a drawing or statue, or depiction of a lion might be a symbol. Or even the world 'lion'.
but a lion, itself, is a real creature.
they go on and on about symbology and forget that it is best used to describe real things.
and then they forget about the real things and disresepct those who do not.
and then get hung up on a need for symbolism, like 'mr jones' from the song from the 1990's 'you're gonna be big big stars'.
we are all as big as each other in the face of eternity as long as we don't spend all our time hazing everyone, we might gain some respect too.
those who are too hung up on spells and symbols, they may have a single bit, as they fail spectacularly. They try to play it over and over and over.
but no one wants to watch their punchjuice pitcher smashing. No one will get to drink their kook-aide.