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THE MOUNT SOLEDAD CROSS - STRUCTURE, SYMBOL, AND SHAPE.

• Mount Soledad Veteran's Memorial.

• Ruling by Court of Appeal, November 30, 2006, Fourth Appellate District, Division One, State of California D047702

• Ruling by Judge - October 7, 2005.

• United States Court of Appeals - April 4, 2001 and Filed August 22, 2001 and Daily Journal.

• Thomas More Center - Petition to Protect the Mount Soledad Cross.

• San Diegans for the Mount Soledad National War Memorial.

• Crosses on Mount Soledad, April 28, 1989.

• United State Court of Appeals for the Ninth District, 2002.

• Philip Paulson - Plaintiff in Paulson versus The City of San Diego.

• H. R. 4818 and P.L. 108-447. Summary as of 12/8/2004.  Public Law.   This measure has not been amended since the Conference Report was filed in the House on November 20, 2004. Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 - Division A: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Programs Appropriations, 2005. (Sec. 116) Designates the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial located within the Soledad Natural Park in San Diego, California, as a national memorial honoring veterans of the U.S. armed forces. Requires the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) accept donation of the Memorial from the City of San Diego; (2) administer it as a National Park System unit; and (3) enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Soledad Memorial Association for continued maintenance by the Association of the Memorial's cross and surrounding granite memorial walls and plaques.

• Sec. 116. (a) NOTE: California. 16 USC 431 note.  Designation of National Veterans Memorial.--The Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial located within the Soledad Natural Park in San Diego, California, which consists of a 29 foot-tall cross and surrounding granite memorial walls containing plaques engraved with the names and photographs of veterans  of the United States Armed Forces, is hereby designated as a national
  memorial honoring veterans of the United States Armed Forces.

• Wikipedia page.
   

THE CROSS.

The cross is a symbol that is about as universal and ancient as any symbol that has emerged out of man's psyche. The cross symbolizes the meeting at right angles of horizontals and perpendiculars. Forces going in quite opposite directions but meeting at a central point, a common ground. It can symbolize the union of opposites and the dualism in nature. It can be the outstretch archetypal man with the infinite possibilities of growth being immortal. It represents eternal life. The cross can symbolize the decent of Spirit into matter. It is the intersection of the level of time with the Eternity of the Spirit.  The cross is the axis of the cycle of the year whose spokes are the equinoxes and solstices. It is the crossroads where the four directions meet. In a Christian sense the cross signifies acceptance of sacrifice, suffering, and death as well as immortality. There is a legend that the cross of Christ was made out of wood from the Tree of Knowledge, the cause of the Fall, making it the instrument of Redemption. In the Egyptian mythos the crux ansata or - a type of cross - was a symbol of life, immortality, and health. It is held by the gods and goddesses. It also represented the union of Isis and Osiris.

Numerologically, the cross is sometimes represented by the number four. Within our own teachings: "No.4 is the Mystic number, and indicates the operative influence of the four elements. Under this number, or the geometrical square, Pythagoras communicated the Ineffable Name of God to his chosen disciples." In the Hebrew alphabet the last letter is called Tav. And Tav means "mark" or "cross" and its original form was written much like ankh or cross. There are many more examples but I think we can see that the cross transcends human culture in both time and space. It is a symbol that ties us all together as a Brotherhood of Mankind. is a symbol that goes to the very root of our being.  The equal-armed cross is usually thought of today as being an exclusive Christian symbol but the sign has a history going back at least to the Neolithic period some 6000 years ago.  The cross is found in a variety of designs and in all sorts of situations around the world and at all periods of human activity, but this short investigation into its genesis, development, use and history is largely confined to the cultures of Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. The cross is a symbol that has a rich and ancient history. The cross can have paradoxical meanings.

