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Celtic Spirals

When early man observed the beauty of nature’s spirals its not surprising that it would become a potent symbol for creation and growth. It is the only provable decorative motive used in Christian Celtic art to have its roots in the preceding pagan period, the best examples are found on stone monuments such as Newgrange, in Ireland.

Spirals of Newgrange

Although one coiled spirals can be found in the art of most peoples of Europe, Asia, Africa, Polynesia and the Americas, the Egyptians used spirals as all over motifs from around 3000 BC to 1500 BC It was the Celts who found the method of making two, three and four or more coils and developed the spiral which would later be put to good use on the stone of Aberlemno, Hilton of Cadboll, the fine metalwork of the Tara brooch and Ardagh chalice and later in the decorated book.

In the Neolithic world, passing a spiral barrier (like the entrance stone to Newgrange in Ireland) the initiate is led into an inner sanctuary that was the necessary passport in the journey of the sacred dance, through the labyrinth to the sacred realms beyond the centre. The labyrinth creates and protects the still centre, allowing entry to its knowledge only in the correct way, through initiation. Before the knowledge can be imparted, old preconceptions must be discarded and the traveller must re-enter the pre formal state of the womb. At the centre, there is complete balance: the point where Heaven and Earth are joined. The descending gyre of Heaven is the materialisation of spirit into matter, maintaining a state of balance, in the initiate inwardly and outwardly - in a state of perfect being. In the sacred dance, we mirror the macrocosmic order of the heavens, the gyratory movement representing the whirling of the stars above the fixed earth. As we wind, we create within ourselves a still centre and apprehend the being of the universe into being; as we unwind, we turn our spirit back to its divine source. The early Celtic saints continued this tradition by using a rock cavity for meditation and prayer.

The archetypal symbol for power, the three in one was the Triskele, which was later called by the alchemists the Secret Fire and was depicted all over the Celtic world. It has three arms springing from a common centre, the three-legged symbol the Legs-o- Man evolved from this pattern. A related four-legged version became the swastika.

The spiral was the earliest decorative ornament to be used in Celtic art and by the mid-tenth century was the first to disappear.

The Celts were firm believers of this ability and most of their myths and legends deal with this journeying. Our movement through the experiences of life, death and rebirth is symbolised in the ever-changing directional flow of the spiral.

Rising Consciousness. These can be seen as reincarnation of life-form(s) that progress’s, as one’s thinking becomes the more spiritual. The early Christian monks who had absorbed some of the teachings of the pagan druids knew of the ’spirals of life’. It was only at a much later date that this ancient knowledge was deleted from teachings of aspirants and, the Celtic knowledge put onto the ’back- burner’. The ancient writings of the Sanskrit called this thought energy, and waking consciousness, Kundalini the fiery serpent.

Extract from “The Celtic Art Workbook 1- Knotwork & Spirals ” Illustration and text by Courtney Davis

First published by Blandford Press (2000) PB ISBN 0-7137-2743-8