Key symbols common to various traditions

The symbols presented share one of the basic keys of symbolism. They all refer to an alternate movement between the non-manifested and the manifested.

• The lotus emerges from briny depths to blossom in full day light.
• The heart is the seat of an alternative double movement of diastole and systole representative of a similar movement between manifestation and non-manifestation.
• The primeval Androgyne gave birth to the ordinary being, who will rediscover his original state only while following the way back towards the non-manifested.
• The double spiral perfectly conveys this double movement through its two poles.
• The triskele opens the non-manifested onto its polarity manifestation.
• The trigram arrangements around the yin-yang symbol suggest a close connection between the boundary line separating the black and white halves of the symbol and the double spiral.
• The labyrinth symbolizes a back and forth movement between the outer and the inner, the periphery and the centre, the manifested and the non-manifested.
• The rainbow and its coloured manifestation evoke the whole spectrum of the visible or white light, representative of its non-manifested state.
• The compasses and (Mason's) square illustrate the relationship between Heaven and Earth, essential and substantial, non-manifested and manifested.
• The World Tree symbolizes, in various traditions (Biblical, Hebraic, Islamic, Buddhist, Chinese, Celtic or Norse), the vertical Axis of the manifestation of the world or being and of their return towards the non-manifested.
• The cross and the crescent are two symbols linking the worlds above (non-manifested) and below (manifested).
• The construction of ancient structures as Goseck, Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid or the Chinese Ming Tang already complied with orientation rules linked to light and darkness.
• The orientation of the Temple, Romanesque Basilica or Gothic Cathedral relates opposite compass points, light and darkness, the manifested and the non-manifested

This double movement between manifested and non-manifested will help us to perceive the very object of symbolism, that is to say universality beneath diversity.