__________________________________
Heart Symbolism
The history or heartstory of this familiar shape can traced throughout the world and the centuries. It is an image that transcends language and culture but seems to have a meaning that is recognizable to all. According to the Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, by Barbara Walker, 1988, the heart shape is symbolic of religious iconography, such as with the “Sacred Heart” of the Catholic religion, was said to have been a 17th century vision by Saint Margaret Marie Alacoque and the heart was surrounded by the crown of thorns. Christian iconography deems the heart, as a “stand-in for the soul”. The Egyptians, believed that soul was weighed in the balances after death, resembling the “ab” or “heart-soul”. One of the Egyptians seven souls that descend directly from the mother’s heart, as holy lunar blood, that would become her child. The hieroglyphic image was that of a dancing figure, only to represent the “heartbeat” or the inner dance of life. The idea of the internal dance was also at the core of Oriental symbolism, by the perpetual dance of Shiva, which is at the center of the universe, also understood as the “human heart”.
In the Dictionary of Symbols by J.E. Cirlot, 2002, the Egyptians also saw the “heart” as indispensable in the mummy in eternity. The heart was center and centers were considered symbolic of eternity. According to the Aristotelian tradition, the heart was the “unmoved mover”. In more tradition symbolism, the heart is understood as the true seat of intelligence, the brain was only instrumental. The “heart” was the sun or center, a goblet, cup, vessel, cavern or coffer. For the alchemist or pharmacists, the heart was the image of sun with man, as was gold the sun on earth. The connection of love and the heart symbol was understood from the mystic doctrine of unity, that to love was to experience a force that propels the lover to a center. Thereby, the heart signifies love as the “center of illumination and happiness”, thus the addition of flames, crosses, fleur-de-lis or a crown. The “heart”, symbolic of dualism and separation, united in the mystic center, “the hidden center” because it only exists in space and imagined this way. The heart denotes a state reached by the elimination of separation.
Today, the heart shape is symbolic of love, valentine, the physical heart, emotions, home, center, soul, life source. This shape is found across the world, it is a symbol of unity, connection and compassion.
In therapeutic realms, the heart is the seat of the emotion, the container in which one holds sacred space. The therapist could be considered a “heart-doctor”, a practitioner of the heart, or as doing heart repairs. As an art therapist, this symbol is continually seen in art work across the populations, from the very young to the very old. It is a way to express ones deepest inner self. As a therapist, one becomes the surrogate heart or container for the client the therapeutic setting. There are many references to the heart in our language. Can you think of any statements referencing the heart?