Sun cross
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The sun cross is a cross inside a circle, one of the oldest and most universal religious symbols [link], and a traditional neopagan solar symbol. It is also known as the suncross, solar cross, sun wheel, sunwheel, sun disc, Odin's cross, and wheel of Taranis. It is sometimes called a "Gnostic cross".
In many religions, solar crosses are associated with specific deities; Ixion[[Citing sources citation needed]], Odin[[Citing sources citation needed]], Quetzalcoatl [link], Shamash [link], and Taranis[[Citing sources citation needed]] all have various forms of solar crosses as symbols.
The terms sun cross and sun wheel are sometimes also used to describe swastikas and Celtic crosses, which are cognate symbols. Like the swastika, the sun cross has more recently been adopted by white nationalists and related political movements.
Design
The basic sun cross is an unadorned cross inscribed within a plain circle. However, there are a variety of images incorporating crosses and circular patterns which have been given the label sun cross. Specific varieties of sun cross include:
- The simplest form of the sun cross, often called Odin's cross in North-West Europe.
- A bolded sun cross, with less negative space.
- A sun cross with the arms of the cross extended beyond the perimeter of the circle. This symbol was adopted by many Christians, who often extended the lower arm in the manner of a Christian cross, creating what is now known as a Celtic cross.
- A sun cross with the circle broken on one side of each arm. This form most resembles a swastika, and is sometimes called a sunwheel swastika. Like a swastika, it can be either sunwise or widdershins, although sunwise (right-facing, as above) is more natural for a sun symbol.
- A Celtic cross with a solid disc.
- A sun cross-like symbol with six or eight arms. An eight-armed sun cross is also called a Wheel of the Year.
Origins
The Neolithic symbol combining cross and circle is the simplest conceivable representation of the union of opposed polarities in the Western world. Crossed circles scratched on stones have been recovered from Paleolithic cave sites in the Pyrenees. At the most famous megalithic site in Scotland, Callanish, crossing avenues of standing stones extend from a circle.
Scratched into stone or painted on pottery, as on that of the Samara culture, the crossed-circle symbol appears in such diverse areas as the Pyrenees in Old Europe, the Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the Iranian plateau, and the cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in the Indus River valley. It may be compared to the yin-yang symbol of the Eastern world.
In pre-Christian Europe, the crossed circle was the mark of the Norse god Odin[[Citing sources citation needed]].
Modern symbolism and political use
The sun cross proper most commonly represents the sun and the seasonal cycles of the year. In astronomy, a similar astronomical symbol is used to represent the Earth while the symbol for the Sun is a circle with a central dot.
Political groups
Despite the pagan origins of the symbol, because of their association with Christianity, Western culture and old Aryan traditions, the sun cross and the derived Celtic cross have been adopted by European heritage and pro-White movements since the 1960s. See: the Celtic cross as a political symbol.The Norwegian fascist party Nasjonal Samling, founded in 1933, also used the sun cross as its symbol due to its indigenous origins in Norway.
Neopaganism
Along with other ancestral symbols, the sun cross is also used as a symbol by Heathens and Asatru adherents in particular as an attempt at reconstruction of ancient Germanic and Slavic (Native Polish Church) pre-Christian religion and culture, free of political implications.Reference
See also
External link
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