John Dee's Monad

This is one of my favourite symbols. I’ve carved Dee's Monad a number of times over the past three years. I’ve noticed that there are variations of this symbol online but this is the original form. The Monad is a symbol of unification. Separate parts yield a whole. In the diagram you can see the individual elements and their basic significance. However there is more to this symbol and I thought I’d share my research in this post. 

In-keeping with the holistic imagery of this sigil we need to take a look at its creator, John Dee; an important figure in 17th c. English history, John Dee was born in England in 1527, and died late 1608. Through the course of his life he was a mathematician, an astrologer, astronomer and occultist. As a young man he went abroad to learn many of these arts. Returning from studies in Europe Dee was taken into the English aristocratic court, where he became an advisor to Elizabeth I. He advocated Imperial expansion of England and played a vital role in its inception. 

In the final decades of his life Dee dedicated himself to alchemical/hermetic philosophy, searching for an understanding of the divine forms he was certain underpinned reality. These transcendent principles he named “pure verities.” Dee saw no difference between his love of mathematics and science or his hermetic/occult dealings; to Dee they were means to the same end. In his quest for knowledge he gathered hundreds of books and manuscripts. It was said that Dee possessed the largest library in  England at the time. 

Dee is also renowned for his dealings with ‘angels’. It could be that these ventures into angelic converse were instigated because he felt a sense of failure in life. Dee hadn't  gained the knowledge and “pure verities” he sought via conventional methods. He was also losing favour with the Queen at court. So Dee took to scrying and ‘contacting’ divine beings. In 1582 Dee took one Edward Kelley into his service. Kelley has been figured by some scholars as a charlatan, however he was the medium  by which Dee conversed with angels. Together they meticulously detailed their dealings, completing several books  - some in the divine language which they called Enochian**. 

The following year, prompted by his angels, Dee left the court of Elizabeth I. Wishing to keep his head firmly on his shoulders* Dee and Kelley wound up travelling through Europe,  meeting with emperors and kings (all the while their spiritual conferences continued). Eventually Kelley and Dee parted ways after the angels told them that Kelley had to sleep with Dee's young wife. Kelley went to work for the emperor of the Bohemian empire, Rudolph II, in Prague, creating alchemical gold (did he or didn't he? Was Kelley a charlatan after all? A medium through whom Dee's subconscious was extricated in the form of angelic discourse?). Kelley, rising to fame across Europe because of his skills fell from grace. He was imprisoned and was slain whilst trying to escape. Dee returned to England and eventually died in poverty at his home, Mortlake,  at the grand old age of 82. 

One of the books he wrote during his long lifetime was the Monas Hieroglyphica, which is an explanation of the monad symbol. As previously seen Dee divided the monad into separate parts, and as we have also seen these parts can be divided into lunar, solar, element and fire, as well as lunar, solar, earth and spirit. However each part has other significance, as Dee sought to devise an all-embracing symbol - The monad. 

One thing to bear in mind here is that like the Pythagoreans Dee believed that numbers represented the sacred and the divine truth of the construction of the universe. Therefore sequences of numbers served as proof of the wholeness and sacredness of his hieroglyph. To Dee this symbol itself contained great power and mystery.

The Crown - 

The reason the moon features as taurus-like horns is that they are also cornucopia; the bounty of the fertile moon (remember that much cultivation was tied with astrological thought - and still is in modern day Italy). The moon  phases especially are seen as vital to the growth of plants. 

The Head - 

At the point (monad) all things come into being. In geometry neither a line nor a circle can be created without it. However due to the flawed pre-Galilean astronomy of the time the sun circled the earth. We know this to be wrong now, but Dee aligned the then belief with his symbol. Therefore the circle represented the sun's gyration around the central earth point. Entwined in the circle was of course the moon, also circling the earth. 

