Cards

As the oak tree is also sacred to Druids, mistletoe found growing from an oak tree is doubly sacred. The illustration draws inspiration from the Roman author Pliny, who writing in the year 249 described a Druidic ceremony in which the priest clad in a white robe, ascended the tree and cut the mistletoe with a golden sickle, before passing it down to be caught in a white cloak, so that it should never touch the ground and remain between earth and sky.

Near Little Salkeld, Cumberland, England, Long Meg stands with her daughters about her, a magnificent stone circle with Meg a tall outlier, very ancient and aligned from the portal of the circle with the Winter Solstice sunset. On her side are spiral carvings representing the anti-clockwise shadow cast by the path of the sun from midsummer to midwinter.

From the prehistoric rock art of the West coast of Scotland to the early Christian Pictish carved stones on the east, the spiral has been carved on stone since the beginning of human history. It is an expression of life unfolding, ever growing.

This collage was inspired by medieval stone carving in Craignish Chapel by Ardfern, Argyll, Scotland.

Symbols of the feminine arts, of fertility and earth wisdom, are etched into the great Pictish symbol stone at Glamis in Angus, North - east Scotland, the heartland of the Pictish kingdom from the 8th century AD.

...but our legacy is the spirit of the Crescent symbol, once emblazoned on the great sculptured stones of the Picts, now a window onto the landscape of the present.

The West Highland Galley has a Viking ancestry, but it belongs to the Western Isles of Scotland. A fine stone carving depicting this medieval sailing ship used by the Lords of the Isles is found on Iona, a sculptured slab from the 14th–15th century.

The wild boar was a central focus in the life of the Picts 1300 years ago in Scotland. It was not only a source of food; it was also a tribal symbol, which represented power, strength, ferocity in battle... the warrior animal.

The triple spiral motif appears on ancient stone carvings from prehistoric times in the Mediterranean culture, and continues into Pictish art designs. This panel of double or horned triple spirals, based on the number 8, is found on the Shadwick Stone in Easter Ross, an 8th century Class II Pictish cross slab.

A standing stone in the Kingdome of Fife bears the image of a Pictish warrior. The incised carving profiles a young Pictish ale striding fourth, naked, carrying his shield and ball-weighted spear. Around the side of the stone to his right are two symbols, the arch and the Pictish beast, which identify his ancestors.

This image of the three stags originates from the medieval tomb carving in St. Clement's Church near Rodel, on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides.

This image of a medieval knight is found on an ancient stone in Kilchoman Churchyard on Islay. Shown in his niche standing at guard and depicted in his West Highland dress with peaked helmet, the medieval warrior is a powerful and familiar motif on the West Highland monumental stone art of the 14th and 15th centuries in the islands and West coast of Scotland.

A print was made of this giant fossil, which is over 60 centimeters in diameter and only visible at low water mark. The ammonite was found on the east coast of the Isle of Sky in the Hebrides of Scotland.

Callanish, the great Hebridean stone circle and avenue complex on the Isle of Lewis, experienced at the Midwinter Solstice – full moon, full sun, full snow.

The salmon is a symbol of wisdom, and perhaps freedom as well, as this special fish swims upstream against all odds to keep life going, to go home. The salmon in trinity form appears as the crest for certain towns in Scotland, such as Peebles on the Tweed and the once important fishing village of Anstruther in the East Neuk of Fife.

This interlaced pair of fantastic creatures, half horse and half fish, is found on the Pictish cross slab in Aberlemno churchyard in Angus. This design is unique to Pictish art, with echoes from Northumbrian and Germanic animal art.