A Question of Origins with Alchemical Artist Seven Bremner

I recently shared a fascinating conversation with hermiticist/alchemist/artist Seven Bremner. The full interview will be posted soon, but I put up this snippet as a teaser. My question: Did the ancient alchemical artists receive the symbols and then deduce their meaning, or did they start with the meaning and then reduce it to a symbol?  

Her answer is intriguing.