The Body - 

Represents the mystery of the elements, four stems that are also joined at their fulcrum. The cross also serves a quaternary function, upon which the theorem adds Pythagorean substance in the form of the Tetractys (a formula or sequence of numbers in triangular form that added up to the mystical number 10). Mathematically and numerically the cross was a symbol of perfection.

The Feet - 

As Aries Dee introduced a fire symbol, relating that in the alchemical practice of his symbol fire was a necessary component,

The entire figure could also be recognised by those versed in hermetic law as an alchemical process, complete in itself. Hermetically Dee summed his monad thus: The Sun and the Moon of this Monad desire that the Elements in which the tenth proportion will flower, shall be separated, and this is done by the application of Fire.

John Dee further involved the monad with astrological layers, proving that it was also formed from combinations of planetary symbols: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and elements of aries, sol and the moon. It was also a conjunction of Aries and Taurus. 

The Monas Hieroglyphicus is a dense and unfortunately obscure account of the symbol, however much one delves into numerological formulae, comparisons of the alchemic art and the symbol, along with geometric reasoning, interpretation et al. Other books of Dee's that explored the monad further have been lost. 

For those of you who wish to explore deeper I have provided a link by which you can access the Monas. 

http://www.esotericarchives.com/dee/monad.htm

Masters of Darkness - a BBC documentary about JD, featuring Alan Moore.

John Dee

 Footnote:

 *
Some believe that Dee was still working for Elizabeth and as he wandered Europe - he was in effect a spy.

**
Through their discourse Dee 'uncovered' a complete magical system with it's own language. He detailed everything in a scientific manner. 

What's In A Symbol?

Horse from Peche-Merle cave, France.
Note continuation of dotted sequence out-with the stylised form. 

Dotted sequence from Lascaux, France.

In these posts I’ve been busy explaining a few symbols… but exactly what is a symbol? How does it function? In this post I’m going to attempt to explain this. 

30,000 years ago Palaeolithic peoples decorated portable objects with sequences of incisions and dots. That’s 20,000 years before the first recognised forms of writing appeared! Natural forms were translated from the realistic to line drawings, these were pared down, in time some evolved into language, the Chinese language being a great example that exists today - though strictly speaking Chinese characters are logograms, the symbols representing phrases, evolving from ideograms (even the Latin alphabet may still retain elements of its pictorial correspondences). Others take on deeper significance.

Palaeolithic artists left intriguing symbols in the  caves throughout Europe. Some tantalising glimpses of the development of pictograms are evident from these sites: such as the horse painting from Perch-Merle in France - or  sequences of dots found at other sites including Lascaux (see pics). Such instances (and the frequent repetition of  such motifs) point to their existence being more than mere decoration;  imparting other significance to images they might accompany (or significance in their own right). Some prehistorians postulate that a coherent system of meaning once underpinned these designs. Perhaps they imparted hunting information - though the general academic consensus these days is that Palaeolithic cave art was religious in function - the designs were likely relaying mythological ideas.  

Vagina in symbolic form, Chauvet Cave

In the above picture it is obvious that the motif represents the idea of a vagina, but it is no naturalistic image. The female reproduction organs have been singled out, streamlined: it has become a symbol! We can only speculate as to its 'then' meaning (possibly fertility, the miracle of birth, or sex - though it reminds me of a headless little goddess figurine from the period).   

We know a lot more about Neolithic symbols and those from the Iron-age, yet our full understanding is still sketchy (Christianity had a propensity to zealously obliterate pagan religion, thus much has been lost to us). With the arrival of the monotheistic religions older symbols were utilised, but new layers of significance were often attached or older concepts were updated to suit (the easiest way to destroy another faith it to incorporate it into the corpus of your own - albeit in a mute and powerless form). 

Maori traditional Tā Moko, sacred facial tattoos.

In ancient civilisations where little distinction was drawn between the profane and supernatural worlds, we can glimpse the power that symbols can possess. For example Maori tattoos  not only display lineage, rank, but also spiritual and moral leanings.  

