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The Emblem of the Theosophical Society is composed of a number of symbols, all of which have been used from very ancient times to express profound spiritual and philosophical concepts about the human being and the universe. They are found in a variety of forms in the great religions of the world and their universality is further shown by their appearance in widely separated cultures.  Each symbol studied separately will yield a wealth of understanding.  Taken together, as in this emblem, they suggest a vast evolutionary process embracing the whole of nature, physical and spiritual, and their study may lead the serious inquirer to contemplate some of the deepest mysteries of existence.









The ankh  also known as key of life, the key of the Nile or crux ansata, was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "eternal life", a triliteral sign for the consonants ʻ-n-. Egyptian gods are often portrayed carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest.






The ankh was almost never drawn in silver; as a sun-symbol, the Egyptians almost always crafted important examples of it (for tombs or other purposes) from the metal they most associated with the sun, gold. A similar metal such as copper, burnished to a high sheen, was also sometimes used.




Modern use



The hieroglyph [ankh] is sometimes called the key of the Nile. The symbol is associated with Imkotep (living aroung 3000 B.C.), physician for the pharaoh's family. Long after his death Imkotep was made the god of medicine of healing in Egypt. That is why this symbol is used as the logotype for a multinational pharmaceutical manufacturer.

The same sign structure, but with the closed element filled in, [ankh with solid loop], has been found in Peru used by the Mochica culture around the seventh century.

 The above entry sign was adopted by Christian symbolism and given the name crux ansata or Coptic cross. The crux ansata, or handlebar cross, was also drawn [coptic cross].

Compare with [cross with circle]  and also with [ankh with dot] .

This sign has been used to represent copper during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries instead of the more common [copper].

Dictionary of Symbols, Carl G. Liungman, 1991


Champdor gives a more traditional interpretation as:

the symbol of the millions of years of the life to come. The loop is the perfect symbol of what has neither beginning nor end and stands for the soul which is eternal because it has sprung from the spiritual essence of the Gods.

Gods, kings and Isis (almost invariably) are depicted holding the ankh to show that they “command” the powers of life and death and that they are immortal. The dead also carry it at the time their souls are weighed or when they are aboard the Boat of the Sun God, as a sign that they seek this same immortality from the Gods. Furthermore the ankh symbolized the spring from which flowed divine virtues and the elixir of immortality. Therefore to hold the ankh was to drink from that well. It was sometimes held upside down by the loop - especially in funeral rites when it suggested the shape of a key and in reality was the key which opened the gateway of the tomb into the Fields of Aalu, the realm of eternity. Sometimes the ankh is placed on the forehead, between the eyes, and then it symbolizes the duty of the adept to keep secret the mystery into which he has been initiated - it is the key which locks these secrets away from the uninitiated. Blessed by the supreme vision, endowed with clairvoyance to pierce the veil of the beyond, he cannot attempt to reveal the mystery without losing it for ever.

The ankh is often set in the same category as the Girdle of Isis, as a symbol of eternity. This is not because its straight lines may be lengthened in the imagination to infinity, but because they converge upon and meet in a closed loop. This loop symbolizes the inexhaustible essence of the life force identified with Isis, from whom life flows in all its forms. It is therefore carried by all those who wish to share her life. Hence the ankh may be identified with the Tree of Life, with its trunk and foliage.

The significance of the Girdle of Isis is far more complex. Like ropework or plaited hair round the arms and the loop of the cross, it infuses the concept of life and of immortality with the concept of the knots which tie down mortal life on Earth and which must be unraveled to enjoy immortality. `Free your bonds,' says The Egyptian Book of the Dead, `untie the knots of Nephthys.' And again: `Shining are those who carry the girdle. Oh! Bearers of the Girdle.' The same meaning is conveyed by the Tibetan Buddhist book called The Book of the Untying of the Knots. While the plain looped cross symbolizes divine immortality, sought or attained, the Girdle of Isis makes clear the conditions under which that immortality is obtained - by the untying of knots - dénouement in the true sense of the word.

A Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, translated from the French by John Buchan-Brown, Blackwell, 1994 (the French edition was originally published by Editions Robert Laffon SA in 1969, 2nd ed. 1982).



