Magic Words & Symbols Spotted in the Wild

Janus

He, that concealed things will finde,
Must looke before him, and behinde.
—George Wither, Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne (1635)

via Unurthed

Transition

"Here is transition. Now, transition is to the student a word of magic sound—echoing the past, prefiguring the future."
—Prof. T. H. McBride, "The Little Missouri Bad Lands," The Popular Science Monthly, 1883

Transition, the spirit of betwixt-and-between, has been deified in many cultures: the Roman gateway god Janus, the Egyptian Anubis, the Toltec Xipe Totec, and the list goes on. We explore dozens of transition deities in our Oracle of the Two-Fold Gods.