satanism today and tomorrow

The Stolen Symbols

Milchar

 

The ideologists of the Christian church made the four-pointed cross their emblem, but it was a symbol that used to be sacred for all the peoples on Earth since long before. The church artificially assigned a new meaning to this old sign and made up a story that Christ was crucified at a cross. However, nobody was executed in such a way at that time; really, a T-shaped pole was used for crucifixion. Probably an Egyptian cross-shaped hieroglyph with the meaning "to save" was a hint for the Christians to make this choice. Anyway, hijacking one of the most ancient sacred symbols for the new religion was a strong political move.

While rebuilding a Pagan temple into a Christian church, early Christians needed merely to destroy the statues of the Pagan gods. It did not matter for "true believers", whether it was a Christian or a Pagan hand that had drawn that cross. The same happened in Mexico thousand years later: the native people greeted Christian missionaries with enthusiasm and willingly took baptism, which delighted the colonial authorities, who did not know that the cross had always been a sacred symbol of the Aztecs.

The symbol of cross had been used by different folks from all around the world long before Christianity. The Aztecs and the Etruscans, unaware about one another, drew similar crosses in their temples as far back as 3 thousand years ago. Cross was known to the Greeks and the Trojans, to the Chinese and the Polynesians. Cross can be found at burial places of all ancient cultures.

Buddhists also like to wear a cross as a talisman. Medieval warriors of the Buddhist kingdoms in Central Asia and the Himalayas had a tradition of making cross-shaped tattoos on their face.

The meaning of cross is similar by most of Pagan cultures: it’s a symbol of the Sun and life, sometimes also of might and victory. The most commonly used four-pointed cross is often interpreted as a symbol of balance of the four basic elements: Earth, Fire, Water and Air. This, however, does not contradict to the usual understanding of cross as a symbol of life; it just emphasizes that all the elements are harmoniously combined in nature.

The form of cross and the number of its points can vary. Apart from the usual, 4-pointed cross, 3-, 5-, 6-, 8- and 12-pointed ones can be found. The ends of cross can be also leaf- or triangle-shaped, or resemble the form of letters and other symbols.

Unlike the Christian cross, almost all Pagan ones are centrally symmetric, i.e. their ends are either equally long or the two longer ends lie opposite to one another. Only the Ancient Egyptians and the Semites used asymmetric crosses at the pre-Christian time. The Semite peoples preferred 3-pointed T-shaped cross, while the characteristic symbol of the Egyptian civilization was the ankh — a cross with a loop in place of the upper end; that cross had the same meaning of the symbol of life. The Egyptians also used the cross with a longer lower end, which is now the symbol of Christianity.

Another sort of cross is swastika. At the ancient times, it had the same meaning: the symbol of the Sun, of success and well-being. Apart from this, the Indians view swastika as the symbol of the element of Fire. The same way as cross, swastika can be not only 4-, but also 3-, 5-, 6- and 8-pointed.

Swastika also was known in most of the ancient cultures. It was carved on stone calendars in the Caucasus dated back to 6-7 thousand years ago. When sunbeams were falling on the swastika, it signified the harvest time. Generally, swastika was especially popular among farmers. Tibetan farmers drew swastika at the door of their houses; formerly, the Celts had the same tradition.

Another meaning of swastika is to be the symbol of time, which corresponds with the Sun moving in the sky. The clockwise swastika stands for moving forward, for progress, while the counterclockwise one is a symbol of retrograde movement. Ancient people used mostly the clockwise swastika, while the Nazis chose the counterclockwise variant as their symbol; the reason can be not only their ideas of "revival of the ancient Aryan spirit", but also the usage of counterclockwise swastika on the coats of arms of some Medieval German noblemen.

Apart from this, there is a mystical interpretation of swastika as the symbolical map of Atlantis, where, according to legends, four rivers flowed from one spring.

