The Power of Signs and Symbols
Messages from the Universe
I've been reflecting on the signs and symbols that we encounter in our daily lives—those meaningful patterns that, when we're attuned to them, can feel like messages from the universe itself. There's often a synchronicity to our noticing them, or perhaps they're always there, waiting for us to recognise them once we've become attuned to their frequency or energy.
Ancient Wisdom in Modern Times
Signs and symbols have been integral to the human experience for millennia, serving as fundamental tools for communication, understanding, and meaning-making. From the earliest cave paintings that depicted our ancestors' world to the complex symbolic systems that underpin modern society, these phenomena weave throughout our individual and collective lives.
Humans have worked with signs, symbols, and omens throughout history. In Celtic times and the Iron Age, druids consulted symbols around them before battles—if the signs weren't right, perhaps the start of a battle would be delayed. Cultures worldwide have developed sophisticated systems of symbolic interpretation. Even King James the First of England (Sixth of Scotland) saw an omen in the sky during a great storm and decided it was due to witchcraft, tragically leading to the Scottish witch trials. While terrible destruction can take place based on signs and symbols, this relationship with symbolic meaning remains fundamentally part of who we are as humans.
Personal Symbols Speaking to Me
Thankfully, the signs and symbols I'm seeing everywhere currently have a much lighter tone. I realise they've been part of my life for a long time, many relating to spirit animal energy and personal archetypes that resonate with my soul journey.
For example, hummingbirds—I have hummingbirds everywhere at home. I've had hummingbird imagery around me for many years, and having recently returned from the land of the hummingbird in the Andes, I'm now seeing them even more frequently. In Andean tradition, they are messengers to the gods, born out of thunder and lightning. They say that every time lightning strikes in the Andes, a hummingbird is born. While visiting my best friend's house in Portsmouth, I slept in a bed covered with hummingbirds. I saw many hummingbirds during my walk around the Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses on the May Day Bank Holiday.
I've also been seeing so much jaguar and wildcat imagery. I can barely move for wildcats! I always interpret this as jaguar because it's my birth symbol in the Mayan calendar, and I've long had an affinity with that energy—it represents my warrior spirit. Looking at my wardrobe, I've got so many items of clothing with wildcat and jaguar print and have had all my life. On route to the Beltane Festival at the weekend, I was driving behind two Jaguar cars. I was always delighted when my grandmother would pick me up from school in her pale lemon-yellow Jaguar, wearing her vintage fur coat and red lipstick. She was so glamorous, like a movie star in my eyes. If anything, this is just an affirmation of my connection to the jaguar soul, though I notice this print is suddenly everywhere—every other item of clothing and bags in the shops for women seems to feature jaguar or leopard spots this season.
Symbols as Universal and Personal Language
Symbols possess a great emotional resonance and can evoke multiple layers of meaning that aren't immediately apparent. They frequently emerge in situations characterised by uncertainty, where our objectives or the means to achieve them aren't clearly defined. They appear to help guide us towards clarity.
The meaning of personal psychic symbols can be highly individual, requiring introspection and an emotional connection to decipher. As an intuitive empath, I'm highly attuned to the symbolic meaning of otherwise seemingly random signs and symbols that I notice in my daily life. Talking with Southsea friends and people around the fire at a recent party, so many of us interpret symbols regularly, for guidance, and even answers to our prayers, hopes and wishes.
A Powerful Synchronicity Experience
What other symbols have been speaking to me lately? I've been going through a huge life review because of deep inner work I did on retreat, and also, I think, because of my age. I'm approaching my second Saturn Return in a year or so, and I'm asking myself: what do I want for the rest of my life? What do I really, honestly want and need that allows me room to breathe and for my soul to fully sing and dance as it's meant to?
I was driving into Portsmouth, my hometown and birthplace, on Saturday for the Beltane Festival. I got stuck in terrible bank holiday traffic—a journey that normally takes an hour stretched to nearly two and a half hours. Getting stuck coming into Portsmouth, I thought, "I've got to get out of this jam." So I took a different route across the city.