Thus, given that symbols are enduring and many remain through the ages, let me point this out: a symbol is no single thing, it is a multi-layered concept.  They can be  devices invested with emotive and conceptual values, reflections of mythology, or religion. But to the viewer who is aware of their significance the symbol is an element that reflects some deeper meaning or paradigm. 

Sure, there are symbols that are purely utilitarian and functional, especially in our modern consumerist, rational biased society. Those symbols that denote an object, or are just trademarks, describe or associate some corporation/product with a logo,  are little more than references that have acquired a recognised association (the loo sign). Jung did not see these as true symbols. To this famous psychoanalyst a symbol  possessed, in addition to its conventional connotation, ‘something else’, something hidden, vague or unknown to us. So a symbolic image “is one that implies something other than its immediate and obvious meaning.”

For Romanian historian,  Mircea Eliade, symbols revealed aspects of reality. Eliade did not see symbols and myths as blind creations of the psyche but systems of thought that corresponded to necessary function, bringing light to the hidden modalities of being. Symbols and myth enable people to elevate themselves into a spiritual world that is beyond the historic present and therefore offers great richness. He believed that the study of symbolism could enable people to gain a more comprehensive knowledge of themselves.

In the Bolligen Stone, which Jung carved,
alchemical influence is apparent.

In these posts I’ve covered some ground, some more deeply that other topics, but each time I believe I have shown that symbols, especially those from the distant past, are layered with meaning. Symbols bear significance on multiple layers, like archaeological strata. For instance  the triskele, or the nature of triplism (see blog). Modern symbolism has its roots in this distant past (extending as far back as the later Palaeolithic period). So-called primitive humankind was, to a large extent,  inspired/moved and driven into awe by natural phenomena: mountains, storms, hurricanes, floods, the constellations… inspiring common mythological themes that are enduring and lasting, perhaps even embedded in the collective psyche of our race. 

Alchemy sought to make spiritual ’truths’ manifest in material. It was a blend of the esoteric and material. Every element, every motion, every instrument  and process  was symbolised; intellectually and spiritually. Later psychoanalysts (most famously Jung), saw alchemy as “possessing psychological precision,” as Bachelard put it. Jung recognised in alchemy a stimulant for the deepest regions of the psyche. He thought that the symbolism inherent in his psychoanalytical method offered a universal theory and a destiny for the soul: “Symbolism is thinking in symbols, the crystallisation of the inner life. Uniting the material with the supernatural/magical/mythical.” 

Robert Fludd, Utriusque Cosmi, 1617.

Alchemical Garden 17th c.

This Hermetic page is laden with symbolism.

In those magical realms a symbol can be thought of as a “condenser of consciousness”, “a practical link between objective and  subjective existence". In modern magical thought a magical symbol is seen as a concept for energy-exchanges between different levels/worlds of living. 

Others say that symbols only exist within, like the idea of archetypes and myth being something that envelops the collective consciousness, while others point out that macrocosm = microcosm - therefore the symbol is something that transcends the boundaries of ordinary reality, binding the natural to mythological/magical/metaphysical ‘truths'. 

To a large part I see symbols as trigger mechanisms. When you buy a Celtic ring made in China and the shop has some guff written about how it means spiritual growth, it doesn’t matter (of course these new-age meanings are like a cheap veneer on older symbols, but it's  all part of the course). The fact is you believe it and therefore you invest that object with the significance (no matter how tepid the symbolism might be). To you that is what the object means. But if you delve into the history of symbols things change and the symbols that you see hold deeper significance as you decode them. 

Perhaps, as the psychoanalysts say the symbol then affects us deep in the unconscious. Or maybe as trigger mechanisms the designs shunt the beholder into a certain 'frame-of-mind'.  Or, perhaps, when I carve stones with symbolic designs something external occurs, the old gods nod their heads and smile. 

Pictish symbols carved by me.

