The language of birds consists of making the sound take off by hearing otherwise what is said in writing (understanding it “through the cries”), bypassing the assembly of letters to retain only the meaning. A simple example is needed to fully understand and summarize the principle:
Here is a secret message saying the words
See if a wise word is formed, say it without the words
The first line is the official phrase, the second the unofficial meaning, the understanding according to the language of birds. The first informs us of a secret message, the second is the message. What does this way of understanding things teach us? It commands us to look (“see”) whether food for the spirit (“a wise dish”) appears (“is created”), hidden behind the primary meaning (“said without words”). It encourages us to go beyond the appearances of sound and vision in letters. It also teaches us that in vision (“see”), the gaze cast upon things (and notably upon letters), a silent (“said without words”) creation (“is created”) is hidden, that is to say, known but silent.
The song of birds is the flight of sounds, the transformation of the senses. Sound, in this principle, is then revealed as primordial, and its symbolism carries significant consequences.
Thus, sound precedes writing; we must name before we write, invent the sounds of letters, and organize them. Likewise, when a thought comes to mind, we use articulated sounds in sentences, not assembled letters. In other words, sound resonates and “reasons” within us long before it is organized into letters.
Furthermore, sounds rise, whereas in order to write we bend forward; the symbolism thus sets an upward aspiration in opposition to a downward attraction. The adage “written words remain, but spoken words fly away” also shows, beyond the faculty of words to have wings, how intangible and immaterial that which resides in sound is.
Prevailing over letters, a factor of elevation, untouchable, the source that supplies us with meaning (sound) seems truly to oppose matter and to belong more to the invisible. This is the first lesson given by sound, and its interest becomes fully apparent to us, as we are about to touch the invisible by initiating ourselves into the Tarot of Marseille.
http://www.criptkabbale.com/tarot/o1.htm To be seen