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How to Read the Alethiometer

All of the Alethiometer's 36 symbols have a range of meanings.

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Symbol Meanings

Hourglass - Time, Death, change
Sun - Day, Authority, truth
Alpha and Omega - Finality, Process, inevitability
Marionette - Obedience, Submission, grace
Serpent - Evil, Guile, natural wisdom
Cauldron -Alchemy, Craft, achieved wisdom
Anchor - Hope, Steadfastness, prevention
Angel - Messenger, Hierarchy, disobedience
Helmet - War, Protection, narrow vision
Beehive - Productive work, Sweetness, light
Moon - Chastity, Mystery, the uncanny
Madonna - Motherhood, The feminine, worship
Apple - Sin, Knowledge, vanity
Bird - The soul (the dæmon), Spring, marriage
Bread - Nourishment, Christ, sacrifice
Ant - Mechanical work, Diligence, tedium
Bull - Earth, Power, honesty
Candle - Fire, Faith, learning
Cornucopia - Wealth, Autumn, hospitality
Chameleon - Air, Greed, patience
Thunderbolt - Inspiration, Fate, chance
Dolphin - Water, Resurrection, succor
Walled Garden - Nature, Innocence, order
Globe - Politics, Sovereignty, fame
Sword - Justice, Fortitude, the Church
Griffin - Treasure, Watchfulness, courage
Horse - Europe, Journeys, fidelity
Camel - Asia, Summer, perseverance
Elephant - Africa, Charity, continence
Crocodile (Caiman) - America, Rapacity, enterprise
Baby - The future, Malleability, helplessness
Compass - Measurement, Mathematics, science
Lute - Poetry, Rhetoric, philosophy
Tree - Firmness, Shelter, fertility
Wild Man - Wild man, The masculine, lust
Owl - Night, Winter, fear

Each symbol has one primary meaning and a range of subsidiary meanings, which are potentially infinite. However, the subsidiary meanings are all related by association to the primary meaning. So, for instance,

The Sun Symbolizes...

1. Day, because it is during the day that we see the sun.
   
2. Authority, because the sun is the most powerful thing in the sky.
   
3. Truth, because by the sun's light we can see the true forms of things.
   
4. Kingship (or political authority of any kind), because the king is the sun around whom the court or the state revolves;
   
5. A Particular King Or Leader (in the context of a query to the alethiometer, it will be obvious which one is meant);
   
6. Phoebus Apollo, and thus rationality and the intellect, as opposed to the baser emotions;
   
7. Archery (Apollo's bow and arrows) and thence
   
8. The Power Of Administering Punishment At A Distance, including
   
9. Plague;
   
10. The Creative Arts (through Apollo's patronage of the nine Muses);
    
11. The Laurel (through Apollo's love for Daphne), and thence
    
12. Honor, Prizes, Fame, through Apollo's awarding of the laurel wreath;
    
13. Divination and Prophecy (through the Delphic Oracle);
    
14. Pastoral Husbandry (Apollo's flocks and herds), and thence
    
15. A Particular Farm, and thence
    
16. A Particular Beast;
    
17. Homosexual Love (Apollo's love for Hyacinthus);
    
18. Gold . . .
    

     

And so on, infinitely. No one has ever reached the end of a symbol range, even though some have been explored to the depth of a thousand or more meanings.

How an Alethiometer Works

Each symbol is thus capable of expressing a multitude of ideas, but each subsidiary meaning carries with it some quality of the primary one, even when it may appear to coincide with a meaning in another range. For example, the meaning "sea" appears both as number seven in the dolphin's range and number four in the anchor's, but it signifies different things in each. In the dolphin range, it means "the sea as wide, nourishing home", and in the anchor range, the sea as danger and unpredictability." A skillful reading of the alethiometer would have to take into account not only the meaning itself, wherever it comes within the range, but also the significance lent it by the range itself.

Any question can be expressed by a combination of three symbols, using either the primary or any of the subsidiary meanings. For example, Should I marry now, or wait for a year? would be expressed by means of the bird (third meaning, marriage, because birds mate for life), the hourglass (tenth meaning, a year), and the horse (fifth meaning, constancy). The inquirer moves each of the hands in turn until it points to one of the three symbols.

But that is only the physical part of the process. The other part is mental. The inquirer must endeavor to hold in his or her mind a clear picture of where each of the meanings comes in its range. Evoking the image of ladders with rungs extending downward is sometimes advised by skilled practitioners of alethiometry. Picture three ladders side by side, each rung being one meaning in the range, and mark distinctly the rungs corresponding to the meanings you intend - for example, by imagining a bright light shining on them, or ribbons tied around them, or by covering them in gold leaf. The inquirer must hold that image firmly, without losing it for a moment, while setting the hands in position.

Once the question has been asked, the needle will begin to move around the dial, and the inquirer must pay close attention to its movements. It may stop at any number of symbols: two, or three, or many more. The inquirer must note carefully not only which symbols it stops at but also how many times it stops there, because the number of times corresponds to the place of the intended meaning in the symbol's range.

For example, the question above might receive an answer in which the needle stopped at chameleon three times, walled garden seven times, baby five times, madonna nine times, sword six times, bull two times, ant ten times, and bird three times.

By noting the pauses carefully and consulting the books of readings, the inquirer would discover the following meanings: "wait", "allow", "fail", "love", "not", "strong", "sustain", and "marriage."

So much for the external process; the inward process would require the reader to put these meanings together correctly and come to the answer:

Wait and allow your love to cool and die away, because it is not strong enough to sustain marriage.

The alethiometer moves to answer immediately, and usually answers only once. It is clear that a reader must be unusually quick-witted as well as diligent and perceptive, and that only long practice and deep familiarity with the symbol ranges, acquired over many years, can bring about accurate interpretation.

In short, the alethiometer supplies the semantic content of a message, and the mind of the inquirer supplies the grammatical connections between the individual elements. Only when the two work together does the full meaning become apparent.