Symbols & Knowledge

• What is(are) the cultural origin(s) of the symbol?
•  The alchemical symbol for earth, which is pictured above, has roots in ancient Greece and Rome.
• Describe the knowledge portrayed by the symbol. 
• Plato believed that it helped people understand the cosmos: fire, air, water, and earth.
• Is the symbol emotive, ambiguous or vague? 
• I believe that it is emotive, because the element of Earth is often associated with sensuality in occultism and even sometimes in literature. I believe that sensuality is an emotional feeling of attraction or attractiveness, and I think that attraction comes hand in hand with emotion.
• What are the problems of knowledge you identify for the symbol?
• The paragraph about it states that "In Classical Greek and Roman myth, various goddesses represented the Earth, seasons, crops and fertility, including Demeter and Persephone; Ceres; the Horae (goddesses of the seasons), and Proserpina; and Hades (Pluto) who ruled the souls of dead in the Underworld." I think that this could be a little bit confusing, because Demeter and Persephone are so fertile and beautiful, and Hades is the god of the dead, so this symbol could represent two drastically different things.
• Find one or more additional symbols that seem similar to you to explore.
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