The Egyptian word for “life,” it is represented by a symbol of a cross where the top is a loop and the horizontal bar is shorter than the vertical bar. It was often seen being carried by the loop by Egyptian deities in ancient art. In Latin it is called the crux ansata, which means “cross with a handle.”
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Sandra Kynes, author of several books, including The Herb Gardener's Essential Guide, Plant Magic, and the new Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical Plants, among many others.
Although a few old books...