Description
What is a rock-hand-car-sticker? A rock-hand-car-sticker is usually a vinyl film on which the image of a hand is printed, in the style of a devil horns rock-hand-sign. And rock-hand-car-stickers are put on vehicles to adorn them. Now we have developed the CARFINGER, which is an enhanced version of the classic rock-hand-car-sticker. And while usual rock-hand-car-stickers are attached to the rear of the car, the CARFINGER rock-hand-car-sticker is attached to the rear windshield wiper. That makes our enhanced sign-of-the-horns-car-sticker much more visible, among other advantages.
Are rock-hand-car-stickers legal?
Yes, rock-hand-car-stickers are legal in general. Because rock-hand-car-stickers show the devil horns or sign of the horns, which is, in general, neither illegal nor thought of as being insulting. Rock-hand-car-stickers therefore, are not illegal, as their motif is not illegal. While our enhanced rock-hand-car-sticker also shows the sign of the horns, it is enhanced through its positioning on the car, which makes it movable. But even though rock-hand-car-stickers are not illegal from their motif, there are illegal ways for them to be attached to a car. Because while our enhanced rock-hand-car-stickers are put on the rear windshield wiper, other such stickers might be put on the rear windshield itself. And there is a legal restriction for the way devil-horns-car-stickers are put on the windshield. Because rock-hand-car-stickers may not cover more than one quarter of the windshield or more than 0.1 sqm. Therefore, if a rock-hand-car-sticker is too big, it would be illegal to put it on the windshield. But rock-hand-car-stickers are usually not in any way big enough to be illegal by their size. And our enhanced version of the rock-hand-car-sticker is not even attached to the car’s windshield wiper and therefore cannot directly get in conflict with this specific law. While yet our better rock-hand-car-sticker is technically mounted in front of the window in such a way that it might obstruct the view. Therefore, if our enhanced rock-hand-car-sticker were bigger, it would indeed be illegal. But our enhanced sign-of-the-horns-car-sticker stays by far under the size restriction. Also, rock-hand-car-stickers may not be attached over the lights of a vehicle, as those could be dimmed. Therefore, the attachment of rock-hand-car-stickers over the lights is illegal. Because car-stickers may not be attached to a vehicle if they would interfere with the car’s functionality. Also in the same line of thought, rock-hand-car-stickers may not be attached in a way that they cover the license plate. Because the license plate has to remain readable. As our enhanced version of the rock hand sticker is attached to the rear windshield wiper to create its enhanced abilities in the first place, it is nowhere near the license plate. And rock-hand-car-stickers can also interfere with the functionality of the windshield in another way than obstructing the view. Because devil-horn-car-stickers can hold the security glass together when it breaks. As car windshields are of a special security glass that is supposed to shatter into small pieces, and the attachment of a big enough rock-hand-car-sticker could interfere with this functionality. And this poses another legal reason that would forbid sign-of-the-horns-car-stickers from being stuck to the windshield. Because of those reasons, too big rock-hand-car-stickers could lead to the confiscation of the car’s operating permit if they were put on the windshield. And a very big rock-hand-car-sticker could only be installed legally on the windshield if the driver has a special permit by StVZO § 22a Abs. 1. Nr. 3 which has to either be entered into the vehicle’s registration document or be carried in the car. While another advantage our rock-hand-car-sticker has in comparison with others is that others can destroy the rear windshield’s heating wires when they are taken off of the car. Since our CARFINGER rock-hand-car-sticker is never attached to the windshield in the first place, it has the advantage that it can never destroy your heating wires. Also, opposite to our enhanced sticker, other rock-hand-car-stickers might leave glue residue when they are detached from a vehicle.
While rock-hand-car-stickers in general are not very big compared to some decals that can easily span the whole side of a car. But our enhanced one, as well as classic rock-hand-car-stickers is usually the size of an actual hand. Also different from such larger decals, rock-hand-car-stickers are printed with the motif of a hand showing the sign of the horns, while larger decals often have a design showing flames, lines, or tribals. And it is seldom for large car decals to show realistic images unless they are used as advertising on the car. Because advertising decals do often use real imagery.
