How many Pagans use the cross symbol?

[SabahTheLoner]

My mom brought home a pre-Christian version of an Ethiopian cross today in the form of a necklace and gave it to me as a gift. According to the little cardboard packaging (for lack of better term), it represented the four directions and the phases of a person's life.

I'm wondering how many Pagans actually use a cross or similar symbol in their practice. I read once the cross had its origins in Paganism but I could never find satisfactory answers for the meaning of said symbol in Pagan systems (everything I search online is from Christians talking about why they shouldn't use the cross symbol). If you don't use the cross, how do you feel to see other Pagans use it? If you do use the cross, what meaning(s) does it have?

Personally I think that equilateral crosses and ankhs (known sometimes as the Egyptian Cross) are very beautiful and both are proven to have many important meanings associated with them. I have used the ankh because I honor some Egyptian deities but not any other cross.

 

[Politesse]

My personal symbol is and has long been a Jerusalem Cross. It represents perfect balance and a sense of fullness to me. One can imagine the guardians of the directions along the tines, if one likes, or the four elements, or the four suits of the Tarot. Either way, the cross draws them all together and encourages their healthy synthesis.

I also like symbols that are shared between Pagans and Christians (at least in form if not in meaning), since both of these traditions are dearly precious to me and duly a part of my obligations to my ancestors. I like candles and hyssop partly for the same reasons.

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

My mom brought home a pre-Christian version of an Ethiopian cross today in the from of a necklace and gave it to me as a gift. According to the little cardboard packaging (for lack of better term), it represented the four directions and the phases of a person's life.

I'm wondering how many Pagans actually use a cross or similar symbol in their practice. I read once the cross had its origins in Paganism but I could never find satisfactory answers for the meaning of said symbol in Pagan systems (everything I search online is from Christians talking about why they shouldn't use the cross symbol). If you don't use the cross, how do you feel to see other Pagans use it? If you do use the cross, what meaning(s) does it have?

Personally I think that equilateral crosses and ankhs (known sometimes as the Egyptian Cross) are very beautiful and both are proven to have many important meanings associated with them. I have used the ankh because I honor some Egyptian deities but not any other cross.

A goddess local to my area is Brigid; sometimes known as Brighid, Bride or Brigantia (depending on your level of syncretism). This is her symbol - it's called Brigid's Cross:

I know plenty of people who make this as a devotional item around the time of Imbolc on the Neopagan calender as well as part of the goddess' cult.

 

[Quintessence]

An equal-armed cross within a circle (with other embellishments) is the primary symbol of my tradition, so yeah, you could say I use it.

 

[Quintessence]

Sorry, that last post was unacceptably brief - let's add some more details there. Four-fold symbolism is very important in my path because the Four Elements are among its foundation. It's the philosophical substance pluralism I adhere to - that there are four roots of reality, not one, not two, but four. That was originally the entire point of the natural philosophy of the Four - not as a tool of magic and ritual. The four-fold correspondence gets many layers added to it from there. The symbol ranges from simple to complex, with the most complex version of it I have drawn having seasons, moon phases, light/dark cycles, and astrological signs on it. Could probably add innumerable other things too, but would need a new design for that.

 

[Hildeburh]

The cross predates any symbolism used by Christians, early Christianity was not an accepted state cult so they communicated in esoteric symbols only another Christians would understand.

The cross was accepted as a Christian motif during Constantine's reign; not surprising since he worshipped Sol Invictus, another example of Christianity adopting pagan symbolism to make the new religion more palatable to pagans. Here is a brief article on early Christian symbols:

When did the cross supplant the ichthus (fish) as a symbol of the Christian faith?

The cross has a long pre Christian history, generally thought to represent celestial or seasonal imagery. Earliest depiction of a deity with the cross is associated with the Mesopotamian God Dumuzi/Tammuz (alabaster relief from Ashur, c. 1500 BCE)

 

[Samantha Rinne]

Interesting.

The cross, as a symbol, I believe means something to do with the merging of heaven and earth (i.e. the physical and spiritual world merging, ummm sorta sounds like what's supposed to happen at Halloween/Samhain, along with some of the myth from Mabinogi). Which is all the more interesting, because according to Christian writing, the veil of the Jewish temple apparently tore. This veil was the thing that separated the regular people from the Holy of Holies where the priests spoke to God.