They Stole It. I'm Stealing it Back!
You've all heard of the TV series Charmed right? Well, you may have noticed a symbol similar to this popping up on the cover of the witches mystical spell book - the book of shadows (oooooooohhhhh).
Its proper name is the triquetra (or trinity knot). In it's simplist form (without the outer circle) it is an ancient celtic symbol of unknown origin or purpose, appropriated by celtic Christians to represent the triune God - three distinct parts in one complete figure. In more recent times the interwoven outer circle was added, representing eternity.
The thing is, I've taken it upon myself to re-claim the triquetra as a Christian symbol. Particularly because I think it looks really cool and rather profoundly symbolises the God I serve. So Charmed, your on notice!
Feel free to join in the "reclaim the triquetra" protest and copy the image to your blog or website as a sign of Christian solidarity! (If you do post it, let me know and if possible link back to this page).
We've also decided to use the trinity knot as the logo for our new Friday evening gathering, which now has a name - Alternate[Or].
20 comments:
Although I LOVE the show Charmed, I totally agree with you. It is a beautiful shape repersenting our god, so it shouldn't be represented as a wican symbol.
sincerely
Hannah
Hi Hannah,
Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
What is it that makes you like Charmed so much? Is it the supernatural theme? Just interested to know. :)
Thanks again.
Perhaps you should do a little more research before beginning to pass judgement. The triquetra was originally a Pagan Celtic symbol representing the Triple Goddess (Maiden, Mother, Crone). When Christianity spread into Celtic lands, the Christians took it as their own to represent the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Please make no mistake the symbol is of Pagan origin.
ckchitwood! I LOVE YOU! lol...i was like furious when i read this article about christians reclaiming the triquetra as a christian symbol...saying that it was stolen by wiccans...ugh...i hate Christians that are so brain washed by their religion that they dont even do any research they just believe what they are told...its stupid..
Hey ckchitwood and Brandon,
Thanks for dropping by. Actually I have done a bit of research. There was nothing in the literature that I reviewed to back up the "triple godess" claim of the wiccans in the origin of the triquetra. As Wicca has really only been around since the 1920s and as the Celtic followers of Jesus were using this symbol at least 1000 years before that, I think the argument probably falls in the Christian's favour.
Thanks again for dropping by and for your comments.
I don't think you fully read my comment, I didn't say it was a Wiccan symbol. I said it was a Pagan symbol. The Pagan religions were around well before Christianity.
Let me first state that I am writing this with an objective view, and with the knowledge that many years of study has bestowed upon me.
The first thing I would recommend would be to study your history a little better, even the Celtic cross was once considered great pagan symbol. However even this has been adopted by many Christian churches. Just because it has been accepted as a Christian symbol at any point in history, does not mean that it belongs to that religion. Also note that there were not many Celts (known as “Gauls” to the early Romans) that chose to be Christian; this was forced upon them by punishment of death. The Celts have been identified as using the trinity knot, as well as other forms of artistic knot work, as far back as 1200 BC (well before the accepted time of Christ).
It should also be said that most true Wiccans have great reverence for Christendom, they just have decided upon another religion to live their life by. Such televised image of witches is designed to be entertainment, there for they are often factious due to the lack of knowledge (or caring) of said producers.
And for the great fear of “pagans” (Latin pagus), remember that that word was originally used in the English language to define “country dweller”. The idea that “pagan” and “heathen” were synonymous did not come about until the crusades.
Do not believe everything you see on TV, (even if it is in the news, or on the Discovery channel). Furthermore, do not worry about the religious beliefs of others, unless of course they mean you harm. To use a symbol for your faith does not mean that it has it roots within your faith.
Dr. W
I am Wiccan and use this symbol as part of my religion but it also has a more personal meaning to me, to me the three points are me and my two best friends and the circle is the bond between us that will never be broken. People in this world have to realise and understand that the same thing can have many meanings- some shared by others and some just for the individual person. This does not take away the importance of the meaning that it holds! I am the type of person that believes whatever you believe in is the truth when it comes to religion, a friend of mine believes in Christianity and we hold no grudges against each other we just respect the other beliefs. If every one could do this it would be much easier that arguing constantly.
