New topic
Printablesquirrelgrease said: Interesting... Swastika (Fylfot Cross) Related Terms • Manji • swastika • Solar cross • Mjolnir Related Resources • Jainism • Asatru • Druid/Celtic Glossaries • Symbol Glossary • Alternative Religions Glossary • Glossary of Magick and the Occult Dictionary of Symbols The swastika is an archetypal, universal human religious symbol. It appears on every continent and is as old as humankind. A marker of the sun's travels, it can be seen on Pictish rock carvings, adorning ancient Greek pottery, and on ancient Norse weapons and implements. It was scratched on cave walls in France seven thousand years ago. A swastika marks the beginning of many Buddhist scriptures, and is often inciused on the soles of the feet of the Buddha in statuary. In the Jain religion, it is a symbol of the seventh Jina (Saint), the Tirthankara Suparsva. To Native Americans, the swastika is a symbol of the sun, the four directions, and the four seasons. The swastika is a type of solar cross, with arms bent at right angles, suggesting a whirling or turning motion. Long before the symbol was co-opted as an emblem of Hitler's Nazi party, it was a sacred symbol to Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist religions, as well as in Norse, Basque, Baltic, and Celtic Paganism. The name Swastika is derived from the Sanskrit language, from "su," meaning "good," and "vasti"," meaning "being" (together; well being) In India, it is used as a fertility and good luck charm. The right turning Indian swastika symbolizes the sun and positive energy, and is most commonly associated with the deity Ganesh, a God of prosperity and wealth. Some Indians regard an anti-clockwise swastika as an opposing, dark force- a symbol of the godess Kali. Together, the two can be regarded as symbolically similar to the Yin Yang symbol of Taoism, or the two Pillars of Kabbalah. The swastika is also known for its uses in heraldry as the tetraskelion, the fylfot cross (fylfot meaning 'four feet,' a term used in european heraldry), the cross gammadion (because it resembles four greek letter 'gammas.'), and the hakenkreutz (German, hooked cross). Manji The swastika used in Buddhist art and scripture is known as a Manji, and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites. When facing left, it is the Omote (front) Manji, representing love and mercy. Facing right, it represents strength and intelligence, and is called the Ura (rear facing) Omoje. Balanced Manji are often found at the beginning and end of buddhist scriptures. You can read more about Manji here. In pre-Christian Pagan Europe, the swastika was generally a solar symbol, but in many cases, its use dates so far back in history that its original meaning is obscured. In Baltic regions, the swastika is sometimes called the "thunder cross," and is associated with the Thunder God Perkons (Perkunis). | |
- E-mail - orgNote -  Report post to moderator |
What's the swastika got to do with anything?
I always understood it that the Nazi's chose the swastika as their flag because it was a symbol of good luck. There were calls to ban it in Europe a while back. Which would please the Jewish but really piss off the Hindus! | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
|
I think it's funny that a website for religious symbols includes those of Prince, Blue Oyster Cult, Led Zepplin and H.I.M.!  
Do not hurry yourself in your spirit to become offended, for the taking of offense is what rests in the bosom of the stupid ones. (Ecclesiastes 7:9) |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Handclapsfingasnapz said: squirrelgrease said: Hail Skipper! :speakingintoungues: at least the nuns'll be sexxy.  Sister Annie Christian (she started out as an inside joke between me and a ... © Sevennynine Studios  I will never ever not laugh when I see SisterAnnie I should find and scan in the mini-comic she stared in | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
|
A tidbit about the symbol that I wrote up on another thread a while back:
The end of 1992 saw the release of  , an album distinctive for the unpronounceable symbol as its title. Prince had used variations of this symbol, a combination of the male and female glyphs, for years (it made its first appearance on the album cover to 1999, although some of his friends from high school claim he was doodling versions of it back then). For this release, Prince had added a new bit to the design: the alchemical symbol for soapstone. While he has never actually explained the meaning of his glyph, it has been widely thought of as the “love symbol” (some have argued that it represents his androgyny. Personally, I think it’s a bit of both).
