where did it come from? It's not like he googled "unpronouncable symbol". Sorry this has been bugging me because almost any symbol you can come up with will have a name, already.

male + female + soapstone =

[Edited 2/6/11 16:19pm]

His Spirit.

Didn't the Org used to have an FAQ? What ever happened to that? I think the history of the symbol was in there.

Efan said:

Didn't the Org used to have an FAQ? What ever happened to that? I think the history of the symbol was in there.

oh, it's all still there. but you'd never know it because there isn't a link to the damn thing anywhere on the front page. or anywhere else on the site for that matter.

errant said:

Efan said:

Didn't the Org used to have an FAQ? What ever happened to that? I think the history of the symbol was in there.

oh, it's all still there. but you'd never know it because there isn't a link to the damn thing anywhere on the front page. or anywhere else on the site for that matter.

spoke too soon. found it among all that gaudy clutter at the top of the P:M&M forum.

errant said:

errant said:

oh, it's all still there. but you'd never know it because there isn't a link to the damn thing anywhere on the front page. or anywhere else on the site for that matter.

spoke too soon. found it among all that gaudy clutter at the top of the P:M&M forum.

Is that where it is?!?! Who the hell is gonna find it there?

The FAQ doesn't give the history. Didn't he buy it from somebody?

FROM THE FAQ:

1.3 What's with the name changes?
On June 7th, 1993 (his 35th birthday), Prince announced that he would change his name to an unpronounceable symbol.
The glyph incorporates the male and female signs along with the alchemy symbol for soapstone:



The usual ASCII representation of the symbol is: O ( + >

(That's a capital "o", open parenthesis, plus sign, and greater-than sign.)

However, on May 16th, 2000 Prince announced that he would resume using his former name, because his final contract with Time Warner
(i.e., his publishing contract with Warner-Chappel) had expired. It seems that he will continue to use the symbol as a logo, however.

[Edited 2/6/11 16:40pm]

Ebay, before he pronounced the internet dead.

Efan said:

The FAQ doesn't give the history. Didn't he buy it from somebody?

FROM THE FAQ:

1.3 What's with the name changes?
On June 7th, 1993 (his 35th birthday), Prince announced that he would change his name to an unpronounceable symbol.
The glyph incorporates the male and female signs along with the alchemy symbol for soapstone:



The usual ASCII representation of the symbol is: O ( + >

(That's a capital "o", open parenthesis, plus sign, and greater-than sign.)

However, on May 16th, 2000 Prince announced that he would resume using his former name, because his final contract with Time Warner
(i.e., his publishing contract with Warner-Chappel) had expired. It seems that he will continue to use the symbol as a logo, however.

[Edited 2/6/11 16:40pm]

That's NOT what I'm talking about guys.

I wanted to know who came up with it and where he found it in the first place, not what the symbol is. I'm not that stupid.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/Prince%20and%20related/P%20mag%20and%20boot%20covers%20and%20ads/1186988126_s.gif[/img:$uid]

The forerunner of it (without the "horn" part) was seen on the cover art for the album 1999.

Then, in Purple Rain, he had it on his motorcycle, and it was also seen in the movie...on a wall in the scenes where he´s riding around on his motorcycle, on a wall, right next to a graffiti that says "Love God".

The rare album "Strange Tales from the Rain" also had a symbol on its cover.

The symbol as we know it today was first seen on the album.

It is basically the old symbol with an added horn part, which has its roots in alchemy and represents soapstone, an ingredient that was supposedly needed in alchemy in order to produce gold.

The gold theme (Three Chains of Gold, Goldnigga, Gold Experience) quasi started with the symbol album and went on up until the Gold Experience album. Music critic Jim Walsh, whose review was used for the liner notes of the Gold Experience, compared digging for gold with striving for perfection, working on your transformation, self improvement , etc., so I take it as metaphor for Prince´s transition and striving for something higher at the time. Sometimes he would start playing the song Gold after saying "This song is about the ingredients melting right in front of your eyes." during the Japanese leg of the Ultimate Live Experience tour.

But that´s just speculation on my behalf.

Check out this website:

http://www.purplehell.com...lchemy.htm

Scroll down a bit and you´ll find the soapstone symbol.

You will also find the astrological symbols for Libra and Cancer which were used by Prince on the promotional single for "Dinner With Dolores". Check out those symbols and you´ll get an idea why he used them on that single.

Ironically, the website I mentioned above is called purplehell.

Don´t really know why.

[Edited 2/6/11 19:57pm]

Maytiana said:

Efan said:

The FAQ doesn't give the history. Didn't he buy it from somebody?

FROM THE FAQ:

1.3 What's with the name changes?
On June 7th, 1993 (his 35th birthday), Prince announced that he would change his name to an unpronounceable symbol.
The glyph incorporates the male and female signs along with the alchemy symbol for soapstone:



The usual ASCII representation of the symbol is: O ( + >

(That's a capital "o", open parenthesis, plus sign, and greater-than sign.)

However, on May 16th, 2000 Prince announced that he would resume using his former name, because his final contract with Time Warner
(i.e., his publishing contract with Warner-Chappel) had expired. It seems that he will continue to use the symbol as a logo, however.