A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars intersecting each other at a 90° angle, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run diagonally, the design is technically termed a saltire.The cross is one of the most ancient human symbols, and is used by many religions, most notably Christianity. It is frequently a representation of the division of the world into four elements (or cardinal points), or alternately as the union of the concepts of divinity, the vertical line, and the world, the horizontal line.  It is not known when the first cross image was made; after circles, crosses are one of the first symbols drawn by children of all cultures. There are many cross-shaped incisions in European cult caves, dating back to the earliest stages of human cultural development in the stoneage. Like other symbols from this period, their use continued in the Celtic cultures in Europe. Other early images of crosses were found in the Central Asian steppes, and some were found in Altay. The cross in the old Altaic religion called Tengriism symbolizes the god Tengri and the three-world cosmology; it wasn't an elongated "dagger" cross, instead resembling a plus sign (+).  The first Christian books from Armenia and Syria contained evidence that the cross originated with horsemen from the east, possibly referring to the first Turkic people. In old Armenian temples, some stylistic Turkic influences are found in cross symbols. Named animal, the symbol was found in the plans of temples, with the pillars from above looking like an additional cross.

ETYMOLOGY.

O.E. cros, from O.Ir. cros, probably via Scand., from L. crux (gen. crucis) "stake, cross," orig. a tall, round pole, possibly of Phoenician origin.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF STRUCTURE, SYMBOL, AND SHAPE.

An inuksuk meaning "acting in the capacity of a human" marks the highest point of land. IN THE LIKENESS OF A HUMAN.  This figure, called an inunnguaq, is an enduring signature on the landscape, attesting to the presence of Inuit who have occupied the Canadian Arctic for over 3,000 years.  ITIDUARDJUK • BAFFIN ISLAND

Bronze Age (c. 1800-500 BC.) rock carving from the island of Bornholm, Denmark.

Clay whorls c.2nd millennium excavated during the 1870's at the ancient city complex of Troy.

 Ground plan of the Neolithic complex known as Cairn T at Loughcrew, Ireland. The passage is aligned towards the equinoctial sunrise.  5-6000 years old

Coin of the British chieftain Cunobeline with a sun disc.  Arrival of the Iron Age into north-west Europe c.600bc

Iron Age British coin of the Southern Belgae. Mid-first century bc,  The ubiquitous wheel-cross was a popular motif amongst most tribes, at least in the southern part of Britain, and were usually associated with moons, trees or ferns, armed warriors, horses and horse-drawn chariots: images seemingly emphasising the regenerative and protective powers of the sun.

Macedonian coin c.500-454BC that has the name Alexander I set around a square cross motif. 

Early coins of the eastern Mediterranean, where European coinage began, had a single-sided image created by punching the back of the soft gold or silver into a hollow dye.  These punch marks were at first very irregularly shaped, but, as technical and artistic skills improved, so did they became more regular in form to more effectively drive the metal into the dye.  Some of these punches created a raised cross made by its four squares.  Mid-6th century bc  coins of the Greek city-state of Thebes show a sun-disc on the reverse: this was the letter theta, first letter of the city used as a mint mark to denote its origin.

A large statue of the Assyrian King Shamash-Adad V (c.820BC) has this type of cross hanging around his neck. Now in the British Museum exhibit WA118892.  In the British Museum there is a larger than life size stone sculpture, taken from the temple of Nabu in Nimrud, which depicts King Shamash-Adad V (823-811bc) with a large Maltese cross hanging from a cord around his neck as a symbol of the sun god.

Shamash (Sumerian: Utu) was an important Mesopotamian god associated with the sun and responsible for justice and truth. Omens attributed to Shamash could be discovered by examining animal entrails. His symbols are a rod and a ring and he is sometimes represented by a winged sun-disc or a Maltese cross. Shamash had major temples at Sippar and Larsa.

