Two wheels

An angel told me, “Go, leave their place, 
Hide in the desert, so that the icon-lamp you’re trusted to embrace

You manage to keep safe,
For when they know the vanity of fuss,
They’ll long for Truth and plead for light, and thus ,

From yours they’ll kindle their lamps.

A.N. Maikov

 

An angel, soaring between two heavenly wheels, is trying to hold them in its embrace. Its eyes are fixed on the solar symbol of eternity, depicted on the wings; it is looking into the far space. 

Wheels, rolling apart are a symbol of the old and the new. Being between them, in the marginal area, at the meeting point of different eras, it is trying to warn us, for the old is almost gone, but the new hasn’t arrived yet.

The Symbolism of the Composition.

1An ancient Armenian symbol of eternity -  arevakhach (solar cross). The fylfot, entered in a circle, as a kind of cross, emphasizes the time of the motion, the transformation of life into death and of death into life. 12

It also stands for a whirlwind, a vortex, with the help of which there is accumulated energy, which is necessary to pass from one energetic level to another.

A wheel with spokes is one of the most ancient symbols of civilization.

Primarily the wheel is an attribute of gods and also a sacred symbol of many religious doctrines.

The wheel symbolizes the dialectics of permanent movement. In the turning wheel the motion repeats itself. In Buddhism the wheel stands for the constant chain of regeneration. Besides the “wheel of life”, there was another notion popular in the Buddhist semiotics, which is the “wheel of law” – the karma.

The Angel is a messenger, “delivering the news”. In the Biblical tradition they are considered to be creatures with the help of which God presents his will. Angels are a symbol of service, and also of supreme spirituality, purity and intercession. The angel was attributed such qualities as power, energy, beauty and blessing.