Of the objects endowed with symbolic value, the mirror is one of the most prominent, we find it in stories and legends, and as allegories in many paintings. It is important, as in most symbols, to capture the essence of the meaning according to the period and the culture that uses it. Derived from the Latin Speculum, the ancients used the mirror to observe the movement of the stars, as is still done today with telescopes, hence it was already considered a symbol of wisdom, and when in a painting it represents rusty or dust-covered, symbolizes ignorance, it is associated with the moon because it is capable of reflecting the light of the sun, and by analogy it is considered that the sun reflects the light of divinity. Due to this divine interpretation of the mirror, it is assumed that the devil and all the evil beings of the underworld cannot be reflected. It is also used as a symbol of self-knowledge, says Jakob Böheme 1575- 1624, referring to the fact that the eyes are the mirror of the soul, that people who look into their eyes for a long time directly in a mirror experience a paralyzing attraction, because not everyone is able to resist seeing himself as he is, base of Oscar Wilde's novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray", there is an ancient belief that the reflected image of the person and the real model are united by a strange correspondence, and that this can get to retain the soul or the vital force of the person. Possibly based on this belief even today in some places they cover the mirrors or turn them facing the wall on certain occasions, mainly when someone in the family has died, to prevent the soul from being retained in the mirror, and if the mirror breaks, brings bad luck to the last reflected image. In magic he is attributed the ability to see both past and future events and sometimes the ability to penetrate them, also the basis of Lewis Carroll's novel "Alicia". In the Middle Ages it was associated with the Virgin Mary, as a symbol of virginity and purity, God was reflected in her and took shape without altering the mirror. The Renaissance used the mirror as a symbol of vanity and the brevity of beauty, as Hans Baldung Grien paints a young woman recreating herself with her own image and who does not realize the harassment of old age and death.

THE MIRROR