"What religious symbols do you have in your home or office, and why do you have them?"

In my home office I have a kind of shrine.  It’s in the middle of my bookshelves.  In it are a Kachina, a statue of a Chinese-looking wise man, some rocks I collected on various beaches, a fake elephant tusk I bought at an auction years and years ago, and some broken down old toy cars that I also bought at an action.  Oh, in another corner is a poster of Lenin. 

There are many other objects: pottery I made, pottery a native American made, some beautiful rocks, some carved wood, pictures of friends I’ve had throughout life.  Pictures of myself as I wanted to be that I drew at a an Anna Halprin dance workshop. 

This room is a memory palace for me.  I can wander around, touching each object, and remembering how I got it, and what I was doing when I got it, and I can tell a story for each object. 

It makes me calm to see these things.  Sometimes I just sit and stare, and think about stuff.  Sometimes memory makes me sad.  Other times not so much.  I keep thinking I'm missing something.  My band leader's sweater he always wore sits in a shelf, so I won't forget him.  I have a ratty old orange couch from MNS, and and old teacher's desk I got in Brooklyn ages ago.

The room is a sanctuary, at times.  However, the TV is also there, so often the kids are watching movies or cartoons.  Then it's not so peaceful.  Outside the window is the top of a cherry tree (I'm up on the third floor).  For me, everything in the room is sacred, and it is my sacred space.  It has nothing to do with religion, though, and everything to do with creating peace for me.  Sometimes, it even works!

I have a large bamboo circle with red streamers that hang on the door.  It was given to me by a Chinese student for whom I was her major professor.  It has some small hoes crossed and a coolie hat on it.  The Chinese caption reads something like "As you sow, so shall you reap".  I keep it as an everyday reminder.

On one side of the kitchen cabinet is an old sign "Oh Lord, to Thee I Pray, Keep This House Safe by Night or Day".  We have this because it hung in my wife's dining room as she grew up and is very meaningful to her.

I have a Yin and Yang symbol on my key chain that I keep just to remind me  (like the Chinese banner) that there are some universals that I should keep in focus.  Even though it is really too heavy for its use, I just like feeling it in my pocket -- sort of keeps me grounded.

There is also an angel that we gave my now passed mother.  She kept it in her room and it has great meaning to me.

We have several beautiful buddhas that my husband got in his travels, a prayer rug from Afghanistan, a brightly colored crucifix from Mexico, a statue of Kwan Yin, a Ho-Tai, and a bunch of angels that I drew or painted. 

I had a lovely dream catcher, but it got ruined one day when it caught--not a dream--but a big fat hairy cat that was after the feather.  After that, it looked more like a nightmare catcher!

Two of my favorites are pieces of Mexican folk art. One is a very careful painting of the Lady of Guadalupe on black velvet.  It's really dear, and I love the story of the little boy who put his cloak down for the Lady.  The other is great, too.  It is called "La Nueva Jerusalem," and it has Jesus judging a huge line of people.  The good ones are going to heaven and the bad ones are going... er, below.  Amidst the parade of murderers and boozers and loose women is a man dressed in a paint-spattered smock holding a palette and a paintbrush, which of course I noticed right away.  The frame is handmade, and the person who made it used the ring of one of those old beer pop-tops for a hanger.  I just love it.

Another thing my husband brought back from Kuwait that I love (it's sort of religious, I guess) is a teal-blue plastic alarm clock shaped like a mosque.  Instead of a bell or buzzer, when the alarm goes off, you get the call to prayer.  If you don't shut it off, it gets progressively louder.   By the end it is VERY loud, and you'll pray that it will shut up!

I love some of the stuff for its beauty, and some because of its charm.  All of  it reminds me that we are often more similar than different, and regardless of the chaos in the world around us, individual people still strive toward the light, in whatever form they perceive it. 

I have a glass angel that my co-worker brought me home from Italy.  It is beautiful blown glass with a green skirt and a gold halo and wings.  I also have lots of crosses in pictures in my basement that were my grandmothers.  I'm sure some are worth a little bit on money but I don't know.

My bedroom contains a glass with a cross in it from my godmother and my daughters room has a Irish Celtic Cross from her communion.

I have two christmas ormanments with celtic crosses in Belick?

I think that's it.