I ended up sitting at traffic lights by St. Mary's Hospital, where I was born. I looked at the clock in my car, and it was 13:13, while the song "I Think of Angels" by Cat Power played on the radio. 13:13—two thirteens—the number of transformation, the Death card in the tarot. I grew up at number 13 Savoy Court, opposite Southsea Pier, for the first 13 years of my life. Thirteen is a number that has been very present for me throughout my life. Many people feel it's unlucky, but I don't. It's a number representing both the death of the old and transformation, and rebirth.
I've trained as a death doula (if I ever finish my diploma), but I've walked with death in many ways. I've run bereavement support groups for bereaved parents. I'm no stranger to death and change—it doesn't make it easy, but we can't avoid it. It's woven throughout our lives, and of course, when we finally come to die in this lifetime and exit this earthly body in this incarnation.
It was also World Labyrinth Day, when at one o'clock, people all over the world were walking labyrinths if they were able. Having recently walked labyrinths that were very powerful experiences that heralded insight and change, there I was, feeling I am going through a rebirth—as I sat momentarily in the car outside the place where I was born, with some of my ancestors buried in the cemetery directly opposite. These were my ancestral grandparents, my roots in Portsmouth, which go back a long way, as I've traced.
The Psychology of Symbol Recognition
Several psychological phenomena contribute to our heightened awareness of signs and symbols. Pattern recognition, the brain's fundamental ability to identify meaningful arrangements and connections in the environment, plays a crucial role in how we perceive the world. This innate tendency, honed through evolution for survival, might lead us to notice connections and patterns in seemingly random events or stimuli. Pareidolia is another relevant phenomenon, where the brain tends to perceive familiar patterns, often faces, in random or ambiguous visual information. This inclination to find meaning in randomness can certainly contribute to our perception of signs and symbols in everyday life. I see faces in everything, especially the fire. when I take photos, I capture the essence of the fire spirit(s).
The experience of synchronicity—meaningful coincidences—can feel like significant signs from beyond. Carl Jung described these as "temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events," and they often feel deeply potent. That, in turn, gives them value.
Intuition: Our Guide to Symbol Interpretation
The ability to understand and interpret the often-subtle meanings of signs and symbols is intrinsically linked to our intuition. Intuition can be defined as the capacity to understand something immediately, without relying on conscious reasoning, often experienced as a "gut feeling" or inner knowing. Jung described intuition as a form of "perception via the unconscious," enabling us to access insights and possibilities beyond the realm of conscious thought.
In the context of interpreting symbols, intuition serves as a vital guide, helping us navigate the symbolic language of the unconscious and potentially access deeper wisdom. When encountering a sign or symbol, trusting our immediate impressions and the feelings that arise can be key to unlocking its meaning.
More Signs Along My Path
I found other little signs and symbols on my journey. A quote from the Bible, 2 Corinthians 6:2, appeared: "Now is the time of God's favour. Now is the day of salvation." I'm still figuring out what that means, but it was a blessing for the path I'm on. Just before that, I found a little card—the five of clubs—which connects to the Hierophant in tarot, the teacher. Five is my soul number in numerology, and my path is that of the teacher, a wisdom teacher. I trained as an English language teacher when I was in my early 20s and have run many training and creative workshops over the years. I feel like I'm stepping increasingly into the role of the Hierophant. The website Cardarium also tells me: “The five of clubs is also a sign that victory is near. It beats the drums and sounds the trumpets: Don’t you dare to stop now! Set your heart on victory! Your business will prosper. You will be profoundly loved.”
I also encountered a verse from a beautiful poem by Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage on the new seafront defences in Southsea, opposite Southsea Castle, with its lighthouse (I wrote about lighthouses recently). This is the place where Henry the Eighth saw his great warship, the Mary Rose, sink in the 1500s—a place where I played many times as a child. From this beautiful poem, one line stood out: "You stand to leave, and the waves rise to applaud." Again, this feels like encouragement to continue on this unfolding path.
