Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Nessim Sibony: 700 Stars of David on youtube

Nessim Sibony collected over 700 Stars of David and displayed them on 33 posters. He created a cd-rom slideshow of his collection, and video-taped  a small part of it to display on youtube

Star of David on the wall of Jerusalem's Old City

Star of David appears on at least four reliefs in the wall of Jerusalem's Old City. Actually it is a six-pointed star which is called by Muslims Solomon's Seal. the wall was built from 1535 to 1538 by Turkish Sultan Suleiman I (the Magnificent), whose name is an Arabic translation of the Hebrew Biblical name Solomon. These reliefs are not the only reliefs which decorate the old city walls - there are more than one hundred designs, some of them showing other symbols such as the Octagram, the star with eight points.
Photographed by Zeev Barkan


Solomon's Seal opposite the entrance to the Rockefeller Museum
Its triangles turn at forty-five degrees
So that it leans at its base on two points. 
A flower with six petals appears in its center and
outwardly, there are three leaves between any two points





Solomon's Seal  at Lion’s Gate opposite the police station
On both sides there are Octagrams (stars with eight points(
In the center there’s a small Solomon's Seal surrounded by six arrows
Each of the six triangles apex is placed on the center of a circle
Thanks to Dobush who referred me to this Solomon's Seal


Solomon's Seal West to the New Gate
hexagon inside Solomon's Seal surrounded by  triangles that turn at a forty-five degrees
So that it leans at its base on two points



Solomon's Seal in the parking lot opposite the entrance to the Rockefeller Museum
The Stars shape is made of two parallel lines, just like in the Israeli flag - only 500 years before it…
A flower with six petals appears in its center




Solomon's Seal in Jaffa Gate
In the center
 Surrounded by another Solomon's Seal







Saturday, August 21, 2010

Hexagram as part of a Mandala from Tibet

Hexagram as part of a Mandala from Tibet
19th century
Vajrayogini at the center
Rubin Museum of Art
Copied from Wikipedia entry: Vajrayogini

Gudrun Bühnemann is a Professor at the Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In her book, Mandalas and Yantras in the Hindu traditions (2003) there’s a chapter about the hexagram, where I found some info that was new to me (but I didn’t find an answer to the question about the origin of the Indian hexagram).

P, 43

The hexagram (satkona, sadara, tara) - Begley [1] 1973:85 notes that the word star, Tara, appears as a synonym for satkona

My Note (zeevveez): the sound of the word "sadara" id also close to he sound of the word "star".

[1] Begley Wayne Edison, Vishnu's flaming wheel: the iconography of the Sudarśana-cakra, New York University Press for the College Art Association of America, 1973

P. 44

In Budhist Tantrism the word "evam" is thought to be represented by two intertwined triangles...Kolver discusses the shapes of the letter e and the va which were remeniscent of downward pointing and upward pointing triangles around the sixth century C.E. and were visualized as hexagram... when Vagra-yogini is described as situated in evam” this means that she is visualized inside a hexagram.

In descriptions of the symbolic shapes (mandala) of the elements the hexagram represents the element wind.

In the hexagram the deities are often worshipped at the points of intersection of the two triangles…

P. 45

In Budhist traditions hexagrams appear especially in mandalas of Vajra-Varahi / Vajra-Yogini.

According to Nath 1975-1976:78 the hexagram is also found in Indian temples, especially in Rajastahn were it is believed to have been associated with the worship of Siva and Sakti.

The hexagram appears in Islamic monuments of North India. Its center features a point (bindu) a lotus or a dancing peacock. (Nath 1975-1976:74-75).

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Hexagrams at the Herakleion Museum Crete

Hexagrams at the Herakleion (or Heraklion or Iraklion) Museum in Crete


Hexagrams at the Herakleion (or Heraklion or Iraklion) Museum in Crete

Perhaps the first appearance of two interlaced triangles (the exact image of what we recognize as the Star of David) is in several stone seals found in Festos palace in Crete by an Italian archaeologist of Jewish origin, Doro Levy. At the latest, they are from 1700 B.C.E, the date at which the palace was destroyed and a full seven hundred years before King David was even born. These seals are now exhibited in the Herakelion Museum in Crete.

In 1902 Arthur Evans discovered two stars of david’ on a mural plaster at the Court of Distaffs in a palace in Knossos. Now they are exhibited in the fresco storeroom of the Herakleion Museum.

Source: Mark A. S. Cameron, Stars Of David’ on a Mural Plaster Fragment From Knossos, Kadmos. Volume 18, Issue 1, Pages 40–46, 1979

Singapore - Six-pointed Star Body Piercing

Singapore - Six-pointed Star Body Piercing
During festival
Photo by amateur_photo_bore from Flickr



Singapore - Six-pointed Star Body Piercing
During festival
Photo by amateur_photo_bore from Flickr

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Navaho Hexagram 1904

Navaho Indian seems to have a hexagram on his chest
1904
Thanks to SaReGaMa for referring me to this image

Navaho Indian seems to have a hexagram on his chest
1904
Thanks to SaReGaMa for referring me to this image

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Hexagram on Costa Rica stamp

Hexagram on a Costa Rica stamp
Courtesy of Stephanie Comfort (c)

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Star-of-David Object

A present I got from my friends Stephanie & Jim Comfort from

Monday, August 02, 2010

Crunk Gang Hexagrams

The following images were sent to me by Rhys Alton from

Rhys wrote to me:
Two graffiti tags at the train tunnels, both downtown Olympia, Washington, USA. I'm under the assumption that the following two tags are related to the 'Gangster Disciples,' a street gang which has co-opted the Hexagram:


White Hexagram
Photographer: Rhys Alton (c) 2010
-

Black Hexagram
Photographer: Rhys Alton (c) 2010

Hexagram on a Barber shop in Kyoto

Hexagram on a Barber shop in Kyoto
Photographer: Kathy Chiron