Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols - Adele Nozedar - Страница 110

One of the most distinctive decorative features of Celtic artwork and architecture are the beautiful constructions of Celtic knotwork. It adorns stonework, illuminated manuscripts, and jewelry; the knotwork has left a distinctive trail that clearly shows all the places in the world that were visited at some point by the Celts.

The knotwork itself would appear to be a purely decorative device. If at one time there were specific symbolic meanings attached, then these have been lost over the centuries. Intertwining shapes and lines, however, generally point toward ideas of connectedness and the harmonious convergence of opposites, male and female, fire and water, Heaven and Earth, for example. In addition, any sign that can be made without the pen leaving the paper tends to have strong protective associations, and knotwork, with its continual looping and spiraling, could have been used in this way, perhaps used for amulets and talismans.

Existing symbols—such as a heart, or birds and animals—are often rendered in Celtic knotwork. In this case, the form of the underlying shape carries the symbolic meaning.

The Celtic Knot that is square in form is a protective symbol, called a shield knot.