The History of the Swastika

Here is another source where the swastika came from.
It represent four dirrections where to Hopi Indians were travelling to and from, leaving the carvings of it where they traveled. After their journey was over they finally settled in Arizona.
www.book-of-thoth.com...

reply to post by FULCRUM


Not only that we still use it on emblems and insignias. Von Rosen cross (blue swastika on a white background) was indeed the most visible one. Untill it became politically incorrect.

I saw several remarks and a lengthy copy from Wikipedia on another thread, so I did a search of posts on this topic and found this thread dedicated to the swastika, its long history and possible early meanings and uses. I'll add my experience with the swastika here for the wellbeing and spiritual unfoldment of all.

Any object, whether randomly found in nature or designed by humans manifests through principles operative in the material Universe, and may be influenced by realms other than gross materiality as commonly perceived by people. Ever notice that long-lasting celestial forms -- whether stars, planets, solar systems or galaxies are either spherical or have a round spinning quality about them? How does this come about, so consistently? Ever notice that mundane objects in nature also are rounded more than linear, and among those things that are more linear, such as pine trees, they have an expansive momentum from their base upwards? And when you draw infinite joy from and by whatever means, feel the splendors and are motivated, in what direction does your vitality flow?


Archtypes

There are two types of archtypes affecting human experience. The first are continuities pervading the Universe, universal archtypes regardless of species, cultures, linguistics, or whims. The second kind of archtype are predicated upon cultural designes, which are affected by species, cultures, linguistics, history, and are more lasting than whims.

The consistencies in the continuities pervading the Universe were there long before humans launched their journey upon Earth and will continue long after humans have transcended this planet.

These patterns of form and action are constant throughout the Universe at all times and will not suffer the whims nor tantrums of anyone purposefully contrarian for whatever misguided unintelligent selfish values may rattle their caged mind of petrified dogmas.

Deferring respect to the Universe for doing what it does and how it does them, we rely upon such strengths to explore the implications of such faculties and expedite such capabilities to further our personal and collective potentialities to evolve toward subtler realms of being, individually and collectively, one of which involves the spin of spirals and spheres.

In all its simplicity, the swastika is quite clearly a Universal archtype. It can be created to seemingly spin in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. What difference does it make? Archtypes extant to the Universe are not so shallow as to being entertainment objects, so directional flow can be quite profound when it comes to Universal archtypes and physics. I'll explain directionality later in this thesis.

(c) Satyananda




[edit on 8-6-2010 by Mystical Sadhu]

Geometry, Form, Focus and Flow

Our ability to perceive is based upon being alive, having a subjectivity by which to perceive objects objectively, and a sense of relativity, a discriminating faculty by which to differentiate factors of the object, ourselves and our relationships with such objects and their and our environments. Part of identifying what are certanties or closely sure of being certanties must have to do with paring something into its core elements to properly coneptualize it in truth and to comprehend its intercourse with us, other objects and other subjectivities in the greatest ranges and patterns, necessitating a magnanimous mind as well.

From inception to fulfillment, a pathway through the dimensions, a journey through the dimensions illustrates this point. While a straight line may eventually prove to not be so straight, for our purposes at the moment let's operate as if straight lines remain straight.

A concept, minimalistically for this illustration, could be conveyed as a straight line, as if unfettered by any other factors in the Universe. Being straight, no sense of distance or length applies, yet. Every concept meets its contradiction, and in this pristinely clinical setting, we'll utilize another straight line bisecting the first, perpindicularly, and relatively at a midpoint. Using graphic illustrations, we could say this would be an equilateral cross.



These seeming contradictions conjugate their contrasts synthetically, i.e. thesis meets antithesis which conjugates their synthesis by spinning the cross. For our purposes, we'll consider these perpindicular lines as spinning in what we would perceive to be counter-clockwise. While this spin seems to be the intercourse of these two lines which otherwise would be of a two-dimensional argument, their spin creates the third dimension, the z-axis anchored also in the midpoint of their equilibrium, the midpoint of their conjugation, the midpoint of their intercourse.

The intiation and conjugation of this spin not only creates this axial third dimension, it also creates the fourth dimension, the shallow realm of the fourth dimension, of which an object spinning on its axis is in motion. While this sterile clinical moment focuses on a singular occurence, there are no other objects or actions within their environment to compare and contrast, thus, if the spinning three dimensional object could be considered as an entity, it would not know of itself objectively yet, for it has nothing outside of itself by which to compare and contrast -- it simply is, and does.

