The spirals of very ancient Celtic art seems to contain inspired richness and symbolism. Double or triple spirals are depicted amidst other double or triple spirals. While different styles of beautiful complexity in art appears in other cultures, the complexity of Celtic art seems particularly subtle.
However, after looking far and wide, I have noticed that many cultures, the-world-over, have used spirals in their iconography. Many cultures have made use of, and even continue to use, spirals around the circumference of vases, around the edge of a plate, around the edge of a garment, around the edge of a doorway, along the length of a wall near the top, sometimes at the top of a pillar, and sometimes simply marked singly or in groups upon the flat surface of natural stone.
The following comparisons are mostly of the double-spiral variety. These double-spirals seem to be the most universal, perhaps because we all experience waxing and waning, youthful growth followed by aging decline, the quiet of winter is followed by new growth in spring followed by summer maturity which is followed by autumn harvest. We all experience something of this sort in our lives, making them universal experiences.
Perhaps the clockwise spiral followed by the counter-clockwise is symbolic of the universal experience of life. Many of the spirals depicted world-wide are rounded, curved. Still other of these double spirals are depicted as squared off, especially in later times when weaving becomes prevalent, but these squared-off spirals are still readily recognizable as spiraling figures.
Here are the double-spiral examples I have found world-wide :
Ancient Greek Spirals
Earlier ancient Greek culture
Later ancient Greek culture
Ancient Irish Spirals
Norse Spiral (This symbol is called "the fair exchange" or "the grinding-mill")
Minoan Spirals
Mayan Spirals
Hopi Spirals
Chinese Spirals
Vietnamese Spirals
Australian Spirals
A spiral intuitively conveys the idea of growth, the way a leaf uncurls, the way a fern-frond unspirals, or the way the Sun and the Moon are seen to spiral around the Earth, giving us life. Some would say that clockwise-spirals symbolize growth. If that is so, then a double-spiral would symbolize waxing and then waning, such as the waxing and waning of a year. First the daylight of seasons lengthens in time, followed by the gradual shortening of the time of daylight. This kind of experience is seen in everything from a growing plant that eventually dies, the day, the Moon's cycle; the cycle of the year, the life of a person.
There are some very tight circular spirals found in Europe that people now regard as depicting the Sun. In the Boyne Valley in Ireland there is a large stone guarding the entrance to a place called Newgrange, which is a structure built more than 5,000 years ago. This stone guards a hallway-entrance which is oriented in such a way so that when the Sun is at His lowest point during winter solstice, the light of the rising sun will shine upon the interior. On this stone are carved various impressive triple and double-spirals. If you look closely at the double and triple-spirals on this stone, you will see that they are drawn out of tightly wound nearly circular spirals. Each single basic circular spiral can be seen to loop out and then back in, the line doubling upon itself. Here is a definite instance where the waxing and the waning are depicted within each whorl. Perhaps, among other things, each one of these spirals are symbolic of yearly cycles?
Often in Celtic coin-art or in worded metaphor there are double and even triple meanings. If a single clockwise rounded spiral can convey the idea of the Sun and a year at the same time, then perhaps a double spiral could convey the idea of two years. In the same way, a triple-spiral might convey the idea of a three-year sequence. To a person who thinks in terms of cycles and transformations, this does not seem contradictory. Different ways of thinking of various cycles can be readily conveyed by one symbol.
In this way, the triple spiral can be looked at with more knowing eyes. In drawing the triple-spiral, one first draws a double spiral that first waxes and then wanes. Out of the mid-point of the double spiral grows a third spiral, as if it was new-growth. Perhaps one aspect of the triple-spiral's symbolism is the waxing and waning life of a father, wherein the beginning of the life of his baby comes at the middle or balance-point of the father's life. The first part of a double-spiral could be symbolic for the youthful part of a man's life, while the second part could be symbolic of the aging part of a father's life. The third spiral could be symbolic for the new life of a child, growing out of the life of the parent.
The Minoan double-spiral can be looked at in this way as well. Encompassing a Minoan Queen's bedchambers were repeating symbolic depictions of double-spiral branched plants, bounding the room near the ceiling, with flowers growing from the center "dip" of the double-spirals. When tracing the Minoan Queen's spiraling figures, the spirals both remain clockwise in their waxing and waning aspects. Out of the cleft formed by the joining midpoint of the spirals grows a flower. An association can be ventured here - perhaps third part of the depiction symbolizes the flowering life of a child. Here might be a symbol of the baby's life growing out from the middle and adult-phase of the Queen's life. In this way, the midpoint of the double-spirals would express the time of the transformation of becoming a parent, when the waxing of one's life becomes devoted to the life a child.
Looking at the Australian Aboriginal double-spiral this way yields an interesting result. This is the first symbol a Australian Aboriginal boy sees when he is goes through a particular puberty ritual. The young man crawls on his back through a cave opening until he comes to a large cavern. On the ceiling, above his head, as he enters the cavern, the first thing he sees is the Australian double-spiral. Tracing the left spiral with the finger, first comes the waxing clockwise motion, followed by a "dip", which is then followed by the waning counter-clockwise spiral. The over-all impression the spiral gives is that of an antelope or mountain goat staring at the looker. But, the center "dip" could be regarded as the simultaneous symbolism of a lingam and a yoni. Here again, parenthood seems to be symbolized at the midpoint of the double-spiral.
In the same way, at the middle of a couple's life, as parents, they must provide food for themselves and their new child. If one looks at the Nordic symbol called either "the fair exchange" or "the grinding-mill" it can be seen that this symbol is identical to the center "exchanges" or "handshake-points" of the keyed spirals.
The symbolism of the other double-spirals can be much more basic, though they can still contain multiple meanings. Linked spirals seem to convey the continuance of cycles or tides. They seem to convey that one cycle always leads to the next, endlessly recapitulation without breaking the chain, even though half of every cycle is comprised of a waning, fading, winding down. These linked spirals are sometimes connected to form waves, very much evoking the idea of tides.
Sometimes double-spirals are unlinked but follow each other, but doubtless this unlinked chains of spirals convey the same idea of continuing cycles in plants, days, months, years, and lives. Spirals standing alone can convey the same thing; and these lone spirals are the bare essence, the building-blocks of symbolizing the cyclical nature of life and life's transformations.
Copyright © 2004 J. G. Jones