Whenever I am at YoungVision and someone crosses himself in the way the churches do, someone else always says: “No! Don’t close yourself.”, and follows this up with the circular hand motion.
Both these motions are interesting to me.
The crossing motion as a form of closing and the circular motion as a form of opening oneself.
I think these motions can be followed back to a symbol that you find in many ancient cultures, no matter their origin of place in time: the Sun-Cross – a circle with a cross inside.
The Cross and the Circle
I have read, that the holy cross has it’s origin in the sun-cross. Only the churches got rid of the circle.
That makes sense to me, as the circle stands for a door (or an invitation) to the mystical / unexplainable realm. The cross stands for the denial of such things. It closes the way. To this day people use the crossing motion whenever something out of the ordinary / unexplainable happens. It is used as a form of protection against such things.
I notice that I want both.
The circle as aa door to invite mystical / unexplainable elements into my life, as well as the cross for its ability to deny such things access to my reality if needed.
It does not seem wise to me to only allow the circle and walk through life with an “always open” door, as I can never know what moves in the mystical / unexplainable realm. It would be foolish to approach such a place without caution.
But it also does not seem sensible to me to only allow the cross, and thus forbid every mystical / unexplainable element access to my life. I think by doing so you rob yourself up much wisdom and insight that wants to made available to you.