An ancient shape
The cross appears in cultures that long precede Christianity, where it stood for the meeting of complementary forces: sky and earth, or male and female, joined at a central point often associated with the heart. Santo Daime inherited this older layer of meaning even as it gave the symbol a specifically Christian reading.
The cross of Mestre Irineu
The particular cross adopted for use in the Daime is understood within the doctrine to represent the mission of Jesus Christ in two stages. Its lower crossbeam, shared with many Christian traditions and older peoples, is read as the first phase of that mission: planting compassion in humanity and calling people toward direct connection with the divine. The upper crossbeam is read as the promise of a second coming, understood not as a single event but as the awakening of that same seed within the hearts of all people. Santo Daime places its own founding within this second phase, alongside other paths said to be unfolding at the same time.
Variants used in the works
Alongside the central cross, Santo Daime ritual employs smaller devotional crosses, called cruzeirinhos, including the Lua Branca (White Moon) cruzeirinho and the Sete Estrelas (Seven Stars) cruzeirinho, each carrying its own combination of lunar and stellar imagery within the broader cross symbolism of the tradition.