Rock-hand-car-sticker application
Our rock-hand-car-sticker is an enhanced version of a classic rock-hand-car-sticker. While the advantage of our rock-hand-car-sticker is that it is attached to the rear windshield wiper and therefore moves. And as the real sign of the horns when it is shown by people is associated with waving the sign, our rock-hand-car-sticker is the only one that really waves back and forth. Therefore, our rock-hand-car-sticker beats all others by its ability to actually move through the way it is attached to the car. Therefore, besides other advantages, our rock-hand-car-sticker is better than all others through its ability to move. That makes our rock-hand-car-sticker a gadget.
Opposite to others, our rock-hand-car-sticker is not stuck to the car with its sticky side. Instead, our sign-of-the-horns-car-sticker is attached with a hook and loop tape. And this makes our rock-hand-car-sticker easily detachable from the car. While with this ability our rock-hand-car-sticker can not only be taken off when you drive the car into a car wash, but also it can easily be exchanged for other designs of the CARFINGER-car-stickers.
The rock-hand-CARFINGER comes with a hook and loop tape, which serves as a base for the sticker on the rear windshield wiper. While the hook and loop tape stays on the car, the CARFINGER can be attached and detached. And because our rock-hand-car-sticker is installed on the windshield wiper, the glue never gets in contact with the car paint. While when a classic rock-hand-car-sticker is taken off of the car, there can be glue residue left on the vehicle. Therefore, it can be good to warm the classic rock-hand-car-stickers up with a hairdryer before removing them in order to prevent glue residue on the car. Whereas rock-hand-car-stickers should not be warmed up with a hot air dryer because those could damage the car paint. And if a classic rock-hand-car-sticker still leaves a residue, then you can clean it with methylated spirits. While this is not an issue with our better version of the rock-hand-car-sticker because the windshield wiper is an exchangeable part. And therefore it can be exchanged in order to remove the hook and loop base of the CARFINGER. With this, your car stays clean. And even though our rock-hand-car-sticker can be detached easily, it does not come off of the car during driving. Even though the rock-hands-car-sticker is fixed with the hook and loop tape, the base is stuck to the windshield wiper. Therefore, it is advisable to attach this rock-hand-car-sticker the way you would attach any other rock-hand-car-sticker by first cleaning the part of the car where you want the sticker to be. As devil-horns-car-stickers are best glued to a clean, dry, and flat surface. So to attach our rock-hand-car-sticker the top of the windshield wiper should be cleaned. While you can clean the spot with isopropyl alcohol, you can also employ many other cleaners, such as soap. And because our rock-hand-car-stickers are differently attached than the classic vinyl stickers, ours can have no air bubbles. While our better rock-hand-car-sticker can be easily mounted to your car using the montage instructions in the package. And you will need no tools like a squeegee to attach our car-sticker to your vehicle. Because, opposite to others, our rock-hand-car-sticker is not installed like a classic vinyl sticker that comes on transfer film.
Rock-hand-car-stickers material compared to ours
Other rock-hand-car-stickers are made from vinyl, but our enhanced version is made of acrylic glass. Because our rock-hand-car-sticker is advanced in many ways. And since it is the only moving rock-hand-car-sticker it has to be thicker than a vinyl film. Because our enhanced rock-hand-car-sticker moves back and forth and therefore needs to be stable. As different to other rock-hand-car-stickers ours is freely mounted without the support of the car behind it. While a vinyl sticker would fail in this situation as it would flap in the wind. And because of this difference in material, our devil-horns-car-sticker does not have to be made shrink resistant as others do. While it is the system of being attached to the car that makes our sign-of-the-horns-car-sticker scratch resistant. Because the car-sticker is somewhat cushion-mounted on the hook and loop tape, which makes it less prone to scratching. Also, like others, our rock-hand-car-sticker is colorfast. Therefore, the material for our rock-hand-car-sticker was chosen in regard to its use. And so our better rock-hand-car-sticker is made of printed acrylic glass because it has to be a thicker panel than a soft vinyl sticker would be. And just as other rock-hand-car-stickers have a printed motif on them, ours does too. While the motif that is printed on our die-cut sticker is basically the same as on all others, which is a hand showing the devil horns. And while the material of classic rock-hand-car-stickers can well take a car wash, the material of ours could easily also take it. But because of its attachment system, the material of our rock-hand-car-sticker does not have to be tried in a car wash, as our sticker is detachable. And while other rock-hand-car-stickers are often coated to protect them from UV-rays ours works without a specific coating. Yet our rock-hand-car-sticker is very weatherproof. With its unique material and its free form, our rock-hand-car-sticker stands freely to wave the famous sign of the horns on your car. Our rock-hand-car-stickers are manufactured in Germany.
