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While pondering Yuri's welcome suggestion, a few other possibilities 
occurred to me. One is that very well known emblem of equilibrium, the 
crucifix. Another is the emblem of the double eagle and the third the 
Caduceus. All express equilibrium and the reconciliation of opposing 
principles. They may, of course, be related in other ways, both historical 
and symbolic. Below are some snips I picked up on a quick index search of 
"equilibrium" and "emblem". I think it's worth considering that the *a 
priori* appeal of the supply and demand story may well be its affinity 
with pre-existing and essentially mystical notions. There may be a good 
deal more Alchemy, Kabbala, Tarot and Masonry to Economic "Science": 
 
THE DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE - THE SUPREME SYMBOL 
 
   "The ancient emblem of equilibrium consisted of an 
   androgynous body surmounted by two heads, one male and the other 
   female, wearing a single imperial crown. That being alone is perfect 
   in which all opposites are reconciled, and this state of perfection is 
   appropriately typified by the two heads of equal dignity. Hence the 
   double-headed eagle is reserved as the emblem of completion, for it 
   signifies the Philosopher's Stone, the ultimate soul condition, and 
   that absolute and transcendent perfection which arises only from the 
   fullest unfoldment of the latent potentialities within the individual." 
   
 
CROSS 
 
   "The cross has been a holy symbol for a long time.  Sometimes it occurs 
   inside a circle, sometimes on its own.  Sometimes it is depicted as    
   rotating, and is drawn as a four-armed spiral.  The cross represents 
   many different things -- sometimes strife (the image of two swords or 
   staves crossing in combat), sometimes sacrifice to the great work (the 
   Crucifix), sometimes limitation (drawn as an X, a pictogram 
   demarcating forbidden territory).  Despite this the image of the 
   spinning cross is considered a sign of utmost divinity.  The qabalists 
   place the spinning cross as the image of Kether, the highest and most 
   divine Sephira.  In this guise it represents perhaps the four elements 
   mingling to the point they are indistinguishable -- a sort of 
   four-fold Yin-Yang. 
 
CADUCEUS 
 
   "After the death of Aaron, when the new moon occurred at the vernal 
   equinox of the 40th year of the Wandering of Israel, the people 
   became discouraged, and began to pray to Amun and Astarte, Osiris and 
   Isis. But Adonai sent fiery serpents among them, and Moses was asked 
   to pray for the people. Moses was told to build a brazen serpent, and 
   put it on a pole, and all who looked upon it were cured of the 
   serpents' venom. 
 
   "This story is seen as an allegory for the transformation from winter 
   to spring (and Passover), when the celestial serpent and scorpion flee 
   "before the glittering stars of Orion." The seeming contradiction 
   between winter and spring, death and life, evil and good, should be 
   seen as two parts of the "universal equilibrium." The symbol of the 
   cross, "that *one* composed of *two*," represents this principle.   
 
     Life is a serpent that incessantly creates and devours itself. One 
     must ignore fear and plant one's foot firmly on its head. Hermes, 
     by doubling it, opposes it to itself, and in eternal equilibrium 
     makes of it the talisman of his power and the glory of his 
     caduceus. . .  
 
   Each dragon couples with the other, each consumes the other, each 
   subdues the other; thus the well-known Hermetic maxim, "Nature 
   delights in Nature, Nature contains Nature, and Nature overcomes 
   Nature." "The last clause," Burckhardt (129-30) explains, "means that 
   the two powers, when they have so grown that one can embrace the 
   other, reunite on a higher plane, so that their opposition, which 
   previously had bound the soul, now becomes a fruitful complementarism, 
   by means of which the soul achieves dominion over the entire world of 
   psychic forms and currents. Thus Nature as a liberating force, 
   overcomes Nature as tyranny and entanglement."  
 
  The two serpents, each consuming the other, constitute what Damascenus 
   called a perikhoresis (rotation), which the Medieval Schoolmen 
   translated both circumincessio (going round) and circuminsessio    
  (reciprocal indwelling). 
 
Tom Walker 
TimeWork Web 
 
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