My parents, my wife, and I were traveling through the sparse Southern Montana landscape. We were driving through the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and I kept noticing this symbol. It is the tribal symbols of the Northern Cheyenne Native Americans.

The present day flag of Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Southern Montana is emblem of Chief Morning Star, better known as Dull Knife, the Cheyenne chief who led his people to their new home after they had been defeated in the War of the Plains. The morning star glyph was also used during the Sun Dance. Warriors would paint it on their chests for the ceremony.  The ancient version was a deep reddish brown, and a black morning star glyph.

Make your own symbols and make new friends at Mikons.com.

Pagan Celts held the Triquetra as a symbolic image of the threefold nature of the Goddess as virgin, mother and crone. It symbolizes life, death, and rebirth and the three forces of nature: earth, air, and water. The inner three circles represent the female element and fertility.

The Triquetra symbol itself dates as early as the eighth century on carved stones in northern Europe. 

Early Irish Christians adopted this pagan image as a representation of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In fact, the Triquetra itself is sometimes seen on the robes of Catholic priests; as is the now widely known symbol the christians used to entice the Irish Celts to convert, the shamrock.

Go to www.Mikons.com and explore symbolic images.

Irish legend has it that St. Patrick was working to convert the pagan Celtic Tribes to Christianity by combining their Moon god symbol – the circle – with the Christian Cross.  However, this symbol predates St. Patrick by two centuries. 

Celtic pagans revered the circle as a female symbol of fertility.  While the cross shape symbolized male generative power.

You can make icons that symbolize you at www.Mikons.com.

New research has compiled the locations of Pre-historic cave symbols shows that 26 signs of the same style were encountered across France and indeed in several other continents.  The implications is that a symbolic language – a new form of abstract communication – was forming as long at 35,000 years ago.  

This illustration from The New Scientist Magazine shows common cross-continent symbolic rock art.

Click on image larger view.

There is an interesting thread on this post of the New Scientist that has several hypothesis on the reason for these similarities.

Aknowlegdgments go to April Nowell, Jean Clottes, and the author of this New Scientist article Kate Ravilious.

Seth Godin wrote another compelling blog yesterday about the Cliche.  Read it before you read what I will have to say because I  may offend you if you are attached to context.

Let’s take  for example, much of the Western Hemisphere’s cliche view of the Swastika.  That iconic image for many is pregnant with pain and suffering.  That image was usurped by the Nazi’s and came to symbolize ravenous destructive power and genocide.

However, that image also symbolizes universal harmony to a Buddhist; to a Hindu it is a holy symbol representing the evolution of the universe; to the Japanese, it is a common road map symbol demarking an intersection; to some Native Americans it refered to the healing nature of the universe.   Wikipedia has an interesting narrative on the past and present cultural meanings of the equilateral cross broken at right angles.

Know this: Symbols are a gateway to meaning and connection.  However, you choose the meaning that you want to be connected to.  Look closely at that – what you connect yourself to.  Certainly, lives are lived in the context of experiences.  It is the great person, however, who can transcend the experiences of their lives that make themselves meaningful. On my New Year Day post  I tell the story of Victor Frankl, a survivor of  Auschwitz, who illustrates just that. 

Getting stuck in a cliche makes my world small.  Challenging cliches makes for possibilities for new experiences and new understanding.  I pray that I have the courage to make and meet such challenges and experiences.

Dan Brown came out with his latest book, “The Lost Symbol” in September.  The books website has a link that will test you symbolic knowledge, called Symbol Quest. http://www.thelostsymbol.com/symbolquest/index.php. Try it…it is hard.

I have been fascinated by the notion of courage lately and found this artwork on NOVICA.com by Evans Nii Adjetey Adjei.  Go to the site to see a larger image. Here is what he describes:

… adinkra symbols are a source of courage and identity. Ghanaian art is rich in imagery, often utilizing these abstract motifs that bear ancestral messages. From left to right, he depicts the nyame dua, or “tree of God” representing God’s protection and presence. Nsaa is a type of hand-woven cloth symbolizing excellence, genuineness and authenticity. Sunsum (spirit) stands for spirituality while mate masie (what I hear, I keep) represents wisdom and knowledge. Dwennimmen depicts ram’s horns, a symbol of both humility and strength. Gye nyame (except God) recalls God’s supremacy and owo foro adobe (snake climbing the raffia tree) symbolizes steadfastness, prudence and diligence. The crocodile denkyem stands for adaptability, and dame-dame, a board game, represents intelligence and ingenuity.

There are many characteristics of courage.  Periodically, I will explore stories, ideas, and metaphors of that differentiating quality called courage.

If you have any ideas for some symbology of courage, go to www.Mikons.com and create them and tag them “courage”, or send me a note and I will make one.

In 1540, the Conquistadors brought these Spanish colors to the territory of New Mexico – red and yellow.  The central symbol is a red sun with rays stretching out from it. There are four groups of rays with four rays in each group. This is an ancient sun symbol of a Native American people called the Zia. The Zia believed that the giver of all good gave them gifts in groups of four. These gifts are:
1. The four directions – north, east, south and west. 2. The four seasons – spring, summer, fall and winter. 3. The day – sunrise, noon, evening and night. 4. Life itself – childhood, youth, middle years and old age.

All of these are bound by a circle of life and love, without a beginning or end.