Symbols - What does heaven look like
Cross
I want to explore the symbolism of the cross separately from any associations it may have with Christianity. Furthermore, I want to first concentrate on the cross which is often assumed to be Christian, but whose origins go back to the mists of time
Practically all symbolism related to the cross of this shape is based on the body and the idea of man being bound to the body. In effect the soul is tied to [see laces, ties and knots] or nailed [see Nails] to the physical. Thus by ‘suffering’ on the cross, one suffers because one has acquired a body and is as a consequence no longer just the Higher spirit.
The main axis is the spine and by extension the celestial pole.
The two axes are the arms, where the arms of the body actually hang below the arms of the cross.
Now let us look at this in relation to the cone and the levels and layers.
Each of the organs of the body corresponds to different vibrational levels. So symbolically the head and particularly the crown chakra is to be found in the aether level, the heart in the fire level, the lungs in the air level, the stomach, kidneys and liver in the water level, and the intestines bladder and sexual organs in the earth level. Symbolically again, the veins and arteries then represent the streams and rivers of spiritual energy. Blood [how very confusing this symbolism is] is then effectively water!!
Energy spinning or climbing up this pole then represents kundalini energy as it travels up the spine. [There is a connection here too with the symbolism of maypoles and barber’s poles].
During a kundalini experience, the energy travelling up the spine, if not impeded on the way, opens the crown chakra at the top of the head and you are open to the spiritual world and your Higher spirit.
There is the celestial pole [the spine in this case], the snake as the symbol of kundalini energy and in both cases the energy has reached the top of the pole.
The picture above shows a light in the sky signifying a connection with the Higher spirit.
The symbol is called a ‘hung snake’. This is principally [though not exclusively] a Jewish symbol and shows a snake twined round the crossed pole. The arrowed tail is not a symbol of evil but of the arrow denoting the kundalini energy. The forked tongue of the snake is also a symbolic link to the same thing – a forked lightning strike from head to foot.
So let me summarise.
The cross is symbolically the human body, upon which the soul is hung. The soul is symbolically tied to [see laces, ties and knots] or nailed [see Nails] to the physical. The main vertical axis is the spine and by extension the celestial pole. The horizontal arms act as dividers between the area of the Higher spirit and the lower world of the Conscious, subconscious, 5 senses, nervous system and autonomic system.
To be symbolically crucified is to be made physical and human, to enter the world of the physical from the world of spirit. Symbolically all of us have been ‘crucified’ in that sense.
If however we have managed to attain some kind of union with our Higher spirit a whole new set of symbols come into play. When ecstasy occurs it is common for the person to involuntarily raise their hands and their heads in a process called ‘the orans’.
What you have gained by the process is enlightenment and you have a different kind of cross – known as the St Andrew’s cross – which denotes an opening of the communication channels between our cone and the realm of the aether and the Intelligence hierarchy.
As you can see from the diagram the symbolism is repeated not just by the larger cross but by the position of the man during the experience.
And it is from all this complex symbolism that Leonardo da Vinci produced his famous drawing of man.
In the shape of the conventional cross, man is of the earth. This is shown by the square which is a symbol of the earth. Not enlightened.
But in his enlightened state the cross is that of St Andrew and he is open to the Egg.
Observations
For iPad/iPhone users: tap letter twice to get list of items.
- Beuys, Joseph - Crosses and crucifixes 01
- Beuys, Joseph - Crosses and crucifixes 02
- Beuys, Joseph - The Queen Bee Sculptures
- Boehme, Jacob - Theosophische Wercke Amsterdam 1682
- Borgund stavkirke
- Bowie, David - 1984 Loving the Alien
- Braveheart - Islands, bridges and pencil cases
- Burmese rebirth by crucifixion
- Canistris, Opicinus de - Diagram with 'Crucifixion'
- Celtic - Spoils of Annwn - 08
- Chagall - at the circus
- Chagall - Circus
- Charles Fort - Finds of Crosses
- Cirlot on scales
- Cirlot on the levels and layers
- Clark, Fay Marvin – Into the Light – Hunabku is not vindictive and Hunabku does not punish his children
- Cohen, Leonard - Alexandra leaving
- Cohen, Leonard - Here it is
- Crowley - 0 The Fool
- Crowley - 19 The Sun
- Crowley, Aleister - Book of Lies - The Glow-worm
- Crowley, Aleister - Divine synthesis
- Da Vinci, Leonardo - Beautiful men - Salvator Mundi
- Dali - St John of the Cross
- Dali - The Temptation of St. Anthony
- Dante - Paradiso - Mars, Courage and bravery
- Daumal, René - Mount Analogue
- Delville, Jean - Mangod
- Eliot, T S - Hollow Men 01
- Flamel, Nicolas - Uraltes chymisches Werk A Eleazer 1760 2nd illustr.
