The HEART is the symbolic source of the affections - love, compassion, charity, joy or sorrow - but also of spiritual illumination, truth and intelligence. It was often equated with the soul.
Symbolically, the heart was the body's sun, animating all. Ritual application of this belief led the Aztecs to sacrifice thousands of victims and offer their hearts to the sun each year to sustain its power. As a symbol of what is most essential in a human being, the heart was left in the eviscerated bodies of Egyptian mummies.
The heart is an emblem of truth, conscience or moral courage in many religions -the temple or throne of God in Islamic and Judeo-Christian thought; the divine centre, or atman, and the Third Eye of transcendent wisdom in Hinduism; the diamond of purity and essence of the Buddha; the Taoist centre of understanding.
The "Sacred Heart" of Christ became a focus of Roman Catholic worship as a symbol of the Lord's redeeming love, sometimes shown pierced by nails and with a crown of thorns, in reference to the Crucifixion.
A FLAMING HEART is the attribute of SS Augustine and Antony of Padua. A heart on fire is a key symbol of the ardent Christian, but also an attribute in art of Charity and of profane passion - as in Renaissance paintings of the Greek goddess Aphrodite(in Roman myth, Venus.)
The HEART TRANSFIXED by Eros's (Cupid's) arrow was another Renaissance theme, which became the motif of St. Valetine's Day - a mid-February festival with pagan rather than Christian roots.
In iconography, the heart takes on a vase-like shape, symbolizing something into which love is poured or carried; in this sense it is linked with the Holy Grail.
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