Symbolism

Symbols aren't a code with one correct answer.

They're a language you're already fluent in — you just learned it privately, from your own life.

A raven means something different to someone raised near a rookery than to someone who read about them in a book. Traditional meanings matter, but your associations do the actual work in a reading.

Reading images in a way that is personal and accurate.

Deferring entirely to a book and overriding what you know.

• Describe the image before interpreting it.

• Keep a personal symbol dictionary.

• Compare traditional meaning with your own association.

• What does this symbol mean in my life specifically?

• Where have I met this image before?

• What did I notice first?

All tarot entries; Merlinite and Iolite; dream work.