Motion, especially perpetual motion, is operative within the aerial state. An object spinning on its axis, especially when motivated from internal sources, has the vital air, or vayu in Sanskrit, of spinning, with the constancy of an axial anchor round which it spins. This axial spin results in another vital air, which is an upward and downward concurrency of vitality in a relatively equipoised manner. As this concurrent vitality flows in either direction along the axis, it reflects an arc in each direction, with each expanding away from the center along the verticality of the axis. A snapshot of this occurence, a two-dimensional representation of these binarial arcings in a crystaline format is represented as a hexagram in what would seem to be a two-dimensional figure:



(c) Satyananda


[edit on 8-6-2010 by Mystical Sadhu]

These dimensions, motions and vital airs are described in their sequential continuities, whereas, in the relative world of which we have limited range of perception, they all, and subequent factors, occur relatively all at once. The intercourse of these elements described, so far, are the contributing factors as to why "spheres" are the common archtypes of forms we perceive in this hologramatic Universe, from the smallest of subatomic particles in realms smaller than our everyday existence, to the grand scales of our cosmology of solar systems, galaxies and constellations. This continuum, however sterile in our illustration here, pervades the Universe and has subsequent elements and factors as well.


How to Utilize the Swastika Yantra for Your Spiritual Progress

The realm of mind where archtypes operate -- both universal archtypes relevant anywhere in the Universe, and those archtypes borne of ethno-cultural origins -- are within the Vijanamaya Kosa, which is polished and optimized through Dharana. Dharana is furthered through Yantras.

A case in point that comes close to the heart of every yogi is illustrated in the mechanized geometry we utilize to both dispel ignorance in ourselves and to determine patterns of action to further the wellbeing of all living entities and lay the foundation for a healthier society through these mechanizations, known as "yantras" ["Y" is pronounced as a "J" when it appears at the beginning of a word] in Sanskrit.

The principles for yantras are the same as those of both art and geometry, including that the shape, though seemingly static, makes the mind flow in certain patterns and towards particular points of focus. Two of the most common yantras we use in Tantra or yoga are the hexagram and the swastika. Recent history misrendered the swastika, its meaning and historical precedence so I will use it as an example, in both function and art, of how being uninformed, underinformed, misinformed, disinformed, and willfully clueless leads people astray from both truth and facts.

Below you will see a statue of Buddah with a swastika on his torso. Which way does it seem the swastika would spin if it was blowing in the wind? Many people in the world, nearly everyone in the West, would experience this statue "as is", though that "as is" is a more material[istic] rendering -- a presumptuous disposition on the perceiver's part -- based upon contemporary mindsets, than the art actually is ... from both the original artist(s) and from the themes of art and science in the culture(s) from which such renderings of Buddha and the swastikas upon the torsos from which this art originates.



Many people fashionably curious about or interested in Buddhism may remark that the Nazi's rendering of the swastika in more recent times is that "they twisted the swastika" or that "they turned it around" or "they reversed it". "So what", you may say, it's only a shape. If it is "only a shape" than whoever may be witnessing or remarking such hasn't got a clue about art even in its shallowest realms, so deanimated by materialistic mindset they have deteriorated toward. Art, and most certainly spiritual geometry are purposefully engineered to bring about subtle effects that further human progress in any and every realm of life.

So, why does the direction of the swastika matter and why is it on Buddha's torso in art? Was Buddha a Nazi? Nazism, or National Socialism, was created in the 20th Century as an alternative to both capeetalism and especially to communism. The swastika, in human spiritual practices, is much older than 7,000 years. Why does it exist at all? For one, it is among the simplest of forms, round which other forms and concepts evolve, similarly to how hydrogen or helium are considered at the core of elements in chemistry.

(c) Satyananda


[edit on 8-6-2010 by Mystical Sadhu]

The primary use of the swastika by tantrikas is to unwind a vital energy inherent within all vertebrates. While we may seem to be bisymmetrial, in more subtle realms there are energy flows, and by their being flows, they have direction. Among these energy flows, half of which are internal and half of which are external, they are all anchored into one center, which in this part of the universe, on this planet, spins in a clockwise direction and has its home, most of the time, at the base of the spine. Raising this centristic spin up the spine facilitates evolution, indeed revolutionizes the human experience, delivering all the talents of the Universe and all the faculties for affecting the Universe within the person who can raise their own kundalini. Such persons are known as kaola, while a person who can not only raise their own kundalini but also raise the kundalinis of others is known as a mahakaola.