Thank you for reading and I hope this will make one or two people think.
Hi Kimmi,
Thanks for dropping by and thanks for your personal example of another application for the triquetra.
I agree with you - symbols can certainly have more than one meaning and I think you have illustrated this well. I am also glad that you are able to get along with people of other religious persuasions, it is important that we are able to respect one another as people first, despite our individual religious beliefs. However I think that it is difficult to accept that everyone's religious belief is equally as "truthful" as another's, particularly when so many religious beliefs blatantly contradict each other. It is just impossible for them all to be objectively true.
Thanks again for dropping by and introducing some interesting and relevant points into this discussion and thanks for being polite! :)
One of the points I was trying to make is that, to you your faith is real to me mine is, it shouldn’t matter who’s religion came first or what the beliefs are to the person who believes in it its real. I don’t have the right to say that what you believe in is fake and nor does anyone else, the belief in religion is personal to a person and no-one should be judged by that. What I’m trying to say is I don’t believe in Christianity but I believe that my family are in heaven because that’s what they believed in. No religion is right or wrong and I don’t believe any religion can be proved to be right or wrong, its all down to individual beliefs the same way that the triquetra can mean what people want it to mean.
It's my myspace background.
www.myspace.com/schmitty26
ok firstly this is a pagen symbole meaning life death rebirth, maidon mother and crone and sory to annoy the power of three this symbole minus the ring dates back 1000ad and before before then if you go to parts of spain you can see the christians started to incorperated (steal) some off the pagens believes as seen on ancient churches that date back way back and decided to claim them as there own but as all religions are basically the same we just believe events and gods name differently the mother maiden the crone means much the same to pagens as the father son holly spirit to christians but in the research iv done on the internett and and in books and out in the big wide world my conclusion is that this symbol was around before christianity and is a pagan symbole and im a christian so im not being one sided but if you research it properly you will find out the reason thaT u dont see this exact symbole before 800ad is beause the christians added the ring but the symbole with out the ring dates before the christians but i like the idea having the pAgen symbole intwined with christianty which is why i have it tattooed on my arm
I actually did the same. I use it as the logo for the "Ulfilas" Christian Goth group I run.
http://www.myspace.com/ulfilas
Also on Second Life - Ulfilas Christian Goth Church
Craig
aka Ulfilas Graves
I have three things to say.
1. I love the show "Charmed". Mostly because I believe in magic in all of its forms, visable and invisable. Ok, maybe some of it is very ficticious but its entertainment.
2. I completely agree with the comments that "kimmy" left. I too believe that it's only fair to not pass judgement and let every individual person have their own personal beliefs even if they're different to your own. It really should not matter which religion came first and which religion created an original symbol and who 'stole' said symbol. I guess you could say that I'm hoping for 'world peace' but we all know that is a loooong way away. I mean come on, it'd be an awfully dull and boring world if everyone agreed and believed in the exact same thing(s).
And finally but certainly not least...
3. Have your say by all means but ask yourself this, is it fair for any of us to judge and possibly dislike someone simply because their views on life, religion and symbols are different to those of our own?
When it comes to discussions about beliefs, religion, gods, human rights excetera things tend to get ugly very fast. Maybe that is whats really wrong with our modern culture today. We as a global society claim to be 'different' and 'know better' than we did say a hundred or a thousand years ago but are we really? It seems to me that we're just as pent up and focused on the same possibly un-important minute details today as we were back then.
P.S. If anyone who reads this is as open-minded as myself then feel free to message me at;
www.myspace.com/kellys_ickle_space
Oh, and make sure you let me know that you read my comment here so that I 'know' who you are. Thanks!
