Magic Words & Symbols Spotted in the Wild

Initiated in These Mysteries

"Initiated him in these mysteries." From The Misfortunes of Elphin and Rhododaphne by Thomas Love Peacock, 1897.

Fate May Be Consulted ...

An illustration from Good Housekeeping, 1906: "The goddess of fate may be consulted within a mysterious pillared white and red portico."

A Constellation of the Secrets Perpetuated in the Mysteries

The whole of symbolism "in one mystical diagram, which was esteemed a constellation of the secrets perpetuated in the mysteries.  I subjoin the emblem, but leave the explanation of it to your own ingenuity and research" (George Oliver, Signs and Symbols, 1826).

 

Part of the Magic is the Mystery

"What makes it magic? ... Magic can't be defined, can it? Or it loses what makes it magic. ... Part of the magic is the mystery, don't you think?"
—Megan Hart, "This Is What I Want" (2007)

Mystery

At the Secret Art Journal, Gordon Meyer discusses the word "mystery" and how to gift someone with a beautiful reminder of life's unanswerable questions.

The Power, the Magic, and the Mystery of the Word

"Opening it entirely at random -- to any page, any paragraph, any sentence -- I feel at once in the presence of the miraculous, awakened once again to the power, the magic and the mystery of the word." —Jonathan Yardley, describing Vladimir Nabokov's Speak, Memory.

Magic and Erudition

Magic and erudition in alliance
Opened the door to every mystery.
—Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game,
translated by Richard and Clara Winston