Symbol / symbolic identification help please?

[Rook]

Hi there,

I on january 6th, a msg was posted on my girlfriend's site showing the symbol ive attached to this post - it is a heart with 6 horizontal lines stacked on top of each other to the same height to the right of the heart - underneath it, someone else repliedimply by posting a heart - i also posted, but i dont understand the meaning of what ive posted to, and i would rather research this on my own before (if I'm unable to find aything)

i need to go ahead and just ask her what it means - can someone please tell me the significance of this and or where i can find the corresponding alphabet?  

Also, any refferal to a good source where i can learn more about paganism, satanism, and the like without having to google "occult" - i would like to stop looking in from the outside and find some proper sources

otherwise, i keep ending up on christian sites trying to convince me of the mistake I'm making.. or i end up on 'one stop shop' sites that contain info about what teens think 'cool occult stuff' is - I'm not in a phase, I'm a grown man and i take this very seriously.

I am on a new sporitual joirney in life and am trying to understand the world and the people i love in it, i am having trouble with some of ky loved ones opening up to me about their beliefs, as i think they may suspect that i wil not be able to fully accept them for who they are and how they practice their spirituality, when in fact, there is absolutely nothing they could do that would make me lose respect or love for them, even should i find out that they were illegal in the eyes of the law (not to say that they are, but just saying, nothing would change how i feel, my love for them)

I have been lead to believe that some of the people i know are christian, when in fact i believe they are pagan/luciferian/satanist - which is interesting because i feel that they are hiding something from me that would bring us closer, as i have recently discovered much about life and myself that i had been blind to.. anyway,

First things first, what does the attached mean? Another person responded to it with a heart emoticon if this helps, and it was posted jan 6th

Also, is there any significant holy day on jan 7th ? I was unable to go, as i am currently out of province - i was told that there were 13 guests, and that it was a fiesta with pulled pork - i was raised greek orthodox and i know that some meals and get togethers are symbolic - was this just a get together? Or more likely a cerimony?  

She doesnt often have guests to her home, and was preparing for a few days prior, which seemed a bit overkill for a last minute get together idea that she made it out to be - i would love to join her in celebrating spiritualy significant days and events, but i feel that I'm going to have to prove to her that I'm 'on the same page' so to speak, for fear that i wont accept her, but as i said.

she likely thinks that i wont accept or respect her beliefs, but the conundrum is that I'm certain that we are alligned, I just havent been brought up this way, and have much to learn..

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Is a fiesta on the 7h of january anything special?

[Sefiru]

Hi there,
I on january 6th, a msg was posted on my girlfriend's site showing the symbol ive attached to this post - it is a heart with 6 horizontal lines stacked on top of each other to the same height to the right of the heart - underneath it, someone else repliedimply by posting a heart - i also posted, but i dont understand the meaning of what ive posted to, and i would rather research this on my own before (if I'm unable to find aything) i need to go ahead and just ask her what it means - can someone please tell me the significance of this and or where i can find the corresponding alphabet?  

Well, the symbol of six bars looks a lot like an I Ching sign - specifically heaven + heaven or 'The Creative', according to my book.

[Jenett]

Hi there!

can someone please tell me the significance of this and or where i can find the corresponding alphabet?

I agree with Sefiru that my first instinct is that it's from the i Ching. That said, there are many different symbols out there, and without some idea of the context, it's sort of hard to tell.

For symbols, I like the Symbols.com website, partly because you can select characteristics of a symbol (symmetrical or asymmetrical, curved or straight lines, etc.) and it will pull up images that match, as well as being able to browse by meaning. (It has a wide range: some are used in magical traditions, but many are from other sources.)

Also, any refferal to a good source where i can learn more about paganism, satanism, and the like without having to google "occult" - i would like to stop looking in from the outside and find some proper sources

Paganism is a huge topic! In general, sites that try to tell you all about every form of religion under the Pagan umbrella are likely to get a lot of it wrong, because there are so many different religions there.

