he idea of acquiring knowledge. One cannot help
seeing the hand of the young Hebrew drawing aside the canvas
door of the tent and peeping in to see what secrets may be learned!

All symbols, therefore, may be translated by reference to the
known nature, quality, and uses of the objects they represent. Thus
a foot signifies a journey, and also understanding; a mouth denotes
speech, revelation; an ear news, information, and, if ugly and
distorted, scandal or abuse. The sun, shining brightly, denotes
prosperity, honours. The moon, when crescent denotes success,
increase, and improvement. When gibbous, it denotes sickness,
decadence, losses, and trouble. The sun eclipsed shows death or
ruin of a man; the moon, similarly afflicted, denotes equal danger
to a woman. These are natural interpretations.

Every symbol, however, has a threefold interpretation, and the
nature of the inquiry or the purpose for which the vision is sought
must determine the meaning of the symbols. If they refer to the
spiritual world the interpretation must be agreeable to the nature of
the spirit, and similarly if they refer to the intellectual or physical
worlds. Thus a pair of scales would denote Divine Justice in the
spiritual sense, judgment in the intellectual sense, and obligation
in the material sense. If the scales were evenly balanced the
augury would be good. But if weighed down on one side it is
_Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin_, "Thou art weighed and found
wanting"; it shows a corrupt judgment, a wrong conclusion, an
unbalanced mind, failure in one's obligations, injustice, etc. And if
a sword should lie across the scales or be seen overhead, then a
speedy judgment will be meted out.

A ship is a symbol of intercourse, of trading, of voyaging, etc. If in
full sail it shows that the communication with the spiritual world is
increasing, that news from far-off lands will come to hand, that
trade will increase, that a voyage will be taken. If aught is written
on the sails it will be an additional source of enlightenment. If the
symbol of death be written there, it shows speedy translation to a
far-off country in which the subject will die. That far-off country
may be the spiritual world itself in which case the death would be
a natural one. But if the ship's sails are drooping, then it denotes a
falling away of spiritual influx of intelligence, and of trade.
Expected news will not come.

Black bread denotes a famine, and if it be spotted with