"Black magic!"... "Uncanny evil sorcery!"... "Witchcraft!"

All these are attributes, given to pagan, pre-Christian rituals and practice by those who claimed to know the "true" religion, and spread it across Europe and, via emigration, across the American continents, too.

Now, all these attributes could be quoted, when looking at the (allegedly) most powerful women in the world. I wonder why Dan Brown hasn't sent in his fictional symbolist, Professor Robert Langdon, to take a closer look at German chancellor Angela Merkel...

Why, you ask? Well, her new trademark gesture, the "Rhomb of Power" (in German: "Raute der Macht"), looks like it's stolen (like so many symbols, rituals and customs) from pagan times...

Angela Merkel, showing the "Rhomb of Power" next to her partner, Joachim Sauer
(who is hiding a clenched fist behind his smile...)

The Threefold Goddess - Maiden, Mother and Crone...
observe the Mother's gesture of blessing... looks familiar, doesn't it?

In German, "Raute" is not only the word for "rhombus" or "rhomb", but also the name of a plant, known in English as Rue (latin: Ruta), which is most commonly known as a spice and healing herb. In mythology, rue was used to avert the "Evil Eye", protect against ghosts, all poisons and the devil himself...

Interesting, isn't it? The German chancellor, head of a party called "Christian Democratic Union" uses a symbol of old magic and blessing, for which she would have been burned as a witch in medieval times...

Unfortunately, we cannot hope for that tradition to be revived to have a (more than needed) change in power for our country...