Ickle Kelly =o) (13:52pm - 18th January 2008)
Maybe before you all go and debate over who is more informed/educated about the triquetra, you should educate yourselves on proper spelling. Symboilizes, with a "Z" mr researcher! and that's goddess, with 2 "D"'s also sir educator! Sorry, spelling and advertising your opinions should go hand in hand when in written form!
I don't think you did enough research. The triquetra has been found as tribal markings dated since long before even Christ himself. You know, Christ, the FOUNDER of CHRISTianity. How can the triquetra be a symbol of Christianity before Christianity existed. Obviously, like many "Christian" holidays, it was stolen from pagan lore.
this is insaulting to have a christian 're-claim' something that was not theirs to have to begin with. i was a christian but its a pointless religion and im sad to say i used to be one of those. its a 'pagan' symbol as you say. you have your cross now leave us our sign.
I'm sorry, I feel that your comment about Christianity pre-dating Wicca is specious. You so smugly dismiss "Wicca" as dating from the 1920's. Protestantism, an attempt to return to the tenets of the original church after centuries of Catholicism, dated from the days of Martin Luther, so would you say that Christianity did not exist before then? Wicca is an attempt to connect to the belief system of a group of people who were systematically removed from this earth through genocide. You would reclaim a symbol from the religion of a people who died of the religion you promote! Don't think I can't see you thinking "Yes, but your beliefs are false and will send you to hell." That belief has resulted in torture and death for millions, because it was thought that agony on Earth was better than hell after. Clearly there were other religions before the Christian Church, and to claim that one religion has right to a geometric form is absurd. Intolerance starts here. Try to break the cycle, allright?
Maybe they used it because it didn't mean our God at first it meant something else.
Whoa. I can just feel the anger radiating off so many people who have visited this site!
Ok, I'd like to say that symbolic meaning is interesting and all, but really, it doesn't matter in the end. It's just a symbol. It doesn't "belong" to anyone, and the only reason it supposedly means anything is because once upon a time somebody pointed to it and said, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we thought about [insert religious symbol here] when we looked at it?" Who really cares who "invented" the symbol? Anyone can appreciate it just because it's interesting and pretty to look at. There are much more important things to be concentrating on and worrying about in this world than a couple of intersecting lines.
On the topic of religion...what a can of worms. Well, I'm a Christian, and it's hard reading all these different opinions because some of them are completely against what I believe in. I have to say (and I know I'll probably get abused for it, but I'll live with it) I am sick to death of the word "tolerance". Everyone has to tolerate everyone else, and appreciate and respect their religions or life choices or whatever. Ok, so right now there are a whole bunch of people thinking that I'm one of those awful, prejudiced, racist, homophobic, sexist and who knows what else Christians. That's not true. God tells us that we should love one another, and that's what I try to do in my life. So we should love and respect each other as human beings, but that doesn't mean we should agree with one another on everything. God tells us that we should also help one another by letting someone know when they are doing wrong in God's eyes, but we are to do this carefully and not critically, as no one is perfect. Now I know that every Christian has trouble with this, myself included, because it's easy to let emotions flare up in religion-related arguements and it is so hard to try to tell somebody they are wrong without being critical or condescending. Even as I type this now I'm biting my lip, knowing that people are going to take words in completely the wrong way. I'm not trying to insult anyone, or make them angry, I'm just trying to tell you all the truth.
God tells us that he is the one and only God, and I trust and believe in that, so I cannot accept other religions as truth. There is only one true God. Christianity isn't religion - it's life. And while it might seem like a nice and peaceful idea to accept everyone's beliefs as true "to them", it can't happen. You can't believe in Christianity AND Islam AND Buddism AND Wicca AND anything else. Nor can you say, "I believe in X religion, you believe in Y religion, but it's ok - they're both right." How can everything be right at once? Someone else already said that religions often contradict one another. It just can't work. Faith has to be solid truth. If you try to believe in multiple "truths" it just doesn't work. And let me tell you - that won't be peace. That will be chaos.
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