The Heartagram

I've been asked a few times what this version of the heart symbol means. IEach time I was asked I said I'd look it up, and at last I have - by the power of Google, I have several answers!

The symbol appears to be a mix of the Star of David and the heart, so has an almost ancient look, but it seems that it's a modern invention, possibly designed specifically to promote a 'love metal' rock band called HIM. It was designed as a mix of the heart and the pentagram, and is called a 'heartagram'. It represents Love & Hate in one symbol, or Love & Death. It's popularly worn as a tattoo by fans of the band.

OR:

it's a symbol called 'The Golden Heart' and is meant to represent.... well, it's probably easier to provide a link as i don't have the energy to translate the meaning into plain English right now: http://www.xs4all.nl/~goud/symbols.htm

I think in the locations I found it, it's far more likely to be by fans of a band than by believers in human oneness with the entirety of creation.

I expected to find the music of HIM all a bit pubescant and nurdy - the very idea of 'love metal' takes me straight back to Fry & Laurie and the Bishop and the Warlord - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL4dxWpO6CE or if you'd like to hear a bit of love metal, clickety here: http://www.heartagram.com. It's not as desperately bad as you might think.

The picture was taken near Venice at Punta Sabbioni. Great beach, bizarrely phalic concrete shapes forming the sea wall. That comment may become clearer in a later post.