by Kevin Olivier

Created on: February 24, 2009   Last Updated: February 28, 2009

While most American's hold the "cross" to be a representation of Jesus' sacrifice for mankind, the fact of the matter is that the symbolism of the "cross" has existed far before the time of Christianity, and has a much greater meaning than commonly understood. The icon is one which has been passed down from civilization to civilization; some communities choose to associate the symbol with mythical beliefs, while others take it for what it really is; the pagan short hard of the zodiac.

Before accurate calendars and wrist watches existed, mankind resorted to a more primitive, yet surprisingly accurate, method of determining which season and time of year they were in. By mapping the stars, ancient civilizations were able to track solar and lunar eclipses, evaluate which season they were in, and even make accurate calculations of when the next harvests were. Not only were the stars important in keeping time, but ancient civilizations also tracked the cycles of Venus and the precession of Earth on its axes to keep track of larger tracks of time.

While most of the story of Jesus' birth is an astrotheological hybrid of the peagan zodiac, the part I would like to focus on primarily is where the importance of the cross comes in. From the summer solstice to the winter solstice it is noted that the day gets shorter and shorter. This is caused by a minimizing of the Sun's path across the sky. From a southern viewpoint, one can actually see the sun move lower and lower into the sky; this is a representation of death. On December 22nd, the Sun, after minimizing its path for 6 months, is at its lowest point in the sky. During this time period, the Sun is lying on the southern most point of the "southern crux," which can be translated into cross.

For three days, the sun stops moving south, and on December 25th, changes directions; On this day, it moves one degree north on the "southern crux," which is a representation of rebirth and longer days. (zeitgeistmovie.com)

Not only is the symbolism of the cross apparent in the Sun's movement accross the sky, but it is also represented on the actual zodiac map. This map traces the procession of Earth, the time of equinoxes, and much more. Just as most important symbols have their respective shorthands, the zodiac also partakes in this tradition. Because the center of the zodiac is a perpendicular crossing of two lines with a small circle around the center, the shorthand was commonly held to be a plus sign with a slightly extended base and a small circle around it.

Thus came the symbolic cross into existence. Just as the Greeks and other ancient cultures associated the stars with separate images and characters, the Christians incorporated the heavenly crux into their religion. What originated as a way to evaluate a certain point in time evolved into a theological representation of what man claims to be the ultimate sacrifice for humanity.

I would like to aknowledge that this article only included a fragment of process from which the symbol of the cross came to be; I felt that it was best to just cover the basics and leave the in depth exploration to those still interested in this topic.

Main Source: Zeitgeist the movle (zeitgeistmovie.com)

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