Symbols and logos

The Triquetra symbol, the ancient symbol of the Holy Trinity seen on the cover of the New- King James


Bible, The Craft: A Witches Book of Shadows, the New Age book - The Aquarian Conspiracy, and

the television series Charmed. The symbol... has also been featured in the artwork of musicians such

as Mudvayne and Led Zeppelin (Zeppelin's most famous song is called "Stairway to Heaven."). Here it

is featured prominently on POD's "When Angels and Serpents Dance." The Triquetra symbolism is

also featured from different angles in in the logos for the Trilateral Commission, CERN and Intel. The

letter W is a representation of the trinity as well, as seen can be from the logos for the VW car and the

Wonder Woman comic character. It should be noted that W, is the 23rd letter of the alphabet. The

Trinity is also seen with the usage of the equilateral triangle, (as seen with Jay-Z's and Mudvayne's

logo) intertwined with the Triquetra. Equilateral triangle is 666. Each angle equals 60, 3 6s. 360 is 36.

All the numbers from 1-36 added up equal 666. 666 is the triangle of 36. The side of the equilateral

triangle formed by 666 is 36. 36 is the square of 6. 666 is therefore the union of the triangle and the

square. The international symbol for biological hazard features the Triquetra with a circle within

a circle, which points us to the Target logo, bringing us back to the target of observation the

Red Sun, the Blazing Star of the Sirius Star System.

Christian fish symbol

The Christian Fish Symbol (also called 'The Jesus Fish')
Christian fish symbol

Photo © bikercrosses.comThe fish symbol incorporated into a Cross Pattee on a mousepad
The Christian fish symbol is usually just two simple curved lines. Modern looking and sleek, often seen on car bumpers, it gives many people the impression that it's a new symbol. In fact, its history goes back even further than the cross as a symbol used by Christians.

As early as the second century Titus Flavius Clemens (St. Clement of Alexandria), suggested that Christians identify themselves with a seal engraved with a fish or dove (Paedagogus, III, xi. See also Dove Cross.) Even before that time, inscriptions on monuments2 suggest that the fish symbol was familiar to Christians.

Back in the earliest days of the Church, Christians needed no reminder of how Jesus died; they saw it in its most hideous form all too frequently. But the symbol of the cross was too great to ignore. The shape and form of the cross made no difference to them, as shown by the Chi Rho, of which the Chi (X) formed the cross seen by Constantine in the sky. Also within the tail of the fish was seen embedded the Chi (X), the initial monogram of 'Christ', as well as the Sign of the Cross.
It's reasonable to assume that early Christians made this sign of the fish to identify themselves to one another

It is understood that after Christ's crucifixion when Christians were persecuted, the fish symbol was used as an identifying symbol that fellow Christians would recognise, but non-Christians would not. Therefore Christians could connect with each other through this secret code without revealing themselves to the oppressors.

As in the miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, the fish is a symbol of baptism and as such, an appropriate symbol for Christians to adopt. Fish swim in deep water yet do not drown; indeed, they need to be immersed in water in order to survive. Similarly for us to survive spritually, we need to be baptised by immersion into the waters of Christ's love.

So the fish symbol occurred very early in Christian history. Quoting Carl G, Liungman in his magisterial volume 'Dictionary of Symbols' (1991, W. W. Norton & Company, New York,):

The Pagan fish symbol

(I could not fine a picture of the pagan fish symbol)

However, let's go back to a time even before St. Clement, since Paganism has been around much longer than Christianity.
Neo-pagans are often quick to point out, that the fish is not a Christian owned symbol at all, but was derived from a sexually related image

The New Age fish symbol
Rainbow trout?
Astrologers are often quick to point out, that the fish is not only a Christian symbol, but indicative of the Age of Pisces, which began at the time of Jesus' birth. This is surely more than a coincidence.

The Indian Hindu fish symbol
Hinduism is another religion that's a few thousand years older than Christianity, and one of their symbols is a fish. One appeared as an avatar (incarnation or physical bodily manifestation) of Vishnu to save mankind from the Great Flood.
The Sanskrit for fish is Matsya and he is usually shown with four arms and a fish tail.

The Chinese Taoist fish symbol

The symbol of the cosmic philosophy or religion of Tao, is yin-yang. This symbol is also popular with New Age followers and shows a couple of fish, Yin and Yang, where Yin's eye is in the Yang fish, and Yang's eye is in the Yin fish.

The Buddhist fish symbol

(I dont know why two of these showed up and dont know how to get rid of one, so oh well)
Mokugyo
In Japan and elsewhere, the fish means well-being, happiness and freedom. It is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols used in Buddhism imported from China. The fish symbolises living in a state of fearlessness, without danger of drowning in the ocean of sufferings, and migrating from place to place freely and spontaneously. The fish symbol is considered Buddhist and consequently the 'Jesus Fish' is a rare sight in these countries.

