It will thus be obvious, I think, that symbolism is to a large extent subject to a personal colouring, so that the same symbol may, by different associations, convey a different meaning to various seers. This may arise in part from the diversities of individual experience, of temperament, and the order to which the soul belongs in the spiritual world. These dissimilarities between individuals may be noted from their highest intellectual convictions down to the lowest of their sensations, and it is difficult to account for it. We all have the same laws of thought and the same general constitution. Humanity comprehends us all within the bonds of a single nature. Yet despite these facts we are divided by differences of opinion, of emotion, of sympathy, of taste and faculty. It is probable that these differences obtain in spheres immeasurably higher than our own, the sole element of consent being the recognition of dependence upon a Higher Power. God is the co-ordinating centre in a universe of infinite diversity.
Therefore, despite the fact that symbolism is capable of a universal interpretation, it would appear that the images projected by the magical power of the soul must have different significations with each of us, the meanings being in some mysterious way in agreement with the nature of the person who sees them. Hence we may come to the conclusion that every person must be his own interpreter, there being no universal code for what are peculiarly individualized messages. For although every symbol has a general signification in agreement with its natural properties and uses, it yet obtains a particular signification with the individual.
It is within common experience with those who have regard to the import of dreams, wherein the faculty of seership is acting on its normal plane, that a dream constantly recurring is found to have a particular meaning, which however is not applicable to others who have a similar dream. Every person is a seer in dream life, but few pay that attention to dreams which their origin and nature warrant. The crystal or mirror is an artificial means of bringing this normal faculty of dreaming into activity in waking life. Those who are capable of making the dream life normal to the working consciousness, rise to a higher plane when they sleep.