----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- 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 ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]