelant in society today?
Symbols are common and plentiful and vary greatly. So why might those used by secret societies be more drawing for people? could these be symbols that are coded somewhere in our combined consciousness? Think carefully about this.. I would really like to hear your thoughts.

For me I have always liked symbols. When I was little around middle school age, I made my own code to write notes to a friend and my sister. I used symbols that I made up. My mom thought i was odd but my sister, my friend Shannon and I all could read it. I look at it now and have no idea what I was saying..lol I dont know what got me into secret societies, probably the fact they are secret and I love looking into things I cant get in to! Also I know this might sound weird but the movie "The Skulls" really got me looking into them. The whole secret aspect is what intrigues me. Nice post

What you're asking is sort of a non-question, or a very obvious yes. By it's very definition, symbolism is used to create associations implicative of various goals.

Everything, and let me emphasize, EVERYTHING in our lives are symbols of sorts which hold meaning. Some more encompassing than others, some more personal.

No matter what 'they' told you, yes, you CAN tell a book by its cover. The clothes you wear, the car you drive, the things and people you choose to bring into your lives, these are all symbols too.

When ritual magicians attempt their, well, rituals, they rely on creating an appropriate environment in order to focus their will. Sight, sound, smell. Clothes. Colors. Objects. Inscense. Words. Music.

When I used to play in a rock band back in the 1980s, it was no different. Preparing for the stage was very similar to the above. In both instances, you don the mantle of someone else, another part of yourself.

Is work any different? You hear "dress for success", and "Dress for the job you want, not for the job you have" - and it's true.

All that said, 'secret' societies also rely heavily on symbolism to create a strong sense of identity, each symbol representing a part of that indentity.

We buy the fancy sports car or the big powerful SUV, in part (and besides the fact that we need to drive something) because it tells the world something about us, it is a symbol that we use to represent who we feel we are. (Anyone that says that they don't is either the exception or lying and you can prove it with one question - would you drive any old car as long as it worked well? Wear any clothing as long as they didn't have holes? Do any profession as long as you could earn enough to take care of yourself? Everyone cares about the symbols that represent them, some just more than others.)

Even the label 'secret societies' is a symbol, and will either appeal or not pending on the desire to claim that symbol in your life. Such organizations represent (as symbols if not in truth) the mysteries of life, of mankind, of society and history. The trappings, the overt symbols, the stars, the crosses, the all seeing eye, the leaves, the flowers, the...whatever, these hold meanings too; to the layman, merely representing the symbols contained by 'secret societies', to the student, the layers of those mysteries.

I have a theory about truth. I think that the greatest truths are the things that are not defined, but rather those things that lie between the lines, the things that are unsaid and defined only by the gap from one fact to the other. I won't go into it here, but I think language is just a subset of communications, of which singing, dancing and gesture help create the whole. It is in the abstract that all great truths can be found. Poetry often touches on this. Quantum mechanics.

Symbols are part of this great truth. You merely have to look to what is unsaid and undefined to find it.

Originally posted by Jadette
I have a theory about truth. I think that the greatest truths are the things that are not defined, but rather those things that lie between the lines, the things that are unsaid and defined only by the gap from one fact to the other.

Excellent theory, and I think quite true. I would perhaps suggest an expanded definition of "language", which includes dance, body language, etc. The determinable in appearance, but not necessarily determinable in meaning.

Symbols play with that ambiguity.

Please allow me to self-promote a thread I have going right now, about the insufficiencies of language and communication, and the transcendence thereof.

I would also encourage the OP to perhaps consider the very unscientific viewpoint that there is an acausal relationship between the "attraction" of symbolism, and their personal appreciation. Perhaps you are drawn to those symbols now, because of the later meaning they may have to you? Or as contribution to their significance to humanity as a whole? If that fits what you perceive and have experienced, in some way, is there an equivalent scientific and rational model for the phenomena?

Symbols are wonderful at conveying and evoking knowledge and understanding with very little detail and without the inefficiency of words.

Symbols were also used in the past allegorically due to such high illiteracy rates.

reply to post by Ian McLean


I think we're on the same wavelength, as I said in my post,

I won't go into it here, but I think language is just a subset of communications, of which singing, dancing and gesture help create the whole.

This theory on language is a favorite of mine, and I'm convinced that it's true. I'll pop over and check out your other thread, thank you.

Originally posted by NephraTari
Is there something in the symbolism used among secret societies that is tied to our subconscious awareness?....
could these be symbols that are coded somewhere in our combined consciousness?

Yes and yes.

The entire discipline of occultism is based around that theory. This is especially true in regard to the symbolism of the Tarot.

The work of Paul Foster Case and Ann Davies in this field is unsurpassed, and I would recommend that you read their works....they're quite enlightening.

reply to post by Masonic Light

Thank you, I will check into them.
I think a few people misunderstood what I meant in the OP.
I know symbolism is used heavily in many things, but I was trying to ask if it was possible that these symbolisms speak to a universal consciousness in all of us. Like a trigger or hint. Similar to what people have theorized about symbols in crop circles.

All you have to do is read Morals and Dogma. Pike explains everything through history in exhaustive detail with an extensive bibliography. It is not light reading tho...

Originally posted by NephraTari
I know symbolism is used heavily in many things, but I was trying to ask if it was possible that these symbolisms speak to a universal consciousness in all of us. Like a trigger or hint. Similar to what people have theorized about symbols in crop circles.

According to psychology, yes.

Jungian psychology is based almost exclusively upon the interpretation of symbols that occur to our consciousness, both in dreams and waking life. Everything is analyzed as a symbol with subconscious information embedded within it, that we have to learn to integrate with our consciousness.

Originally posted by miragezero
All you have to do is read Morals and Dogma. Pike explains everything through history in exhaustive detail with an extensive bibliography. It is not light reading tho...

I'm not sure Pike is the best source here. He seems to have understood the mystery, as can be seen in this quote:

He who desires to attain to the understanding of the Grand Word and the possession of the Great Secret, ought carefully to read the Hermetic philosophers, and will undoubtedly attain initiation, as others have done; but he must take, for the key of their allegories, the single dogma of Hermes, contained in his table of Emerald, and follow, to class his acquisitions of knowledge and direct the operation, the order indicated in the Kabalistic alphabet of the Tarot. (Pike, "Morals and Dogma", p. 777)

Pike here shows his understanding of the fact that the Tarot symbolism is the Qabalistic tool to unlocking the subconscious mind, but he writes from the viewpoint of an occult philosopher, i.e., as one just giving ideas instead of practical instruction.

Pike was strongly influenced by Levi, who gave at least a little practical instruction, but most of that wasn't worth much because he didn't reveal enough to put anything to good use.

I think that what Neph was referring to is something akin to the Jungian concept of collective unconscious, and that occult symbolism provides archetypes that allow individual to reach the collective experience. If that's the case, I agree, especially in regard to the Tarot, which was created by Adepts for that purpose, the process of spiritual Alchemy.

For example, in the Tarot, every symbol represents some facet of the Self. Male figures represent self-consciousness or "ego". Female figures represent subconsciousness. Angelic figures represent superconsciousness, and animal and demonic figures represent the Kundalini force. This key to the symbolism, by the way, also opens the door to the occult interpretation of the Bible.