Symbol and Signatum

Merry-Go-Round by Elenare on Deviant Art

As the late Dr. Charles Musès said:  “… you have to regard a symbol as a revolving door, the point of which is to walk through and not get stuck in it, and then help other people to get through. A symbol is very useful, no question, but you can get caught in a revolving door. You have to be careful. ”

My gloss/interpretation of Dr. Muses words is symbols whether words or pictures are pointers to something else. The something which they point to is the signatum, the deep meaning under the form or concept. However, a revolving door requires a push to move. When one accepts the symbol as if it were the whole or sole meaning, the revolving door turns into a carousel of flashing lights, music and horses going up and down- an entertaining distraction.

Why? A symbol has no objective value in and of itself. Believing the symbol is a construct is a trap which blocks development by making readings stiff and fixed. Such responses are unable to shift the meaning to adapt to the flow of context in the question being asked.

One size/ meaning does not fit all / questions in Cartomancy!

So the first phase of Cartomancy  consists of an introduction to symbols. The road of a Cartomancer however begins when one leaves the symbol as index behind and crosses the threshold to interact with the signatum, the dynamic energies beyond the cards.

 

Quote from: Charles Musès, Destiny and Control in Human Systems: Studies in the Interactive Connectiveness of Time, Kluwer Academic Publishing, Hingham, MA. 1985

 

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