Aon Celtic Art

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From what I've been able to find out from archeological and anthropological findings, and books on Celtic art and history, there is no list or series of meanings that can be attributed to a particular knot. Some of the God's and Goddess' are shown with symbols frequently, which is how we can assume what type of god they were, and what their symbols might be, but as for general knotwork or spiralwork or whatever, there is no historical information that says any of it can be linked with a meaning. Lots of them now-a-days though are given meanings, but whether or not these are accurate or not we'll likely never know, as so much of the Celtic history was lost with the Romans, the Vikings, and whoever else, that there is a great gap in history where folks couldn't pass on their knowledge or were forbidden to use it. This can make it hard to pass down translations and meanings if you mainly use a word of mouth teaching system! :-)

Here are some general meanings that are generally used today...HOWEVER, keep in mind they may be romantic interpretations, or they may be true, it's never been proven by factually found information either way. Here it is though...Knots will have a general meaning depending on what style it is. Interlaced knotwork stands for man's eternal growth and his journey towards a complete self. Spirals stand for more of a spiritual interpretation, of man's attainment of balance in his inner conciousness and outer self. The mazes and key patterns stand for man's journey through life, his path of experiences and learning. Most Celtic knots are believed to have been also used for meditations. There is also the Trinity Knot, standing for the Holy Trinity (or triple Celtic Gods/Goddess', depending on how far back you go), the Lover's Knot, where two parts become one. There are meanings in the Book of Kells as to what animals etc represent what apostle, too (check into almost any book on the Book of Kells, mine is written by Bernard Meehan). Otherwise check some of the books published by Caitlin or John Mathews, as they are usually chock full of that sort of stuff.

As I say : that all said now, there's no way of knowing if what we have down as meanings is really accurate. A lot has been 'lost in the translation' over all these years, if you know what I mean. I think it's probably best if you are going to use a knot for something personal for you to just go ahead and pick something that really appeals to you, and that's probably the most accurate reader of all. Certain types of people and personalities will prefer spirals over knots for some reason, or the animals over the spirals, or whatever. I think this reflects better what the symbols mean that anything, given that the meanings we have down are probably only romantic versions of what the real thing was back then anyway. After all, the Celts were obviously an extremely passionate people, and you can be sure that they didn't just follow what they were told to use for their tattoos, their shield decorations, etc., so why should anyone today who is following in those footsteps have to? ;-)

You can view some deeper and alternate discussions on my Tradeshop History and Meanings page.