So far we have examined symbols as individual images â the ankh cross, the ouroboros, the pentagram. But some cultures developed complete symbol systems: ordered collections in which each symbol derives its meaning from its position relative to the other symbols. In this lesson we explore three of the most powerful: the Germanic runes, the Kabbalah, and the Sanskrit symbol OM.
á Runes â Received, Not Invented
The word rune comes from the Old Germanic runo â "secret", "mystery", "whisper". Runes were not considered human inventions, but cosmic truths that had to be received through an act of sacrifice. According to the Havamal (stanzas 138â141), the supreme god Odin hung for nine days and nine nights from the World Tree Yggdrasil, pierced by his own spear, without food or drink. At the deepest point of his suffering â on the boundary between life and death â he saw the runes and took them up with a scream.
We recognise this mythic pattern: the initiate who must pass through suffering and death to obtain wisdom. Odin's sacrifice is a shamanistic initiation: the tree as axis mundi, the nine nights as passage through the nine worlds, the runes as a gift from the other realm. Each rune is therefore not merely a letter â it is a cosmic principle, a force from the structure of reality itself.
The Elder Futhark â 24 Runes in Three Aettir
The oldest runic alphabet, the Elder Futhark (c. 150â800 CE), contains 24 characters divided into three groups of eight, the aettir (singular: aett). Each aett is named after a deity and represents a phase of the cosmic journey: from matter and survival (Freyja), through challenge and transformation (Heimdal), to consciousness and heritage (Tyr).
Each rune is simultaneously sound, letter, name, and cosmic principle. Fehu (á ) is not merely the letter "F" â it is the principle of wealth, cattle, circulating riches. Isa (á) is not merely "I" â it is the principle of standstill, ice, concentration. Thus the Futhark forms a periodic table of cosmic forces.
Germanic rune masters combined runes into bind runes: compound signs that bundle multiple forces into a single symbol. This is the exact equivalent of the Egyptian cartouche or Chinese compound characters â the principle that symbols can be combined to create new layers of meaning.
đŗ Kabbalah â Ten Spheres of God
The Kabbalah (Hebrew: "reception", "tradition") is the mystical current within Judaism that developed a complete symbolic model of creation: the Tree of Life (Etz Chaim). This tree contains ten spheres â the Sephiroth â connected by 22 paths, each corresponding to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet and a card of the Tarot Major Arcana.
The Tree of Life is a map of how the divine manifests: from the unknowable source (Kether) through ever denser layers of manifestation to the physical world (Malkuth). But it is also a meditation instrument: the mystic climbs the tree from bottom to top to return to the source. Each Sephirah is a station, a state of consciousness, an initiation.
| # | Sephirah | Meaning | Planet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kether â Crown | Pure Being, the source of all | â |
| 2 | Chokmah â Wisdom | Primordial Father, creative impulse | Zodiac |
| 3 | Binah â Understanding | Primordial Mother, formative force | Saturn |
| 6 | Tiphareth â Beauty | Harmony, the heart of the tree | Sun |
| 9 | Yesod â Foundation | Subconscious, dream, imagination | Moon |
| 10 | Malkuth â Kingdom | The earth, the body, matter | Earth |
The 22 paths between the Sephiroth each correspond to a Hebrew letter. Because the Hebrew alphabet also functions as a number system (gematria), the Tree of Life simultaneously contains a language, a number system, and a cosmology. The Zohar â the central Kabbalistic work from the 13th century â describes how God created the world through letters and numbers. The word is the creative force. Hermetically, we hear in this the principle: "The All is Mind".
"God looked into the Torah and created the world. Man looks into the Torah and sustains the world."
â Zohar, Terumah 161bāĨ AUM â The Primordial Sound of the Universe
The symbol OM (āĨ) â more fully written as AUM â is the most universal symbol of the Indian traditions. The Mandukya Upanishad devotes an entire text to it and describes AUM as the sound that encompasses all reality. The symbol itself is a visual map of four states of consciousness:
A (the lower curve) = Vaishvanara â the waking consciousness. The world
of sensory experience, the outer world. When you chant "AAAA", the sound vibrates at the back of the throat.
U (the upper curve) = Taijasa â the dreaming consciousness. The inner world
of images, emotions, imagination. The sound "UUUU" moves to the middle of the mouth.
M (the tail) = Prajna â deep dreamless sleep. Pure rest, the seed
of everything. The sound "MMMM" closes the lips and vibrates in the head.
The dot above the crescent = Turiya â the fourth state, beyond the three.
The pure consciousness that observes the other three. The silence after the sound.
When you chant AUM, your mouth literally traverses the entire oral cavity â from open throat (A) through half-open mouth (U) to closed lips (M). Every possible sound a human can produce is contained within AUM. It is therefore the mother sound of all language.
The Indian tradition holds that the universe arose from sound â Nada Brahma, "the world is sound". This is precisely the Hermetic Principle of Vibration: "Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates." The yogi who chants AUM attunes to the primordial vibration of the cosmos. Sound is not merely a symbol of the divine â sound is the divine in action.
OM Meditation (20 minutes)
Preparation (3 min): Sit upright, shoulders relaxed, eyes closed. Breathe deeply in and out five times. Let go of all thoughts.
The practice: On each exhale, chant the sound "AAAA â UUUU â MMMM". Give each vowel sound an equal share of the breath. Feel how the vibration of A begins at the back of the throat, how U travels to the middle of the mouth, and how M closes the lips and vibrates in the head. After the M: listen to the silence. That is Turiya.
Repetition: Chant AUM 21 times (beginners) or 108 times (advanced, with mala beads).
Reflection question: Which of the three sounds resonated most strongly in your body? What does that say about your current state of consciousness â are you primarily in A (action), U (imagination), or M (rest)?
Three traditions â Germanic, Jewish, Indian â independently arrived at the same idea: letters and sounds are not human inventions but cosmic forces. Is this coincidence, cultural exchange, or a fundamental truth about the nature of language?