Full disclosure: my ancestors tended toward the Plain people in that area (Brethren, Dunkers, perhaps Mennonites), not the Fancy ones who made hex signs. However, I gather the difference there is one of belief, not of bloodlines.
It's hard to say, because despite my reading everything about it I can get my hands on, I am just beginning to learn. Anyone can make something up and put it on the internet. As with anything else I read or otherwise try to learn about, I accept the meaning that makes sense to me and let the remaining chaff (as I see it) blow away in the wind.
Case in point: those pretty little scallops around the edge of a lot of hex signs. Smooth sailing in life? Really?
I found one or two sources which didn't look like the same old copypasta and which mentioned a meaning that seems, well, far more meaningful.
Ripples.
Someone else called them 'water wheels', which seems to reinforce the theme of motion and flow. I like that.
A few of my earliest workings, last millennium, involved sending energy out in every direction at once. I still do that--not every time, but for some intentions it's just the thing. If you want to branch out and aren't sure where the branches should be, you could simply radiate.
Lately I've been wanting to radiate. Make some new friends, keep some old friends. Make my world bigger. I'm meeting lots of local Pagans I never knew were out there. We're beautifying the green earth. We're raising funds to help women escape violent relationships and move toward stronger, more peaceful lives.
We're looking outside of ourselves and our own little boxes. We're creating the world we want to live in, instead of waiting for permission to do it. More than anything else, we are (at least *I* am) realizing that that world was there all the time.
It's a good start.
But hey, one more boost helps.
