Set me as a seal upon your heart...

Question: As one part of the hexagram symbol is incomplete without the other and the joining of male and female principals is wholeness, how can the message of the Star of David be used in your life?

Margaret Starbird writes that the hexagram represents the masculine and feminine principles in perfect union, and is thus an excellent model for balance and wholeness.

I believe that within each human being there are masculine and feminine elements – otherwise how could we be made in the image of God? Our gender is something different from this.

To over-generalise, some women may have traits and behaviours that have come to be regarded as more 'masculine', such as physical courage, assertiveness which may veer towards aggression, and a seeking after independence, power, and status.

Similarly some men may have traits and behaviours that have been regarded as 'feminine', such as gentleness, sensitivity/empathy, a tendency to nurture and put others first, and a seeking after co-operative, rather than a competitive, models for personal and professional interaction.

Such traits and behaviours are more likely to be the result of nurture and gender expectation than nature itself.

It is interesting, as an aside, to note that the two sides of everyone's brain reflects these 'male' and 'female' characteristics: the right side has to do with emotion, creativity, and nurturing; the left side is analytical, logical, active. But, linked with this, I especially like the fact of the human brain crossover, (which I think occurs at the medullary pyramids within the brainstem) such that the left side of the brain controls the movement of the right side of the body, and vice versa. This particularly affects our right- or left-handedness. I am strongly right-handed, indicating a left brain dominance; my father was naturally left-handed (right brain dominance) but was forced at school to use his right hand for writing and so on. He was a man who found it difficult to express his emotions: I cannot help but think that this is linked with his enforced right-handedness. I too have had to work hard to learn to express my emotions, and my brother (also right handed) never learnt.

If the message of the hexagram is that male and female are incomplete without the other, then it follows that we need both to integrate our masculine and feminine traits, whatever our gender, and the partnership of one another in order to be truly whole.

The hexagram is best known as the Star (or Shield) of David, but a very slight variant of the image (with the lines forming the triangles criss-crossing) is known as the Seal of Solomon (who was David's son). For the opening words of both our Betrothal and Wedding, William and I chose the lines from the Song of Songs (8.6-7), also known as the Song of Solomon: 'Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm...'

I have previously taken the 'seal' referred to here, probably by the Bride, as the device which makes on impression in wax or clay on paper to authenticate the document it thereby seals. The seal-making device has also been referred to as a matrix. The impression it makes is, of course, the imprint of the device – the design is made in relief, as an impression or depression into the wax or clay. Such seals are made in the form of a die/stamp, sometimes incorporated into a signet ring. 

However, I understand, from admittedly brief research, that in the Ancient Middle East cylinder seals were common. These were not stamped into the medium but rolled along it. They were normally hollow, and could therefore, for safety and because of their value, be worn on a cord or chain around the neck and hang next to the heart. A seal that was recently discovered in South Arabia showed a name written in Aramaic, and it was engraved on the cylinder in reverse, so that it would read correctly in the impression. 

In the Song of Songs, the Bride seeks such close union with the Bridegroom that she becomes the seal upon his heart (the pendant cylinder seal) and the seal upon his arm (the signet ring). It's a wonderful image of love and unity. And of course what Solomon is attributed as having used as his seal is, yes you guessed it: the hexagram.

p.s. At a complete tangent: the rather droopy plant Polygonatum (the botanical name referring to the 'many-angled' knots on the root and the stem joints) is known more commonly as Solomon's Seal. This is because there are many flat round scars on the rootstocks, which resemble the impression of a seal; and when the root is cut transversely it is said to resemble Hebrew characters, giving rise to the legend that Solomon, who wisely knew the virtues of the roots, set his seal on them. The 'virtues' of the plant relate to its use in herbal medicine in the form of a tincture, salve, tea, or supplement, offering relief to injuries to the tendons, joints, ligaments, and bones as well as to bruising. It can also soothe and repair inflammatory conditions, lower blood pressure, and relieve dry coughs!