Wednesday 29 May 2013

Evolution of letters 'Annoying symbols' and cover of book idea



































I have been doing a Wikipedia binge today following the further story of the Phoenician alphabet, reading into how it spread like a  cultural disease across the world. I came across lots of strange charts including the two above. I especially like the top one, it is very proud and very mad.  Anyway eventually stumbled upon a website about symbols used in medieval Arabic alchemy inspired by Egyptian hieroglyphs. It is weird to see how the beginnings and ends of written language have joined forces,  in the pursuit of the completely unattainable. 

The concept  I'm developing for the front cover of my book is to display something of this begins and ends,   although I don't want to  imply any connection to alchemy.  However  this website makes me think that as soon as you start throwing letters around without really understanding what they mean you cannot help but imply a practice of alchemy, bad alchemy that is...






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Never thought about the connection between the crescent moon and the ouroboros...