According to occult wisdom, when we contemplate death we look deeply within ourselves. By “reflecting” in this manner we find a hidden treasure within us in the form of eternal life, which ancient civilizations like the Egyptians celebrated using a cross symbol, ankh, associated with eternal life and life after death.

“The camel gets down on his knees and says, ‘Put a load on me’…But when the camel is well loaded, it struggles to its feet and runs out into the desert, where it is transformed into a lion — the heavier the load that had been carried, the stronger the lion will be.”

– Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (1904 – 1987)



— C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963)


Furthermore, one learns that this soul—which is our true eternal nature—is really  a “god” who has temporarily fallen down into the present world (the physical plane); fallen down into believing that we are actually the temporary mortal creature. We have manifested (we are manifesting) this temporary life on earth, as if it were a dream.




Venus symbol






The Venus symbol (♀) is a depiction of a circle with a small cross below it. The symbol is historically associated with the Roman goddess Venus or the Greek goddess Aphrodite.


It corresponds to the Venus goddess Inanna, Ischtar, Astarte, and Aphrodite.


Planets and metals


The list of rulership is as follows:

One interpretation of the alchemic planetary symbols considers the nature of spirit, mind and material in order of precedence. The circle in each symbol represents spirit, the semicircle or crescent represents mind and the cross or arrow represents the physical, material nature. Therefore Venus is spirit above matter, just as the goddess Venus represents beauty and aesthetic over utilitarian means. Whereas Mars is matter above spirit, as martial function and necessity precedes tranquility. Jupiter is mind controlling material, as the king of the gods over the earth, and Saturn is material controlling mind, the encroachment of time over the works of men. Mercury is mind above spirit over material; the intellectual inter-actions and conveyances of abstractions and ideals over the objects of being. The sun is pure spirit and the moon is pure mind. Earth is material.


The horizontal line of the cross represents our ephemeral, material world, the time and the space. The vertical line is the line of the eternal Being, a moment of Eternity introduced into ephemerality. A circle above the cross represents the presence of the pure spirit and its superiority above the matter. Ankh is carried by Gods as to explain their own nature - to give Life.

Venus is the only planet whose sigil embraces the entire Tree of Life.  Its is also another form of the Rose Cross and the "Key of Life." Venus is the main planetary deity of Mexico and Egypt. Their calendars were based on the cycles of Venus. Venus is the feminine spirit and shows harmony, love, and affection.  It's linked with art, poetry, dance, music, and painting.*Vg3neiVyhrN9d3vnwHf1c8WUfkOeMctIGByz1aeux5Jr1wM7VdEjogdKzBOIRC2/ankh3.jpg


The vertical line, here is represented by Djed, a pillar of stability with 4 transversal lines that represent 4 dimensions of our material world: the matter, the vital energie, the emotions and the mental world, all dominated by the spirit.





The cross also represents the unity of contraries and a unity of all 4 elements of a material world, alchemical retort*ADUNEPi9t50nzCtn3K1AAI3iY826xRgU9jKv63CIjmbtsQW7swq4DhNlErjUHzi8XOChkUMFzgj/28elements.jpg




but also a zodiacal cross.




The 4 cardinal points are represented by Sphynx  that had the breast and paws of a lion, the hindquarters of a bull, the wings of an eagle, and the head of a human. We can find the same symbolism in the Christianity where the 4 Evangelists represent the same cross and Christ is the Spirit, the central Sun.










In the Mayan culture the Cardinal points are also assigned colors, basically the primary colors (see figure 2.1); east is lakin red is chac, the east, which is the primary direction because this is where the sun rises, white is zac in the tree of the north which is xaman, yellow is nohol kan in the tree of the south, and west is black as chilkin ek . Because the sky moves from east to west, sacred writings and delineations of astrological indices were called the "red and black." The Middleworld human in the center (the quincunx) then divines the world by his position in it as the Shaman reads the messages from the other-worlds (8) and ancestors. This is then developed in the Mayan world with a complex calendric system of divination.





