Character (symbol) - Esotericism and Magic

Esotericism and Magic

The word in Renaissance magic came to refer to any astrological, cabbalistic or magical sign or symbol. Related is the Sacramental character of Catholic doctrine. Famously, John Dee designed his Monas Hieroglyphica in 1564.

In the 19th century, this sense of the word appears mainly in Romantic poetry, such as Sir Walter Scott's Lay of the last minstrel (1805), where "A hallow'd taper shed a glimmering light / On mystic implements of magic might; On cross, and character, and talisman," (6.17).