The cross as a Christian symbol was just emerging in the 4th century, and coincided with the time when the Gospel was being introduced to a sun and moon worshipping culture in what is now the Britain Isles. The legend of St. Patrick suggests how the two came together in his attempt to bring the Druids to Christ. Shown a sacred standing stone marked with a circle, Patrick blessed it by making the mark of a Latin cross through the circle. Was that the first Celtic Cross? The Druids probably continued to recognize their phallic symbols, even after the Christians re-sculpted those large stones ascrosses. And more than a millennium later, ‘born again pagans’ are seeing the circle as the sun, appropriating the Christian symbol back to its supposed primal meaning.

As symbolic expressions, the circle and the cross could not be more different. One is mystical while the other is almost geographical. The circle is a symbol of eternity and the endlessness of God’s love, while the crossrelates to the four directions, or four corners of the Earth (or perhaps the four elements: Air, Earth, Fire, Water), while the axes coming together imply the joining of forces such as Heaven and Earth. That coordinate, enclosed within the circle, suggests a realm where time & space cease to exist, a precondition for communication between this world and beyond.

Despite its long history, the cross has been well adopted by Christianity, but that does not mean its ancient meanings have altogether vanished. Just as the swastika became a symbol for hate, overriding its former associations, the original meanings of the cross and circle are waiting to be rediscovered. As a tattoo design it may have different meanings for different peoples, but at its symbolic roots it is a design that powerfully evokes the spiritual nature of the universe. Cross tattoo done in morbid tattoo parlor in cash and carry mall makati manila.