i <3 symbols!
after heatherthegreat and i searched through various resources... including a timeline of the heart in history, a history of iconography in suits of cards, tattoo designs, and some more abstract analysis, as well as Catholic exegesis ...in our search for different perspectives on the meaning associated with the specific symbol which has come to represent the "heart:"
♥
(which for western pop culture, rather than representing the anatomical heart, is perhaps more related to Tiphareth of the Kabbalah, the Anahata Chakra of Kundalini, or K'an of the I Ching)
indeed, there are many paths by which to get to the heart of this question:
...although it seems spurious, we found this elaborate theory of how the Europeans emerging from the dark ages developed the heart symbol as they rediscovered classical civilization:
"Given the impressive details in ancient representations of the heart, Vinken convinces us that it would be erroneous to believe that the scalloped heart shape arose out of uninterest in the subtleties of cardiac anatomy. In fact, Vinken artfully hypothesizes that the scalloped shape derives not from a deficit in knowledge of overall cardiac structure but rather in the ancient interpretation of the relationships between the components of cardiac anatomy. He suggests that the true origin of the scalloped shape resides with Aristotle. In his History of Animals, Aristotle writes that "the heart has three cavities....The rounded end of the heart is at the top. The pointed end is very largely fleshy and firm in texture...It has three cavities, the largest being on the righthand side, the smallest on the left, and the medium-sized one in the middle." Galen termed Aristotle's middle chamber a fovea and recognized that it was, in fact, a portion of the right-sided chamber; modern authors have eventually suggested that Aristotle's middle cavity was actually the infundibulum of the right ventricular outflow tract. Vinken proposes that the scalloped-shape of the heart arose out of thirteenth century illustrators' efforts to reconcile the written descriptions of Aristotle's middle cavity and Galen's fovea by representing this structure as a concavity in the base of the heart. In a culmination of his artistic sleuthing, Vinken traces the first scalloped heart to a drawing in a thirteenth century text by Vigevano that was subsequently reproduced in a variety of forms by authors over the next three centuries."
- from Craig T. Basson's review of "The Shape of the Heart," by Pierre J. Vinken
another popular theory for the origin of the heart symbol lies in shape of the the seed/fruit of plant known as Silphium, which was harvested to extinction. apparently, problems with the ethics of agribusiness are not a recent development!
and though i do have sympathy for the daggers & arrows which pierce Erzulie's heart, i still prefer to give my own "heart" wings to celebrate in divine ecstasy:
oh, wait! stop the press... this breaking news just in:
Female Bum Behind Valentine Symbol?
or, as Gloria Steinem writes in her forward to the Vagina Monologues:
"the shape we call a heart -- whose symmetry resembles the vulva far more than the asymmetry of the organ that shares its name -- is probably a residual female genital symbol. ... I thought of this while watching little girls drawing hearts in their notebooks, even dotting their i's with hearts, and I wondered: Were they magnetized by this primordial shape because it was so like their own bodies?"
although Marija Gimbutas would probably say it better, here is a simplified equation of the heart symbol's ideogrammatic synthesis, from ThinkQuest:
+
+
=
--
i must say that i am quite fond of my poly pendant, which was made by Abzu Designs... i have continued to discover new meanings in this combination of the heart symbol (evoking in me The Rainbow Bridges which interpenetrate my realities & phantasies) with the infinity symbol (that i equate with the archetype of the The Dark Cosmic Mother) below a single point of garnet (which for me, represents my individual will in service to the collective).
--
the Meso-Americans believed that the heart allows us to know teotl (reality/cosmos/spirit), through the energy known as teyolia... a sort of wisdom which moderated between destiny (tonalli, located in the head), and passion (ihiyotl, found in the liver).
--
we also came across this reference to the Paha Sapha: "the Black Hills, sacred land of the Lakota and Cheyenne. The Lakota have said that Paha Sapha has the shape of the heart (an anatomical heart, that is) for it is the heart of this land. The Lakota heart. The heart of Earth. Five hundred years before Landsat satellites sent back their first images from space, Lakota knowledge of the land had told them what the satellites now image: Paha Sapha is shaped as a heart, and so embodied Earth’s spirit. A spirit with which each morning a prayer of affirmation is made; 'Mi takuyae Oyasin,' or 'We are all related ' -- not only all Lakota, all humans, nor even all life alone, but all things of the Great Mystery."
