crowned heart

A really interesting weekend at the Mind Body Spirit Fair at Manchester G-Mex. So many poeple looking for something meaningful amongst so many options and so much spiritual junk (eg do toe socks REALLY help your energies flow better, or are they just great for keeping your feet cosy?). But aside from all the talking to people and prayer that we did at the fair, I was thinking a lot about a symbol that I saw in a Catholic cathedral we visited in Canada.

It was a heart with a crown, and it was stuck in my head all weekend for some reason - I think something to do with it being a chance to reconnect with searchers at a level where the cross seems too traditional/ institutional... Anyone know what this might be called? And is it related to what I might know as a gimmel ring?

(note to self and others: urgh, I hate posting on this! :-S Everything has the potential to seem so final and open to misinterpretation. And I also need to learn that keying Ctrl+S posts these musings, rather than saving them... ooops!)

1 comment:

Fat Roland said...

Fact attack from someone taking a break from work...

The crowned heart, a symbol meaning the sovereignty of love over the heart, is used in lots of jewellery, although my jeweller friend Rowena probably wouldn't touch the symbol with a bargepole as it's been done so much.

There is a popular ring called the Claddagh, which shows a crowned heart being supported by hands. The two hands represent friendship, the crown means loyalty and the heart stands for love. The Claddagh ring was originally designed by a slave called Richard Joyce of Galway, who was captured by pirates and forced into learning how to become goldsmith. When he was set free from slavery he set up a shop in Galway selling these things.

Of course, you could combine the crowned heart with a fluffy bear, in which case you would get this: http://www.12shopping.de/mtp-1410018.html [copy and paste this into your internet browser].

xxx fats