On Prince’s 35th Birthday, the following June, he announced to the world that he would be changing his very name to . No explanation was given, other than his spirit told him to do it. In retrospect, it seems as if the album was setting the stage for this all along. The opening track that declared his name to be Prince could be seen as establishing the character of his story that would later “die”. While this is all metaphoric, Prince took it quite seriously.
To this day, Prince has never given a complete explanation for his name change. He has given bits and pieces, but never an in-depth reason. One tidbit he dropped in 2000 (when he changed his name back) was that it was to separate him from contractual obligations. Personally, I theorize that it was much more. Repeatedly, he stated that he did it for “spiritual reasons”, and I believe that the clues can be found on the album. He felt he had found the mate who would “complete” him, coinciding with a time that he was growing increasingly frustrated with Warner Bros. Records and the way they were handling the distribution of his material. I think he decided to change his name, so he could record outside of his contract (which wasn’t exactly legal, but perhaps he thought he could get away with it). It certainly wasn’t the first time Prince had used a pseudonym in his career, and it had hid his involvement on projects before. By changing his name, he reasoned he could give vault material to WB under his former moniker, while recording what he wanted on his own under the new name. Another element that may have played into the decision was his resentment over WB actually having ownership in the name “Prince” through his publishing. Having decided he was now “whole” with Mayte, he used a new version of his trademark symbol that most fans already associated with him, a symbol that represents his newfound completion, as well as his androgynous duality. Of course, in order to convey that, it had to be in the form of dramatic song. The story of finding a new love and having a contractual dispute becomes a mythic battle of the hero and heroine fighting against the forces of evil. Classic Romantic fiction, really. One other point that must be touched on here is the use of the alchemical soapstone symbol. Alchemy, the medieval practice of trying to transmute lead and other metals into gold, was once thought of as a science. In fact, it wasn’t until the Catholic Church declared it heretical that it became thought of as an “occult” practice. Soapstone was considered a key ingredient to this process. Prince’s inclusion of this symbol into his own personal design can be seen as a metaphor for transformation once again. He is “transmuting” into something new. There certainly were plenty of references to gold throughout this time period (and it would only increase with the recording of The Gold Experience later on). Gold chains and set pieces filled his videos, concerts and promo pictures. Becoming something “golden” in this case, can be seen as metaphoric of becoming something shining and precious in a spiritual sense. Its also interesting to note that Prince’s spiritual beliefs were starting to broaden at this point. While still Christian based, he was beginning to have more New Age style ideas creep in, such as reincarnation (he tells the Kirstie Allie character that he is into his “fifth-soul”, so he is actually 320).
Do not hurry yourself in your spirit to become offended, for the taking of offense is what rests in the bosom of the stupid ones. (Ecclesiastes 7:9) |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
|
The three symbols making up Prince's:
Mars (male) 
Venus (female) 
Soapstone 
Do not hurry yourself in your spirit to become offended, for the taking of offense is what rests in the bosom of the stupid ones. (Ecclesiastes 7:9) |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
JediMaster said: A tidbit about the symbol that I wrote up on another thread a while back:
The end of 1992 saw the release of , an album distinctive for the unpronounceable symbol as its title. Prince had used variations of this symbol, a combination of the male and female glyphs, for years (it made its first appearance on the album cover to 1999, although some of his friends from high school claim he was doodling versions of it back then). For this release, Prince had added a new bit to the design: the alchemical symbol for soapstone. While he has never actually explained the meaning of his glyph, it has been widely thought of as the “love symbol” (some have argued that it represents his androgyny. Personally, I think it’s a bit of both).
On Prince’s 35th Birthday, the following June, he announced to the world that he would be changing his very name to . No explanation was given, other than his spirit told him to do it. In retrospect, it seems as if the album was setting the stage for this all along. The opening track that declared his name to be Prince could be seen as establishing the character of his story that would later “die”. While this is all metaphoric, Prince took it quite seriously.
