The Pattern Still Remains

Used by the ancients, and put upon the left third finger, from a supposed connection of a vein there with the heart.

Harper’s Book of Facts, 1905.

Promoted by Marguerite Marie Alacoque, an enthusiastic French nun, who asserted that Christ had appeared to her, and taken out her heart, placed it in his own, glowing in flame, and then returned it.

Harper’s Book of Facts, 1905.

The burial of the heart away from the body. This is a very ancient practice, the special reverence shown towards the heart being doubtless due to its early associations with the soul of man, his affections, courage and conscience….  Some of the most notable cases are those of:

• Richard I
• Henry III
• Eleanor, queen of Edward I
• Edward I
• Louis IX
• Philip II
• Louis XII
• Louis XIV

Lit. “preserver; one who has the Koran by heart.”

International Book of Names by C.O. Sylvester Mawson, 1933.

Among internal organs we have Heart, Lung, Kidney, Giblett. The first, generally for the animal nickname Hart, may sometimes be genuine; but Lung is a variant of Long, Kidney is an Irish name, and Giblett is a dim. of Gilbert.

Surnames by Ernest Weekley, 1927.

An ancient Egyptian creature part hippo and part lion with the jaws of a crocodile; it ate the hearts of sinners.

Descriptionary by Marc McCutcheon, 1992.

The title is equivalent to “Lion-Hearted,” and is common to several kings of Persia.

Sobriquets & Nicknames by Albert R. Frey, 1888.

Conserve of Marigolds, taken Fasting in the morning, is Good for Melancholy, cureth the trembling and shaking of the Heart, is Good to be used against the Plague, and Corruption of the Aire.

A Feast of Flowers by Francesca Tillona & Cynthia Strowbridge, 1969.

• fifty-two cards in the pack symbolize the weeks of the year
• thirteen cards in each suit are the thirteen lunar months of the year
• four suits represent the four worlds, elements, directions of space, winds, seasons, castes, corners of the temple, etc.

• two red suits indicate the warm seasons and the power of light
• two black are the cold seasons and the power of darkness
• All four designs on the cards are life symbols: spade=leaf, heart=life, diamond=feminine principle; club=male principle.

• Ace is the Monad
• King is the spirit, essence, father
• Queen is the soul, the personality, mother
• Knave is the ego, energies, the messenger
• Together the King-Queen-Knave form the spiritual Triad.
• Joker is the fifth element, the non-material world, the quintessence of the Alchemists and the ether of the Hindus.

An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols by J.C. Cooper, 1978.

Besides the enormous diversity of combinations and the mathematical fascination with cards, it is a curious fact that the four designs are all symbols of life. The spade is derived from the leaf, the heart is the source of life, the diamond or lozenge is a symbol of the yoni or female principle and the club is the trefoil, one of the most ancient symbols of the Trinity or the three-fold aspect of life.

Ancient Pagan Symbols by Elizabeth Goldsmith, 1929.

Good wine gladdens a person’s heart.