Every religion and ideology has a symbol – Christianity has the Cross, Judaism has the Star of David, Taoism has the Yin Yang, Wicca has the Pentagram and Communism has the Hammer and Sickle. Does Naturalistic Pantheism have a symbol? The answer is Yes. The sacred symbol of Naturalistic Pantheism is….the Spiral.
The Spiral is one of the oldest, most sacred prehistoric symbols found in human history. It has been found in megalithic art from as far back as 24,000 years ago. The symbol decorates many ancient temples and it is an almost universal symbol. From the ancient Celts to the Aborigines, from the native Americans to the ancient Chinese, the symbol is found in every indigenous culture across the world. It was a sacred symbol in all these cultures and calls us back to a time when Pantheism was probably humanity’s primary religious belief and Nature and the Earth were respected and honoured.
It is also found throughout the natural world – take a look at your fingerprint. See the Spiral? Think about your DNA – a spiral! We are literally made of spirals! Go for a walk along the beach and pick up a shell – a spiral! Open an astronomy book and look at pictures of the milky way – a spiral! Turn on the TV and watch the weather when a storm, tornado or hurricane is approaching – see the spiral? Go look at a sunflower, a vine or a fern – spirals! There are many other examples too – twisted tree trunks, rams horns, caterpillars and snakes curled up, our inner ears, snail shells, ammonite fossils and more. Spirals appear in many aspects of nature – in the human body, in plants and animals, in rocks, in weather and in space. It is also the basis of the Fibonacci sequence in mathematics.
The spiral is a symbol of time, of the cycle of seasons and the growth and changes of evolution. In many cultures it has also represented the sun, the womb, the feminine and fertility. It is often found with or painted on stone carvings of the mother goddess. Carl Jung called it an archetypal symbol representing the cosmic force. It is also often found on burial sites suggesting it is a symbol of the cycle of life, death and regeneration. Because of these things, the Spiral can be said to be the symbol of Mother Nature herself – the universe, the cycles of time and evolution, the mysterious miracles of creation and birth, the forces of nature. It is the sacred symbol of the Naturalistic Pantheist Faith.
Go for a walk in nature today and look for as many examples of spirals as you can. How many can you find?
Nature is Sacred 