Since the Nazis turned swastika into their symbol, it has been causing a frenzied reaction among people. Any usage of it is now interpreted as sympathy for Nazism. Archeological finds decorated with swastika are often concealed from the public; some political activists even call to destruction of the historical monuments that contain this symbol. For example, in 1995 in Glendale, California, a group of anti-Nazi activists tried to force the city authorities to replace 930 lampposts, dated to the early 20th century, due to their ornament of swastikas. The local historical society had to prove with documents that the lampposts had no relation to Nazism and their design was inspired by the traditions of the Navajo people.

In general, swastika was in vogue in the English-speaking countries in the late 19th – early 20th century. The Scouts movement wore badges with swastika; fighters for women’s suffrage published the 'Swastika' magazine; the symbol was also used in trademarks of some firms. Swastika was called the "good luck cross" made of four L letters, which was interpreted as Life, Light, Love, Luck. Probably, that idea was borrowed from the Ancient Greeks, who named swastika "gammadion", i.e. the symbol of gamma letters. Generally, swastika was often interpreted as an alphabetic or hieroglyphic symbol. In the Chinese and Japanese script, a swastika-shaped character exists that means the number 10,000. It can have some relation to the Chinese interpretation of swastika as a symbol of eternity and to the traditional Chinese and Japanese wish to live for 10,000 years.

Geographical distribution of swastika usage is almost worldwide. The only inhabited region where swastika has not been found by archeologists is Australia.

The present-day notion of swastika as an "Aryan" and hexagram as a "Jewish" symbol is historically wrong. Before the Nazis came to power in Germany, swastika was frequently used in synagogue ornaments, while hexagram occurs in archeological finds in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. By the ancient Slavs, hexagram with a picture of an animal inside was viewed as a symbol of successful hunt.

However, the main region of occurrence of hexagram is the Mediterranean, mostly the ancient Egypt and Greece. Unlike cross and swastika, hexagram had quite diverse interpretations among different folks in different times.

In the ancient Egypt and Phoenicia, hexagram was a symbol of balance of Matter (or Human, denoted with the downwards-pointing triangle) and Spirit (or Divine, denoted with the upwards-pointing one). Later, this interpretation passed on to Cabbalists and medieval European occultists; Aleister Crowley also agreed with it.

In the ancient Greece as well, hexagram was a symbol of balance of two origins, but of the male and female ones. A hexagram inscribed into a circle symbolized androgynity.

Medieval European alchemists viewed hexagram as a sign of all possible binary combinations of the four basic elements: Earth, Fire, Water and Air. The upper angle denoted the combination of Fire and Air; then, in clockwise order: Fire and Water, Water and Air, Earth and Water, Earth and Air, Earth and Fire.

In the Indian mystical tradition, hexagram symbolizes reason and the five senses, along with the corresponding gods. The upper angle denotes reason and Shiva, then, in clockwise order: hearing and Sarasvati, taste and Vishnu, smell and Kali, vision and Brahma, touch and Lakshmi.

In Russia and Europe in the 18th-19th centuries, hexagram was a symbol of Christmas and New Year celebration, widely used in Christmas tree decorations, which probably also reflected the association of its form with a snowflake.

Hexagram had not been a Jewish national or religious emblem before the 18th century. It was an important symbol in Cabbala, but nothing more. It was used in synagogue decorations, but only as an ornament. Such names as "seal of Solomon", "star of David" were given to hexagram by medieval European mystics; the Jews did not call it so at that time.

Hexagram became the Jewish national symbol only in the 19th century by pure accident. It was an emblem of the Jewish commune of Prague, where the Zionist movement originated. As their emblem, the Zionists simply picked the symbol of the Jewish commune of the city where their first congress took place. Since that time, hexagram has been associated with the Jewish nation, but only picturing it on the Israeli flag gave an official recognition to it. Probably, if the Zionist movement were founded in some other city, the flag of Israel could now look some different way...

As we see now, the symbols of cross, swastika and hexagram has been in use since times before any documented history. Their original meaning had nothing in common with the current one. They were once borrowed as an emblem by some religious and political groups that did not understand their real symbolism. Nevertheless, that superficial political interpretation should not hinder us from using them according to their original, ancient meaning.