Celtic Symbols

This video, a little over 5 minutes, packs in a surprising diversity of Celtic landscapes, images and symbols, along with some nice Irish music.

Celtic cross tattoos are a simple but elegant tattoo design that is good for a stand alone tattoo or as part of a larger design. The Celtic cross is an ancient symbol that predates even Christianity. The Celtic cross is a simple symbol, consisting of a cross surrounded by a circle.

The cross is an ancient symbol with many meanings. The cross can symbolize the four directions. The circle around the Celtic cross can symbolize the Sun, or infinity. Of course, since the time of Christianity, all crosses have taken on a meaning that is inseparable from Christ.

For many people who admire the Celtic cross, it is at least as much a symbol of their Celtic heritage as a spiritual or religious symbol. Celtic crosses usually contain knotwork, spirals and other symbols that give them a distinctly Celtic appearance.

Celtic crosses have become popular as tattoo designs. This is part of the general popularity of tribal tattoos, and Celtic ones in particular. Along with Celtic knots and spirals, the Celtic cross is one of the most instantly recognizable tattoo symbols you can wear. This is a design that can be worn in many places, such as the arms, legs or torso. Like other Celtic designs, it is also great for displaying color. You can choose any number of bright colors for a Celtic cross, especially if the artist places other designs within the cross.

In our time, symbols have become largely a personal matter. That is, the meaning of a symbol is mostly what you give it. Something like a Celtic cross can have Christian, pagan, or ethnic meanings depending on your own beliefs. If you have other tattoos near it, this may clarify or amplify the meaning of the Celtic cross.

If you are thinking of getting a Celtic cross tattoo, you should look at designs and find one that appeals to you. There are many possibilities for the size and design. Find a tattoo artist with experience with Celtic tattoos; look at examples of their work, which should be displayed in their studio. Another way to find a good tattoo artist is by recommendation. There is no better recommendation than seeing a great tattoo on someone and asking them who did the work!

This is a short video I put together using the online tool Animoto. Eventually I plan to get into more sophisticated types of video production, but for now this is a good way to get started. These are some images of Celtic symbols such as Celtic knots and crosses, as well as landscapes, castles, dolmens and such from Britain, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The great music from this video is Poison Dwarf, by Neidfyre. Some images are from another cool Celtic site, http://www.aon-celtic.com.

The Cranberries are a popular Irish Pop/Rock group who released several albums, mainly in the 1990s. While their music cannot be called Celtic in any traditional sense, their sound, especially lead singer Dolores O’Riordan has a definite Irish/Celtic mood to it. The songs of the Cranberries, such as “Dream” and “Linger” are mellow, thoughtful soft rock, but too interesting to be dull the way some “soft” music is. The Cranberries are currently not performing as a group, as members have gone their separate ways.

I actually chose this topic because I found the following video that contains many interesting Celtic symbols, set to a Cranberries tune called Zombie.

The Holy Grail, while not necessarily a Celtic symbol per se, has long been associated with the British Isles. It is best known today from the legends of King Arthur. It is supposed to be the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. In a 12th Century story by Robert de Boron, the Grail is brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea. Medieval legends describe knights such as Percival on quests for the Grail.

There are also connections between the Grail legend and Welsh literature, especially the Mabinogion, in which the hero Bran has a life-giving cauldron.
Some authors and researchers, notably Lewis Spence The Mysteries of Britain (Senate Paperbacks)
connect the Holy Grail to earlier Celtic beliefs, such as Cerridwen’s Cauldron, from which the mythic bard Taliesin drank, giving him the gift of prophecy.

While the Holy Grail has long been a sacred symbol of Christianity, especially in Western Europe, the cauldrons of Bran and Cerridwen have more recently been resurrected by neo-pagans. It is difficult to prove one way or the other whether these two traditions are directly related –that is, if the Holy Grail developed out of earlier tales of cauldrons from the Celtic lands.

When it comes to symbolism, however, it isn’t necessary to find direct historical links in order to find meanings and similarities. The Grail, and its connection to Jesus, relates to the Christian sacrement of Communion, in which worshippers partake of Christ’s body and blood, symbolizing eternal life. This seems to connect with the cauldron of Bran.

J. A. MacCulloch’s The Religion of the Ancient Celts
connects the cauldron with earlier fertility gods and goddesses, such as Dagda and Cerridwen, and spoke of the “three properties of the cauldron –inexhaustibility, inspiration and regeneration. From this we can see that both the Holy Grail and the cauldrons of Celtic tradition were related in many ways.

Although my focus with the Celtic Symbols blog has been on more esoteric themes, the shamrock is probably the most obvious of Celtic, or Irish symbols. Shamrocks have a long history in Ireland. They are associated with good luck, St Patrick and leprechauns. In Irish, it is spelled seamrog (meaning “summer plant”).

At one time, the shamrock was a plant sacred to the druids. This is believed to be because the leaves form a triad, and this is very important in Celtic symbolism (see my post about the triskele, or triple spiral). St. Patrick was said to have used the shamrock as a way to symbolize the Trinity. Hence, the shamrock is a popular symbol for St. Patrick’s Day.

The plant most commonly associated with shamrocks is the white clover, but other plants with three leaves are sometimes called by this name as well. In the 19th Century, it became a symbol of rebellion against the English, and for a time is was forbidden to display it.

Thanks for visiting the Celtic Symbols blog! This site is inspired by the beauty and enduring popularity of Celtic symbols such as knotwork, zoomorphic images (those depicting animals, both real and imaginary, such as sea monsters and dragons) and other images. These images are very commonly seen today in many art books, in jewelry, as tattoos and fantasy art (paintings, book covers, CD covers, etc.).

Celtic art goes way back in history, and I’ll be exploring some of this fascinating tradition. There will also be links to other interesting sites and resources. I think Celtic symbols and artwork has such appeal, not only for its intrinsic beauty, but because it expresses something of the infinite, as in a Celtic knot. There is both a spirituality and earthiness to Celtic art.

I’d like to explore the many ways Celtic symbols have been used over the centuries, including languages. For example, one of the earliest Celtic languages was the Irish Tree Alphabet, known as Ogham. This, and other aspects of Celtic or Gaelic languages have also become very popular recently, especially in music.

So please visit this site often and keep up with this fascinating aspect of Celtic culture!