Celtic knot Stone Celtic crosses, such as this, are a major source of our knowledge of Celtic knot design. Carpet page from Lindisfarne Gospels, showing knotwork detail. Almost all of the folios of the Book of Kells contain small illuminations like this decorated initial. History[edit] Examples of plait work (a woven, unbroken cord design) predate knotwork designs in several cultures around the world,[2] but the broken and reconnected plait work that is characteristic of true knotwork began in northern Italy and southern Gaul and spread to Ireland by the 7th century.[3] The style is most commonly associated with the Celtic lands, but it was also practiced extensively in England and was exported to Europe by Irish and Northumbrian monastic activities on the continent. Examples[edit] See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit]
Tattoo Brighton About Tattoo Brighton: Tattoo Brighton. I have so much respect for people whose vanity is such that they would indelibly mark their skin just to look good. I started this blog on a whim but have become more and more impressed by the art of tattooing. Please feel free to submit images to me for inclusion on this site. Tattoo parlors, shops and studios in Brighton. A Short History of Tattooing The firs recorded tattoos were found on the fossilised skin of early cave dwellers dated from around 50,000 years ago. X Pole I've got a new hobby and maybe I'll get quite good, but for now I'm just practicing. Next onto the tattooing scene were Babylonian fishermen.
Horned God The term Horned God itself predates Wicca, and is an early 20th-century syncretic term for a horned or antlered anthropomorphic god with pseudohistorical origins[4] who, according to Margaret Murray's 1921 The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, was the deity worshipped by a pan-European witchcraft-based cult, and was demonized into the form of the Devil by the Mediaeval Church. The Horned God has been explored within several psychological theories, and has become a recurrent theme in fantasy literature.[5]:872 Horned God of Wicca[edit] For Wiccans, the Horned God is "the personification of the life force energy in animals and the wild"[6] and is associated with the wilderness, virility and the hunt.[7]:16 Doreen Valiente writes that the Horned God also carries the souls of the dead to the underworld.[8] In the name of the Lady of the Moon, and the Horned Lord of Death and Resurrection[12] Names of the Horned God[edit] Horned God in psychology[edit] Jungian analysis[edit] Humanistic psychology[edit]
Making Celtic Knots Here are some examples of Celtic knots and how to draw them yourself. I have written a Kindle book: How to design Celtic Knots - a guide for beginners - Buy UK - USA (or look up Jo Edkins in Amazon) Celtic knots are patterns representing ropes or threads tied in a knot. They are really mis-named. They appear in Roman mosaics, and were made by Vikings and Saxons as well as Celts.Many knots are continuous, with no loose ends, and these are also called Gordian knots or Gordic knots. This refers to the myth of the knot of Gordias. Outside links "Program to assist the creation, design and editing of 'celtic' style braids" - free OpenSource softwareSoftware for creating Celtic knots as a fontCeltic knot typeface - free to download, image, and Celtic knot generator.Hypknotix - Celtic knots website, software, artwork and resources My links You may also be interested in my website on mazes or mosaics or Greek keys or any of my other websites. © Jo Edkins 2003
Celtic polytheism Celtic polytheism, commonly known as Celtic paganism,[1][2][3] comprises the religious beliefs and practices adhered to by the Iron Age peoples of Western Europe now known as the Celts, roughly between 500 BCE and 500 CE, spanning the La Tène period and the Roman era, and in the case of the Insular Celts the British and Irish Iron Age. Celtic polytheism was one of a larger group of Iron Age polytheistic religions of the Indo-European family. It comprised a large degree of variation both geographically and chronologically, although "behind this variety, broad structural similarities can be detected"[4] allowing there to be "a basic religious homogeneity" amongst the Celtic peoples.[5] The Celtic pantheon consists of numerous recorded theonyms, both from Greco-Roman ethnography and from epigraphy. Among the most prominent ones are Teutatis, Taranis and Lugus. In the later 5th and the 6th centuries, the Celtic region was Christianized and earlier religious traditions were supplanted.
Interlace (art) Intricate braided and interlaced patterns, called plaits in British usage, are found in late Roman art in many parts of Europe, in mosaic floors and other media. Coptic manuscripts and textiles of 5th- and 6th-century Christian Egypt are decorated with broad-strand ribbon interlace ornament bearing a "striking resemblance" to the earliest types of knotwork found in the Insular art manuscripts of the British Isles.[1] This new style featured elongated beasts intertwined into symmetrical shapes, and can be dated to the mid-7th century based on the accepted dating of examples in the Sutton Hoo treasure.[1] The most elaborate interlaced zoomorphics occur in Viking Age art of the Urnes style (arising before 1050), where tendrils of foliate designs intertwine with the stylized animals.[4] Illustrated article by Peter Hubert on the origins of interlace sculpture.