The Interlaced Triangles:   These are often called the Double Triangle, viewed by the Jewish Kabalists as the Seal of Solomon, and also known as Sri Yantra and Satkona Chakram in the Indian tradition. They  are surrounded by a serpent.  This combination of the triangle and the surrounding serpent symbolizes the created universe, through which creation is limited in time and space.

The Triangles, looked at separately, symbolize the three facets of the manifestation which is known as the Trinity in various religions, and personified in Christianity as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and in Hinduism as Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. The darker of the two triangles, which is downward-pointing, and the lighter triangle, which is upward-pointing, symbolize respectively the descent of the life of Spirit into matter and the ascent of that life out of matter into Spirit, the perpetual opposition between the light and dark forces in nature and in man.



The Star of David – Dr. Asher Eder
There, it is considered a symbol of harmony between spirit and matter. In Yoga schools, this idea is well expressed by graphic representations of the human chakras with the star marking the heart chakra as the central and connecting link between the three lower “carnal” chakras and the three upper “spiritual” chakras. While the lower and upper chakras are all represented by Sanskrit letters, it is noteworthy that only the heart chakra is depicted by an abstract sign, the six-pointed star.






Some Indian tribes of North America have used it “since ancient times as a symbol expressing the wisdom of ‘as it is above, so it is below’, as well as the union of spirit and matter, heaven and earth.


Secret Teachings of All Ages pg 143

“What the sun is to the solar system, the spirit is to the bodies of man; for his natures, organs, and functions are as planets surrounding the central life (or sun) and living upon its emanations.  The solar power in man is divided into three parts, which are termed the threefold human spirit of man.  All three of these spiritual natures are said to be radiant and transcendent; united, they form the Divinity in man.  Man’s threefold lower nature- consisting of his physical organism, his emotional nature, and his mental faculties-reflects the light of his three fold Divinity and bears witness of It in the physical world.  Man’s three bodies are symbolized by an upright triangle, when united in the form of a six-pointed star, were called by the Jews ‘the Star of David,’ ‘the Signet of Solomon,’ and are more commonly known today as the ‘Star of Zion.’  These triangles symbolize the spiritual and material universes linked together in the constitution of the human creature, who partakes of both Nature and Divinity.  Man’s animal nature partakes of the earth; his divine nature of the heavens; his human nature of the mediator.”


The basic premise of alchemy is embodied in the saying: “As above, so below.” In other words humankind and the natural world are reflections of a pattern in the Divine world-”God made man in his own image.” Humans, it is held, belong to the material and the Divine world since they contain a spark of the universal spirit which at the original fall become imprisoned in matter. They also have an individual soul and a material body. In alchemical terms, the body, souls and spirit correspond to salt, sulphur, and mercury, which also represent three universal forces, the Trinity of Christian terminology and the three “Gunas” of the Hindus. By freeing their spirits from the bonds of matter, humans can once glimps again their lost divine perfection.

In this belief, the alchemists belonged to an ancient Gnostic tradition, which was surpressed by the early Christian church but survived in the Hermetic currents which ran underground through European thought and occasionally, as in the Renaissance, flourished more openly.








So people were always trying to capture a bit of Eternity in our material world. 

In France we can find the gothic cathedrals disposed to reflect the constelation of Virgo


The 3 egyptian pyramids reflect the constelation of Orion








Cathars made a fortress of Monsegur as a copy of a constelation of a Herdsman wich is a part of another constelation: The Diamond of Virgo.


and Monsegure is on a top of a hill at an altitude of 1207 meters.





One atom





looks like our solar system



and brain and Universe work with equal circuits.








(ouroboros that links the above with the below)










Historical representations




Dame Heroub, Egypt, 21st dynasty



Uraeus, the royal cobra as a sign of awaken consciousness, here represents the sun, Amon.











The physical laws go from smallest to largest and are interrelated (the worm Ouroboros) from quarks to the whole universel





















Middle Ages



Engraving by Lucas Jennis, in an alchemical tract entitled De Lapide Philosophico.


















Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra  (The alchemist)













The ouroboros  displayed on numerous Masonic seals, frontispieces and other imagery, especially during the 17th century.