By doing some preliminary attention and dispositional practices before concentrating on the swastika, the tantrika prepares for using the swastika for raising their kundalini while ensconcing themselves into the deepest rapport of love with the core, the center, the source and controlling faculty of the Universe, the source of all the Universe, each and every part, each and every being, even the existence before the manifestation of the Universe, of which each and all share a tangency ... the dimensionless point, mechanically and practically demonstrated as the axis of the swastika. This point is called the "atman" in Sanskrit, the dimensionless point from which all things exude concurrently and toward which all things arrive at, their desideratum, as their individuality is fulfilled in this manifest Universe.

Despite what has been misrendered in contemporary teachings and books regarding yoga or Buddhism about no-mindedness, the mind is always active, has myriad things of which it can think upon, and will. The nature of the mind is to do something, and for the mind, that means having an object of ideation upon which to anchor its purpose. The cessation of mind is not quietude, the cessation of mind is death, thus tantrikas use objects of attention to bring their minds to anchor within the centricity of their object of ideation, which for tantrikas is the source of the Universe, by any name. The busy conjugations of mind, as represented in the artistically and mechanically minimalistic form of the swastika, utilize the shape of the swastika to both anchor the busy mind into the centricity of the core of the Universe, and to raise their kundalini to and through the top chakra.




(c) Satyananda



[edit on 8-6-2010 by Mystical Sadhu]

With the kundalini wound clock-wise along the spine, it is important, indeed imperative for the yogi to spy upon a swastika that would appear to spin counter-clockwise. Now, if that is so, then why do so many of the Buddha statues have a clock-wise swastika? Are the artists stupid or what?

The vast majority of statues of Buddha have Sino and Sino tangential cultures of origin. Art, in those cultures, is not "looked at" from without, art in those cultures, especially art conveying subtler realms, is perceived from "within". Thus, if the perceiver of these statues were to do so in the proper mindset of the artist, art and cultures from which they originate, then they would experience the art from inside the artwork. Thus, they would be inside the form of Buddha, and witness the swastika, as Buddha actually did, in its proper counter-clockwise form and direction, endeavoring to further the fulfillment of their own spiritual progress as did Buddha.

Perceiving art in this disposition predisposes the perceiver towards expressionism, rather than the ever more superficial dispositions generated by impressionism which has more shallow and consequently more materialistic 'impressions' rather than the subtleties expressed above.

Thus, we now understand the core history and utility of the swastika and the artistic frame of mind by which to perceive heterogenous art from distant cultures.

(c) Satyananda


[edit on 8-6-2010 by Mystical Sadhu]

here is an animated swastika:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5d3d58f4b46b.gif[/atsimg]

a dynamic sun!

reply to post by xxxcosta


"may the four winds, from the four corners of the earth always sweetly and gently, upon you blow"

found that pearl in a 1980's short clip in a newspaper.

Nice thread, intellectual discussion about a very interesting subject, with a very minimum of lunacy…..so well I guess I may have to inject a little, as it reminds me of rather wild theory.


I think it was likely tripe, but I once remember seeing a documentary that made a very interesting assertion on why the Swastika may be such a world encompassing emblem. It became used as a symbol very quickly around the world roughly about the same time, in cultures that as far as we know would have had little or no contact with one another. However the show made the argument that if a comet were coming straight toward you it’s tail might instead look like spirals….it might literally be like a Swastika in the sky. This same show made the argument that it may very well have been a comet that suddenly ended the early bronze age, and even further made the argument ground zero may have been in Iraq. Certain one of Iraq lakes does in fact show a giant crater, and certainly there was a sudden decline in population in that part of the world in the Mediterranean and in Europe. Areas far away such as China and Americas seem to be less affected. This is all of course a theory that I honestly thought seemed a bit too nifty, and likely not true…..but it has a certain romance to it. Ever since when I see a Swastika I wonder if maybe it had lit up the sky at some distant point before it brought doom. Maybe someone else has read this and knows more about if it has been debunked.
If you ever go to Asia you will see it everywhere…..it’s maybe the most common symbol in Buddhist temples….floors are paved with the design it’s everywhere. It would make me wonder though if it really was one of the last visions many men had before fire reigned from the sky......how did it become a symbol of good luck?

The two ancient Indian Prakrit glyphs, 'Su' and 'Ti' (Suti, or in Sanskrit 'swastika'), when overlaid upon each other, form an actual swastika.

(www.attan.com...)

reply to post by ForkandSpoon



Hello ForkAndSpoon,

The answer as to why it exists is directly addressed in The Swastika: Why for and How to Use It Part 1 and 2.

