Symbols are everywhere. We navigate by them, shop by them, even feel by them—though most of us never stop to ask why. From the glowing red octagon at an intersection to the shimmering apple on the back of your laptop, symbols constantly vie for our attention, quietly shaping how we think, behave, and connect.
But there’s something deeper going on. Something ancient.
Long before we carved alphabets into tablets or typed messages into screens, our ancestors used images—composed of dots, lines, spirals, and curves—to record, communicate, and preserve knowledge. These weren’t just decorations. They were vessels of meaning. The earliest known symbols were scratched onto stone, bone, and ivory, often recording celestial movements—the waxing of the moon, the return of constellations, the changing of seasons. Time, told in symbols.
Why does this matter now?
Because many of these ancient marks are still with us, hidden in modern logos, buried in rituals, echoed in art. They connect us to those who came before us, and to the vast, invisible threads that link myth, memory, and meaning. To learn the language of symbols is to peel back layers of human history, revealing truths far older than the written word.
Symbols, like words, are built from parts—shapes, like letters, combine to form visual language. But unlike words, symbols bypass grammar. They speak directly to the imagination.
Author Debra Martin once wrote about discovering this world through one of my early posts on the Double Eagle—a powerful emblem with roots in imperial authority and celestial myth. She didn’t expect to become so captivated. But symbols do that. They pull you in. They hint at stories just out of reach.
This is only the beginning.
Whether you’re a curious wanderer, a lover of myth, or simply someone who wants to see the world with new eyes, know this: symbols have much to teach. They are the footprints of thought, left behind by minds not so different from ours.
Look around. The signs are everywhere. And every one of them has a story.
