The circle with a dot in the center is perhaps one of the simplest and most incredible of symbols. The circumpunct has been used for an incredibly long time. The symbol once was a representation of the sun, and as such as been the symbol to represent the Archangel Michael. The circumpunct is also the alchemical symbol for gold.

Perhaps the most profound meaning for the circle with a dot in it is that of God. I had a professor once who had asked the class to draw the best representation of God. There were some students who drew Christ, others an old man in a chair, and then there were some that drew the Hindu gods. In the end all he did was draw a circle on the board with a dot in the center.

As a child I had a pet hamster, named spot, not a terribly creative name but what do you expect form a 5 year old. The hamster was brown with a little white spot of fur on its eye. I had desperately wanted a pet and my parents at the time would only let me have a hamster. So I did what any child would do with an animal. I bonded with it. Spot and I would go everywhere, rather I took him everywhere. It was only a year later when I woke up to find that my hamster was still asleep. Little did I know though that he was dead.

Death, is perhaps one of the most difficult things for us to learn. Primarily because it happens to every living thing. One may think that a child’s first pet is actually their first pet; but it is actually one of the first ways a child will typically learn about death. Parents may try to sugar coat the death of that first animal. They may say that Spot has gone up to heaven with all of the other hamsters.