Originally posted by ForkandSpoon
how did it become a symbol of good luck?

it is related to kundalini

those whose kundalini is raised and active might seem, to observers, to have uncanny good luck

but luck is what you make of it
a combination of circumstances, timing, and the ability to recognize opportunity as well as the skill to act and the wisdom to govern the actions through thought.

I am going to add a conspiratorial edge to this OG thread. Many symbols have been used by evil men who did evil things, but it seems in the Western world everyone is only educated to universally hate the swastika. I have one tattoo on my back, and occasionally at the beach or pool people ask me why? I point out it represents good fortune, and eternity, and has only ever in all history throughout the world represented positive energy or eternity.

I think the evil men who have been controlling the empires of the world, and do so today chose to demonize this symbol in an affront to all things good. Even though the Christian cross ushered in a more horrendous genocide to the Natives of both north and south America over the course of centuries, it is the swastika in the modern world which receives the stigma, even though it predates the Christian cross as well as the Egyptian ankh, and is found in nearly every culture documented on Earth in some form or another.

My only conclusion is the belief that there is an ongoing effort to turn people away from what is a true positive force, especially because it does not represent any ONE single belief or God. I would even go as far as to say, that those Christians who hold their cross dear and then curse the swastika are in fact spitting in the face of the true God/eternity of the universe. The God who favors no specific religion or belief system, only the truth of eternity. If ever the "Devil" was able to drive a wedge between humans and their spirituality, it was by convincing them to lambast this symbol.

I have a silver bracelet my grandmother passed down to me. I was told it was
made by Indians & it has swastikas on it. I have no idea how old it is & I had
never seen it until after she died. She is not Indian & I don't know how she
originally acquired the piece.

Cheers
Ektar

Would not be surprising though, was extensively documented in native tribes of North America.

The swastika motif was used by some Native American groups. It has been found in excavations of Mississippian-era sites in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. It is frequently used as a motif on objects associated with the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (S.E.C.C.). It was also widely used by many southwestern tribes, most notably the Navajo. Among various tribes, the swastika carried different meanings. To the Hopi it represented the wandering Hopi clan; to the Navajo it was one symbol for a whirling log (tsil no'oli), a sacred image representing a legend that was used in healing rituals.[64] A brightly colored First Nations saddle featuring swastika designs is on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada.[65]

A swastika shape is a symbol in the culture of the Kuna people of Kuna Yala, Panama. In Kuna tradition it symbolizes the octopus that created the world, its tentacles pointing to the four cardinal points.[66]

In February 1925 the Kuna revolted vigorously against Panamanian suppression of their culture, and in 1930 they assumed autonomy. The flag they adopted at that time is based on the swastika shape, and remains the official flag of Kuna Yala. A number of variations on the flag have been used over the years: red top and bottom bands instead of orange were previously used, and in 1942 a ring (representing the traditional Kuna nose-ring) was added to the center of the flag to distance it from the symbol of the Nazi party.[67]

Source

You should take it to a university or museum that studies native American culture and see if you can get any history out of it.

It's quite obvious the Swastika is a symbol that is fairly universal in the human race, it doesn't belong to Adolf Hitler. Swearing off the Swastika is giving power and unintentional reverence to the Nazy party. If we really despised the Nazis, we would take the Swastika back. Leaving it as a symbol of the Nazis is disrespectful to the symbol and it's history. Let's take it back, make it a good symbol once again, instead of giving in to ignorant societal pressures.

I love spirals. I feel a certain connection when viewing them, drawing them, etc. The Swastika is basically a straight spiral, which would explain why I find it too an awesome symbol. I remember being told by my mother that when I was a little kid I was always drawing swastikas. This was before I was old enough to understand what that would look like to people, and I doubt any of those drawings were ever hung on the fridge.

reply to post by DYepes


Thank you for your reply. I never thought about taking it to a University
or Museum for history. I took one photo & tried to upload...computer is
fairly new & I am not used to Win 8. I was able to upload a few photos last
week, but now it is recognizing phone in a different manner that I can no longer
upload. It is the only camera i have...sorry.

I was hoping to post photos to possibly gain information & to let people see
an example of the real deal. The Bluetooth isn't responding correctly & could be me...
Win 8 can be so frustrating! I am thankful for your response & will look into that
when I have a chance. I was hoping to add more to the thread since no one
had posted any photos.

Cheers
Ektar

I will keep trying!

reply to post by Ektar


I haven't worn the bracelet due to people's ignorance. What a shame as I do
want to wear it as it's an educational piece of work. It reminds me of living in
Los Angeles, you could wear a pentagram due to many pagans & many
people I knew working with animals were pagan...come to
visit the east coast or south they all think your a devil worshiper.

Cheers
Ektar