What THESE Powerful Spiritual Symbols Mean!
Signs that mean the world. They exist in all cultures and from all centuries: symbols that appear again and again and must clearly have magical and deeply spiritual meaning. They adorn jewelry, everyday objects, murals and facades of places of worship and temples, as well as historically significant tombs. Their frequency and the versatility of their use indicate that they carry very special meaning, which was usually passed on only orally, however, because not all cultures that devoted themselves to symbolic signs kept records of their knowledge or used to leave records of their spiritual and cultic rituals. The Celtic Druids, for example, passed on their knowledge to the next generation exclusively orally. The few sources we have about this legendary culture all date back to Roman times. So today, unfortunately, we are often left to speculate about many mysterious signs. In this article, we will explain the seven most famous ones and their supposed meaning.
1. Ankh cross or Coptic cross.
Unlike the scriptless Celts, the ancient Egyptians were true masters at documenting their cultic lives and daily routines. Thanks to the decipherment of hieroglyphs, we now know an above-average amount about this early advanced civilization of the Nile Delta. Their cult of the dead is unique and also the numerous pictorial representations of their rites are known all over the world. One of their most important symbols stands for the ancient Egyptian word "Ankh" and became known over time as the Coptic Cross. Other common names are: Nile Key or Life Loop, the latter already providing an important clue to its meaning. "Ankh" symbolizes life after death and, as a hieroglyph, is translated as "physical human life." It owes its continued existence primarily to the tradition of the Coptic Church, which carried the symbol into numerous subcultural manifestations of the 21st century. Today it is most often translated as immortality.
2. The tree of life.
From Adam and Eve to numerous shaman cults around the world, trees and their many manifestations govern religious and spiritual rites. The tree is emblematic of earthly life and the link it represents between heaven, earth and the underworld. All world religions have the tree symbolism in some form. The ancient churches attached great importance to the tree of the Hesperides, among the Celts or Germanic tribes it was Yggdrasil. No wonder, then, that the trees and their fruits also play a recurring role in visual arts and poetry. But the deep rootedness with mother earth, the everlasting green and the growing up of its branches to the sky make the tree also a worthy candidate with immense symbolic power.
3. Hamsa or Fatima's hand.
This defensive and protective symbol comes from Islamic folk beliefs and is said to guard against the evil eye. Such signs are called apotropaic, which in ancient Greek literally means "warding off mischief." Fatima was, according to tradition, the youngest daughter of the Prophet Mohammed and therefore enjoyed special veneration in Islam. The spirit beings, which are called Djinn, can be tuned according to traditional interpretation of the Koran with it peacefully.
4. The lotus flower.
It has its origin in the Asian region and stands for the development of one's own personality. It symbolizes the potential of each person, which develops and is perfected in the course of his life. Its epithet "sacred flower" already testifies to the importance that Buddhism attaches to it. There she stands mainly godmother for the purity of the human heart. The legend even claims to see in it the birthplace of Buddha. Each color has a different meaning. The white lotus represents the divine and stands for enlightenment. The blue lotus, on the other hand, stands for constancy and endurance. It is often used in yoga for self-control and the power of successful meditation. And last but not least, the red lotus stands for love and passion. Tolerant and wise as the teachings of Buddhism are, however, it can equally symbolize innocence and compassion.
5. Yin and Yang.
And yes, this character, in simple terms, means "origin of the world" and is generally attributed to the Chinese teachings of Daoism. Surprisingly, however, Etruscans, Celts and Romans also knew it. Over the centuries, however, Yin and Yang developed more and more into a symbol of opposites that complement each other perfectly and could not be without each other. This is what happened, for example, with the masculine and feminine, ebb and flow or day and night. Two forces meet here, which are supposed to represent cause and effect equally.
6. The flower of life.
Strictly speaking, this is an arrangement of geometric shapes that add up to form a floral ornament. The oldest known representation comes from the Assyrian Empire, around 650 BC. In general, the origin of this symbol is believed to be in the Orient and India. Whether it originally had spiritual significance is not known. Leonardo da Vinci was mainly fascinated by its shape. He devoted himself to the calculation of its mathematical proportions. In Europe it became widespread in the sacral architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries. In fact, the Flower of Life experienced a new upswing, including a complete reinterpretation, only from the end of the 1970s. The so-called New Age movement discovered it as a sign of modern spirituality. It is still a mystery who gave this symbol its flowery name.
7. The Pentagram.
This is probably one of the most misinterpreted and misunderstood symbols of all time. Flashy and, above all, poorly researched Hollywood horror films are probably largely to blame for the fact that the pentagram has increasingly been labeled as a symbol of Satan and black magic. The innocent pentagon did not get rid of this curse for a long time. In antiquity it was considered the sign of Venus, the goddess of love. For Pythagoras of Samos it stood for health and well-being. The Gnostics worshipped it because it symbolized the five elemental forces of mankind: spirit, word, providence, wisdom and power. Christianity took the number five for the five wounds of Jesus Christ and even the Freemasons used it. The pentagram received its nickname Drudenfuß in the Middle Ages, where it was used as a protective sign against the demonic and evil. Its connection to satanic cults in recent modern times, and also to the modern and nature-loving witch religion of Wicca, experienced its climax in the 20th century.
Today’s Conclusion:
Symbols as universal messages. They get along without writing, without language and often without scientific explanation. Symbols are as old as mankind itself. The fact that many different cultures, peoples and religions have used the same symbols over and over again over the course of centuries speaks for the power that emanates from them. Even if, strictly speaking, they are only a string of geometric shapes, their meaning comes mainly from the loyalty that mankind has shown to them since the beginning. Their messages may be contradictory, yet their language is universal. Their meaning may have changed over time, but that is precisely what makes them so appealing and magical in the truest sense of the word. They represent the overall advancement of human civilization, not stagnation. The cycle of life is infinite and likewise these symbols will also be immortal. That's it for today.