central principle of different forms of Chinese martial arts and exercise, such as “baguazhang”, “tai chi”, and “Chi Kung” and of “I Ching” divination. Many natural dualities — e.g. dark and light, female and male, low and high, cold and hot — are thought of as manifestations of “Yin” and “yang” (respectively). The outer circle represents the universe, the space in which all exists.There is a perception (especially in the West) that “Yin” and “Yang” correspond to good and evil (not respectively). However, Taoist philosophy generally discounts good and bad distinctions and other dichotomous moral judgments, in preference to the idea of balance.
The principle of “Yin” and “Yang” is represented in Taoism by the Taijitu diagram (literally meaning “diagram of the supreme ultimate”). The term is commonly used to mean the simple ‘divided circle’ form, but may refer to any of several schematic diagrams representing these principles.
The Taijitu is one of the oldest and best-known life symbols in the world, but few understand its full meaning. It represents one of the most fundamental and profound theories of ancient Taoist philosophy. At its heart are the two poles of existence, which are opposite but complementary. The light, white “Yang” moving up blends into the dark, black “Yin” moving down.
“Yin” and “Yang” are dependent opposing forces that flow in a natural cycle,
always seeking balance. Though they are opposing, they are not in opposition to one another. As part of the Tao, they are merely two aspects of a single reality. Each contains the seed of the other, which is why we see a black spot of Yin in the white Yang, and vice versa. They do not merely replace each other but actually become each other through the constant flow of the Universe, which it also represents.Source: Symbols.com, Wikipedia
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The wheel cross; also called sun cross,
Odin’s cross or Woden’s cross.
Nordic Odin was the supreme god
of the Nordic religion, before Christianity.
The structure of the wheel cross is one of
the first non-pictorial graphs to appear
when humankind was on the threshold of
the Bronze Age. It appears in the earliest
systems of writing used by the Egyptians,
Hittites, Cretians, Greeks, Etruscans, and
Romans. It was a symbol for the highest
power, the sun, and its counterpart, the king.
It represented power and control.
In ancient Greece the wheel cross
signified a sphere, or globe. It was also
used as a natal chart pattern in ancient
astrology. In modern astrology it is the sign
for the planet Earth, the astrological
element earth.In astronomy it is also used
as a symbol for the planet Earth.
As has been its custom, the Christian
Church has included this ancient pagan
sign among the crosses of its symbolism.
It is known as the gamma cross, the
Roman Catholic cross, the consecration
cross and the inauguration cross.Crosses with arms of equal length were
used frequently since time immemorial
in pre-Columbian America, the
Euphrates-Tigris region 1500 B.C. , and
other parts of the world. That cross
seems to have been associated with the
sun and the powers that controlled the
weather. In Babylon, the equal arms
cross was considered one of the attri-
butes of Anu, god of the heavens.
They first seem to have been wheel
crosses with four spokes, which wheels
in time lost their rim, and became real
crosses, albeit with rounded outer edges
on the arms as a legacy from their past
history as wheels. Like the fourspoked
wheels of the sun god, these early crosses
were power symbols, and had nothing to
do with torture.
The cross was used to symbolize the four
winds or corners of the earth,the divinity
of fertility, sexual pleasures,hunting,and
warfare associated with the planet Venus
on a Babylonian seal from around 1500 B.C.
The four-spoked wheel cross was the
symbol for divinity in the Euphrates-Tigris
and Syrian regions. The sun god of these
regions was symbolized in two ways: by the
four-spoked wheel with or without two
spread wings on either side, and by the
fourpointed star sign, with, or without a
circle around it.Apart from being named Greek cross,
the sign of this entry is also called St.
George’s cross. This version of the cross
is also the logotype adopted by the Red
Cross, established as an international
organization in 1863 at the Geneva
convention.
St. George’s cross was common on the shields
and standards used by the crusaders around
the year 1100. Today it can be seen on the
flags of Greece and Switzerland.The Latin cross, crux immissa, crux capitata.
The latin word crux is derived from “cruciare”,
meaning to torture. It is chiefly associated
with the torture and killing of Jesus Christ,
and thus with the Christian religion and
Christianity. When the successful new
ideology of Christianity began to spread,
the worship of suffering also spread, and the
promoters of apostles and would-be saints
competed in devising ugly past deaths for
their protégés, the immensely sought-after
prize being the honor of having a torture
rack named after them.Before the time of Jesus, the cross
represented, among other things, the staff
of Apollo, the sun god, son of Zeus, and
appeared for instance on ancient coins.Source: symbols.com
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