Gravestone Symbolism & Magick

I think gravestones are beautiful. Many of the graves on our cemetery date back to the mid 1800s and many of them are very similar. What does differ is the symbols you can find on them.

Unsurprisingly, the Victorians had their own language for symbols. People weren’t generally cremated back then, and many people were illiterate, so symbols were an important way to communicate thoughts, feelings and information.

This is fascinating when you consider that symbolism is used a lot in Witchcraft. We may carve an image on a candle, use one in our magickal writings, or draw one onto a petition before burning it. Whilst it’s always good to create our own magickal correspondences, you could consider using gravestone symbolism in your magick. These time-worn symbols have been used by many people over hundreds of years.

Scholars still debate the various meanings and interpretations of cemetery symbols, and they may differ from country to country (and even region to region), but here are ten common gravestone symbols and their suggested meanings:

Angels - Messengers between God and man

Bat wings - Death, misfortune

Bone - Death

Candle - Life

Heart - Romantic love

Key - Knowledge, entrance to Heaven

Lamp - Knowledge, spiritual immortality

Oak leaf - Strength, stability, endurance

Phoenix - Resurrection

Winged Death’s Head - Mortal remains of the deceased

Cemetery Stuff: Memento Mori

Memento Mori. Remember you must die.

One of the most life-affirming things I’ve ever done is start living on a cemetery.

There is plenty of life here. A steady stream of visitors to the graves, dog walkers, and runners passing through on their daily run to admire the beauty of the place. Funeral processions, noise from the earth diggers that dig the graves, and the constant lawn mowing and hedge trimming.

There are owls, foxes, rabbits, and bats. There are birds in the tree outside my bedroom window, and a family of Starlings nesting in the gutter over the kitchen.

There are flowers; those left by mourning relatives, and those blooming in the spring. We have trees and shrubs and greenery; and big, dark, open skies with which to view the many millions of stars above.

And amongst the gentle hubbub there is also peace and quiet to reflect on all of this.

As I stand at the kitchen sink and look out at the gravestones I have silent space to ponder my own mortality.

This is an old cemetery and whilst death happened a lot earlier in the 1800s, one only has to take a quick look around the headstones to be reminded that death is always just around the corner.

So I choose to make the most of life. Memento Mori. Remember you must die.

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