I'm not sure about your related note, but for an example of symbol macros in use:
This example is from Common Lisp's object system, called CLOS. When you want to do some code while accessing specific slots of an object, you can use a 'with-slots form, which lets you name symbols that you'll use to reference specific slots of the object. The 'with-slots form then generates local symbol-macros for each symbol you mentioned, which expand into code to access those slots. An example, taken from PCL [1]:
(with-slots ((bal balance)) account ; Here 'balance is the name of the slot, and 'account is the specific object
(when (< bal *minimum-balance*) ; *symbol* is a CL convention for global variables
(decf bal (* bal .01))))) ; decf is like --
[1] Practical Common Lisp, by Peter Seibel, available online at www.gigamonkeys.com/book/