What these ancient people left us today is a form of art steeped in mythology, spirituality and sacred symbols. Their symbols honored life, nature and deities as well as bestowing powers and meaning.

It is difficult to ascribe exact meaning to Celtic symbols as they left us no written words. It is also difficult to ascertain what exactly their symbols meant to them. What little we know has been handed down through mythology, archaeological evidence and manuscripts from Roman times. However even that cannot adequately explain how the Druids and tribes came to the reasoning behind each and every symbol.

Visual Representations

Celtic symbols were used as a visual representation of how they viewed life around them. Their beliefs and customs were immortalized in symbols that date to as far back as 3,000 BCE. The Celts used symbols as a way to ward off evil, provide power, worship deities or speak of their family relations. Celtic symbol meaning is rooted in paganism, the most common symbol left us today takes the form of knot work made famous after their conversion to Christianity.

Celtic knot work as we know it today was used prolifically to illustrate Christian manuscripts and stone carvings. Although many of these art forms are today dated back only as far as 6 AD, they are much older than that.