Vesica Pisces (Ichthys, Jesus Fish, Mandorla)
This symbol, called the vesica pisces (piscis) or "Jesus fish," has an unusual history. Used almost exclusively today to denote membership in the Christian religion, the symbol once held a very different meaning (even to the early Christians who adopted it). The words usually found inscribed within, ΙΧΘΥΣ (Ichthus), is Greek, meaning fish. The emblem became significant to Christians after St. Augustine, who extracted the word from the acrostic prophecy* of the Erythraean Sibyl, and applied the kabbalistic technique of notarikon to the word to reveal "Jesus Christ, God's son, savior." The custom of early Christians to communicate by drawing a portion in the dust was carried over from the practice of the ancient Pythagoreans, who discovered the shape's unique properties and made it an important part of their teachings.
In Pagan times, this glyph was associated with the Goddess Venus, and represented female genitalia. Early depictions of Christ depict him as an infant within the vesica (usually called a mandorla, meaning 'almond shaped.'), which represented the womb of Mary (and often, the coming together of heaven and earth in the body of jesus- part man, part god). As such, it is also a doorway or portal between worlds, and symbolizes the intersection between the heaven and the material plane. The shape of arches in gothic architecture is based on the vesica.
The shape of the vesica pisces is derived from the intersection of two circles, the Pythagorean "measure of the fish" that was a mystical symbol of the intersection of the world of the divine with the world of matter and the beginning of creation. To the Pythagoreans, the whole of creation was based on number, and by studying the properties of number, they believed one could achieve spiritual liberation. The vesica pisces was the symbol of the first manifestation, the dyad (reflection) that gives birth to the entire manifest universe. Within the vesica can be found the triangle, the tetrad, the square, the pentacle, and many more polygons, making the vesica a true symbolic womb.
Curiously, the New Testament story of the loaves and fishes secretly reveals the geometric formula for the fish shaped device, as does the story of the miraculous catch: "Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. (John 21:11) " This is little remarked upon by Bible scholars and usually ignored by Christian bible interpreters.
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You can read more about the hidden biblical symbolism of the Vesica Pisces here [
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The Sheela-na-gig is a shocking, immediately noticable figure found in Celtic and medival stonework. Sheela is most commonly depicted as a squat, ugly female creature using her hands to display grotesquely large genitals. Sheelas of various ages adorn stone steles all over the Irish countryside ; they are also found in the intricate carvings in cathedrals and stone churches in ireland, England, and throughout Europe, often in tandem with the Green man.
Sheela is very likely related to the ancient Celtic Goddess; her images are much older than the churches they often appear in, suggesting they are elements of much older religious sites. Many closely resemble ancient Viking figures of a creator goddess Ormgudinna. [
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