Language and the
Doctrine of Signatures
By Mary Karmers
The word signature has the same root as sign, signet and signal, indicating a common meaning. By signing our name, we signal to the world our innate nature, which is why we intuitively consider a signature to represent the inner essence.
There is a curious connection between the so-called signature of each object (inert or living) which makes up this world through its manifestation. The way an object manifests to our senses composes the signature of that object, and the occult study of the doctrine of signatures brings curious parallels between the world of nature and mind, the outer and the inner.
Language itself is a cipher that can be used to decode, and as such is a source of power, by encoding thoughts in physical reality. Why is it that we often lose a thought if we don't concretize our ideas, perceptions, etc.? Discoveries that are not grounded are ephemeral. Even those that are carefully recorded are ephemeral to the mind, but at least a record of a running commentary on the vagaries of the mind.
What the ancients called the astral is nothing more than the shadowplay of the mind and the creative impulse to express. It distinguishes us from other sentient life. Our ability to signify (same root as signal) is our ability to communicate through sign and symbol, or metaphor. We speak of the metaphorical use of language, yet language itself is a symbolic system.
We are the microcosmic sigil of the macrocosm. We always talk of the macrocosm and the microcosm as though they are separate, and seem to forget that all the planes are one within this physical world of manifestation. Signifying is a convenient way of symbolically portraying the mind/universe interplay in order to understand the nature of astral reality.
What of creativity, it self? What, essentially (in its essence) is creativity? That it fluctuates between the rational and irrational functions of the mind seems certain. Automatic drawing or automatic writing occurs when one is least aware of the self, when one seems outside oneself. It was once believed that the spirit of an individual became displaced by a possessing entity, in order to explain such states of mind. The states when one is most unaware of the self, both mind and body. This explains out of body experiences or astral projection. One brings a force to bear on expression when one forgets the self.
A controlled, rational creativity, is one subject to the will of the creator. In this sense, one approximates closer and closer that unique self-awareness or self-consciousness from which one can subject their creative abilities to their will. Precision of expression occurs, and the general gives way to the particular. | 
