december 15, 2008

Borromean rings

Three rings linked in such a way that although they can’t be separated, no two rings are linked; remove any one ring, however, and the other two fall apart. Named after the Italian family of Borromeo whose family crest has borne the rings since the fifteenth century, the design has been used in many places [...]

december 15, 2008

Flower of Life

 

The Flower of Life is the modern name given to a geometrical figure composed of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles, that are arranged so that they form a flower-like pattern with a sixfoldsymmetry like a hexagon. The center of each circle is on the circumference of six surrounding circles of the same diameter.
Throughout human history, philosophers, artists, and architects around the world have known [...]

december 15, 2008

Tomoe

 
A tomoe or tomoye (archaic) (巴) is a Japanese abstract shape (i.e. a swirl) that resembles a comma or the usual form of magatama. It is a common design element in Japanese family emblems (家紋 kamon?) andcorporate logos, particularly in triplicate whorls known as mitsu tomoe. One mitsu tomoe variant, the Hidari Gomon, is the traditional symbol of Okinawa.
The tomoe is very similar in design to the Korean sam-taegeuk or Tibetan Gankyil.
On the opposite side of Eurasia, [...]

december 15, 2008

mon/ kamon

Mon (紋?)(plural mon), also monshō (紋章?), mondokoro (紋所?), and kamon (家紋?), are Japanese heraldic symbols. Mon may refer to any symbol, while kamon and mondokoro refer specifically to family symbols. Monserve roughly similar functions to badges, crests, and coats of arms in European heraldry.
wikipedia
http://www.japanusencounters.net/mon/
hidaka family emblems
EPS kamon

december 15, 2008

triskele

 

A triskelion or triskele (both from the Greek τρισκέλιον or τρισκελής, for “three-legged”) is a symbol consisting of three interlocked spirals, or three bent human legs, or any similar symbol with three protrusions and a threefold rotational symmetry.
A triskelion is the symbol of Brittany, as well as the Isle of Man and Sicily (where it is called Trisceli). The Manx and Sicilian triskelions feature three running legs, bent at the knee and conjoined at [...]

december 15, 2008

Taegeuk

 
Taegeuk is the Korean cognate of Taiji, the Taoist concept of yin and yang, from which all is actualized. In South Korea, the Taegeuk symbol is typically portrayed in red (yang, or heaven) and blue (yin, or earth).
The Taegeuk symbol is most prominently displayed on South Korea’s national flag, called the Taegeukgi (along with four of the eight Palgwae diagrams). Because of the Taegeuk’s association with the national flag, it is often used as [...]

december 15, 2008

Circled dot

(all wikipedia links)
 
The circled dot, circumpunct, or circle with a point at its centre is an ancient symbol. It can symbolize:

The sun: See also Solar symbol

The sun / Ra (Egyptian).
The sun / a day (an ancient Chinese character, now written as 日 (rì) )

A vector directed out of and orthogonal to the two-dimensional surface on which it is drawn (as opposed to  indicating a vector which is orthogonal and directed inwards with [...]

december 15, 2008

the Sun cross

 
The sun cross, a cross inside a circle, is one of the oldest and most widespread of symbols. The Neolithic symbol combining cross and circle is the simplest conceivable representation of the union of opposed polarities in the Western world. It often stood for the sun and the tree of life. Crossed circles scratched on stones have been recovered from Paleolithic cave [...]

december 15, 2008

Yin/ Yang

 

In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin yang (simplified Chinese: 阴阳; traditional Chinese: 陰陽; pinyin: yīnyáng, ‘um yang’ in Korean – often referred to in the west as yin and yang) is used to describe how seemingly opposing forces are interdependent in the natural world, giving rise to each other in turn. The concept lies at the heart of many branches of classical Chinese [...]

december 15, 2008

Gankyil

 

The Gankyil is a symbol and ritual tool in Tibetan Buddhism. In Bön and Nyingma Dzogchen lineages, the Gankyil is the principal symbol and teaching tool: it is symbolic of primordial energy and represents the central unity and indivisibility of all the teaching, philosophical and doctrinal trinities in Dzogchen. It is an attribute of the Snow Lion.

“The Gankyil, or ‘Wheel of Joy’, can clearly be [...]