The swastika may be familiar from world war two during Nazi Germany. But, it was a sacred and ancient symbol of many religions before that. Today it is undergoing a revival, and not by only Neo Nazis, but by those wanting to tap into its positive meanings.
It Appeared In The “Sound Of Music”
The swastika was referred in the film the “Sound of Music”. Marta, the second youngest girl of the Von Trapp family, succinctly summed up the agitation in Salzburg by saying: “the flag with the black spider on it makes people nervous.” This film captures a moment known as the “Anschluss” of 1938 when Germany annexed its neighbor, Austria, the country of Hitler's birth. She was of course referring to the Nazi Swastika. The flag designed by Adolf Hitler himself, that should, in his own words, be "red [so] we see the social idea of the movement, in white the nationalistic idea, in the swastika the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man" (Mein Kampf).
It Was A Symbol Of The Sun
Before the rise of Nazism, the swastika has been a mystical symbol of the sun, a solar cross, with its “rays” at right angles, creating a sense of movement similar to that of a wheel, the direction of time, of daylight. It was also known as the Fylfot (fill-foh) Cross, fylfot meaning four legs, a type of tetraskelion, a figure use in heraldry of four arms or legs radiating from a centre.
Before it was appropriated by the Nazis, it was a sacred symbol to Norse, Celtics, Jains, and Hindus. The word “swastika” is from the sanscrit “su”, the good, and “vasti”, being. The swastika was a symbol of well being, of positive energy, of growth and fertility.
Is It Moving Clockwise Or Counter-Clockwise?
There is some dispute as to which direction
of the spinning swastika is clockwise and which is counter-clockwise. The received wisdom is that being a symbol of the sun, the swastika devised by Hitler was its inversion, even perversion, into a symbol of darkness, emphasized by it being black. However, if you go along with fylfot idea, the four legs tetraskelion, then the “legs” of the Nazi swastika are actually running clockwise.
Is The Swastika Good Or Bad?
There is a movement in the world today for the swastika to be cleansed of its Nazi associations and its meaning restored to its positive one, with associations of well being. The problem with this laudable notion is that there are plenty of Neo-Nazi societies in the world who do not want it cleansed of its racist associations. Displaying it as public symbol is always going to either antagonize those that have strong anti-Nazi sympathies, or invoke the sympathies of the Neo Nazis.
The Swastika As A Private Symbol
A part of this movement to restore the swastika is to bring it into the private realm, where it can be used as a symbol for meditation. This is also not without its dangers. Because it was such a universal symbol in so many cultures before German National Socialism, it was probably an archetype of the Collective Unconscious. Anyone using the symbol as a mandala (a geometric design as a focus for meditation) with enough perserverence will eventually tap into the Collective Unconscious, where the imprint of Nazism will still be felt. Those using this symbol in such a way could end up tapping into the symbol's darkness as well as its light .
Good article. I think the time is not right yet for the swastika to be used for good purposes but maybe again in the somewhat distant future. Ever notice that it looks like a windmill?
#2 by tim olson, Apr 4, 2008
im nordic american, i think the fylfot is very importnant to the sweedish norse and finnish people, my wife has jewish desent in her, and hitler used this sacred symbol and perverted it, it makes me very sad because i see it from my culture as a sign of strength and olaf used this symbol on his shield. i look forward to people using more, it is used in the vadican and saints used it as a symbol on there robes, im a christian and i believe that we can see passed the few decades that hitler used it
