A friendly little statuette with a warm welcome found all over Japan and China. What the cat is doing with his paws carries a secret message.

      The cute little Maneki Neko or beckoning cat is ubiquitous in Japan and China where he appears in both homes and offices. This friendly-looking china cat can also be seen in Oriental restaurants all over the world and is for many people the ultimate symbol of prosperity and good luck.

      The Maneki Neko comes in different colors, each of which signifies a different meaning. For example, a red cat will protect from illness, and a black one will ward off evil.

      The position of the paws also carries a message. With the right paw raised the cat will bring money and happiness to home and workplace. A cat raising its left paw (like the one illustrated here) will attract new customers for a business. And a cat with both paws raised hits the jackpot; both home and business will be happy and profitable, attracting good luck, friends, prosperity, and new clients.

      This cat is also the symbol of the small Buddhist temple in Tokyo, where the original incident that shot the cat to fame is said to have happened. Originally the temple was a lowly place, whose impoverished priest would regularly share what little food he had with his pet cat. One day some Samurai were passing and noticed this cat, who had one paw raised as though to say hello. The warriors stopped, intrigued by the beckoning cat, and went into the temple just as a horrendous rain storm started. They believed that paying attention to the cat’s invitation had prevented them being struck by lightning. Thereafter, the fortunes of the priest, the temple, and of course the cat, started to change for the better.

      BELL

      There is a mysticism surrounding the bell that far transcends its mundane use as a way of getting attention in the schoolroom, for example. The sound of the bell is universally accepted as a way of communicating with the spirits, or as a herald for the arrival of a supernatural, holy power.

      The analogy of the bell occurs in language, too, used to symbolize something of sacred origin. In Islam, the “reverberation of the bell” is used to describe the sound of the revelations of the Qu’ran, and in Buddhism, the “sound of the golden bell” is an analogy for heavenly voices. The sound of a bell is a reminder that, like the sound, the world may be experienced, but not possessed.

      Pagoda roofs sometimes have hundreds of tiny bells hanging from them, symbolizing, in sound, the concepts of the Buddhist laws as well as frightening away any malicious entities. For the same reason, the church bells of Christian churches, at one time, were peeled not only during processions or as a notice of a ceremony or service, but also during thunderstorms to chase away demons.

      The bell is also a sacred object. In the form of the Buddhist Drilbu, or the Hindu Ghanta, it symbolizes the illusory world, because of the fleetingly resonant nature of its sound. It is the feminine principle paired up with the masculine vajra.

      The use of these oriental bells largely influenced their European symbolism and use. The sweet reverberation of a bell, rung three times in the silence of a large stone church or cathedral, has a quality of calming the atmosphere, attracting the attention of the worshippers, welcoming in the spirits, and setting the scene for the ritual that follows.

      The power of the bell as a way of spiritual communication is carried one step further in the magical bell made of an amalgam of the seven sacred metals that are ruled by the planets. This bell, engraved with the Tetragrammaton and the planetary seals from alchemy, allegedly has the power to summon the spirits of the dead. However, this spell calls for the bell to be put into a grave for seven days and seven nights before it will work properly.

      BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE

      Singly, these items all have mystical significance. When grouped together, they have a certain frisson, somehow seeming to resonate with dark forces, pagan ideals, and witchcraft in particular. However, this sinister grouping actually comes from the rites of excommunication or anathema in the Roman Catholic Church. Effectively a powerful curse, this ritual is taken very seriously, reserved only for those whose transgressions against the Church are deemed unforgivable.

      After the officiating cleric has verbally declared the excommunication, he declares it symbolically with three actions; he shuts the Bible, sounds the bell, and then snuffs out the candle.

      These actions are clear. Closing the Bible tells the excommunicant that he is no longer privy to the Word of God. Ringing the bell is symbolic of mourning for the “departed,” the excommunicant, who is now effectively spiritually dead to the Church. Snuffing the candle is a universal sign of the “snuffing out” of the soul, now doomed because of its banishment from the faith.

      BESOM

      See Broomstick.

      BINDHU

      See First Signs: Dot.

      BLACK SUN

      The notion of the Sun being black runs completely counter to what is generally accepted about it; the simplest explanation for a Black Sun is that it describes what happens at night, when the Sun is casting its light on another part of the planet. However, the Black Sun more sinisterly denotes the idea of the world going wrong, destructive forces, disaster, and even death.

      Whether the Nazis were aware of this aspect of the Black Sun is open to conjecture. The symbol reproduced for this entry was also called the “Sonnenrad” or Sun Wheel and was based on the design of early medieval brooches, some of which had a swastika in the center. The “rays” numbered between five and twelve, with the twelve-rayed symbol denoting the passage of the Sun through the months of the year. The rays bear a great deal of resemblance to the swastika and to the lightning flash symbols used by the SS, themselves the same as a rune known as “Sig,” meaning “Sun” or “Victory.”

      The symbol, used by wartime German occult mystics and still employed by some neo-Nazis, is based on a mosaic set into the floor of the early seventeenth-century castle of Wewelsburg in Germany. Himmler decided that the site of the castle would be the center of the proposed “New World” once victory was achieved. However, the extensive building works planned for the castle were never completed; the ambitious “New World” failed to materialize and the building work that had been started was blasted to the ground in 1945. The mosaic remains, although there is no concrete evidence as to who put it there. The mosaic is of dark green marble, set into a cream-colored marble floor.

      For neo-Nazis, the symbol has proved a useful one. The single swastika is banned in Germany, and yet the Black Sun symbol hides three swastikas within it. Further significance is accorded the symbol since it contains twelve of the aforementioned Sig runes from the Futhark runic system. The circular shape of the symbol implies protection and magical powers. Secret signs, indeed.

      BLACK SUN IN ALCHEMY

      Alchemists and hermeticists believe that there are two Suns; one of the pure “philosophical gold” that implies the highest attainment of the Spirit, and the other of the baser “material gold.” The Black Sun is the symbol of this material form of the Sun, and symbolizes the unworked, primal matter that needs to be developed.

      BLAZING STAR

      See Pentagram and Freemasonry.

      BOLINE

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