I have a site designed as an introduction to religious witchcraft (one particular type of religious approach under the Pagan umbrella), called Seeking. You might find this page, looking at broad types of things under the Pagan umbrella particular useful right now, and the rest of the links on the 'Beginning' page may also be helpful to you in getting familiar with some terms and concepts.

There are also two great intro guides on The Cauldron site: the Pagan Primer and the Teens and Paganism FAQ (which while written with teens in mind, is good for people new to the topic of any age).

In general, more specific searches will help you: if you search on "Pagan" or "Satanism", you will find a lot of junk, but if you search on a more specific term (like the name of a specific deity, ritual celebration, tool, etc.) you'll still get some junk, but you'll start finding more quality sites. Reading this site for a bit, or doing searches on specific terms or concepts and reading those threads may also be helpful.

(You will find some material about different forms of Satanism - there are several, and some variants - but it's never been a major focus here. You'll find more about other forms of Paganism. Also, not all Satanists identify as Pagan.)

I have been lead to believe that some of the people i know are christian, when in fact i believe they are pagan/luciferian/satanist - which is interesting because i feel that they are hiding something from me that would bring us closer, as i have recently discovered much about life and myself that i had been blind to.. anyway

The only way to solve this with actual specific people is to talk to them. The usual advice for complicated conversations about any topic is good here: find a time you're both relaxed. Explain that you'd like to know, and why (your own inclinations, plus anything you've noticed that you're curious.) Explain what your goal is (presumably that you'd like to be frank and open about religious beliefs and interests). Talk it out.

This isn't easy, but it is the thing that works best, long-term.

If you're not ready to do that yet, one option is to float a topic - maybe a news story you've read that reflects your beliefs, or a book, or a movie, or whatever is suitable for you. Bring it up as a general topic, make sure you don't express judgement, express a little curiousity about it. See what the reaction is. It can be a way to indicate that you're open minded, thoughtful, and not judging an interest in the topic if you do it right.

Also, is there any significant holy day on jan 7th ? I was unable to go, as i am currently out of province - i was told that there were 13 guests, and that it was a fiesta with pulled pork - i was raised greek orthodox and i know that some meals and get togethers are symbolic - was this just a get together?

Not in the traditions I am most familiar with.

Since you had thoughts about Satanism, I tried searching on "Satanism sacred days" which got me several lists that include it, but it also got me a nice blog post debunking that, and with some additional useful information. (Librarian tip of the day: You don't have to have a perfect search: 'sacred' might or might not be a good word here. But this one worked, with a little quick browsing of the initial page or two of results.)

Is "fiesta" a word she used, or is that your word for it? The other thing it might be, especially with specific food in mind, is a ritual in one of the Afro-Carribean diaspora religions or something similar.

In those religions, there might be a ritual for a specific power (depending on the religion, they might be called loas, orisha, or something else). It might be a ritual on a day sacred to one of them (either date, or day of week), or with some other specific timing (phase of the moon, for a specific goal, etc.) that may not be linked to that specific calendar date.

(Some people in these religions consider themselves Pagan, others don't. There are a lot of possible options here, because these religions developed from slaves being brought from Africa to the Americas, and building up religions based on their original village and cultural practices along with elements from the dominant religious culture, usually but not always Roman Catholicism.)
 
As a final note, I notice that your post has a lot of missed or transposed letters or words that are partially jumbled - sometimes that happens when people are writing quickly on a mobile device, sometimes it's for other reasons. If it's something you can fix (by taking a bit more time to proofread), I suspect more people might be able to respond to you.

This forum has a number of people for whom English isn't their primary language, and others who are dyslexic, have other learning disabilities, or use assistive technology. All of those can make confusing text a lot harder for them to read.

(Adding a blank line every 4-6 lines of text will also help a bit: you can see my reply here for paragraph lengths that work pretty well on a variety of screen sizes. I've also gone through your post and put in a few blank lines to help people read it.)