Legends, Symbols, and Lore
Learn about the rich meaning behind our school’s symbols, images, and terminology.
The School Seal
The school seal contains many symbols. The seal features an outer ring containing the name of the school and the school motto. The inner circle contains a flame, representing wisdom and knowledge, and that flame is comprised of 3 tongues representing body, mind and spirit. A violet flower stands to the left of the flame, representing thanatology and thanabotany, and a laurel leaf stands to the right of the flame, representing education. There are 7 rays of light emanating from the flame, representing death as both a beginning and an end, the completion of and start of a cycle.
The Eyris™ Symbol and Thanabotany™
The Eyris symbol is comprised of a pair of eyes being held by a hand.
The imagery is inspired by paintings from northeastern France in the 1500s originally used to represent wisdom and the ability to see what is unseen. The Eyris™ is the symbol for Thanabotany™ at the School of American Thanatology and represents the wisdom of observation and the importance of presence.
The Doth™ Symbol and Deathwork
The Doth symbol was designed in 2013 by Victor Imperi and represents both the art and science of deathwork, and the balance between logical and creative thinking required in order to effectively meet people where they are. Put another way, the Doth represents both the head and the heart. Each are required in order to work effectively and healthily with death, dying, grief, loss, and bereavement. The Doth is the symbol for Deathwork at the School of American Thanatology.
St. Odilia’s Eyes and Book Club
The book with eyes is a very old symbol. St. Odilia is the patron saint of good eyesight, blindness, vision challenges and anything related to the eye. She is also connected to the ear. She is often depicted holding a book with eyes to represent her special cause, and this is where our version of the symbol originates. The Founder of the School, Cole Imperi, has a significant amount of Alsatian heritage, and St. Odilia is also the patron saint of Alsace. Odilia has an interesting (or perhaps, complex) connection to death and dying as she (allegedly, of course) died multiple times throughout her life, her brother was killed by their father, but she revived him, and she left her home and was displaced from her community multiple times. She is also connected to a special thanabotanical plant—the larkspur. In Deathwork, and in healthy communities, listening and observation are key. This symbol supports the goal of book club which is to read, observe and listen so that we may find ourselves more deeply enriched. It is about receiving and reflecting.
Our Motto
“In Vita Mors, In Morte Veritas”
This translates to: “In life there is death, in death there is truth.” The school motto was written by Cole Imperi and appears in Latin, which is a nod to the school’s roots in Thanabotany™ and Thanatology.
Marble Patterns
Our Founder, Cole Imperi, worked in design for many years serving Deathcare businesses. Her work in typeface design included calligraphy, bookbinding and paper marbling. In paper marbling, special pigments are dropped on the surface of water mixed with carrageenan, and special tools called rakes are dragged through the mixture creating patterns. A specially treated paper is laid across the surface of the water mixture, and the marbling pattern is transferred. Cole developed all three bespoke marbling patterns for The School of American Thanatology.
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THANATOLOGY
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THANABOTANY
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DEATHWORK
The marbling patterns appear on printed, archival certificates and a small selection of physical objects.
The Thanatology marbling pattern features the traditional Stone pattern (representing the presence of death in the natural world) under a Spanish Wave pattern (representing adaptability).
Shades of grey represent death, dying and grief while pink, lilac and orange signify body, mind and spirit which influence thoughts and ideas about these subjects.
The Thanabotany marbling pattern features the traditional Stone pattern (representing the presence of death in the natural word) under a Spanish Wave pattern (representing adaptability).
Grey represents the blurred lines often encountered in thanabotanical research, green represents plants, orange signifies people and lilac signifies ritual.
The Deathwork marbling pattern features the traditional Stone pattern (representing the presence of death in the natural world) under a Spanish Wave pattern (representing adaptability).
Colors represent the ‘grey’ area of deathwork (shades of grey) and the School’s 3 areas of focus: Thanatology, Thanabotany and Deathwork.
Our Typeface
The typeface used for our headers is called Greenstone and was designed by Connor Davenport of Sharp Type. It was designed based on numerous cemetery grounds in the American Northeast, observing carved lettering from headstones. Some of the capital letters were also inspired from plaques carved by Oscar Ogg for the US Maritime Commission during his time in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Image from sharptype.com
School Seasons
The School of American Thanatology celebrates its courses, events and happenings across a 3 season calendar year—a winter, spring and autumn season. Instead of semesters or quarters, our seasons reflect a more natural rhythm which includes time for rest. The months of July and December are reserved for rest. In these months, no new courses or events will be offered. Rest is important, personally and professionally, and it is within rest that the lessons from education, experience, and community can really develop and lead to personal and professional expansion.
Winter Season
The 2022 Winter Season runs Monday, January 10, 2022–Friday, March 25, 2022
Spring Season
The 2022 Spring Season runs Monday, April 4, 2022–Friday, June 24, 2022
Autumn Season
The 2021 Autumn Season runs Monday, September 5, 2022–Friday, November 25, 2022