Custom rock-hand-car-decals
Rock-hand-car-stickers can be customized. And if the rock-hand-car-stickers were designed to show the logo of a company, they would work very well for advertising. Because rock-hand-car-stickers can be used as a giveaway to your customers. And we offer rock-hand-car-stickers with the logo of your company if you order a whole batch. And if the order is big enough, we can even create a completely new design for you. While the higher order size is necessary for customized rock-hand-car-stickers because we have to order a designer to do the design. But for certain companies, a gimmick for the car can be a great giveaway for your marketing. And we like to answer your questions on this topic.
Rock-hand-car-decal as a gift for drivers
Our special enhanced rock-hand-car-decals are the best gift for drivers. Because they represent the newest version of sign-of-the-horns-car-decals. As this gift for drivers is well suited for people who like rock music because the devil horns might be best known to the recipient from this context. But this rock-hand-car-sticker could also be a present for a driver who is interested in magic signs or even yoga, as the shown hand gesture is also used in those fields. But we think that our special rock-hand-car-decal is well suited for every driver or car owner. And you can choose between several CARFINGER-car-sticker designs. Also, we found out on a sales tour at a rock festival that our car-stickers are suitable as gifts for men and women alike. While actually the rock-hand-car-sticker is especially well suited as a gift for a car driver if they like rock festivals. Because the sticker is great to be shown off at rock festivals or concerts. But apart from all thoughts about which motif is the best in general, this car gadget is the best gift for drivers. And also, this original rock-hand-car-sticker is a great present for car owners. And it is even a great gift for a new car. Most important is that the recipient has a car to use the sticker or that the event for which you buy the gift is car-related, like a new car or a new driver’s license. So the CARFINGER with motifs like the rock-hand-car-sticker is a great present for a new driver’s license. While our rock-hand-car-sticker is specifically produced with high standards in order to make it work as a gift. As a choice of high grade materials makes our enhanced rock-hand-car-sticker a luxury giveaway for car drivers. As it is a present that is very durable and fun. And the recipient car driver can use this gift on their car. So our rock-hand-car-sticker is a gift that the recipient will actually use. And if you know a person that just loves their car, then them being gifted with this car-sticker will give them a great enhancement to their vehicle. And you will give away a great quality gift for car owners. Because we offer the best rock-hand-car-decal on the market. And right here in our online shop, you can order this perfect gift for people who just got their driver’s license or just love their car. While already a lot of those special car-stickers have been made gifts. And as far as we heard, one of the recipients was very pleased with the present. So get this car-related present.
The rock-hand-gesture in history
The rock hand car sticker is made from quality materials. And also the rock hand car sticker shows the devil horns. Therefore, it is a devil horns sticker for your car. The sticker shows the devil horn gesture to the other participants on the road. The rock hand sticker can be attached to your car. While the car sticker can be easily fixed to your vehicle. That makes the car sticker, which looks like the rock hand gesture, a nice gadget for your car. And also the car sticker that shows the devil horns is well suited to be a present. The rock hand sticker has a meaning that has developed over time. And now we will look at the history of the rock hand gesture, which forms the meaning of the devil horns as it is used on the car sticker.
The Rock hand sign, where did it come from, what is its history, who did it first?
Today the “Rock Hand” is an iconic symbol of unity, passion, and the spirit of rock and metal music culture. But where did the gesture come from and did it always mean “party on dude”?
To understand the history of the rock hand, we have to apply a very wide ranged look into the past of this specific hand sign. And then look at how exactly it arrived in music.
Starting things off: this gesture is old. So, holding one’s hand in the rock horns position is a gesture that is far older than rock music.
Statue of Buddha from the Joseon dynasty flashing the rock hand.
The above statue from Buddha doing the rock hand sign is from Korea and was made in the Joseon dynasty. And I was not able to figure out its dating more precisely then, that is from the Joseon dynasty which was ruling for 500 years. But the Joseon Dynasty in Korea was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. Therefore, I can say that the rock hand sign of this Buddha definitely predates rock and metal music.
This is a modern statue of Guru Padmasambhava, a tantric Buddhist master from medieval India.