Pictish symbol, another by me.

Reference:

Eliade Mircea - Patterns In Comparative Religion

Eliade Mircea - Images And Symbols 

C.G. Jung - Man And His Symbols  

William G. Gray - Magical Ritual Methods  

Georges Jean - Signs Symbols And Ciphers, Decoding The Message -  

J.E Cirlot - A Dictionary Of Symbols  

The Wild Boar

Witham Bronze Shield

Northamptonshire Helmet, Saxon 7th c. AD

It is evident  that  boar images on  helmets and shields point to the use of the wild boar, symbolically, as a protective symbol (whereas the wolf appears mainly on swords - see the WOLF post). From early times the boar was  associated with battle,  it was a fierce adversary in the hunt. In the Welsh story  Culhwch and Olwen,  the hero Culhwch tracks the  renowned boars Ysgithyrwyn (Chief Boar) and Twrch Trwyth. The former to rip out its great tusk,  the latter to claim the golden comb, razor and shears that were trapped in the bristles between the beast's ears (all this, amongst other tasks, for fair  Olwen’s hand). Culhwch’s birth is interesting: his mother, Goleuddydd, went mad during pregnancy, shunning habitation and coming to her senses amidst a herd of pigs. Gripped by a terrible fear of the animals she delivered her child. Thus Culhwch was discovered sitting alone in the woods, on a pig-run.

These three boars were hand-carved by me many years ago.

In reality the boar has a huge head, mounted on a powerful, muscular neck. Thus, when foraging for food, the boar can shovel into frozen earth for roots, tubers and bulbs. They have a varied diet, eating leaves, bark and seeds, shoots, garbage as well as worms, fish, rodents, snakes and frogs in the warmer seasons. Carbohydrates are important factor, helping to build up the fat reserves needed by the boar during hard times. 

Throughout the span of Europe wild boars vary in size from a metre and half in length and standing about 80cm tall, weighing around 70-100KG (though their eastern european cousins are a little bigger). The males possess a ridge of back bristles tracing the length of their spine, which stands erect when the animal is agitated. If males are fighting they emit a high-pitched, harrowing cry ( like the Carnyx - see the video below). They are hardy animals, adapting to various climates and - as a bonus -  they are immune to snake venom. 

As regards their ferocity, attacks on humans are incredibly rare, however they are certainly not to be messed with. Their protruding tusks are razor sharp and they bowl through the undergrowth, capable of speeds of up to 40km/hour. Once the initial charge has  sent the opponent spinning to the ground, the boar will step back, commencing to attack again until the target is unmoving.

A panel from the Gundestrup Cauldron

In myth boars appear as huge monstrous beasts, often luring their pursuers into the underworld. Their red-eyed visages adorned the carnyx, or battle trumpets of the Celts. More often than not the boar is portrayed with its dorsal bristles exaggerated, placing emphasis on their fierceness, or perhaps depicting that these are not animals of this world but of the otherworld: the ridges reflecting  the way real animals react to death trauma. San shamen  depict animals this way as an evocation of the spirit-animal.

Double boar design from Anglo Saxon burial at Sutton Hoo

Even into the 1800’s folk customs from Estonia, Swabia, Austria and  Russia recorded numerous accounts of customs involving a Rye-boar or Corn-boar. An old custom in parts of Europe was to bake a yuletide bread in the form of a boar. 

It appears from the multitude of these customs that the boar was involved in the idea of the sowing and reaping of the crop; in the cycle of growth and the harvest. Celebrations at Yule and Christmas involving boar effigies of straw or bread possibly  replaced earlier sacrificial animals (in the Golden Bough, Frazer continually refers to this  as evidence of a Corn-Spirit worship… perhaps forgetting that corn was only introduced into Europe in the 15th-16th centuries. However it might be indicative of some association between the wild boar and fertility with other grains, such as wheat). Boars were also associated with prosperity, not only for the harvest but as a source of food. 

