Spiritual Symbols: Ship

   
                  Since I will be on one this week, I thought I would cover the symbology of ships and boats.  In ancient civilizations, the sun and moon was often depicted as being carried across the seas by a ship.  The earth itself is sometimes a ship floating on the primordial waters.  A ship can symbolize a savior or protector.  Ships often represent passing from the physical to the spiritual or from earth to heaven.  A ship can represent the Great Mother or the female aspect of God.  The ancient Egyptians, and others, believed that the soul or spirit was carried on a ship or boat to the afterlife.  The ancient Greeks often put a gold coin in the mouth of a dead person to pay for his passage on the ferry down the river Styx to the underworld.  
    The Bronze Age paintings in Scandinavia often depict ships and the significance is debated by scholars.  Some say it simple depicted the everyday life of people who traveled largely by sea yet, the fact that some of the drawings depict the use of boats and ship in funerals and other religious ceremonies indicates a symbolic meaning.  
    To see yourself on a ship in a dream generally means that you are exploring areas of your mental or spiritual being.  But, if you see yourself on an abandoned or ruined ship, it indicates that you need to let go of something from the past that is holding you back.
 

Posted by Reverend Harold Boulette at 3/8/2010 5:07 AM
Categories: Symbols
Tags: boat symbols spirit ship
 

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