ANKH SYMBOL OF ANCIENT EGYPT

When I graduated High School, a friend of the family gave me an Ankh as a graduation gift. Thank you Dee. I didn't know or even realize it's symbolic meaning at the time, but I thought it was very cool looking and wore it all the time. Even still today, many years later, I wear an Ankh around my neck ... outside of my shirt and in plain view. For some, they see it as an odd-looking cross, for others ... they want to know what it is. And for a small few, they recognize it's origins and symbolism. I’ve even been told its “satanic,” to which i just smile and move on. When I order them, I usually order a few because I have given them away at times to random people who were so interested in the meaning and the shape.

The Ankh of ancient Egypt was a powerful and much used symbol that survived later in Christianity in the form of what was to become the Christian cross. The Ankh was also used as a staff to balance the energy body of a human being in cause of illness, and also to harmonize and revitalize. It was often made of brass, which was charged with a high vibrational energy, that more than likely took place within a temple or pyramid among sages and “holy men.” Because of the geometric shape, the Ankh matches the specific energy pattern of a human being, by which the energy could be carried over to the human energy body.

This geometric shape exists out of two poles which are opposite to each other but still form one wholeness, where the upper part represents the ‘receiving’ female energy (and womb of the Universe) and the lower part the ‘giving’ male energies. Both poles (polarity and duality) are needed to exist, for example without darkness there can not be light. We find this polarization everywhere in the Universe, such as light and dark, love and fear, man and women, the intellect and the intuition, the genitals, in electronics (earth and electricity), in communication (receiver and transmitter), in computer science (0 and “switch” 1), and the relation between the metaphysical and physical dimensions between heaven (above), and earth (below). Hence the term, as above, so below. AS within, so without.

The Ankh symbol seen in Egyptian hieroglyphs represented “life” or “breath of life” (`nh = ankh) and, as the Egyptians believed that one's earthly journey was only part of an eternal life, the Ankh symbolizes both mortal existence and the afterlife. This holy symbol was later adapted and modified by Christianity in the form of the cross. The modification was made to symbolically only represents the male aspect, which is typical for a patriarchal society. Among the ancients and during Egypt's golden age of peace and enlightenment, Egypt would have been a matriarchal society based on oneness and equality. Led by the Goddess, the power of Divine creative force.

Just a thought ...

Justin Taylor, ORDM.