Bell Symbolism:
I love the symbolism of bells - particularly during the winter solstice because it chimes out the importance of clarity. Bells ringing on a crisp Christmas night can serve as a meditative trigger that can intone our awareness into higher realms of pure potential. Bells are also ancient symbols of protection and ringing them have long been considered a way to ward off negativity. To our ancestral minds, the very shape of the bell is reminiscent to dome of heaven. In Christianity the ringing of a bell is a sacred announcement to the presence of Christ at mass. In Buddhism, the sounding of a bell is the resonance of pure wisdom - a tonal symbol of perfect harmony & clarity. In Asian thought the bell is also a harmonic symbol - the bell itself considered female, the clapper or pendulum within the bell is male. The two working as one to create a beautiful tone is symbolic of the union between male and female (yin and yang) to create perfect cooperation and balance.