Ankh : The Original Cross. The Ankh is defined as: The symbolic representation of both Physical and Eternal life. It is known as the original cross, which is a powerful symbol that was first created by Africans in Ancient Egypt. The Ankh is called the "Crux Ansata," it is of Egyptian origin and can be traced to the Early Dynastic Period, appearing frequently in artwork of various material and in relief, depicting the Gods. Also known as the Key of the Nile, the Looped Tau Cross, and the Ansated Cross. It was an Ancient Egyptian symbol of life. Faience amulet in the shape of an ankh. Said to be from Gebel Barkal, Egypt 25th Dynasty to Late Period, about 700-500 BC. 'Life, power and stability for millions of years' 

Amulet: Viking Protection - This amulet is the ancient Viking symblom used for protection. Comes with a black cord.

The 'Ram in a Thicket'.  From Ur, southern Iraq, about 2600-2400 BC This is one of an almost identical pair discovered by Leonard Woolley in the 'Great Death Pit', one of the graves in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. The other is now in the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia. It was named the 'Ram in a Thicket' by the excavator Leonard Woolley, who liked biblical allusions. In Genesis 22:13, God ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, but at the last moment 'Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son'. The 'ram' is more accurately described as a goat, and he reaches up for the tastiest branches in a pose often adopted by goats. Goats and sheep in the Near East were among the earliest animals to be domesticated. They were an everyday feature of agricultural life and are regularly depicted by artists in many different ways.

Viking Amulet

RUND AMULETT   SOLKORS  TORSHAMMARE

The sun cross is a cross inside a circle, one of the oldest and most universal religious symbols, and a traditional neopagan solar symbol. It is also known as the suncross, solar cross, sun wheel, sunwheel, sun disc, Odin's cross (because Odin's symbol in Norse mythology was a cross in a circle), and wheel of Taranis. It is sometimes called a "Gnostic cross".

In many religions, solar crosses are associated with specific deities; Ixion^, Odin, Quetzalcoatl^,  Shamash, and Taranis all have various forms of solar crosses as symbols.

CRUX AND SOUTHERN CENTAURUS

Crux, the four-star Southern Cross, lies southwest of the main body of Centaurus, and precedes the two bright stars of the Centaur across the southern sky.

Brittle Star Larva, living specimen (100x),   Differential interference contrast

Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Human microvascular endothelial cell (60x), Fluorescence

White-banded Carpet Caterpillar Larva

Staurolite

From "stauros lithos" (Greek) cross stone. Staurolites in the shape of crosses were often worn as amulets. They were fairly abundant, not particularly expensive, and so were commonly worn. It must have fascinated people to find natural stones in such a shape.

Andalusite crystals sometimes show a cross if cut in a particular way. This is called chiastolite (from "chiasma" (Greek) cross). The black bit is a different mineral.

Dune Primrose   – “Bird Cage Primrose” (Evening Primrose-Onagraceae) is about 6 inches tall, up to two inches across, with pure white flowers with yellow centers. The prominent, cross shaped stigma is characteristic of the genus. Blooms open in the early morning, and have a sweet smell that attracts Hawk moths that pollinate them. As the plant dries the outer leaves curl inward, forming a cage-like structure that gives rise to its common name.

Oenothera the stigma is cross-shaped.

Sacred trees, representing the power of life to grow from the underworld realm of the dead, are a common motif in the art and literature of the ancient Maya of Mesoamerica. Such trees are similar in concept to the tree of life described in the Book of Mormon, as well as to the mythic traditions of many other contemporary world cultures. Hieroglyphic inscriptions and sixteenth-century highland Maya texts describe a great world tree that was erected at the dawn of the present age to stand as the axis point of the cosmos. In its fruit-laden form, it personified the god of creation who fathered the progenitors of the Maya royal dynasty.  

PINE TREE.  CROSS SHAPED SPOUTS.  SAME CROSS-SHAPE ON PINES TREES LOCATED ON INGRAHAM STREET AT THE SEAWORLD ENTRANCE AROUND THE TIME OF EASTER IN THE SPRING.

