The Cross and the Tree

As it is just after Christmas I liked this image with the Celtic Cross and the Tree.

The Celtic Cross is essentially a traditional Christian cross with a circle overlying the point where the lines meet. This symbol evolved in the British Isles, and the earliest forms date from the seventh to ninth centuries in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland.

No one is certain about where the distinctive circle of the Celtic cross came from or what it means. Among some ancient peoples, a circle was used to represent the moon, and a circle with a cross symbolized the sun. Thus, the circle in the Celtic cross could have been a pagan moon or sun that was appropriated by early Christians to help convert the Celtic population.

The cross takes much of the symbolic value of the tree. Both of them represent the meeting place for divine and human, heaven and earth, and they affirm a renewal of spiritual life.