SATOR Square

Having just recently come across this square, I decided to put down what were my immediate thoughts at analyzing it.

This square, in popular understanding, is thought of as a sort of protection device. It is claimed to be, and also claimed not to be, of Christian origin, depending on what you are reading and what their sources are.

When I looked at it, I got a distinct impression from it at once. I got the impression of a transformative nature. The five rows and columns stand out to me as well, because 5 refers esoterically, to Geburah and Mars. (research magick squares)

The 'N' at the center, if taken to refer to the Hebrew letter Nun, affords support to this notion. Nun, the fish, also corresponds to Scorpio, the sign in which Mars is exalted, and the Tarot Key of Death.

Death is referred to, of course, in the nature that Life is previous Life repackaged (through death). Death always refers, in these things, not just to the physical body but to the personality, to habits, to existing forms of all sorts. In this way, Death is an illusion, simply a state change.

What also popped out at me is the nature of the palindrome in that from whichever place you take your perspective, and look through it, it is mirrored as the inverse across the divide. The Hermetic axiom is "As above, so below (but after another manner)." From this, you also have "as within, so without".

And the TENET cross? The cross seems to be the framework, or bones of the structure. Cross, another name for the Hebrew letter Tav, corresponding to Saturn, or Earth. Saturn being the force of solidification, inertia, decay, structure, etc.

Then, there is the translation of the words themselves, giving something like: SATOR: begetter, or planter; OPERA: handiwork, care, or toil; TENET: holds; AREPO: ?; ROTAS: wheels. From this, if I want it to stick along the lines of my original intuition, then I could read: "First the begetter plants seeds. Then, care is taken to develop the crop. Then, the structure holds. Then, the handiwork is reversed to release this energy from the form, and the process begins again, as the rotation of a wheel." To beget, keep in mind, can mean "to conceive of in the mind."

Now, I am not a scholar or an expert of languages. And yet I feel very strongly of this. The meaning of the SATOR square is clear in my being, for me, as it sits on my office wall. Life is about change. Specifically, the spirit clothing itself in many forms. The begetter is the imaginative faculty, and the handiwork speaks of a purified kind of attention, or Will. This is what brings form into manifestation even in a mundane sense. But, don't get complacent. All form, when outworn, must be dissolved to keep life evolving into greater and more perfect forms. The only real death is in stagnation.

Note: in my analysis, I am reading the square "turning as an ox in plowing". Read