The Asclepius wand or Asclepius rod is an ancient Greek symbol associated with astrology and with healing the sick through medicine. The rod of Asclepius symbolizes the healing arts by combining the serpent, which is shedding its skin is a symbol of rebirth and fertility, with the staff, a symbol of authority befitting the god of Medicine. (An English slang equivalent might as well be “vagina hand.”) It represents a hand gesture in which the thumb is thrust between the curled index and middle fingers in obvious imitation of heterosexual intercourse.
Mano means “hand” and fico or Figa means “fig,” with the idiomatic slang connotation of a woman’s genitals. Examples have been found from the Roman era, and it was also used by the Etruscans. The Mano Fico The mano fico, also called Figa, is an Italian amulet of ancient origin. As an LGBT symbol, it represents lesbianism and female or matriarchal power. Today it is sometimes used as a symbol of Hellenic Neopaganism. The labrys was formerly a symbol of Greek fascism.
The labrys also appears in African religious symbolism and mythology (see Shango). The labrys symbolism is found in Minoan, Thracian, Greek, and Byzantine religion, mythology, and art, dating from the Middle Bronze Age onwards. Labrysis the term for a double-headed ax, known to the Classical Greeks as Pelekys or Sagaris, and to the Romans as a bipennis.