Machu Picchu (Peru)  Down a long set of stone stairs and to the left you'll find the Royal Tomb. Located underneath the circular Temple of the Sun, this cave-like area contains ceremonial niches and an Inca cross carved from one wall. The cross resembles a series of steps, and represents the three levels of existence in the world of the Inca. The first step, symbolized by the snake, represents the underworld or death. The second step represents the present, human life, and is symbolized by the jaguar. The highest step represents the celestial/spiritual plane of the gods, and is symbolized by the condor. The Royal Tomb has been the site of numerous mummy excavations.

Inca Cross (Cruz Andina) pendants. - Replica - Chakana

• Seven rays of the Inca Cross - Replica
  

• The Andean Cross Chakana - Sacred Incan Iconography
  
  

Historically the Chakana (cruz cuadrada or square cross) personifies the Southern Cross constellation believed by the ancient Andeans to be the center of the Universe and clearly discernable in the Andean night sky. The square cross Chakana is often seen at important geomantic sites and sacred centers that formulate the mythical foundations of the ancient universe. Each step within the cross represents a realm of the universe. The three stepped cross denotes the upper, middle and lower worlds of Andean cosmology.

China, 18th-19th century AD. Coin-swords were a form of talisman used in southern China to ward off evil influences, especially those causing fever. They were made by tying together 'cash' (the pidgin term for Chinese coins with a square hole in the middle) on to an iron rod.  The coins in this sword are almost all from the reign of the Qianlong emperor (1736-95). However, it is thought that coin-swords made with coins of his grandfather, the Kangxi emperor (1662-23), were even more effective in driving away evil influences. This is because the Kangxi emperor reigned for a full sixty-year cycle of the Chinese calendar, and his name means good health and prosperity.  Today, the easiest place to see a coin-sword in use is in Chinese kung fu movies, where, if a person is writhing on his sickbed, tormented by fever, there is often a coin-sword hanging on the wall above the bed

Written crosses are used for many different purposes, particularly in mathematics.

• The Roman numeral for ten is X.

• In the Latin alphabet, the letter X and the miniscule form of t are crosses.
• The Chinese character for ten is 十 (see Chinese numerals).
• The dagger or obelus (†)
• The addition (or plus) sign (+) and the multiplication (or times) sign (×).
• If n≥1 is an integer, the numbers coprime to n, taken modulo n, form a group with multiplication as operation; it is written as (Z/nZ)^× or Z_n^*.

The Cross of Sacrifice was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is the focal point of the numerous cemeteries honoring the war dead of World War I that dot the countryside of the Western Front, and as far afield as Kranji, Singapore [1]. It is a 4 point limestone Latin cross. On the face of the cross is a bronze sword, blade down. It is usually mounted on an octagonal base. Originally they were produced in sizes of 14, 18, 20 and 24 foot heights to better fit different size memorials without overpowering them.  The Cross of Sacrifice can be seen in many War Cemeteries and war memorials throughout the British Empire, and the locations of many battles outside the British Empire, including Canada, Italy, France and Belgium.  On some, particularly those found in Britain, names of deceased soldiers are inscribed on the octagonal base of the monument.

APN 353-010-17. La Jolla Scenic Drive South, La Jolla, California 92037. Mount Soledad Memorial Memorial Association Inc., 2000 Spindrift Drive, La Jolla, California 92037 c/o William Kellogg. Lot Area = 0.51 Acres.  Document 98-724385.  County Use 989. Document 94-613980.