And this is a scroll from Japan which shows hand gestures known as Mudras. And this ink on paper scroll from the 11th–12th century shows the rock hand. So 800 years ago the gesture did not mean “I love rock music” or anything along those lines. And also it did not mean “I praise the devil”, because the Buddhist devil typically has no horns.
This is Mara, so to say the devil of Buddhism, and it has no horns. While the rock horn sign was sometimes thought to be a sign of the devil resembling his horns, we can probably rule out that in its original meaning it had anything to do with the devil, as in its context back then the devil had no horns.
But in order to check if the rock hand sign which was already present in Buddhism is not praise of any horned god, we have to ask if Buddhism has a horned god in general. And I say it in advance: the chances, that the rock hand sign was used in antiquity to was used to praise or greet a horned god seem unlikely. But when we see now for how many purposes the rock horns are used, we see that it would not matter if in ancient times or today also some group greeted the devil with it. But it seems to be unlikely that the gesture was originally invented for greeting any horned god. Yet in LaVeyan Satanism the gesture was used as a greeting and in Wiccan religion the rock hand was used to actually praise a horned god, as Scott Cunningham writes. So yes, actually in modern times a horned god was greeted with the rock hands, but this seems to be not the original meaning, but rather very much seems to be a re-use of an old hand gesture for a new purpose. So that the actual gesture we now call the rock hand sign originally seems to having never had anything to do with either the devil or with any horned god. So was the horned hand used to hail the devil? Maybe at some point somewhere. But if you look at LaVey Satanism, who used the hand sign as a greeting, you find that they, as surprising as it is, do not even believe in the devil. And if you look at neo-paganist Wiccan ideas about their deities, who were praised with the rock hands sign, you find, that the Wiccan belief system (as wrong as I personally consider it to be) also does not actually praise the devil. Because what the Wiccan believe praises is a male deity which is called “the horned god”, which is not the devil. While some neo-paganists themselves seem to think it actually is the devil, from common Wiccan believe it is not. So the horned god, that was hailed with the rock hands, is not the Satan of Christianity. It looks like the same person and so some theories think that christians found the witches to worship a horned god and shaped their image of the devil from this, about which maybe I can offer a better theorie later.
So we have neo-pagans worshiping a god often depicted with an animal face and horns. And worshipers of this deity actually prayed to it with the use of the rock hand. So it is actually true, that a horned god was hailed at some point with the horn gesture, just it was not the devil.
Instead, the rock hand is raised by some people in the religious context to an older concept of god, which to a modern person can easily seem outdated. A god of fertility, helping people with rebirth and growing older over the course of a year in order to be reborn with the rebirth of the new year. Which is classically the kind of nature-magical believe we are so glad to have left behind in the modern forms of the world religions. But some people celebrate that they understand what no one else understands and still hail this god of the seasons, which they do with the rock hand sign.
And since it is deliberately an old form of belief, we find very similar Gods or mystic figures in the religious history of mankind. Where horned gods or demons can be seen for example in the figures of Pan in the Greek mythology, Pashupati in the Indus valley, Naigamesha and Yama in Buddhism and Hinduism. And some of the concepts of those old gods are so surprisingly similar to the Wiccan god, that one might, especially with Yama, believe, that it is the concept of this deity which made it to the Celtic belief system and from there to the Wiccan belief system and is now greeted with the rock finger.
Pan with horns and goat legs was a figure of lust and joy.
Here we see Pan making erotic advances on Aphrodite, who threatens to slap him with her sandal, while Eros comes to help her fight Pan off. So we have a goat legged, horned being which is connected to nature-magic, which stands for lust and joy, which are traits, that remind us of two modern religious concepts at the same time: the Wiccan horned god and also the Christian depiction of the devil. The statue is from 100 BC.
Even it is an old deity on this seal from 2600-1900 BC, a horned god with 4 faces (only 3 are seen in the depiction) from the Indus valley, yet the older forms of the rock hand were probably not used to hail this god.
And also this friendly god, which is old enough to fall into the time of the ancient use of the rock hand and has horns, was most likely also not prayed to with the gesture.