Allegoria della vita umana, by Guido Cagnacci (1601-63). The Ouroboros forms a halo in the upper left. One hand is lifted up and another points to the ground: As above so below, to show that the spiritual and material world are connected. The hour-glass and the skull indicate the shortness of life, memento mori. The woman is naked as to remember that we have come naked on this world and naked we will leave it, no material goods can we take with us, so it is useless to amass them. The flowers are our good deeds that we can have only if we serve the spiritual world. This is the law of the whole universe and humans are obliged to respect it as they are a part of this universe. Ouroboros is eternity, eternity of the law, eternity of the universe.


19th century Haiti

In 1812, the Republic of Haiti under President Alexandre Pétion issued its first locally minted coinage which featured an image of a serpent biting its own tail.



The Ouroboros is featured in the seal of Theosophy, along with other traditional symbols.


Emblem of the Theosophical Society (Adyar)



Non-western traditions


It is a common belief among indigenous people of the tropical lowlands of South America that waters at the edge of the world-disc are encircled by a snake, often an anaconda, biting its own tail.[20] The Kirtimukha myth of Hindu tradition has been compared by some authors to Ouroboros.[21]



This symbol appears principally among the Gnostics and is depicted as a dragon, snake or serpent biting its own tail. It is symbolic of time and of the continuity of life. In some versions of the Ouroboros, the body is half light & half dark, alluding to the successive counterbalancing of opposing principles in the Chinese Yang-Yin symbol. Evola says that it represents the dissolution of the body, or the universal serpent which "passes through all things." The ouroboros biting its own tail is symbolic of self-fecundation, or the primitive idea of a self-sufficient Nature— a Nature, that is, its own beginning. There is a Venetian manuscript on alchemy which depicts the Ouroboros with its body half-black (symbolizing earth & night) and half-white (denoting heaven & light).
— J. E. Cirlot, A Dictionary of Symbols (1962), p. 235

Depicted as a serpent or dragon biting its own tail. "My end is my beginning." It symbolizes the undifferentiated; the Totality; primordial unity; self-sufficiency. It begets, weds, impregnates, and slays itself. It is the cycle of disintegration and reintegration, power that eternally consumes and renews itself; the eternal cycle; cyclic time; spatial infinity; truth and cognition in one; the united primordial parents; the Androgyne; the primaeval waters; darkness before creation; the restriction of the universe in the chaos of the waters before the coming of light; the potential before actualization. In funerary art, Ouroboros represents immortality, eternity and wisdom. In Orphic cosmology it encircles the Cosmic Egg. The Alpha and Omega are often depicted with the Ouroboros. Alchemy: The latent power of nature; unformed materia; the opus circulare of chemical substances in the hermetic vessel. Buddhist: Wheel of samsara. Egyptian: The circle of the universe; the path of the sun god. Greek: "All is one". "The All was from the beginning like an egg, with the serpent as the tight band or circle round it" (Epicurus). Hindu: Wheel of samsara. As latent energy Ouroboros shares the symbolism of kundalini. Sumero-Semitic: The All One. 
— J. C. Cooper, Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols (1978), pp. 123-124

Coptic ouroboros: the Sun, the Moon and 4 cardinal points inside*GLQ56ECUz1fkQQTfiDNlHb5*pM47phrhZrqdL6R













The swastika of the TS is a clock motion swastika that represents life and evolution.


Nazi swastika is counter clok motion swastika and represents death, chaos and destruction.


So, as the symbols are not the same, the results cannot be the same and nobody can blame Blavatsky for the Hitler's ratial theories and 50 millions of dead people. Hiltler was a sastanist, some kind of a black magician and a drug addict. Blavatsky worked for the universal fraternity and her life was in accordance with the traditional oriental teaching that preaches self sacrifice and service to humanity.















~ Katha Upanishad I




Om in Daily Life



The Eternal Syllable


The Music of Om



The Vision of Om


The Power of Om





The current seal also includes the text:



Comments on the Motto of
the Theosophical Society
by Mrs Radha Burnier, International President:









(Mahatma Letters, p. 57)













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