The Fylfot was widely adopted in the early Christian centuries. It is found extensively in the Roman catacombs. An example of its usage is to be found in the porch of the parish church of Great Canfield, Essex, England. As the parish guide states, the Fylfot or Gammadion can be traced back to the Roman catacombs where it appears in both Christian and pagan contexts. More recently it has been found on grave-slabs in Scotland and Ireland. A particularly interesting example was found in Barhobble, Wigtownshire in Scotland. Gospel books also contain examples of this form of the Christian cross. The most notable examples are probably the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels. An example of this decoration occurs on the Ardagh Chalice.
The Fylfot was a most sacred symbol to the Odinist forefathers of the Germanic lands, and to all the pre-Christian peoples of Europe. Archaeological evidence of Fylfot-shaped ornaments has been found to date from the Neolithic period, which proves its pedigree indeed and in no uncertain terms. In England, artefacts displaying Fylfot carvings of a very varied nature have been found in several different regions, from cremation urns in East Anglia, to hilts and sword belts found in Kent.
Before the Fylfot or Hakenkreuz had become tainted by the activities of the NSDAP, the power it had in the hearts of the Germans as the party rose to power and led Germany, was overwhelming. It had/has a primal draw, deep within our Folk Memory, and it was quite possibly for this reason that the leaders of the Third Reich chose it for their party. They knew something of its primal power, the divine energy that it sparked in the spirits of the people, and they abused this powerful Folk Memory to serve their own ends.
The symbol is very widespread, and extremely ancient, engraved on every rock-temple and prehistoric building in India, and wherever Buddhists have flourished, as well as in Greece, among the ancient Scandinavians, and in ancient America. It has been called the Jaina Cross; Fylfot, Mjolnir, or Thor’s Hammer by the Scandinavian peoples; and in the Chaldean Book of Numbers the Worker’s Hammer.
George Waring, in his work entitled “Ceramic Art in Remote Ages” says:
“The word (Fylfot) is Scandinavian and is compounded of Old Norse Fiël, equivalent to the Anglo-Saxon Fela, German Viel, many, and Fotr, foot, the many-footed figure.”
Madame Blavatsky defines the "Fylfot. A weapon of Thor, like the Swastika; or the Jaina, the four-footed cross; generally called 'Thors Hammer.'" and quotes "that very learned work, 'The Natural Genesis', by Mr. Gerald Massey" who writes: "Thor throws his weapon, the Fylfot, a form of the four-footed cross (Swastica) and a type of the four quarters."
Mjolnir derives from Mjoll — meal, flour from Mala, Mola — to grind, crush, mill, also Miolnir. The hammer of Thor, the Thunderer in Norse mythology, a gift to the god from the dwarfs Brock (mineral kingdom) and Sindri (vegetation), sons of Ivaldi, the lunar life cycle. It is at once the instrument of creation and destruction, being the emblem of marriage on one hand and the weapon whereby the giants (cycles of material life) are destroyed. It is the magic mill which creates all things — gold, salt, happiness, peace, etc. — as well as grinding up all substance and recycling it for future use in worlds to come.
In Theosophy, the Fylfot — more commonly referred to as the Swastika or whirling cross — is a profound symbol representing the active, creative forces of the universe, particularly the action of Fohat (cosmic energy) and the evolution of the cosmos. It is a key element in the emblem of the Theosophical Society, symbolizing the "Sacred Four" and the continual revolution of cosmic wheels. The bent arms are designed to convey motion and spinning energy, or creative, transformative forces of the cosmos. It symbolizes the power that brings beings to birth and is the slayer of giants, whereby their lives are ended, for giants represents the lifeterms of living beings.
Madame Blavatsky likens the hammer of Thor to the fire weapon Agneyastra of the Hindu Puranas and Mahabharata. Moving like a whirling Swastika, it is the hammer which "striketh sparks from the flint (Space), those sparks becoming worlds." It strikes and gives light and shape to the movement and substance of the universe. The hammer is the moulder and champion of order formed in the cosmos. It is the chief weapon used in the stormy cycles pitting the Ases against the raw forces of Nature. It is the attribute of all thunder gods, whose natures portray the active masculine and passive feminine conjunct in creation. As it implements order out of chaos, it stands for law and justice in the face of disharmony and evil. The hammer strikes down and crushes injustice. It avenges the wronged and wreaks havoc upon the wrongdoer.
According to Theosophical teachings, one initiated into the mysteries of the Swastika can trace upon it the evolution of the Cosmos and the entire period of Sandhya — the twilight period of creation, the time intervening between the expiration of one Yuga and the commencement of another. The four arms represent the "Sacred Four" elements in both their cosmical and mystical meanings, connecting to the Pythagorean and Hermetic scales. The Fylfot symbolizes the relationship between the seen and the unseen worlds, as well as the initial creation of life and species. It is described as a whirling cross, symbolizing the continual revolution of the cosmos.
Thor's Mjöllnir was known as 'the Destroyer', and when he buried it, it never missed its mark. But like a revolving cycle of time, it returned always to his gloved hand, where it rested in anticipation of the next revolution, the next assertion of order over chaos.