- Fox, Oliver - And the black crux ansata
- Frost, Robert - I could be worse employed
- Gaudi - Professional work - 04 The Sagrada Família
- Gaudi - Professional work - 10 Casa Milà La Pedrera
- Gnostic Gospels - Judas
- Hadewijch - I saw standing before me a cross like crystal
- Hammond, Bill - Whistler’s mothers sticks and stones
- Healer H - I’m the Fagan with the kids
- Healer H - Having a board meeting
- Healer H - The lights upon them is what keeps them connected
- Hokusai - shunga
- Indus valley - Dholavira - 02 Sign board
- Japanese Shinto print
- King's cross
- Klimt - landscapes various
- Lambeth Palace or Reading world map
- Levi-Strauss, Claude - Describes annihilation
- M A Czaplicka - Siberian shamanism
- Malevich, Kazimir - Girls in the Fields
- Malevich, Kazimir - Mystic suprematism
- Malevich, Kazimir - Suprematismus
- Malevich, Kazimir - The Carpenter
- Malevich, Kazimir - Woman torso
- Manning, Matthew - The Link - 12 Icy chill climbing their legs and apparitions on the wall
- Mayan - Kirchoff - 'Arrow sacrifice'
- Michelangelo - 1508 Sistine Chapel - 10 The Four Pendentives 1
- Michelangelo - 1508 Sistine Chapel - 10 The Four Pendentives 4
- Miro - Ladders Cross the Blue Sky in a Wheel of Fire
- Misc. sources - Aztecs and Mexica - Xipe Totec
- Moreau - Apollo and the nine muses 1856
- Moreau - St Sebastian and the angel 1876
- Nerval, Gerard de - Artemis
- Norse - Jelling – The Rune stone of Harald Bluetooth
- Norse - Tanum
- Novalis - Hymns to the Night 2
- Paul Devereux - Sacred Places - Symbols
- Plato - Timaeus - Moving spheres
- Reid, Christopher - In the small crowd gathered to watch
- Ride a cock horse
- Rider-Waite - 02 High Priestess
- Rider-Waite - 05 The Hierophant
- Rimbaud, Arthur - There; the little dead girl, behind the rosebushes
- Rops, Felicien - Study for the Temptation of St Anthony
- Rosary of the Philosophers - 03 King and Queen
- Rosary of the Philosophers - 04 The Bath
- Rossetti, Dante Gabriel - Dante's Dream
- Rossetti, Dante Gabriel - Saint Catherine 1857
- Sacred geography – Picts – Caves 01
- Sacred geography – Picts – Round tower 02
- Saint Brendan - from a 15th century manuscript
- Segantini - Petalo di rosa
- Sheik Mauji - The Durud
- Simon, Paul - Hearts and bones
- Socrates - Plato Phaedo - Nails
- Spencer, Stanley - Portraits 03
- Spencer, Stanley - Symbolism 04 - Scarecrow Cookham 1934
- Spencer, Stanley - Symbolism 09 - Early visionary period
- Spencer, Stanley - Symbolism 18 - Eggs, nest and birds
- Stolz von Stolzenberg, Daniel - Viridarium chemicum 1624
- Su Hui - Star Gauge
- Svetasvatara Upanishad
- Symbols – Picts – Sacred site - Crosses in Eggs [citadels]
- The Book of Taliesin - Kanu Ygwynt - Llyfr Taliesin XVII
- The Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine - Key 08
- Thomas, Dylan - In the Beginning
- To Heaven and Back Methadone & Ibogaine by Jasen
- Totem group – Picts – Elements - Angels and Deer [Aether]
- Totem group – Picts – Sign of Zodiac - Giant
- Tree, Isabella - Sliced Iguana – The Church of San Juan Chamula
- Vignoli, Tito - On the Cardinal directions and orientation
- Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry - Sandalphon
- Waterhouse, John William - It's sweet doing nothing
- Waterhouse, John William - Saint Eulalia
- Waterhouse, John William - Windflowers
- Wirth, Oswald – 21 The World