A priest's staff.
The real-life crosier (also spelled crozier) is a stylized, often ornately-decorated staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a high-ranking Christian priest. This staff generally comes in three forms: hooked, in the shape of a shepherd's crook (curled off to one side); tau, in the shape of a T with downwards-curving arms topped by a small cross; and serpentine, with a pair of sculptured serpents or dragons curled back to face each other in an upwards-facing U with a small cross between them.
The fantasy version of the crosier tends to resemble a bastardized version of one (or several) of the above, with a small sphere or circular symmetrical "shepherd's crook" bisected or topped by a large cross (the overall profile will often resemble a Celtic cross). Some versions may just be a large cross mounted on the end of a staff (with the whole staff resembling a Latin cross, like the Pope's ferula). Another common fantasy variant has a scepter-like head topped off with a small cross.
Priests and fantasy priestesses are often depicted holding a crosier. Some may instead be depicted wielding a generic mage staff; such examples should not be tagged crosier.
The following tags are aliased to this tag: priest_staff_(western) (learn more).