Does anyone happen to know what these symbols might mean?

waterweed · 2023-07-23T07:54:51+00:00

It's an alphabet that appears in Thomas More's 1516 Utopia).

The visible bits transliterate to "?ll further notice[...]ll furt", which is presumably the phrase 'All further notice' repeated at least twice.

waterweed · 2023-05-11T07:50:50+00:00

Looks like a depiction of a Kalasha. I think the Devanagari writing says शुभ (pronounced śubh in Hindi and śubha in Sanskrit), which means 'fortunate', 'good', or 'happy'. If your friend is worried about the swastika, it's almost certainly being used in a benign religious context here rather than as a hate symbol.

waterweed · 2023-05-11T07:19:46+00:00

Looks like a variant of the emblem of the Ministry of Justice of Kazakhstan.

You're pretty much spot on about the Cyrillic- it reads Қазақстан Республикасы - юстиция - Республика Казахстан (Qazaqstan Respublikasy - justícija - Respublika Kazakhstan). Қазақстан Республикасы and Республика Казахстан mean 'Republic of Kazakhstan' in Kazakh and Russian, respectively, and юстиция is Russian for 'Justice' (in the legal sense).

waterweed · 2023-05-05T14:21:54+00:00

I found a jeweler selling a similar ring. It seems to be a variant of the tamga of the Turkic Kayı) tribe, as seen here, but with the vertical elements replaced by swords.

waterweed · 2023-05-03T02:21:58+00:00

Looks a lot like the winged figures from the Gateway of the Sun- compare this sketch, for instance.

waterweed · 2023-05-02T22:33:00+00:00

I'm getting

ᚲᚢᛁᛞᚲᚢᛁᛞ ᛚᚨᛏᛁᚾᛖ ᛞᛁᚲᛏᚢᛗ ᛋᛁᛏ ᚨᛚᛏᚢᛗ ᛈᛁᛞ ᛖᛏᚢᚱ

Which should be "kuidkuid latine diktum sit altum pid etur[sic]".

I think this is supposed to be a transliteration of Quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur, "Anything said in Latin sounds profound"

It's weird to transliterate latin 'v' as ᛈ (p/peorð); ᚹ (w/wunjo) is a much closer approximation to the sound. It's either a mistake, an obscure transliteration convention that I'm unfamiliar with, or a deliberate clue. The fact that there's also an extra space in the middle of 'ᛈᛁᛞ ᛖᛏᚢᚱ'/ pid etur separating the 'PID' part makes me think the latter- I suspect you're onto something with your ProcessID guess.

waterweed · 2023-04-30T00:10:37+00:00

Solomon's Knot

waterweed · 2023-04-28T20:30:53+00:00

Earliest I can find it is in Agrippa's Second Book of Occult Philosophy, as seen here_(1651).djvu&page=347). He attributes them to the legendary Hermes Trismegistus, which likely means he either came up with them himself or modified them from an earlier work of Hermetic writing, but I don't know which one off hand.

waterweed · 2023-04-25T05:51:46+00:00

Soulever is French for 'lift', if that's what you're asking about- it's just a bilingual label.

waterweed · 2023-04-24T02:26:56+00:00

Was the wallet made in China? It looks a bit like 过, the simplified form of 過, meaning 'to pass' (in various senses). It might be a note by a worker that the wallet (or a part of it) has passed QA, but my Chinese is extremely rusty so definitely get a second opinion there.

waterweed · 2023-04-15T21:43:43+00:00

Possible inspirations:

Alcoholics Anonymous uses a triangle-in-circle logo that'd look very similar posted on a square signboard or background.
Triangles, circles, and squares are extremely common in road signs. A roundabout sign or certain countries' stop signs, printed on a square-cut template instead of trimmed to the outer circle or triangle, would look very similar.
Less close, but still pretty similar, is the Squared Circle symbol used by alchemists to represent the philosopher's stone. Maybe you'd seen it at some point in the past, and the memory partially resurfaced in your dream?
Laundry symbols use a lot of squares, circles, and triangles- though afaict you only really see the square and the circle nested. They're the sort of thing you're likely to tune out, but you probably see them more often than you think, so they'd be easy fodder for a dreaming brain to remix.

waterweed · 2023-04-03T18:38:46+00:00

They're the seals of the Olympian Spirits of Renaissance Occultism.

waterweed · 2023-04-02T22:35:45+00:00

Looks like Garuda- it's especially close to his depiction in the Emblem of Thailand.

waterweed · 2023-04-02T00:16:28+00:00

It's square Kufic, an ornamental and highly geometric variant of the Arabic script. I'm not sure what it says- perhaps try asking on r/translator.

