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Hourglass
The hourglass is an emblem of time,
although hidden within is the promise of life- because the hourglass is
reversible, it holds within a promise of resurrection – as it is seen by the
Freemasons and Rosicrucians who grasped its true ancient meaning.
Unlike most other methods of measuring
time, the hourglass concretely represents the present as being between the past and
the future, and this has made it an enduring symbol of time itself.
The hourglass, sometimes with the addition
of metaphorical wings, is often depicted as a symbol that human existence is
fleeting, and that the "sands of time" will run out for every human
life. It was thus used on pirate flags, to strike fear into the hearts of the
pirates' victims. In England, hourglasses were sometimes placed in coffins and
they have graced gravestones for centuries. The hourglass was also used in alchemy
as a symbol for hour.
