Spiritual Symbols and Meanings, by Intention
Spiritual symbols are images and shapes that people use to hold an intention: strength, love, a new beginning, balance or peace. Some come from long traditions, such as the lotus, the yin yang or the Celtic knot. Others are new. Sacred Signs has released 136 universal signs since 2020, and many of them carry the name of an intention. This page groups them by intention, next to the traditional symbols people know.
How to use this page
Choose the intention that fits what you are living with now. Under each one you find what traditions use for it and the universal signs of ours that carry it. The meanings are suggestions. What a symbol opens in you is yours to find, and it can change over time.
Strength and courage
In tradition: the lion, the oak tree, the Celtic Dara knot and the Akan symbol Dwennimmen, the ram’s horns. Our signs: Inner Strength, Inner Power, Confidence, Still Power and Showing up courageously. Read more: symbols for strength.
Protection
In tradition: the hamsa, the nazar bead, the Eye of Horus and the hammer of Thor. Sacred Signs has no sign made for protection. Read what traditions use and believe on protection symbols.
Love and compassion
In tradition: the heart, the red rose and the Claddagh ring from Ireland, with its hands, heart and crown. Our signs: Love, Loving Embrace, Compassion and Purity.
Growth and new beginnings
In tradition: the lotus, which grows from mud into a flower in Hindu and Buddhist imagery, the seed and the butterfly. Our signs: Growth, Bloom, Upward, Expansion, Renewal and Rebirth.
Change and transformation
In tradition: the butterfly, the snake that sheds its skin and the phoenix that rises from its own ashes. Our signs: Transformation, Shift and Sacred Destruction.
Balance
In tradition: the yin yang of Taoism, where each half holds a dot of the other, and the scales. Our signs: Balance, Fluidity and Quadrality: Beyond Duality, into Wholeness.
Presence and peace
In tradition: the dove with an olive branch and the peace symbol Gerald Holtom designed in 1958. Our signs: Presence, Now, Be, Core and Stabilize into the Now.
Intuition and clear seeing
In tradition: the moon and the third eye, the point between the eyebrows that Hindu tradition calls ajna. Our signs: Intuition, Expert, True Sight, Universal Eye, Perception and Seeing Through.
Joy and play
In tradition: the sun and the sunflower. Our signs: Joy, Life, Wonder, Imagine and Explore.
Connection and unity
In tradition: the Celtic knot, drawn as one line with no beginning or end, and interlocking rings. Our signs: Unity, Connection, Natural Connection, Redraw Connections, Strengthen connections and Harmonious Collaborations: A Sacred Sign for Aligned Partnerships.
Grounding
In tradition: the tree with its roots, the mountain and the square. Our signs: Grounding Spiral, Ancestors, Nature and The Cosmic Tree.
Gratitude
In tradition: the cornucopia, the sheaf of wheat and hands pressed together at the heart. Our sign: the Gratitude ornament from our Frequency Tools. Read more: gratitude symbols.
Light
In tradition: the candle, the sun and the star. Our signs: I am the Light, Lightness, Lightbody and Lightbath.
Sacred symbols across traditions
Many people search for the sacred symbols of the great religions: the Om in Hindu tradition, the dharma wheel in Buddhism, the cross in Christianity, the Star of David in Judaism and, in Islam, Arabic calligraphy of the names of God, while the crescent and star is a cultural sign more than a religious one. Each belongs to its own faith and is best learned from it. Sacred Signs geometry is drawn fresh by Astaran and does not come from any of them.
Positive energy symbols
“Positive energy symbols” is what many people call symbols they keep around them to feel lighter, calmer or more hopeful: a sun on the wall, a lotus on a desk, a sign as the background of their phone. That is a belief about how an image works on the person looking at it, and it is personal. If a symbol helps you return to a feeling you want more of, it is doing what you chose it for.
How to read a sign
Each card of our oracle deck has a direction, an element and colours drawn from the medicine wheel and the five elements. Our page on how to read a sacred sign explains them. The geometry behind the signs is on sacred geometry.
If you feel supported by this work, you can return energy through a donation from the heart. The donation page explains how, and every sign on this page is in the Universal Signs library.
The meanings on this page are belief and tradition. They do not replace medical, psychological or other professional care. Read how we write about symbols and belief.