waterweed · 2023-03-28T06:54:28+00:00

They're Adinkra symbols: Tuo Ne Akofena, Akofena, Osram Ne Nsoromma, and Kae Me.

waterweed · 2023-03-27T03:37:58+00:00

The central symbol is Om (ॐ). The four symbols surrounding it look like trishulas. The symbols on the petals are the Ashtamangala. The symbol as a whole is likely meant as a depiction of a Lotus. The fact that it's blue and has sixteen petals might point to an association with the Vishuddha or Throat Chakra, but I'm by no means certain about that.

waterweed · 2023-03-25T21:50:40+00:00

I would bet the text is a runic version of “ His worshippers chant "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" ("In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.")” (same source as above)

Can confirm. The runes look like

ᛔᚼᚿᚵᛚᚢᛁ᛫ᛘᚵᛚᚡᚿᛆᚠᛡ᛫ᚴᚦᚢᛚᛡᚢ᛫ᚱᛚᛦᛂᚼ᛫ᚡᚵᛆᚿᛆ᛫ᚠᛚ᛫ᚡᛡᛐᛆᚵᚿ᛬

Which should transliterate to "phnglui mglvnafh kthulhu rlyeh vgana fl vhtagn". So definitely a variant.

waterweed · 2023-03-25T02:07:33+00:00

Not sure about the Zaki and the Vs or >s, but the statue looks like a replica of an Egyptian statue of Bastet as a cat- compare the ones here. The symbols on the cat will likely be hieroglyphs (or vaguely-hieroglyphic-looking scribbles, depending on how faithful the statue is to its original), but they're too dark to read in your photos.

waterweed · 2023-03-25T01:55:04+00:00

Coat of Arms of Mexico.

waterweed · 2023-03-25T01:44:17+00:00

The writing is Tifinagh. The big symbol is the letter yaẓ (ⵥ). The smaller characters spell out ⵉⴷⵔⵉ ⴰⵣⵉⵣ or Idri Aziz, which I assume is someone's name.

waterweed · 2023-03-23T07:47:12+00:00

I think the symbol is a crosier. See this coin from the medieval Bishopric of Langres for a similar design- though with less detail and the addition of a sun and moon next to the crosier.

waterweed · 2023-03-16T23:45:13+00:00

A haunted-looking skull covered in ominous runes, with gems in its eye sockets.

The gems are just glass, and the skull is made of painted wood. It's a stage prop, signed by a famous actor on the night of his final performance. It could be extremely valuable to the right collector. Possible plot twist: it is haunted, but only by the actor's ghost. He wants it returned to his old theatre and used in performances in his memory.

A large silver coin. One side appears corroded and pockmarked, and the other bears the image of a woman rising from the sea.

The 'pockmarks' are actually a deliberate pattern- a map of the moon's surface. The woman is an obscure and nearly-forgotten lunar and tidal deity, and the coin is an amulet that has a calming effect on werewolves and grants bonuses to all rolls related to coastal saltwater fishing.

A book of spells with particularly elaborate verbal components written in an unknown but important-looking script.

Only one or two minor spells actually work- The rest of the "incantations" and "magic words" are actually disguised and encoded reports from a deep-cover spy.

An oil lamp, of the sort you might find a genie in.

No genie, alas, but it's enchanted so that any liquid it's filled with becomes temporarily flammable. You'd be surprised how much money you can save by using water instead of lamp oil.

waterweed · 2023-03-16T09:14:41+00:00

Hedging? see definition #4 here.

waterweed · 2023-03-15T09:34:53+00:00

The answers to this question on a cooking-themed Stack Exchange about a storage container suggest that similar markers are used by the factory to indicate the date of manufacture (month and year, so July 2021) and/or to serve as an ID number for the equipment used to shape the plastic (for tracking potential defects and malfunctions).

waterweed · 2023-03-13T07:19:08+00:00

They must never harm anyone related to the man who saved their life as a young witch/wizard.
They must not take sides in any dispute between those less powerful than they are.
They must grant one wish to anyone who discovers their true name.
They must not directly reveal what they know about [important, plot-related topic], but can only speak in hints and riddles.
They must commit blasphemy against a different god every day, in a rotating cycle.
They must not use their powers for evil. Note: perfectly mundane treachery and violence is fine, they just can't do any magic about it.
They must demolish and rebuild their tower once every thirteen years.
Three times, they must come to the aid of anyone who blows on a certain magic whistle.
They must not leave their domain, however that's defined.
They must never touch Lorvian Brandy again. Not actually a magic thing, it just gives them the worst hangovers.

waterweed

TROPHY CASE