My conclusion: The fish symbol is indeed used by many (religions) each are significantly different and there fore easy to recognize. I had always wondered where the fish symbol came from and what it meant. Now I know.

source:http://www.seiyaku.com/customs/fish/fish.html

Symbols and their meanings

I have an interest in symbols and their meanings so I decided to do a personal study about different symbols. I found this information about the peace sign interesting. I had always wondered where it came from.

Peace Sign
The Nuclear Disarmament Symbol more commonly known as the Peace Sign was derived from the navy semafore letters N and D, for Nuclear Disarmament. Created by Gerald Holtom in 1958, the symbol was adopted by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), and spread quickly to the USA and around the world during the vietnam war protest period. Various groups have their own interpretations of the symbol, ranging from a death sign, to a droopy Cross of Christ, to eternal disarmament. Some see the center of the symbol as a stick figure with arms drooping in dispair. This stick figure resembles the symbol for "he" in Blissymbolics.

THE PEACE SYMBOL
the anti-nuclear emblem or the peace sign is one of the most widely known symbols in the world.it was invented on the request of lord Bertrand Russell,head of the British ‘campaign for nuclear disarmament’or CDN and sponsor of mass marches and sit-downs in London . the graphic symbol was designed by Gerald Haltom, a member of the CND movement, as the badge of the ’direct action committee against nuclear war’, for the first demonstration against

Aldermaston (a British research center for the development of nuclear weapons) in 1958. Haltom, a professional designer and a graduate of the London royal college of arts, had originally considered using the Christian cross symbol within a circle as the motif for the march, but various priests he had approached with the suggestion were not happy at the idea of using the cross on a protest march.

the letters N and D of the navy code of semaphore, the flag signalling system.
the first badges were made by eric austin of kensington CND, using white clay with the symbol painted black. again there was a conscious symbolism. they were distributed with a note explaining that in the event of a nuclear war, these fired pottery badges would be among the few human artifacts to survive the nuclear inferno.

From a design point of view, it is interesting to note that the original sketches are preserved at the school of peace studies, at the Bradford University .They show a symbol that stood for ‘the death of man and the unborn child’ and that symbol was designedfrom the naval code of semaphore – the code letters for N and D (nuclear disarmament).N is two flags, arms down stretched at a forty-five degree angle, and D is two flags, one arm straight up and one straight down. the ends of the ‘arms’ and ‘legs’ thicken and splay out noticeably as they approach the circumference.the circle itself was thick – the thickening itself has two versions:in one, all the straight strokes are thickened;in the other, only those in the lower half of the circle.it is said, that the reason for the symbol being upside down (D over N) is that semaphore is a military code and upside down ymbolizes ‘anti-military’.

The symbol was quickly adopted in the US when a friend of martin Luther king jr., Bayard Rustin began using it during civil rights marches. The power of this symbol is emphasized by the fact that various far-right and fundamentalist American groups, during the 1970s, seriously onsidered

forbidding it (they have spread the idea of satanic associations andcondemned it as a communist sign). in south Africa , under the apartheid regime, there was an official attempt to ban it. Also anti-Vietnam war protesters picked it up, and it was called ’the footprint of the great American chicken’ by many American soldiers during the Vietnam War era.

Deliberately never copyrighted, the symbol is still recognized in Great Britain as the logo for nuclear disarmament, but is known worldwide for peace and non-violence.No one has to pay or to seek permission before they use it.As a symbol of freedom, it is free for all. This of course sometimes leads to its use,or misuse, in circumstances that CND and the peace movement find distasteful. it is also often exploited for commercial, advertising or generally fashion

purposes.‘We can’t stop this happening and have nointention ofcopyrighting it. All we can do is to ask commercial users if they would like to make a donation. Anymoney received is used for CND’s peace education and information work.’says the campaign for nuclear disarmament website

There have been claims that the symbol has older, occult or anti-Christian associations and that it was a ‘symbol of death’. This fifth century illustration depicts st.peter crucified upside-down. The inverted crucifix was known for centuries as the’ Nero cross’ from the roman reign of the emperor

Nero (54-68 A.D.) In the middle ages the ‘Nero cross’ was adapted in Satanists rituals.
DOVES OF PEACE

one of the most recognized symbols of peace is the dove. Its origins are from the story of Noah and the ark.When the rains that flooded the earth stopped pouring down, Noah sent out various birds to see if they would bring back any sign of land to his boat.He was anxious to begin life again on drypasturage.One dove eventually returned carrying an olive branch.
Manifesto by pablo picasso, 1949

After world war II Pablo Picasso, was responsible for the decisive use of the dove of peace: his lithograph designed for the international peace congress in Paris ,1949, features the white ancestor of a new family of doves. Since then, graphic artists have produced an endless series of doves of peace in different shapes.
References
http://www.sadako.org/ http://www.coop.org/ http://www.cnduk.org/