"Sacred vessels" BENEATH Posts, Page 7

Now we enclose the bell/stupa shape to "move" on to the onion-domed Eastern Rite churches, the Roman/Medieval spear/scepter and orb, and the handy all-in-one Globus Cruciger (our upside down "boot atop post") of Queen and Christ.

from left to right, top: 24-domed Intercession Church on the Vytegra River, built 1708 and burnt to the ground in 1963. Colour photograph by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, 1911; Antoniniano of Marcus Aurelius Carinus (Roman Emperor, 283 – July, 285 ad) holding pilum and globe; Albrecht Dürer, "Emperor Charlemagne", 1511/1513, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg, Germany; Unknown, "The Coronation of Elizabeth I", 1558, National Portrait Gallery, London, a copy attrib. to Nicholas Hilliard of the lost original

left to right, bottom: Queen Elizabeth II holds the Globus Cruciger, the "Sovereign's Orb", for her coronation portrait in 1953 © Cecil Beaton / Camera Press; Andrea Previtali , "Salvator Mundi", 1480 - 1528, National Gallery, London; Pedro Berruguete, "Salvator Mundi", 1501, Palencia; Anonymous, "The Virgin Hodigitria", 1677, Museum of Architecture, Kiev

Barbara Walker, 1983, page 188: "The cross [is]..a male symbol of the phallic Tree of Life. .often appeared in conjunction with the female-genital circle or oval, to signify the sacred marriage. The male cross and female orb composed the Egyptian 'Nefer' amulet of blessedness, a charm of sexual harmony [c. 2400 bce]; page 534: It is still customary for rulers to hold the "phallic" scepter in the right [male] hand [and] the "yonic" orb in the [female] left hand. This usage descends from the king's [/Queen's] symbolic display of the 'hieros gamos' [sacred marriage] between himself [/herself?] and the Goddess. The original meaning was that the ruler united male and female principles; but the meaning was lost, and only the symbols remain."

citation: Barbara G. Walker, "The Woman's Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets", HarperCollins, 1983, isbn 006250925X

from Wikipaedia- "The Globus Cruciger (Latin) is an orb (globus) topped with a cross (cruciger), a Christian symbol of authority used throughout the Middle Ages on coins, iconography and royal regalia. It symbolises Christ's (the cross) dominion over the world (the orb), literally held in the dominion of an earthly ruler (or sometimes celestial being such as an angel)."