In ancient Egyptian iconography, the sun is often depicted with life-giving rays, each one tipped with the famous "ankh" symbol, which looks like this:
The meaning of the symbol is "life," sacred in the ancient Egyptian religion.
You will often see people wearing a little gold pendant formed of the Hebrew letters חי, pronounced "chai," having the same meaning. Even Elvis Presley sometimes wore such a pendant. Because the Hebrew letters have a numerical value of 18, gifts of money, especially to children, are often given in multiples of 18. When Jews raise a glass to toast, they traditionally say "l'chayim," "to life." Again, life is sacred.
The "ankh" symbol, which is said to represent the vagina, uterus, and Fallopian tubes, became, in modified form, the symbol of the planet Venus, known in astrology for its beneficial qualities. Eventually it came to mean "female," or "women," and was incorporated into the symbol for the Feminist movement.
In the Cherokee and Udugi languages life, ꭵꮄꮒꮩꮂ, is considered sacred. Among Native Americans generally, nature is considered sacred, and we are its custodians.
In India, gifts are often given in multiples of 108. This number, considered sacred in India, where a prayer rosary has 108 beads, has lunar significance. The moon, of course, is associated with women because of their menstrual cycles, and therefore with life, which is again sacred.
That brings us back full circle to where we started. All over the world, life is considered sacred.
The greatest threat to our lives, and to life on Earth, is not abortion; it is human-caused climate change. Think about that.
Thanks, as always, to all my readers for their continued interest and enthusiasm. Wadó. ꮹꮩ.
Text and image © 2019 by Donald Jacobson Traxler ꮨᏺꭽꮅ.
