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TOP | INTERDISCIPLINARY | ICONOGRAPHY | MYTHS AND SYMBOLSThe Swastika
To: alt.pagan
From: Raven
Subject: Re: The Swastika
Date: 49940922
everett@virtu.sar.usf.edu (John Everett) writes:
|Christopher Kile (christopher.kile@compudata.com) wrote:
|
|: The Swastika appears everywhere. However, note that the Swastika is
|: a clockwise spinning object in almost all usages _except_ Hitler's.
|: _
|: _|_| standard Swastika (clockwise spin, "right path", good)
|: | |_
|
|: _
|: |_|_ Hitler's Swastika (counterclockwise, "left path", evil)
|: _| |
|
|It's not "Hitler's Swastika;" it a folk magic symbol with a traditional
|history near as ancient as that which belongs to the ankh. You are
|insulting the memory of the folk history of Norse and Germanic people
|with your reckless association; you might as well also call the ankh
|"that cool symbol from _Logan's Run_..
|
|Edred Thorsson's _Futhark A Handbook of Rune Magic_ identifies the
|counterclockwise swastika as,
|
| Sunwheel or hammer [Mjollnir, the Hammer of Thorr, protection,
| increase, raw power, and will] but also luck, solar
| power, the sign of the dynamic solar wheel,
| transmutation, and magical power under will.
[snip]
John, agreed.
Chris, I'll add, do you really think the Nazis would have adopted a
public symbol, a flag, that represented "evil" in anyone's mind?
They were claiming to be good, to be the saviors of true culture.
They adopted a symbol that had very popular associations with "light".
The ONLY reason we ever consider the swastika evil NOW is that the
Nazis used it, and we consider THEM evil. Had they used another
symbol, say, the runic S, Sieg, Victory, as the SS used it doubled,
it would be the Sieg that we consider an "evil" symbol, and the
swastika would probably still be best known for Kipling having used
it to decorate his (pre-WWII) books, due to his love of India.
I posted the following in another thread on this newsgroup a while
back, but I guess you never saw it. Here goes, again.
I'll cite two books you might enjoy reading, or just looking through:
Rudolf Koch's THE BOOK OF SIGNS, 1930, reprinted by Dover since 1955;
Clarence P. Hornung, HANDBOOK OF DESIGNS AND DEVICES, 1932, reprinted
by Dover since 1946. (Dover Books has many beautiful books on design.)
Koch, re SWASTIKA: "The Svastika, or Fylfot Cross. Derived from the
Sun wheel, by breaking the circumference of the circle. Amongst early
Christians, this, as well as many other of the symbols that follow, was
used as a disguised Cross during the persecution of the Christians.
Hence its name Crux dissimulata. It was also called Crux gammata, from
the fact of its being made up of four Greek gammas."
Hornung, re SWASTIKA: "This popular device is known by many names,
probably because of its widespread distribution thoughout the ancient
world. From the Sanskrit word, it may be freely translated into 'it is
well' or 'so be it', implying acceptance and denoting life, movement,
pleasure, happiness, and good luck. The Anglo-Saxon name is fylfot,
from 'fower-fot' or 'four or many-footed cross'. It is also called
gammadion, and Crux Gammata.... This mystic symbol, common to both
eastern and western peoples, seems to appear and reappear consistently,
yet always is its significance one of happy omen. Reverenced in India
some 3000 years before Christ, as a charm against evil, its influence
has lasted to this day. In China it has meant perfection, infinity,
many blessings. In Japan, where it is called the manji, it represents
the number ten thousand, which symbolizes that which is infinite,
perfect, and excellent. It is employed as a sign of felicity. It has
been found in Persia, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, England, France, and
Scandinavia. In America it is found in prehistoric burial grounds in
such distantly separated lands as Mexico, Yucatan, Paraguay, and the
United States. From the earliest times this famous sign undoubtedly
indicated the rotation of the heavens, expressed the power of the sun
gods, sky gods, and rain gods, and symbolized all harmonious movement
springing from a central source. It is not unreasonable to imagine it
as an early ideograph of the sun's disk as a circle with axial motion
achieved by the direction of the arms.... Thus it indicated the daily
movement of the sun, and perhaps also the annual change of the seasons."
[Remember, both these books were written well before WWII.]
-- Raven (JSingle@Music.Lib.MATC.Edu). [All standard disclaimers apply]
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