The orientation of a triangle can be important to its meaning. The occultist often performs rituals from the protection of a circle. At the culmination of a ritual, the desired being is expected to appear within a triangle inscribed upon the floor. Some occultists use the triangle as a summoning symbol. Triangles and other three-part symbols may present such concepts as past, present, and future or spirit, mind, and body. Pythagoras associated the number 3 with triangles, which is meaningful to many groups. Because the Christian God is a trinity-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost united in a single godhead-he is commonly represented by a triangle. In Western society, equilateral triangles most often have Christian meanings in religious contexts. The element of spirit, seen as an element equal to or superior to the physical elements of fire, air, water, and earth, is commonly represented by a circle. The same symbol is used to represent gold, which is strongly associated with the sun. The astrological symbol of the sun is a circle with a dot in the middle. The circle is also used nearly universally to represent the sun and/or the moon, or things associated with those bodies. Ouroboros is also found in Aztec and Norse mythologies. First attested in the New Kingdom Egypt in the 10th-11th century BCE, the ouroboros represents the cycle of rebirth, completion, unification of polarities, regeneration, and eternity. The ouroboros (Greek for 'tail swallower') is a circular symbol representing a snake or dragon feeding off its own tail, or two such creatures feeding off each other's tails.

Circles can also represent containing, keeping what is inside from been released. In occult practices, standing within a circle shields people from supernatural dangers or outside influences. In Chinese symbology, the circle represents the heavens.Ĭircles are also often seen as protective symbols. Circles are sometimes symbols of the Judeo-Christian God and sanctity, appearing as haloes.

In the Zen Buddhist philosophy, a circle stands for enlightenment and perfection in unity with the primal principles. He associated the circle with the number 1 and the practice of monotheism. Pythagoras called the circle 'monad,' the most perfect of creative forms, without beginning or end, without sides or corners. Circles are among the oldest of geometric symbols, and commonly represent unity, wholeness, and infinity.

Outrageous shapes geometric