Crichton Cross

The symbols in this cross represent the powers of Nature.

These powers are governed by order and chaos, positive and negative, dark and light, the power of the sun, cycles of death and rebirth and the motions of the earth

The wheel between the arms represented the instrument with which to measure these effects.

The four arms represent the four quarters of the circumpolar stars that have to be observed to tell the time.

The upright represents the staff that acts as a fulcrum with which to steady the instrument.

The decorations on the staff represent the vine of life and its fruit.

The Cycles of Time

The symbolism above represents the interweaving cycles of cause and effect, in other words, what we know as time, but what they understood as just change.

Time was not linear to our ancestors as it is to us today.

They considered memory to be an illusion and that everything that ever was and ever would be was here and now, not in the past.

The tilted cross seen in the middle is representative of the tilted earth which affects the seasons bringing death and rebirth for all life on a cyclical basis

Precession of the Equinoxes

As the planet earth orbits the sun, the annual seasons change.

The reason they change is because the earth is tilted.

The tilt is caused by precession, which is an anti clockwise rotation similar to a top slowing down.

It takes 25,960 years to complete one turn

The tilt is around 23.4 degrees from the perpendicular and causes different aspects of the planet to be exposed to the sun.

These aspects change the amount of sunlight reaching higher latitudes thus affecting the weather and creating the four seasons.

The calendar was measured from the spring equinoxes with three months to each season.

Each month was matched to a sign of the zodiac of which there were 12 in any year.

The change in precession was measured by dividing 25,960 years into ages of the zodiac and each of these was approximately 2,160 years long.

We are currently in the age of Pisces and this sign is adopted by the Christian sign of the fish.

The last one was Aries (Amen) and was the symbol of Egypt until the time of Christ.

Graticuled cross

Ireland

Time was measured with the cross and so it is fitting that the degrees for marking the angles should be displayed along with other symbols to show the purpose.

In this cross you can see the graticules required for measurement.

In the middle you can see the symbol of Aries, a sheep, denoting a connection with the God of Time. Amen or Amun.

It was Christ who was seen as the last shepherd and it was with his symbol this gnostic grave is decorated.

"Your staff and (measuring) rod shall comfort me."

I shall fear no evil (chaos)

The Serpent

Lord of the Dance

Surrounding the seeds of the Vine of Life is the Serpent.

the ancients depicted this as the Dragon, the Worm and the Beast.

It was seen as the Lord of the dance of order and chaos, death and rebirth.

In other word, this symbol represents Time in all its changes brought about through cause and effect.

It's image can be seen throughout the ancient world, from China, to Egypt,to the Maya, Inca and Hopi tribes of America and to Christianity.

There are Neolithic serpent mounds in Scotland and Ohio.

It is symbolised as interweaving all things and is predominantly seen as Evil ( Chaos,Darkness and negativity)

It was the mythical Serpent knowledge of Eve because it allows prediction of events and seasons.

It is the only constellation in the sky that is constant in the face of precession and the method used in combination with the working cross to tell time and date by determining the position of the sun in the zodiac at all times, night and day.

The clock hand of our ancestors is the serpent and the cross the face.