This is Yama, who also most probably received no rock hand hail. But in terms of neo-paganist believe and the question of the resemblance between their horned deity and the devil, Yama becomes interesting. As both concepts, that of the horned god in neo-paganism and that of the modern conception of the devil, are based on older concepts. And Yama in a striking way combines similarities to both concepts, as he is horned and has an animal head, which are features that the devil and the horned god share. And also he is like the devil the ruler of the underworld and just as the Wiccan horned god is that leader of the people through the rebirth process. Which gives us another option as that the depiction of the Christian devil was inspired by that Celtic concept of the horned god, but that instead both concepts draw on common older concepts. While in Hinduism and Buddhism this god is friendly and reminds of the necessity to do good deeds in order to reach good things.
So if the rock hand sign, that has accompanied humanity for so long, was never originally invented to greet any horned deities, what was it used for?
This is the complete scroll from Japan, which we saw before with the rock hand on it. And we see, that it is a list of hand gestures called mudras. And mudras are hand gestures that are thought to help the body to create certain effects, like bringing calmness or helping to focus. And in the tradition of these hand postures, the rock hand was integrated. So what specifically is the effect of making the rock hand mudra. Well first off, back then it was not called the rock hand sign, as rock music was not even invented, but instead it was called Apāna Mudrā. And the Apāna Mudrā is a hand gesture commonly used in the practice of yoga and meditation, which is supposed to regulate the flow of the “Apāna Vayu”, which is one of the five vital forces (vayus) in the body according to Ayurvedic and yogic philosophies.
It is supposed to help to dispel negativity, fear, anxiety and depression. Also, it is thought to enhance happiness and contentment. Also, it is said to cultivate inner peace and guide the practitioner towards enlightenment. While, it should be done for 15 minutes or longer.
So is our “we rock” signal, which we show at concerts, actually an ancient meditation hand technique supposed to make us feel happy, regulate a certain energy flow, and help us with finding enlightenment? Not quite, because there are many different gestures and techniques of holding your hand, of which some look quite similar. And during the development of hand gestures, there is never a state in which a hand gesture has a definite form. People keep developing these hand forms over time and do them individually differently, and over time also ascribe new meanings and effects to them. So there is no definite form or meaning to none of the hand gestures we are talking about.
So let us look at the closest we can get to discerning all the gestures that are similar to the rock hand, while keeping in mind, that between different schools of ideas and over the course of history none of the forms that are shown now can be called right or precise or canonical.
This is the rock hand, as I was thought to do it on one of my first rock festivals. Note how the fingers point rather straight up.
This is a side view of the rock hand the way I do. Note how the middle fingers lie close to the palm of my hand, so there is nearly no space between the middle fingers and the palm. And the thumb lies on the middle section of the fingers.
That is another version of the rock hand, which is the way Coven and Dio seem to make it. We come to those two later and their importance for the rock hand history. Note how here the thumb is lying on the lower section of the fingers. And also how the upper fingers are put more sideways.
This is a side view of the Coven/Dio Version of the rock hand. Note how in this version of the gesture, there is a lot of space between the lower fingers and the palm.
This is Apana Mudra, note how the thumb does not cover the lower fingers at all, but instead touches both of them.
This is another version of Apana Mudra you can see from time to time. In this version, the fingers are bend more to the side.
This is a side view of Apana Mudra. Here you can see how the space between the lower fingers and the palm is even bigger than in the images before.
This is Karana Mudra. In this hand technique, the thumb touches only one finger.
Some do the Katrana mudra with the thumb touching the middel finger from below
Sometimes you see the Karana Mudra being done without the thumb even touching the middle finger.
And then there is also people who do the Karana Mudra in a very lose fashion.
The Karana Mudra in Buddhist tradition is said to help to get rid of negativity, anxiety, fear and depression. And also the Karana Mudra is thought to enhance feelings of happiness and contentment. On many Buddha statues, he is shown doing this gesture. Just as Apana Mudra also this gesture is also believed, to bring inner peace and guide towards enlightenment. Furthermore, this hand gesture is thought to remove obstacles, which put it closer to a hand gesture, called Malocchio which is traditionally used in Italy, about which we will talk in a moment, because it plays a part in the introduction of the rock hand into music culture.
But first we look at another hand gesture which looks similar, but from its origins has nothing to do with the rock hand sign. And that is a hand sign that is said to have been invented in 1906 by people were not able to hear. As those people use a sign language to show letters with their hands in order to communicate.
This is “i” in sign language.
This is “L” in sign language.
This is “Y” in sign language.
And by combining these three letters to one hand gesture showing all three letters at once, they invented a new sign.
