Interfaith Healing Center

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Symbols of Faith

Jewish Star of David - The traditional interweaving of the upward pointing and downward pointing triangles, representing the unity of earthly and heavenly energies. It represents the union of God and the Shekina, the male and female energies in harmony.

Islamic Moon and Star - The star of perfected light, which can be seen as the perfected human, and the receptiveness of the moon which allows the light of the Divine to fill it. Islam is a tradition from the Middle East, emphasizing devotion and community.

Eckankar is a new religious movement that focuses on spiritual exercises enabling practitioners to experience what its followers call "the Light and Sound of God."

Shinto Symbol - The Torii Gate represents Holy Ground.  Shinto is a religion of worship of nature spirits, and most shrines are located outdoors. 

Hindu Om - The OM is the sound of the universal vibration, the primal source from which all creation manifests. It is the mantra mantrika, or "Mother of all sounds" the first of all creative spells spoken by the Goddess. The original meaning was "womb".

Sikh symbol - The circle of unity contains the double edged sword representing the power of truth, and is surrounded by two curved daggers, representing the act of willingness to defend the faith.

Christian Fish Symbol - In the years following the ascension of the resurrected Jesus to heaven, the Christian church grew rapidly. Christians soon found themselves to be the subjects of persecution by both the Romans and the Jews. In many locales, it became dangerous to be known as a Christian.
Thus, when two strangers met and thought maybe they were fellow believers, one of them would draw, on the ground, the upper half of the fish symbol.  Recognizing the symbol, the stranger would add a second curved line and complete the drawing of a fish.

The Flaming Chalice is a Unitarian Universalist Symbol.  The merging circles recall the merged movements, and the fire and the chalice represent wisdom and devotion.

Jain - Jainism contains many elements similar to Hinduism and Buddhism. The world's almost 4 million Jains are almost entirely located in India. They practice Ahimsa: non violence.

Taoist Ying Yang - The interplay between primal opposites is an eternal dance, such as (light/dark, male /female, day/night, life/death) and within the heart of the light is a core of dark, and within the core of darkness lies light.

Buddhist Prayer Wheel - The Buddha taught the eightfold path to enlightenment, represented here by a prayer wheel. The paths are right conduct, right contemplation, right effort, right faith, right occupation, right resolve, right self awareness, and right speech.

Baha'i Nine Pointed Star - The Baha'i religion is one of the newest of the religions of the prophets, and encourages world peace by teaching tolerance and honoring all paths to God.

Christian Cross - The celtic cross reminds us not only of Jesus the Christ's death and resurrection, but of the older symbolism as an intersection of two energy flows, one flowing between earth and heaven, and the other spreading out from side to side, representing the 4 directions.

African Goddess - The Aku Aba is a Goddess symbol used for good luck in many parts of Africa, and is especially worn by women and children as a charm to lend protection, fertility and good fortune. It is from the Ashanti tribe in Nigeria.

Native American Medicine Wheel - The four directions of the east, south, west and north are honored in the wheel of life, hung with sacred eagle feathers. These primal directions represent the stages of energy cycles such as the cycles of time: spring, summer, fall, winter.

Wiccan Pentacle - Symbolic of life and health in ancient times, the pentacle has been used as a strong protective charm, and as a symbol in many different religions. In Wicca, a shamanic nature religion from Europe, it shows an image of how energy flows through stages of life, and corresponds to the five points of the sacred human body.

Zoroastrian fire altar represents the unquenchable power of wisdom and righteousness.

Circle (sacred hoop, ring): An ancient and universal symbol of unity, wholeness, infinity, the goddess, and female power. To earth-centered religions throughout history as well as to many contemporary pagans, it represents the feminine spirit or force, the cosmos or a spiritualized Mother Earth, and a sacred space. Gnostic traditions linked the unbroken circle to the "world serpent" forming a circle as it eats its own tail.

Tibetan Prayer Wheels: "devices for spreading spiritual blessings and well being. Rolls of thin paper, imprinted with many, many copies of the mantra (prayer) Om Mani Padme Hum... are wound around an axle in a protective container, and spun around and around. Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying this mantra, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion." 

Sources For More Information:

KJOS Ministries:  http://www.crossroad.to/Books/symbols1.html

CRES:  http://www.cres.org/approach/visionandmission.htm

Open: 

Wednesdays: 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Sunday Afternoon

Other times by appointment.

It is always advisable to call ahead to be sure that we are available.

Come visit us at:

Tibetan Plaza

265 Greenfield Road, Suite A

South Deerfield, MA 01373

A sacred space --

a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be.

This is the place of creative incubation.
At first you might find that nothing happens there.

But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen . . .
Your sacred space is where you find yourself again and again.
-- Joseph Campbell

Dedicated as a sacred space where you may come for renewal & healing of the spirit.

Contact Us:

Rev. Nancy Higgins     413-512-0865

Rev. Mary Ann Tourjee     413-446-0159

Email:  InterfaithHealingCenter@gmail.com