Exile & Longing — 31 entries | Encyclopedia of Mystery

Scripture · Prophets

Hope and Future

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

— NLT

A prophetic assurance of God's plans for a hopeful future.

The passageThe letter this comes from tells the exiles to build houses in Babylon, plant gardens, and seek the welfare of the city that took them — for seventy years. The promise of a future is addressed to people who will not live to see it, and is offered instead of rescue.

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Symbol · The Ancient World

Pentacle

The Star of Elements

A five-pointed star representing the four classical elements crowned by spirit, encircled by unity.

What it meansOne continuous line crossing itself five times, enclosing a pentagon that generates another star, forever. Four points for the elements and the fifth for spirit above them — the arrangement is the claim: spirit is not a fifth element but the one that orders the other four.

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Symbol · The Ancient World

Gorgoneion

The Visage of Protection

The severed head of the Gorgon Medusa, utilized as a powerful apotropaic amulet to ward off evil.

What it meansIt works by looking at you. The head is set facing outward on shields, doorways and cups — the only frontal face in an art of profiles — so the thing that turned men to stone is aimed at whatever approaches. Protection by threat, kept after the monster was killed.

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