The ancient Lithuanians believed in pagan gods were superstitious and believed in sorcery and did not start anything without consulting magicians, sorcerers, and diviners, who were in power in Lithuania then. Some of them made spells on water foam, others on smoke, salt, wax, the flight of birds, the wind direction, and other natural phenomena.
That's why Duke Šventaragis, then a 96-year-old man, pious and believing in sorcery, decided to consult a witch before he started building the Thunder Temple. The duke had known about the witch Burinime, who lived in Samogitia then, in the lower reaches of the Nemunas. The duke Šventaragis wanted to know the future of the temple so he sent to Burinime six serious elders with generous and expensive gifts.
A clever sorceress, who cast several spells, foretold the temple to stand as long as Lithuanians were idolaters. The sorceress ordered to make and bring to Duke 122 bricks with various symbols that meant good and bad years. The sign of the cross with two crossbars was carved into the last brick. It was a warning that when the turn of that sign came, the Christians will kill the idolaters and destroy the best temple. The duke ordered to laying of those bricks on the southern side of the temple.
The prophecies of the sorceress came true, because after 122 years, Jogaila, who surrendered to the Poles, baptized himself and ordered to baptize all the Lithuanians. The temple was destroyed, and a cathedral was built on its foundations. The cross with two transverse signs has since been used on the shield of the warrior Vytis, and it signified that the Christians had won against the idolaters.
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