Another line read: "Lit by the footlights of coast and shore, playing your true self, you are the star of the show, watched from a balcony sky." I think that's beautiful.
The poem is called "The Theatre of the Sea," and the sea is very much part of me, my heritage—it's in my bones, in my blood. Wherever I am, the sea will always be a part of me.
Universal Archetypes and Personal Meaning
The way we interpret signs and symbols is often shaped by the interplay between our meaning-making processes and universal archetypal patterns. Meaning-making, in psychology, refers to the cognitive and emotional processes through which we interpret our experiences and assign significance to events, ultimately contributing to our overall psychological well-being.
These individual meaning-making processes often intertwine with Jung's concept of archetypes, the universal patterns within the collective unconscious that influence our experiences and find expression through symbols. These archetypal patterns can manifest uniquely within an individual's unconscious, thereby shaping their interpretation of symbols.
The journey of individuation involves integrating these unconscious aspects of the personality into conscious awareness, a process that often entails understanding the symbolic language of the unconscious. Therefore, the personal meanings you find in signs and symbols can be seen as unique combination of your own life experiences and the activation of these universal archetypal patterns, creating a connection that is both deeply personal and resonates with broader human experiences.
Spirit in the Fire: Beltane Symbols
At Beltane, I saw the incredible burning of a Wicker Man at Butser Ancient Farm, near Petersfield. Whenever I photograph fire, I see faces, sometimes animals. Often, they are, to me, the spirit of that fire, and the spirit may change as the flames flicker, shapeshifting, changing, and this was an immensely powerful fire. I feel very blessed to have spent that day with my oldest, dearest friends in beautiful Downland surroundings.
Throughout history, various cultures and spiritual traditions have embraced symbols as powerful emblems representing the essence of existence, the journey of life, and connections to the divine realm. Common spiritual symbols such as the Tree of Life, representing connection and growth; the Lotus flower, symbolising purity and enlightenment; and the Ankh, representing life and immortality, carry profound spiritual meanings that resonate across cultures. Sacred symbols are believed to convey intangible truths, often bypassing cognitive understanding and directly impacting consciousness.
Opening to Universal Messages
Many believe that the universe communicates with us through signs and synchronicities, offering guidance and support along our life path. Noticing these signs often requires a state of openness and receptivity in our daily lives, whether through dreams, meditation, or serendipitous encounters with others. The interpretation of these signs is frequently an intuitive process.
For many of us who work with universal energies, actively seeking or asking for a sign can be part of opening oneself to receive spiritual guidance. Practices such as meditation, mindfulness, journaling, and engaging in creative expression can help to cultivate and strengthen our intuitive abilities.
Developing intuition is a process that requires trust in our inner knowing and consistent practice in paying attention to our gut feelings and observing the outcomes of following them. Our bodies can also act as conduits for intuitive information, with physical sensations often signalling intuitive guidance.
The More We Open, The More We See
These are just some examples of how I see signs and symbols daily, and how they help me interpret where I'm at a particular point in time or what's unfolding. Sometimes it feels like there are too many signs and symbols. I see that with runes—I often see runes everywhere. When I started working with runes, I was practically tripping over them, and it became quite a trippy experience.
I think the more we open to the universe, the more the universe speaks to us through its language of symbolism. I shall leave you with these thoughts, circling back to different forms of language. Language isn't just the written or spoken word in alphabetical terms—we see language through imagery and symbol, and there is a magic in that when we attune to it.
If, like me, you constantly encounter signs and symbols that evoke a profound connection to spirit and the universe, trust that these experiences are valid and meaningful. As you continue to navigate your path, embracing the power of your interpretation and trusting your intuitive guidance will be key. Balancing this inner wisdom with a thoughtful consideration of psychological perspectives can lead to greater self-awareness, foster personal growth, and deepen your connection to both your inner world and the messages you perceive from the universe.
What symbols and signs are you seeing at this time? I'd love to hear your experiences.
