Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Symbolism in Art

These are 20 symbols from around the world:

1. All-Seeing Eye - A symbol representing spiritual sight, inner vision, higher knowledge, and insight into occult mysteries. It's found on the American $1 bill.




2. Star of David - This is a symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism. In Hebrew it is known as the Shield of David.


File:260px-Star of David.png


3. Yin and Yang - A Chinese symbol where the outer circle represents everything and the white and black shapes within represent the interaction of two energies, called yin (black) and yang (white), which cause everything to happen.


yin-yang.jpg yin and yang image by tedjjjj

4. The Egyptian Ankh - The ancient Egyptians saw this as a symbol of life. Today, it's also a symbol that represents the cross to Christians.


ankh.png Ankh image by Jack-a-Dack1

5. DUAFE (wooden comb) - An African symbol representing beauty, femininity and cleanliness. African women used this comb to lock their hair.



6. Three leaf clover - This represents the trinity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.



7. Four leaf clover - This represents good luck.



8. Deepam - In India, people worship flame or deepam because it represents the purest of the pure because it consumes all impurities but still remains pure itself.


karthigai-deepam.png image by d-k-photos

9. Dragon - In Eastern Asia, people believed that a dragon had power to help them against more hostile spiritual forces while in medieval Europe, it was a symbol representing dangerous and evil.




10. Swastika - A symbol representing racism and "white supremacy" of neo-nazis.






11. Dreamcatcher - American Indians believe that by hanging a dreamcatcher over their bed, the webs on the insides will block bad dreams, and good dreams will pass through the center.





12. Maple Leaf - This is the national symbol of Canada. Maple leaves are a beautiful and iconic part of Canada's landscape. And the Natives living in Canada are said to be the first to discover maple syrup.


Site - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Maple_Leaf.svg/310px-Maple_Leaf.svg.png















13. Red Paper Chinese Lanterns - These symbolize luck in Chinese culture.















14. Angel - A symbol of good and evil spirits in religions all around the world.

















15. Crystal Ball - Used for divination (fortunetelling, scrying, clairvoyance etc...)















16. Bat - A symbol of good fortune in the East, but in medieval Europe, a symbol representing demons and spirits.
















17. Circle (sun disk, sacred hoop, ring) - An ancient and universal symbol of unity, wholeness, infinity, the goddess, female power and the sun.
















18. Cow - It symbolized the sky goddess Hathor to Egyptians, enlightenment to Buddhists, one of the highest and holiest stages of transmigration (reincarnation) to Hindus.


















19. Dove - In Christianity, the Dove represents the Holy Spirit as well as peace.


















20. Infinity - In ancient India and Tibet, it represented perfection, dualism, and unity between male and female. In modern times, it became a secular mathematical symbol for infinity in numbers, time or space.