How the golden compass works (Philip Pullman)
January 28th 2008 05:01
Rather reminiscent of tarot cards.
Striking image for the way meanings leak on to meanings...
Some extracts from Northern Lights (1995) by Philip Pullman: --
***
It was very like a clock, or a compass, for there were hands pointing to places around the dial, but instead of the hours or the points of the compass there were several little pictures, each of them painted with extraordinary precision... There was an anchor; an hourglass surmounted by a skull; a bull, a beehive... Thirty-six altogether...
There were three little knurled winding-wheels... and each of them turned one of the three shorter hands... You could arrange them to point at any of the pictures...
The fourth hand was longer and more slender, and seemed to be made of a duller metal than the other three. Lyra couldn't control its movement at all; it swung where it wanted to, like a compass-needle, except that it didn't settle.
... angel, helmet, dolphin; globe, lute, compasses; candle, thunderbolt, horse...
***
[T]hey're symbols, and each one stands for a whole series of things. Take the anchor, there. The first meaning of that is hope, because hope holds you fast like an anchor so you don't give way. The second meaning is steadfastness. The third meaning is snag, or prevention. The fourth meaning is the sea. And so on, down to ten, twelve, maybe a never-ending series of meanings...
You got three hands you can control... and you use them to ask a question. By pointing to three symbols you can ask any question you can imagine, because you've got so many levels of each one. Once you got your question framed, the other needle swings round and points to more symbols that give you the answer...
It only works if the questioner holds the levels in their mind. You go to know all the meanings, first... Then you got to be able to hold 'em in your mind without fretting at it or pushing for an answer, and just watch while the needle wanders. When it's gone round its full range you'll know what the answer is.
***
"They are said to originate in the city of Prague..."
"And where did they get the symbols from?"
"Oh, this was in the seventeenth century. Symbols and emblems were everywhere. Buildings and pictures were designed to be read like books. Everything stood for something else; if you had the right dictionary you could read Nature itself.
***
"What shall I ask?" said Lyra.
"What are the intentions of the Tartars with regard to Kamchatka?"
That wasn't hard. Lyra turned the hands to the camel, which meant Asia, which meant Tartars; to the cornucopia, for Kamchatka, where there were gold mines; and to the ant, which meant activity, which meant purpose and intention... The long needle trembled on the dolphin, the helmet, the baby and the anchor, dancing between them... in a complicated pattern...
"They're going to pretend to attack it, but they're not really going to, because it's too far away and they'd be too stretched out," she said...
"The dolphin, one of its deep-down meanings is playing... And the helmet means war, and both together they mean pretend to go to war but not be serious. And the baby means -- it means difficult -- it'd be too hard for them to attack it, and the anchor says why, because they'd be stretched out as tight as an anchor rope.
***
For some more information, see the Wikipedia entry on the alethiometer.
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