To this day, Prince has never given a complete explanation for his name change. He has given bits and pieces, but never an in-depth reason. One tidbit he dropped in 2000 (when he changed his name back) was that it was to separate him from contractual obligations. Personally, I theorize that it was much more. Repeatedly, he stated that he did it for “spiritual reasons”, and I believe that the clues can be found on the album. He felt he had found the mate who would “complete” him, coinciding with a time that he was growing increasingly frustrated with Warner Bros. Records and the way they were handling the distribution of his material. I think he decided to change his name, so he could record outside of his contract (which wasn’t exactly legal, but perhaps he thought he could get away with it). It certainly wasn’t the first time Prince had used a pseudonym in his career, and it had hid his involvement on projects before. By changing his name, he reasoned he could give vault material to WB under his former moniker, while recording what he wanted on his own under the new name. Another element that may have played into the decision was his resentment over WB actually having ownership in the name “Prince” through his publishing. Having decided he was now “whole” with Mayte, he used a new version of his trademark symbol that most fans already associated with him, a symbol that represents his newfound completion, as well as his androgynous duality. Of course, in order to convey that, it had to be in the form of dramatic song. The story of finding a new love and having a contractual dispute becomes a mythic battle of the hero and heroine fighting against the forces of evil. Classic Romantic fiction, really. One other point that must be touched on here is the use of the alchemical soapstone symbol. Alchemy, the medieval practice of trying to transmute lead and other metals into gold, was once thought of as a science. In fact, it wasn’t until the Catholic Church declared it heretical that it became thought of as an “occult” practice. Soapstone was considered a key ingredient to this process. Prince’s inclusion of this symbol into his own personal design can be seen as a metaphor for transformation once again. He is “transmuting” into something new. There certainly were plenty of references to gold throughout this time period (and it would only increase with the recording of The Gold Experience later on). Gold chains and set pieces filled his videos, concerts and promo pictures. Becoming something “golden” in this case, can be seen as metaphoric of becoming something shining and precious in a spiritual sense. Its also interesting to note that Prince’s spiritual beliefs were starting to broaden at this point. While still Christian based, he was beginning to have more New Age style ideas creep in, such as reincarnation (he tells the Kirstie Allie character that he is into his “fifth-soul”, so he is actually 320). Interesting and well thought out. I particularly like the last paragraph - it makes lots of sense. Now I wonder how the symbol for soapstone came into being - it seems to be made up of a few bits itself! | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
|
An examples of the symbol, prior to the album. In its original incarnation, it did not have the soapstone "horn" flourish:
Do not hurry yourself in your spirit to become offended, for the taking of offense is what rests in the bosom of the stupid ones. (Ecclesiastes 7:9) |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
|
metalorange said: Now I wonder how the symbol for soapstone came into being - it seems to be made up of a few bits itself! metalorange said: Interesting and well thought out. I particularly like the last paragraph - it makes lots of sense.
Now I wonder how the symbol for soapstone came into being - it seems to be made up of a few bits itself! Well, it's pretty ancient. Here's a couple of others: Lead 
Iron (often, this one is replaced by the mars symbol) 
Gold 
Mercury (also the symbol for the planet. In fact, most alchemical symbols had their roots in astrological signs). 
Platinum 
Silver 
Potassium 
Do not hurry yourself in your spirit to become offended, for the taking of offense is what rests in the bosom of the stupid ones. (Ecclesiastes 7:9) |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Isn't it called the Soapstone symbol? Some ancient Greek or Egyptian symbol for androgyny? Don't hurt me, I'm a newb. I'm supposed to be stupid. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
It's that thing from the sacrifice book...voiceing freedom thru the freedom
etc | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
doctamario said: Isn't it called the Soapstone symbol? Some ancient Greek or Egyptian symbol for androgyny?
Errr... didn't you read Jedimaster's posts? | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
The 'soapstone' connection is a bit of a red herring that people seem to
focus on too much. JediMaster's post is pretty on point though. Prince's symbol has no name, and people try to read too much into it. It's 'meaning' is fairly straightforward. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
JediMaster said: ...such as reincarnation (he tells the Kirstie Allie character that he is into his “fifth-soul”, so he is actually 320). [/quote]
Explains Chappelle's joke in the Love 4 One Another special: I hate reincarnation. I been black 4 times. Don't hurt me, I'm a newb. I'm supposed to be stupid. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
if i could correctly recall it was " androginous " | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
 News: Prince pulls his head out his ass in the last moment.
Bad News: Prince wasted too much quality time doing so. You have those internalized issues because you want to, you like to, stop. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