Many Celtic coins portray boars with grossly exaggerated dorsal ridges atop human profiles; as though reflecting some poignant connection between the head and the boar  and may reflect states of altered consciousness. The idea that people could become animals and change states of Being is well attested in ancient myth (and this is a topic for another post). 

The boar exists as force of nature. It lives in the forests and the wilds, occasionally straying to the periphery of human habitation. Thus they are ambassadors of that force, and the power of the wild. Their hardy, fierce aspect was something that Iron-age warrior tribes coveted. They are also protectors, their tough skins and hard bristles affording them a thick skin. 

I've always enjoyed that inital scene from the Studio Ghibli film Princess Mononoke: when the primal sprit of the wild appears as a huge white boar, thundering through the forest. It's a great representation of the embodiment of Nature that the boar offers us. This glimpse into the past, a sort of reality check, from our domesticated world into that of the chaos of the wild. 

Another one of mine, based on a Pictish design

References:

An Archaeology Of Animals - Miranda  Green

Symbol And Image In Celtic Religious Art - Miranda Green

The Golden Bough (Vol 2) - James George Frazer
Wikipedia

Ravens

Odin with his ravens

Ravens conjure up scenes of battle, with mobs of winged shadows flocking to consume the dead. However much truth there is in this we can’t say but  unfortunately the raven gets some bad press in medieval  folklore - such notions as a death-bringer, sign of ill omen etc, might be Christian attempts to blacken pagan ideals linked to the bird. So, let’s see if we can’t wipe away some of that monotheistic grime and  unveil the Raven’s true symbolic nature.

Amongst the Norse god Odin’s many appellations was God of Ravens, for in myth he wore a raven upon each shoulder. These were Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory/mind) and he taught them speech.  They scouted the lands, bringing him news and thus extending his knowledge (see the Odin post). 

I love this fragment from the poem  Grímnismál which is found in The Poetic Edda. 

Hugin and Munin fly each day Over the earth. 
I am worried about Hugin, that he not come back, 
And yet more worried about Munin. 

In other words, though Odin worries that new thoughts and insight might not arrive, he frets more over losing his memory or mind. 

Bracteate, or talisman, from Sweden, 5-6th c. AD. Check out that head dress!

Migration period bracteate often depict a portrait with birds near its head or sometimes forming a sort of hat (see pics). John Lindow suggests that the notion of knowledge-seeking birds may come from shamanic practices, and therefore Odin’s fear of losing Munin might actually to be related to the danger a shaman faces when in a trance-state, travelling the spirit worlds.

Further strengthening the link between ravens and knowledge is the head-gear mentioned above, along with the horned, ceremonial helms with raven faces representing the double-raven aspect; these were ceremonial helmets worn by priests of the Odin cult -  reinforcing the link between raven and mind: the head being the seat of knowledge upon which the helm is placed. 

This association with Odin might in someway explain the bird’s prominence as a presence on the battlefield and might account for those later burdens of ill omen and death placed about the raven’s shoulders. Odin was many things, chief amongst them was a god of death and the Underworld. Perhaps it was this symbiotic relationship with the god that the Christians needed to refute. 

There is also a link between the Celtic god Lugh and Odin for, like the latter, Lugh possessed two ravens that did all his bidding. However the goddess Morrighan, a war spirit sometimes split into three battle maidens (with  similarities to the Viking Valkyries i.e. battle and bird-like qualities*) is directly associated with battle. This being said the raven was also possessed of prophetic powers in Celtic myth too: it could prophecy death and life and was associated with the  Underworld. This is personified in the tale of Brân Llyr in the Welsh Mabinogion. In this tale Branwen, his sister, was lured off to Eire where she was imprisoned. Her brother led an expedition to bring her back but during the attempt he was fatally  wounded. So Brân instructed his warriors to hack off his head and take it back to Wales. Even so his head sang and told jokes. Brân means raven, and Branwen the white raven. 

