(continued from Round Motifs Part 1)
Ring – representative of a bond; as a symbol of a marriage, worn by Christian monks betrothed to Mary, nuns married to Christ, knights wedded to Mary, pagan youths wedded to Venus
Rose Window – typically facing the west, the direction of the goddess’s paradise; worshipers in Gothic cathedrals opposed the ancient female symbol and turned to face the cross-shaped apse in the east; usually dedicated to the Virgin Queen of Heaven; as a female mandala symbol, represents Mary as the mystic rose, Wreath of Roses, Mother of the Rosary, Queen of the Most Holy Rose Garden; rose shaped mandalas were the oriental symbol of the goddess and her Rose-Apple Tree, source of eternal life
Sphere – symbol of the ancient view of the universe as great crystal domes or inverted bowls
Spiral – among the most sacred signs of Neolithic Europe; symbol of death and rebirth; can be both lunar and solar; represents the serpent guardians of Sumerian temples
Sun Sign – a circle with a dot in the center; represents the primal womb with the spark of life; symbol of Estan of the Hittites, Istanu, the Sun Goddess Arinna (Queen of Heaven and Earth), Hepat, Hebat, Hebe, and Eveh
Wheel – ancient concept of the universe as a wheel, conceived from the cycles of heavenly bodies and the seasons; the Celtic goddess, Arianrhod was Goddess of the Silver Wheel (the stars) at the center of the Caer Sidi, the hidden revolving castle; symbol of Kali, the Indian ruler of the Wheel of Time; emblem of the Etruscan goddess Vortumna, She Who Turns the Year; Hindu wheel of dharma, known as the Wheel of Law, has eight spokes each spoke representing the Noble Eightfold Path; shape of the German Achtwan, a magic rune charm, a wheel with eight spokes
Yin and Yang – primary symbol of Taoist religious and philosophical belief; Chinese emblem of balance, harmony, light and dark, summer and winter, good and evil, youth and age, earth and heaven, birth and death; ancient Chinese feminine symbol of the phases of the moon in its light and dark aspects
Walker, B., The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1988