This is the sign showing the three letters I L and Y at the same time to say I love you. The sign can also mean “I really like you” or “I appreciate you”. So you can also use it as a sign of friendship or respect.
This is Apana Vayu Mudra. It has not much to do with the rock hand, but we list it here for completion. It is also one of the yoga hand positions for creating some effect in the body. And this gesture is also used today for different purposes. For example, an insane far right Turkish group uses it as their sign of the wolf. But also in schools in Europe and North America this sign was used for a while to signal to the pupils to be quiet, while in this context it was called the “quiet fox”.
Now how did this ancient hand gesture get into music, to be now used by many people at rock festivals.
First we have to see that before the rock hand sign entered the music and concert culture it entered the world of sports. And that happened in the United States around the football team of the University of Texas, called the Texas Longhorns. Because in 1955 Harley Clark was hanging out with his colleagues Tom Butts and Henry K. Pitts. While those two were casting shadows at the wall of the student union. And Harley Clark thought about introducing the rock hand as a sign, with which the audience could then cheer for the Texas Longhorns football team. And being in charge of the cheerleading, he thought students the sign, so they could do it at the next football match. And it worked so well that already the next day at the football match the crowd in the audience was doing the rock hand gesture. Whereas the version of the rock hand that fans use to cheer for the Longhorns is the Coven/Dio Form that you see above in the images.
And because that all happened in 1955, this means, that when the sign started entering rock concert culture about ten years later there was already the phenomenon of whole audiences doing the sign in order to cheer.
Marlon Brando does the gesture in a film in 1955 while singing. So technically, the seems to be the first person to be photographed while doing the rock hand in a musical context. But he is not singing a heavy metal song, and he does the rock hand sign to indicate “snake eyes” which is a losing dice roll in craps.
So it seems reasonable to not count his use of the devil horns as a sign of rock n roll.
Marlon Brando doing the gesture at 3:40.
So to understand how the rock hand sign became connected to music we look at the first people who did it in a musical context, but people who did it in a way that was not as specific as doing it and saying “snake eyes”, because then it could catch on as a general greeting. And there we find, that there are actually musicians who are proven to having shown this hand gesture very early in the context of music, because there are photos of them doing it.
The first musicians who are shown early on photos doing the rock hand sign are John Lennon, Esther “Jinx” Dawson and her bandmates of the Band Coven, and Ronnie James Dio.
While the first time the rock horns appeared on an album cover was the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine Album from 1969, where a comic version of John Lennon does the sign. While it is just a drawn comic version, Lennon is reported to be shown on many pictures from 1967 to be doing the gesture.
Image: So here you see the album cover of Yellow Submarine.
Now in the same year in 1969 also the band Coven released an album, which was called Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls, and is commonly referred to only as Witchcraft. And on that album, the band members do the Rock hand sign.
Image: Back and front cover of the Album Witchcraft, showing the rock hand.
On the album cover, you can see how in 1969 the band members of Coven do the rock hand sign. And the woman in the middle, the singer of that band later did the rock hands on many occasions and on many pictures.
Image: Inside the Witchcraft album with many people doing the rock hand.
The woman lying in the middle is Lead vocalist Jinx Dawson.
Larger version of the same image.
Image: Lead singer of Coven Esther “Jinx” Dawson doing the sign on a later picture.
Image: Dawson doing the rock hands again.
While the lead singer Jinx Dawson tells us, that she has been doing the sign since 1967 in the context of music, which is the same date as John Lennon is reported to have been doing the horns gesture.
While as I said at this point, it was already common for more than ten years for large audiences at the Texas Longhorn college football games to show the horns sign in order to cheer. So the first musician, that shows this gesture on the photo of a cover of a record is a painted John Lennon on the cover of Yellow Submarine, but coven used it on a cover in the same year. Now what made Coven and John Lennon do the horns sign, what was the intended message. While it remains unclear for John Lennon, we can at least guess why Coven did the metal horns.
Because modern forms of Witchcraft are used to using the Indian hand gestures called mudras for supporting magic practices. So the rock hand sign can easily be used in the context of Witchcraft magic, where we could assume, that it has similar meanings, as it has in Buddhist tradition, which in the context of witchcraft might be suggested as being used for cleansing the atmosphere.