Green Man Types[edit] Lady Raglan coined the term "Green Man" in her 1939 article "The Green Man in Church Architecture" in The Folklore Journal.[3] Some commentators conflate or associate the term with "Jack in the Green".[4] Usually referred to in works on architecture as foliate heads or foliate masks, carvings of the Green Man may take many forms, naturalistic or decorative. The Green Man appears in many forms, with the three most common types categorized as: the Foliate Head: completely covered in green leavesthe Disgorging Head: spews vegetation from its mouththe Bloodsucker Head: sprouts vegetation from all facial orifices (e.g. tear ducts, nostrils and mouth)[5][6] In churches[edit] To the modern observer the earlier (Romanesque and medieval) carvings often have an unnervingly eerie or numinous quality. Later variations[edit] Modern images[edit] Green men, and variants on the theme, frequently occur in modern fantasy literature and science fiction. Related characters[edit] Neo-paganism[edit]
Celtic art The reverse side of a British bronze mirror, 50 BC - 50 AD, showing the spiral and trumpet decorative theme of the late "Insular" La Tène style Celtic art is the art associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic languages. Celtic art is a difficult term to define, covering a huge expanse of time, geography and cultures. Both styles absorbed considerable influences from non-Celtic sources, but retained a preference for geometrical decoration over figurative subjects, which are often extremely stylised when they do appear; narrative scenes only appear under outside influence.[4] Energetic circular forms, triskeles and spirals are characteristic. Background[edit] Carved stone ball from Towie in Aberdeenshire, dated from 3200–2500 BC[7] Pre-Celtic periods[edit]
Celtic pantheon The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Celtic peoples are known from a variety of sources, including written Celtic mythology, ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects and place or personal names. In characteristic Roman fashion, Caesar does not refer to these figures by their native names but by the names of the Roman gods with which he equated them, a procedure that greatly complicates the task of identifying his Gaulish deities with their counterparts in the insular literatures. He also presents a neat schematic equation of god and function that is quite foreign to the vernacular literary testimony. General characteristics[edit] Supra-regional cults[edit] Among the divinities transcending tribal boundaries were the Matres, Cernunnos, the sky-god and Epona, the horse-goddess, who was invoked by devotees living as far apart as Britain, Rome and Bulgaria. The Celtic sky-god too had variations in the way he was perceived and his cult expressed. Local cults[edit]
IRISH LITERATURE, MYTHOLOGY, FOLKLORE, AND DRAMA Irish Writers OnlineIrish PlayographyStudy Ireland: Poetry - BBCIrish Women Writers - M. OckerbloomIreland Literature GuidePoetry Ireland / Éigse ÉireannEarly Irish Lyric Poetry - Kuno MeyerSonnets from Ireland - E. BlomquistColum's Anthology of Irish Verse - Bartleby.comBREAC - Digital Journal of Irish Studies Medieval Celtic ManuscriptsThe Book of KellsCarmina GadelicaCELT Irish Electronic Texts Irish Writers OnlineIreland Literature ExchangeBibliography of 19th-c. Jonathan SwiftJonathan Swift ArchiveJonathan Swift Biography - IncompetechGulliver's Travels - U. Bram StokerDraculaBram Stoker Biography - Classic Literature LibraryBram Stoker's Dracula - Carstens smith Oscar WildeThe Official Home Page of Oscar WildeWilde Biography - BBCOscar Wilde OnlineCELT: Oscar WildePoetry of Oscar Wilde - Bartleby.com George Bernard ShawShaw Biography - C. William Butler YeatsYeats Biography - Poetry FoundationCollected Poems - W. Donn ByrneByrne Biography - J. Fine Art The Faery Harper Oisín
Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions index Sacred Texts Wicca & Neo-Paganism Irish Druids And Old Irish Religions by James Bonwick This scholarly, but very readable, book covers what was known about Druids and Irish Paganism at the end of the nineteenth century. Title PagePrefaceContents Part I. Who Were The Druids? Part II. IntroductionIrish SuperstitionsIrish Magic, and Tuatha De DanaansIrish GodsIdol-WorshipSerpent FaithSun-WorshipFire-WorshipStone-WorshipAnimal WorshipThe Shamrock, and Other Sacred PlantsWell-WorshipHoly BellsIrish CrossesThe Sacred Tara HillRound Tower CreedOssian the BardThe Culdees of Druidical DaysThe Future Life, or Land of the WestAncient Irish LiteratureThe Lia Fail, or the Stone of Destiny