The Interfaith Banner

The above banner, for lack of a better name, could be called the Interfaith Banner,
as it collects the holy symbols of many of the world's religions and brings them together on an equal basis.
Below is a description of the symbols and their meanings.

UPPER ROW

1. Great Goddess
From the ancient Middle Eastern tradition, this Goddess image and many like it were the earliest known religious symbols and represent the fertile Mother from which life springs.

2. African Goddess
The Aku Aba is a Goddess symbol used for good luck in many parts of Africa, and is especially worn by women and children as a charm to lend protection, fertility and good fortune. It is from the Ashanti tribe in Nigeria.

3. Mayan
The Hunab Ku symbol represents the center of the Galaxy. The complex and highly developed Mayan system of astrology is based on our relationship with this center at our birth. The Mayan tradition is an ancient Native path from Central America.

4. Native American Medicine Wheel
The four directions of the east, south, west and north are honored in the wheel of life, hung with sacred eagle feathers. These primal directions represent the stages of energy cycles such as the cycles of time: spring, summer, fall, winter.

5. Hindu Om
The OM is the sound of the universal vibration, the primal source from which all creation manifests. It is the mantra mantrika, or "Mother of all sounds" the first of all creative spells spoken by the Goddess. The original meaning was "womb".

6. Buddhist Prayer Wheel
The Buddha taught the eightfold path to enlightenment, represented here by a prayer wheel. The paths are right conduct, right contemplation, right effort, right faith, right occupation, right resolve, right self awareness, and right speech.

7. Jain
Jainism contains many elements similar to Hinduism and Buddhism. The world's almost 4 million Jains are almost entirely located in India. They practice Ahimsa: non violence.

8. Taoist Ying Yang
The interplay between primal opposites is an eternal dance, such as (light/dark, male/female, day/night, life/death) and within the heart of the light is a core of dark, and within the core of darkness lies light.

9. Confucian
The social ethics and moral teachings of Confucius are an ethical system to which rituals at important times during one's lifetime have been added. They deal primarily with individual morality and ethics. This symbol is a Chinese image meaning "Joy together". There is no official symbol for the tradition.

LOWER ROW

10. Shinto
Shinto is an ancient Japanese religion. with no written scriptures. Ancestors are deeply revered and worshipped. All human life and human nature is sacred. Tradition and the family are very important.

11. Wiccan Pentacle
Symbolic of life and health in ancient times, the pentacle has been used as a strong protective charm. In Wicca, a shamanic nature religion from Europe, it shows an image of how energy flows through stages of life, and corresponds to the five points of the sacred human body.

12. Zoroastrian Flame
The sacred fire burns on an altar, representing the light which gives all life. Following the prophet Zoroaster, this tradition emphasizes purity and Divine light.

13. Jewish Star of David
The traditional interweaving of the upward pointing and downward pointing triangles, representing the unity of earthly and heavenly energies. It represents the union of God and the Shekina, the male and female energies in harmony.

14. Christian Cross
The traditional cross reminds us not only of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, but of the older symbolism as an intersection of two energy flows, one flowing between earth and heaven, and the other spreading out from side to side, representing the four directions.

15. Winged Sufi Heart
The awakened heart, which contains the star of perfected light and the receptiveness of the moon, becomes capable of soaring to the heights of Spirit. Sufism is a mystical path from the Middle East.

16. Islamic Moon and Star
The star of perfected light, which can be seen as the perfected human, and the receptiveness of the moon which allows the light of the Divine to fill it. Islam is a tradition from the Middle East, emphasizing devotion and community.

17. Sikh symbol
The circle of unity contains the double edged sword representing the power of truth, and is surrounded by two curved daggers, representing the act of willingness to defend the faith.

18.Baha'i 9 pointed star
The Baha'i religion is one of the newest of the religions of the prophets, and encourages world peace by teaching tolerance and honoring all paths to God.

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