Raven artwork by me.

In Grecian myth Ravens are associated with Apollo and were the God’s messengers in the mortal world, bringing luck to those who beheld them.  To the tribes of the Pacific Northwest coast, including the Innuit, Haidas and Koyukons, Raven is a creator and a trickster. Back in Europe, by the time that alchemy was reaching its zenith, the raven was symbolic of darkness and putrefaction -  which, however negative it may appear, is seen as a necessary step in alchemical processes. 

In the so-called Real World Ravens are indeed clever creatures. Their brain size is one of the largest in the bird kingdom and they have a great potential and ability for problem solving, mimicry and insight.  These are just some of the attributes that scientists have noticed in Ravens. However couldn't ancient man - living closer to the animal kingdom - have shared such intimacies long ago, and did such insights influence early myth? It's an interesting thought. 

If you'd like to know more of the esoteric new-age symbology of the raven, you might like to try this page at The Order Of Bards, Ovates and Druids. The post, by Susa Morgan Black goes into some detail in many aspects of the Raven, from scientific to magical. 

* 
There are many similarities between many cultures' mythology. Personally I believe that some of this can be accounted by the idea of diffusion, in which root ideas harking back to Indo-European or even Pre-Indo-European tribes still hold sway. As tribes migrated core motives were held onto but changed as the result of the meeting of other cultures and tribes splitting, spreading out.  I also feel that some of these ideas appear similar because we humans are hardwired the same way. As with Jungian concepts of collective unconscious and archetypes, I feel that there are ideas that are common to us all. The profound measure of our symbolic needs and desires have been projected by numerous cultures and transferred, generation-to-generation, by means of mythology. 

Hand carved by me. Stone Mad Crafts.

Reference:

Celtic Symbols - Sabine Heinz
Alchemy And Mysticism - Alexander Roob
The Encyclopaedia Of Celtic Mythology And Folklore - Patricia Monaghan
Norse Mythology - Peter Andreas Munch
Norse Mythology - John Lindow
Wikipeadia

Erynn Rowan Laurie

A short post this week  -  I thought to promote the work of an American writer who is living and working in Trieste. Erynn Rowan Laurie is a poetess and historian who practices Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism. She’s written a number of books and numerous articles in a career stretching back decades. When I re-read the articles in 'The Well Of Five Streams' it made me realise that in these blogs I’m only pawing the surface. Erynn goes into great depth on numerous topics and her research is meticulous and thoughtful. In fact, in mentioning that particular tome I’d just like to quote a paragraph. I think she sums up a lot in this:

“Too many modern people have been looking for something in druids and druidry which cannot be known. It has been so filled with speculation-become-certainty that far too many people speak of druidic beliefs, mores,  and opinions as if they were obvious, plain, and commonplace rather than as palimpsest of such various accretions as environmentalism, Freemasonry, and ideas drawn from (largely discredited) Indo-European structuralist assumptions that may have little or no bearing on the ancient realities, insofar as these can be known.”

Actually 'The Well Of Five Streams' is a great place to introduce yourself to Erynn’s writing. In this hefty volume she covers topics as diverse as the Geilta, the mad bird figures of Celtic myth, or the Fili and the cauldron of poetic inspiration. There are also a number of insightful interviews Erynn has given through the years. In short the book is a wealth of information and Erynn binds poetry and good writing around the vast corpus of her understanding and knowledge. 

Erynn's Blog and books can be found Here

Val Camonica - A Stone Carver's Heaven!

Val Canonic footprints scaled alongside my foot.

Cammuni/Etruscan Runes - Photo by Author. 

Deer carvings - Photo By Author.

The Cammuni Rose -Pic by author.

For this post I thought I'd expand some notes I made last year during a visit to Val Camonica. For many years I had seen these images (like those above and below)  during my winter  research binges. For some reason the images struck a chord with me. There is also a very famous Cernunnos figure located amongst the recorded 300,000 images carved there.  

