There was an awe and a sense of wonder when I first watched The Mummy. It awakened in me a deep allure for the Egyptian civilization, its hieroglyphs and  its cryptic inscriptions in its pyramids. This civilisation drew me in, not only through its mysteries but through the semiotic potency of its symbols. And when I look around today at the gleaming Apple logos on our devices, the emojis that have become our new hieroglyphs I realize that we have never really escaped the spell of symbols.

Throughout history, symbols have been tools of overt power. The eagle carried by a Roman legion was not just merely a symbol, to lose it was seen as extremely grave, shameful and dishonourable and the Roman military went to great lengths both to protect and recover one if it were to be lost. It was one of the iconic and powerful symbols of power and honour symbolizing divine protection and strength bestowed by gods.

Symbols have always been more than instruments of communication , they are vessels of meaning, emotion and collective memory. Their equivalence is far weightier than language, they can shape identity and consciousness itself. Consider the actual symbol for medicine: the Rod of Asclepius: a single serpent coiled around a staff. The serpent which its nature of skin shedding signifies renewal and regeneration, the perpetual rhythm of healing and rebirth; the staff, the axis of life, mirrors the human spine, the central column of........

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