Well it is, isn't it? I mean it's some kind of cross -- I've seen it called crux ansata. And it's Coptic in the sense that it comes from the Copts, that is, the pre-Arab, pre-Muslim Egyptians.
I don't know that it was ever used by the Christian Coptic Church. Probably not. Maybe some Gnostic group might have, but this is sheer speculation.
Of course in the '70s and '80s it became associated with various vampire games and cults and whatnot, which may have been what the person who laughed at you had in mind.
But there was nothing Gothic about the Egyptian idea of life, which the ankh probably should symbolize.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-03-25 10:28 am (UTC)I don't know that it was ever used by the Christian Coptic Church. Probably not. Maybe some Gnostic group might have, but this is sheer speculation.
Of course in the '70s and '80s it became associated with various vampire games and cults and whatnot, which may have been what the person who laughed at you had in mind.
But there was nothing Gothic about the Egyptian idea of life, which the ankh probably should symbolize.