- Trishul – Represents the three basic Nadis, Shiva’s ability to destroy evil and ignorance.
- Ash – Symbolizes the ability to transcend this world and to not be affected by it. The end of the material existence.
- Cobra – Filter for poisons (physical, emotional, mental, etc.), coiled three times (past, present, future), symbolizing Shiva’s transcendence of time.
- Rudraksha – Uncompromising, order of the universe.
- Drum – The manifest and unmanifest, when struck it creates the Aum (sound of creation).
- Crescent Moon – Cyclical nature of the universe, creation and destruction.
- Tiger Skin – Symbolizes Shiva’s victory over every force, potential energy.
- Third Eye – Spiritual wisdom, Shiva’s ability to see beyond the illusory reality of this world.
- Dreads – Integration of spiritual, physical, and mental.
- Three Lines on Forehead – Immortality of the soul, glory of the Lord.
- River Ganges (not pictured) – Purification, nectar of immortality.
by Sarah Wolfe and Victor Van Slee