And also in the typical modern form of witchcraft the Wiccan belief system, which already exist when Coven created their album, the sign of the horns is used to greet one of the Wiccan deities the horned god, which, as we said earlier, is not the devil.
Now, “Coven” means “a meeting of witches and magicians”. And if we look at the image above from the album “Witchcraft”, and see a lot of people dressed in black robes with a flipped cross and a naked woman lying on an altar with a scull and a goblet on her, we can say, that this is showing or at least visualizing a ritual of witchcraft. So when on this image and also on the album outside people are doing the rock hand sign it can safely be assumed, that they do it in the context of witchcraft. Which in this case would then mean either the effort of magically putting a good atmosphere to the ritual, or greeting or invoking the horned god. While of course we have to strongly consider, that the album images are more of an advertising in order to give the band more flair, instead of being an actual ceremony of witchcraft, yet we have to conclude, that probably the sign still is in the images in its function as being a hand gesture of witchcraft.
Well as Jinx lets us know in an interview that she likes the rock hand to be something that everybody does at concerts, so we also can safely assume that to the band members the sign does not seem to have a secret cultish meaning, so that nobody outside the circle should do it. So we can quite safely conclude, that the band members did the sign not with complete cultish intention, not actually performing it as a ritualistic piece of nature-magic. Whereas as Jinx says the knowledge of the ideas of witchcraft, with which she grew up, to her are a legitimate friendly take on religion. And so it is not too strange, when she freely uses its symbols in a casual, friendly manner. But also in one interview she says, that she rather thought of the use of the sign with its meaning it has in free masonry, as a secret greeting.
Much later than in 1979 ten years after the Coven album, Ronnie James Dio started to use the sign on the stage of his rock concerts with the band Black Sabbath.
Image: Ronnie James Dio doing the rock hands sign.
Even though the name Black Sabbath points into the direction of witches cults, Dio tells us, that he knew the sign from his grandmother who used it to ward off curses. He refers to one other traditional use of the rock hand, which is called Maloik or Malocchio in which the hand gesture can either block a curse or send out a curse. Whereas, inside this tradition, the rock hand gesture is formed in the way the first two hand images show it. Which is my usual way of doing the rock hands and the Coven/Dio version. Ronnie James Dio also lets us know that Ozzy Osbourne the first singer of the band showed a peace sign on concerts, and so he also wanted to have a gesture to show to the audience and picked the sign he knew from his grandmother.
The Malocchio, the evil eye gesture, is done in both versions of the rock hand we saw earlier.
While pretty much all forms of rock hand gesture shown above can nowadays be seen at all sorts of music festivals and concerts.
The CARFINGER Rock Hand Sticker
This car sticker is a rock hand. And that means, that the sticker shows a rock gesture. And therefor if you like rock music and want to equip your car, your can put this car sticker to it. And this rock gesture Carfinger is not like all the other car stickers out there, because it is attached to the windshield wiper. And because of this attachment, you can let this gesture show to the people in traffic behind you simply by flipping a switch. And that is exactly what the original Car Finger is about. And if you do not listen to rock and roll or heavy music, then still this windshield wiper sticker is a cool gift for a friend. As with the original series by Car Finger, you can be sure to get a great quality. So with this little rock present for a driver, you have a nice little gadget for their vehicle. And we can call it a gadget because it moves at the tapping of a button. So don’t hesitate and get this little thing and with it buy one of the best presents.
And you might also want to check out the shop, in which we show all the other stickers, which are not only all attached to the windshield wiper, but also can all be put to the same attachment. Which makes it that you can interchange the stickers easily. So maybe one day you want to use this hand gesture and another day you want to use one of the others. And with this sticker, you can simply change between the options.
Images under the Creative commons 1 license:
- Japan scroll of mudras and image section. The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975
- Aphrodite, Pan and Eros by Jebulon.
- Shiva Pashupat 2600-1900BC Indus Valley. Public domain 70 years.
- Yama picture by Daderot.
- Hook em Horns image by Enoch Lai. General Public domain.
Creative Commons 1 license terms.
Images under the Creative commons 2 license:
- Golden Buddha image taken by pressapochista.
- Mara taken by Dharma from Sadao, Thailand.
Creative Commons 2 license terms.
Images under the Creative Commons 4 license:
- Guru Padmasambhava is a photography by Subhrajyoti07
Creative Commons 4 license terms.
Other images
Naigamesha. Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc.