--
it is notable that the Egyptian heiroglyph for the heart known as "ab" or "ieb," was closer to the shape of an actual anatomical heart or an amphora-like jar (yet the heart was the only major organ to be kept inside of a mummy's body)
--
this came up at one point in our search, too: 'Oldest star chart' found (to correspond with the gestation period of a human child in the womb)
♥
(which for western pop culture, rather than representing the anatomical heart, is perhaps more related to Tiphareth of the Kabbalah, the Anahata Chakra of Kundalini, or K'an of the I Ching)
indeed, there are many paths by which to get to the heart of this question:
...although it seems spurious, we found this elaborate theory of how the Europeans emerging from the dark ages developed the heart symbol as they rediscovered classical civilization:
"Given the impressive details in ancient representations of the heart, Vinken convinces us that it would be erroneous to believe that the scalloped heart shape arose out of uninterest in the subtleties of cardiac anatomy. In fact, Vinken artfully hypothesizes that the scalloped shape derives not from a deficit in knowledge of overall cardiac structure but rather in the ancient interpretation of the relationships between the components of cardiac anatomy. He suggests that the true origin of the scalloped shape resides with Aristotle. In his History of Animals, Aristotle writes that "the heart has three cavities....The rounded end of the heart is at the top. The pointed end is very largely fleshy and firm in texture...It has three cavities, the largest being on the righthand side, the smallest on the left, and the medium-sized one in the middle." Galen termed Aristotle's middle chamber a fovea and recognized that it was, in fact, a portion of the right-sided chamber; modern authors have eventually suggested that Aristotle's middle cavity was actually the infundibulum of the right ventricular outflow tract. Vinken proposes that the scalloped-shape of the heart arose out of thirteenth century illustrators' efforts to reconcile the written descriptions of Aristotle's middle cavity and Galen's fovea by representing this structure as a concavity in the base of the heart. In a culmination of his artistic sleuthing, Vinken traces the first scalloped heart to a drawing in a thirteenth century text by Vigevano that was subsequently reproduced in a variety of forms by authors over the next three centuries."
- from Craig T. Basson's review of "The Shape of the Heart," by Pierre J. Vinken
another popular theory for the origin of the heart symbol lies in shape of the the seed/fruit of plant known as Silphium, which was harvested to extinction. apparently, problems with the ethics of agribusiness are not a recent development!
and though i do have sympathy for the daggers & arrows which pierce Erzulie's heart, i still prefer to give my own "heart" wings to celebrate in divine ecstasy:
oh, wait! stop the press... this breaking news just in:
Female Bum Behind Valentine Symbol?
or, as Gloria Steinem writes in her forward to the Vagina Monologues:
"the shape we call a heart -- whose symmetry resembles the vulva far more than the asymmetry of the organ that shares its name -- is probably a residual female genital symbol. ... I thought of this while watching little girls drawing hearts in their notebooks, even dotting their i's with hearts, and I wondered: Were they magnetized by this primordial shape because it was so like their own bodies?"
although Marija Gimbutas would probably say it better, here is a simplified equation of the heart symbol's ideogrammatic synthesis, from ThinkQuest:
+
+
=
--
i must say that i am quite fond of my poly pendant, which was made by Abzu Designs... i have continued to discover new meanings in this combination of the heart symbol (evoking in me The Rainbow Bridges which interpenetrate my realities & phantasies) with the infinity symbol (that i equate with the archetype of the The Dark Cosmic Mother) below a single point of garnet (which for me, represents my individual will in service to the collective).
--
the Meso-Americans believed that the heart allows us to know teotl (reality/cosmos/spirit), through the energy known as teyolia... a sort of wisdom which moderated between destiny (tonalli, located in the head), and passion (ihiyotl, found in the liver).
--
we also came across this reference to the Paha Sapha: "the Black Hills, sacred land of the Lakota and Cheyenne. The Lakota have said that Paha Sapha has the shape of the heart (an anatomical heart, that is) for it is the heart of this land. The Lakota heart. The heart of Earth. Five hundred years before Landsat satellites sent back their first images from space, Lakota knowledge of the land had told them what the satellites now image: Paha Sapha is shaped as a heart, and so embodied Earth’s spirit. A spirit with which each morning a prayer of affirmation is made; 'Mi takuyae Oyasin,' or 'We are all related ' -- not only all Lakota, all humans, nor even all life alone, but all things of the Great Mystery."
--
it is notable that the Egyptian heiroglyph for the heart known as "ab" or "ieb," was closer to the shape of an actual anatomical heart or an amphora-like jar (yet the heart was the only major organ to be kept inside of a mummy's body)
--
this came up at one point in our search, too: 'Oldest star chart' found (to correspond with the gestation period of a human child in the womb)