Seen as a Symbol.  DOROTHY MILDICE, SAN DIEGO,  May 26, 2006 in www.voiceofsandiego.org

The biggest problem connected to the saving of the cross (on Mount Soledad) has been that it is seen by San Diego residents and the court system as a "Christian" symbol. This is not the true history of the cross. The cross has become associated with Christianity. It was not, however, an early Christian symbol and, indeed, the early Sabbath-keeping Churches traditionally abhorred the use of the cross symbol as pagan. Here are several pre-Christianity definitions of the meaning of a cross: An ancient pre-Christian symbol interpreted by some occultists as uniting the male phallus (vertical bar) and the female vagina (horizontal bar). It is also a symbol of the four directions and a powerful weapon against evil. The Greek or equilateral cross is so simple in design that it was used to represent the most basic concepts of flight, armaments and fire production implements. Above all, generally, it was used to represent radiation or space. The cross also appeared among the western Phoenicians. Bronze Age and Celt: during the bronze age, especially amongst the Gauls, the cross appears frequently on pottery, jewels and coins. D'Alviella considers this emblem to be clearly solar. A statuette of a Gaulish deity, Sucellus, discovered in France in Côte d'Or has a tunic covered all over in crosses. He holds a mallet which symbolizes the thunderbolt and a jar or olla in the other hand.  The cross is found also in Mexico, Peru and significantly in Central America. There they allude to the four winds which are the source of rain. In pre-Columbian America, it was a wind rose. Thus, among the Toltecs, it symbolized the god, Tialoc, who dispensed the celestial waters.  China: The early symbolism of the cross was expressed in the Chinese ideogram of the word for earth which is an equilateral cross within a square. There is no doubt that the use of the cross associated with the symbols of the resurrection and new life are hopelessly intermingled with the theology of the ancients. And lastly, remember the many cattle rustlers, bank robbers and murders who lost on the quick-draw with the law and were buried out on the prairie and in cemeteries with a few sticks or pieces of wood in the form of a cross; not because they were God-fearing men, or good Christians, but because of hundreds of years of tradition.
 

This information was compiled from other websites.

• http://www.ttlg.com/forums/printthread.php?t=85382

• http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/hixclient.exe?_IXDB_=compass&_IXSR_=xj1&_IXSS_=_IXFPFX_%3dgraphical%252ffull%252f%26_IXNOMATCHES_%3dgraphical%252fno_matches%252ehtml%26%2524%2b%2528with%2bv2_searchable_index%2529%2bsort%3d%252e%26_IXDB_%3dcompass%26%257bUPPER%257d%253av2_free_text_tindex%3dshamash%26_IXspage%3dsearch%26_IXSESSION_%3d0prCyeABW0A%26_IXsearchterm%3dshamash&_IXFIRST_=13&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSPFX_=graphical/full/&_IXsearchterm=shamash%26_IXspage=search&submit-button=summary

• http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2092/paper3.htm

• http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cross

• http://www.civilization.ca/archeo/inuksuit/inukp01e.html

• http://www.menantolstudio.freeserve.co.uk/sundischomepage.htm

• http://www.symbols.net/egyptian.htm

• http://www.swagga.com/ankh.htm

• http://home.att.net/~mysticalgate/jewelry/amulets.html

• http://www.destination360.com/peru/machu-picchu.php

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross

• http://www.bornholmsmuseer.dk/helleristninger/lokaliteter/lokaliteter.html

• http://www.voiceofsandiego.org

June 27, 1916, San Diego Union, 8:6. City’s newest park on Soledad Hill as yet unnamed. Ordinace No. 6670.

August, 1919, California Garden, Vol. 1, No. 2. Park Department Notes by J. G. Morley, Superintendent of City Parks.

The park system of San Diego has an area of approximately 2,000 acres, which comprises Balboa Park, 1,400 acres; Torrey Pines Park, 290 acres; Soledad Park, 118 acres; Collier Park, 65 acres; La Jolla Park, 5 acres; Mission Hills Park, 5 acres; Mountain View Park, 15 acres, and a number of smaller areas set aside for Park purposes some of which have been improved, namely New Town Park and the Plaza

February 21, 1992 B-5 (San Diego Union) Peter Irons: City’s cross crusade is at odds with the law: The council and the mayor are misleading the public. No matter how many voters approve, the city cannot divest itself of dedicated parkland.

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