Words of Power

The Sator/Rotas square. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

This unusual Palindrome is known as the Sator Rotas square, a Palindrome are words or groups of words that can be read backwards and forwards and in this case up and down! Because this is a four times Palindrome it is said to have great power and has appeared many times throughout the ages as a mystical or magical symbol. The true origin and meaning has been lost over the countless centuries, but that hasn’t stopped scholars and historians speculating as to its true purpose. It has been suggested that it is Latin and that it originated during the early Roman Empire, it has been found scratched on a wall in the Roman town of Herculaneum which was buried under ash and mud when the volcano Vesuvius erupted. It has also been found on plaster in a Roman villa at Cirencester in the U.K, it has also been found inscribed on drinking vessels at other sites.

Photo by Synwell liberation front courtesy of flickr.

It has been suggested that the magic word square has been used as a talisman for protection over the years. In the 18th century it was known to have been used for the protection of dairy cattle, and also to guard against fever, pestilence, sorcery and colic and it is said to have the power to dowse flames. Although the square was originally thought to be Christian there is now evidence that it dates back to the God Mithras.

Numerous attempts have been made to interpret the meanings behind the words, Sator is thought to mean the “Planter”, Arepo is thought to mean “Delays”, Tenet “His Works” and Rotas the “Wheels”. This would interpret as “The Sower creeps, holding the work of the wheel”, “Arepo the sower leads with his hand (work) the wheels (plow)” “The sower Arepo holds the works of the wheels”.

The Sator Rotas square is open to many interpretations, it can also be arranged into the Pater Noster Cross, with two sets of the Alpha and Omega left over. Pater Noster is the latin for Our Father, this was used during early Christianity as a secret reference to Christ, the Lords Prayer. However there is evidence that the Sator Rotas Palindrome and the hidden anagram was used much earlier as a reference to Mithras an ancient Persian God who was also referred to as Our Father. The Alpha and Omega referred both to Christ who claimed at the resurrection to encompass all things as well as the much earlier Mithras, defender of light and truth, who was known as the God of time, the begining and the end.