In old-English, when reciting the alphabet, any letter that could also be used as a word in itself ("A", "I", and, at one point, "O") was repeated with the Latin expression per se (meaning "by itself"). It was also common practice to add the "&" sign at the end of the alphabet as if it were a letter. The alphabet would end in "X, Y, Z, and per se and", often slurred into "ampersand".

This symbol therefore holds special meaning. It represents being both a part and a whole -
remaining an individual while at the same time being a part of something bigger.⁠

It's a letter within a word,
a stitch within a garment.⁠