arms slightly raised, wing-shaped, and in front distinct breasts.[130]
I must leave it an open question as to whether the symbol of the cross has any relation to the two pieces of wood in the religious fire production, as is frequently claimed. It does appear, however, as if the cross symbol actually still possessed the significance of "union," for this idea belongs to the fertility charm, and especially to the thought of eternal rebirth, which is most intimately bound up with the cross. The thought of "union," expressed by the symbol of the cross, is met with in "Timaios" of Plato, where the world soul is conceived as stretched out between heaven and earth in the form of an X (Chi); hence in the form of a "St. Andrew's cross." When we now learn, furthermore, that the world soul contains in itself the world as a body, then this picture inevitably reminds us of the mother.
(Dialogues of Plato. Jowett, Vol. II, page 528.)
"And in the center he put the soul, which he diffused through the whole, and also spread over all the body round about, and he made one solitary and only heaven, a circle moving in a circle, having such excellence as to be able to hold converse with itself, and needing no other friendship or acquaintance. Having these purposes in view he created the world to be a blessed god."
This highest degree of inactivity and freedom from
desire, symbolized by the being enclosed within itself, signifies
divine blessedness. The only human prototype of
this conception is the child in the mother's womb, or
rather more, the adult man in the continuous embrace of
the mother, from whom he originates. Corresponding to