The valley is some 90 kms in length, one of the longest valleys in North Eastern Lombardy (many of the cravings are in the province of Brescia). Its importance as a migratory thoroughfare is obvious and the carvings substantiate the region's importance as a religious and ritual site from the 1st millennia BC (the Romans named the  tribe there the Camunni). The earliest carvings in the valley date back to the 5th-6th millennia BC and are assumed to be the work of migratory bands of hunter-gatherers, as most portray elk and hunting scenes.  There are also medieval carvings and that made me wonder if some remnants of the older beliefs remained in the folk customs of the valley - enough to solicit the interests of the Inquisition who, in the 1600's, burned hundreds of people as witches. 

Those carvings discovered so far are grouped into eight national parks and we visited the Riserva Naturale Incisioni puestri di Ceto,Cimbergo e Paspardo. The environment there is stunningly beautiful and the retreating ice-sheets of the last glacial period has left undulating flanks of  ice-smoothed rock as a canvas for carving. 

The first impression upon visiting the sites, at Ceto, Cimbergo and Paspardo, is that the groups of carvings are not passive scenes to be adored like paintings in a gallery. Some are difficult to reach, like the deer sequence at Paspardo, which is accessible by climbing along natural terraces in the glacier-smoothed rock, allowing one to step closer and navigate the narrow ledge to reach the scenes. Perhaps these delineations and protuberances in the rock were viewed as natural horizons for the imagery.

I love the simple grace of these designs, hidden in the folds of stone - Pic by author.

Oranti - Pic by Author.

At Cimbergo the rocks are studded with carved footprints (these, I noticed, appeared to be aligned, not true east, more southeast, with others turned to a 45 degree axis, tending north) - the sensation here is that these are meant to be stood upon; perhaps ritual poses were to be emulated; such as the classic orant pose (see picture), similar to the Yoga Monkey Pose. In fact I noticed a set of prints  where the footprints are just over  shoulder width apart (though I'm not suggesting the Cammuni were yoga practitioners). Throughout the parks the 'oranti' are numerous and the pose is distinctive and stylised: knees bent, arms crooked but held sky-wise. The creators of the carvings made a point of making the gender of the figures obvious (penis stem for males and a circular bowl indentation for females - a motif also used in bronze-age carvings in Tanum, Sweden). That the figures portray the act of worship is obvious. In Parque Nazionale Di Naranque there is a section where oranti are clustered around a solar symbol (incidentally oranti figures are also found in the Tomba Branca, Sassari, Sardinia).

Foot print pairs - Pic by author.

Author adopting Oranti pose.

  

Another impression I had, during our visit, was that the designs are fixed upon a living surface, like a map - a microcosm of the bigger picture. Elements and figures are folded into creases and crevices. There are some natural shapes that reflect the carved, like a natural footprint mirrored above by carved feet.

Deer Carved on a Rock on the Valley floor - pic by author.

I am aware the reductionist historical view tends to limit  explanations to the purely functional, e.g. pictures of houses are merely  pictorial representations and nothing else, and the counter argument which focuses too heavily upon the symbolism - often reading too readily into the minutest details. Both are products of historians reflecting their historical moment, or academic fashion, on the past: the tendency to interpret the past with our political and social mores layered throughout.  For example, illustrations in popular history books of the 20th century people appeared very clean-cut - like historical films of the same period. Whereas as the 20th century rolled on, the historical characters (whether in Western movies or history books about Saxons) got rougher looking and more foul-mouthed. Basically reflecting not history, or any sort of truth, but our modern reflections and fashions - that is a mainly modern Western prejudice, draped over the skeletons of the archaeological record.

A game folding into the land? And is that a game board? - pic by author.

The figure appears to flee along a natural feature - pic by author.

Both versions mentioned above miss the point: that what the ancients poured into the carvings was not merely the result of purely functional or utterly symbolic living, but the life they lived - that was possibly indistinguishable from that which they portrayed on the rocks. A measure of reality and unreality, both indistinguishable to the peoples of that time. The spirits and the anima, the gods and goddesses were not a separate reality. They were intermingled with life.

For example Val Camonica is subject to a natural phenomena when, in spring and autumn, the morning sun projects a shadowy counterpart of Mount Pizzo Badile. Perhaps such phenomena secured the valley (or reinforced it) as a religious site. 

Mount Pizzo Badile - pic by author.

One gets the impression, looking around at some of the groups of carvings, of a game, a sacred game; figures twisting and dancing, or locked ritual poses and warrior stances on the rock - which was perhaps seen as a living hide (when wet some outcrops are like the backs of whales breaking through the soil). 

Going back in time to our early ancestors, who painted the caves of Lascaux and Altamira, there seems to be some indication that such efforts might have been an attempt to commune with the spirit world; that by interaction with the veil that divided worlds i.e. the skin of the world, its surface, worshippers (or their intermediaries - shaman types or priests) could cross over.

The thought of this being a sacred game and the progression of natural forms into man-made got me wondering about these people. They could build houses, mine ore, fight, perform rituals, carve rocks, etc, but weren't they in many ways as children, partaking in a kind of fantasy? That doesn't mean to belittle their beliefs, I think they were onto something - a profound depth that we have lost, something that in its elemental form is intuitively scientific, spiritual and ultimately poetic.

One of The Maps -pic by author

What I am trying to get a cross here is the element of play and the time they had to pursue such endeavours. They had time! Carving these images wasn't something you just did, like doodling in margins with a pen. To hammer the designs took time, effort, using shards of harder stone, most likely granite, to chip the smooth surface. We have to take into account the noise this would make too. Were these taps, echoing around the valley, part of the ritual? A sonic element, like the rhythmic beat of a shaman's drum (that's me inflecting the modern historical penchant for shamanism in there  - ho-ho)? 

Could it be that several people worked on images at different times as part of the ritual, or was this task consigned to a sacred artist? By drawing the picture of an iron-age house was that meant to bring luck or protection to the real house, by way of sympathetic magic? If so why? Or were these just pictorial images reflecting the folklore of the Camunni? Was the ground, the stone itself, sacred; a skin between this world and the spirit world - a realm that was occasionally glimpsed near Mount Pizzo Badile? Were the carvings elements in a sacred ritual site that evolved through the ages, like a Bronze-age Delphi? Could it be that the sites were used for different functions, or in different ways, that some were pictorial histories, or became that in time - a way of teaching the young about their clan identity? Did their proximity to tribal villages reflect or enhance their profaneness or sacredness?

Map with view across the valley - author's pic.

After visiting the carvings at Capo Di Punte, climbing high above the town, we viewed one of the so-called 'maps'. This apparent landscape, with plots and rectangles, dotted inside with regimen cups, seem reminiscent of fields with meandering paths between them. Superimposed upon the rippled rock, as though reflecting the territory across the valley. In fact the perfect place to view such a map. Though what purpose did it serve? Were the Camunni settlements such permanent things that they'd wish to set them in stone? Were fields? Or is this not meant to be the real world? Or, as my girlfriend suggested, was it also part of a game? Were the cups meant to house counters?

Indeed a little further away we found another, obviously vast mapping (remaining to be fully uncovered), ranging over a series of ripples (microcosms, miniature valleys and mountains) - but this time no spectacular view - what then? Territory of another valley far away? Another game?

Apart from the famous Cernunnos figure were other figures meant to be deities? Some motifs are reported to be elemental sprits, appearing as suggestive sections of stippled carving. Or perhaps the tribe had little need to carve visions of gods and goddesses because their forms were already implanted in the land around them!

The Famous 'Cernunnos' figure - Pic by author.