[Edited 2/6/11 16:40pm]

That's NOT what I'm talking about guys.

Did you read my first two sentences? I KNOW that's not what you're talking about, but I copied and pasted what the FAQ says just because I had brought it up earlier.

Maytiana said:

I wanted to know who came up with it and where he found it in the first place, not what the symbol is. I'm not that stupid.

Probably has to do with the androgyny thing that was his shtick back then, and of course an amalgam of the symbols for Mars and Venus, hence love ...or rather sex, probably also to do with how he defied typical masculinity.

That symbol also existed before Prince came up with it because I have seen it in esoteric shops and got one as a gift years ago but he probably could be regarded as its creator since he did the cover art for the 1999 album, where it was first seen.

[Edited 2/6/11 19:58pm]

Efan said:

Maytiana said:

That's NOT what I'm talking about guys.

Did you read my first two sentences? I KNOW that's not what you're talking about, but I copied and pasted what the FAQ says just because I had brought it up earlier.

Oh..no I didn't...hehe Sorry! I think my frustration was directed to the posts under mine because at first you guys didn't understand what i was talking about.

Maytiana said:

where did it come from? It's not like he googled "unpronouncable symbol". Sorry this has been bugging me because almost any symbol you can come up with will have a name, already.

Short answer. The orginal version (without the horn and curl), was simply the male and female symbols overlayed.

In 81, Prince was loving the guessing game as to whether he was straight or gay. Prince adopted (or did he create?) the symbol and he drew it on the 1999 cover in 1982.

In was only in 92 when he decided he would use it as a brand / name.

Ok, so I google alchemy symbols & clicked on the first offering which were images. Scrolling thru the images I came across the exact symbol that prince uses without the horn, under it is written coplapite. I googled coplapite & just some images of some pinkish & white colour crystals came up.

One thing is for sure though, until Prince decides to announce exactly how he came to use the symbol all we can do is speculate.

The image I saw was on pg 21 on the alchemy symbols images site for anyone interested. It is the same symbol Prince was using back in the days of GB etc.

[Edited 2/6/11 17:32pm]

[Edited 2/6/11 17:37pm]

lovesexy06 said:

Ok, so I google alchemy symbols & clicked on the first offering which were images. Scrolling thru the images I came across the exact symbol that prince uses without the horn, under it is written coplapite. I googled coplapite & just some images of some pinkish & white colour crystals came up.

One thing is for sure though, until Prince decides to announce exactly how he came to use the symbol all we can do is speculate.

The image I saw was on pg 21 on the alchemy symbols images site for anyone interested. It is the same symbol Prince was using back in the days of GB etc.

[Edited 2/6/11 17:32pm]

[Edited 2/6/11 17:37pm]

Now add the sybol for soapstone from Purple Hell.....

http://www.purplehell.com...lchemy.htm

SquirrelMeat said:

lovesexy06 said:

Ok, so I google alchemy symbols & clicked on the first offering which were images. Scrolling thru the images I came across the exact symbol that prince uses without the horn, under it is written coplapite. I googled coplapite & just some images of some pinkish & white colour crystals came up.

One thing is for sure though, until Prince decides to announce exactly how he came to use the symbol all we can do is speculate.

The image I saw was on pg 21 on the alchemy symbols images site for anyone interested. It is the same symbol Prince was using back in the days of GB etc.

[Edited 2/6/11 17:32pm]

[Edited 2/6/11 17:37pm]

Now add the sybol for soapstone from Purple Hell.....

http://www.purplehell.com...lchemy.htm

Now we just need to work out what it means to Prince??? These symbols obviously have some sort of meaning to him other than their known names. I know he & Mayte believed they met in Egypt in a previous life & if my obs are correct it was during the time when Mayte became a focal point in his life that he started using the soapstone addition to his symbol. Maybe it has some significant meaning for the two of them, although if so then why would he still use it after their breakup?

Or maybe we are reading too much into it! Doesn't matter anyway, this thread is giving me somewhat of a diversion while I am at work!!!!!

Just more questions that I don't think are going to be answered anytime soon!!!!

[Edited 2/6/11 19:41pm]

Maytiana said:

I think my frustration was directed to the posts under mine because at first you guys didn't understand what i was talking about.

except I gave you the actual answer.

Maytiana said:

where did it come from? It's not like he googled "unpronouncable symbol". Sorry this has been bugging me because almost any symbol you can come up with will have a name, already.

It wasn't a pre-existing symbol that Prince appropriated. It was created specifically for him, mainly because the symbol Prince had been using for years (the combination of male and female symbols without the horn part) had never been copyrighted (and couldn't be as it wasn't unique enough). The exact details of it's creation are unknown, but we do know that the symbol we know and love is based on an ink drawing made by Elisabeth Schoening on May 1st 1991. Though this wasn't used until the following year when Prince changed the title of his then forthcoming album from the original "O+>" to the updated "" symbol. Like all great symbols/logos it works on multiple levels and encompasses several meanings.

errant said:

spoke too soon. found it among all that gaudy clutter at the top of the P:M&M forum.

I love the org, but I'd love to give it a makeover.

BorisFishpaw said:

Like all great symbols/logos it works on multiple levels and encompasses several meanings.

Or it just looked nice.

BartVanHemelen said: