A modern form of the triple spiral symbol

Triple spiral visible on entrance stone at Newgrange

The triple spiral or triskele is a Celtic and pre-Celtic symbol found on a number of Irish Megalithic and Neolithic sites, most notably inside the Newgrange passage tomb, on the entrance stone, and on some of the curbstones surrounding the mound. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links The entrance slab to Newgrange tomb, Ireland File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links The entrance slab to Newgrange tomb, Ireland File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The armoured triskelion on the flag of the Isle of Man Triskelion (or triskele, from Greek τρισκελης three-legged) is a symbol consisting of three bent human legs, or, more generally, three interlocked spirals, or any similar symbol with three protrusions exhibiting a symmetry of the cyclic group C3. ... This article is about the European people. ... Newgrange, a famous Irish passage tomb built c3,200 BC // What little is known of pre-Christian Ireland comes from a few references in Roman writings, Irish poetry and myth, and archaeology. ... Megalithic tomb, Mane Braz, Brittany A megalith is a large stone which has been used to construct a structure or monument either alone or with other stones. ... An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. ... Newgrange, which is located at , is one of the passage tombs of the Brú na Bóinne complex in County Meath, and the most famous of all Irish prehistoric sites. ... A passage tomb near the town of Sligo in Ireland A Passage grave (sometimes hyphenated) or Passage tomb is a tomb, usually dating to the Neolithic, where the burial chamber is reached along a distinct, and usually low, passage. ...

Believed by many to be ancient symbol of pre-Celtic and Celtic beliefs, the triple spiral appears in various forms in pre-Celtic and Celtic art, with the earliest examples having been carved on pre-Celtic stone monuments, and later examples found in the Celtic Christian illuminated manuscripts of Insular art. The triple spiral was possibly the precursor to the later triskele design found in the manuscripts. Muiredacha Cross. ... Celtic Christianity is Christianity as it was first received and practiced by communities with Celtic backgrounds that observed certain practices divergent from those in the rest of Europe. ... In the strictest definition of illuminated manuscript, only manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, like this miniature of Christ in Majesty from the Aberdeen Bestiary (folio 4v), would be considered illuminated. ... This page (folio 292r) of the Book of Kells contains the lavishly decorated text that opens the Gospel of John. ...

What the symbol meant to the pagans who built Newgrange and other monuments is unknown. In more recent history, Celtic Christians have sometimes used it to represent the Christian Trinity. Neopagan religions such as Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism and Wicca use the symbol to represent a variety of triplicities from their belief systems. For other uses, see Trinity (disambiguation). ... Neopaganism or Neo-Paganism is any of a heterogeneous group of new religious movements, particularly those influenced by ancient, primarily pre-Christian and sometimes pre-Judaic religions. ... Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism (CR) is a polytheistic, animistic, religious and cultural movement. ... The pentagram within a circle, a symbol of faith used by many Wiccans, sometimes called a pentacle. ...

The triple spiral is one of the main symbols of Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism, often standing for the "three realms" - Land, Sea and Sky, or for one of a number of deities who are described in the lore as "threefold" or triadic.^[1] The god Manannán is probably most often the one symbolized by the triskele, though some also use it for the goddess Brighid. Some Celtic-inspired Wiccans also use the triple spiral symbol, most often to represent the concept of the triple goddess. In Irish mythology, Manannán mac Lir was a sea and weather god. ... In Irish mythology, Brigid or Brighid (exalted one) was the daughter of Dagda (and therefore one of the Tuatha de Danaan) and wife of Bres of the Fomorians. ... Celtic Wicca is a synthesis of Wicca with Celtic traditions. ... A Triple Goddess symbol (probably originating from Classical Greek lunar symbolism), representing the three aspects of the moon (waxing crescent, full moon, waning crescent) and womankind (maiden, mother, crone). ...

According to Uriel's Machine by Knight and Lomas (2003) the triple spiral may represent the nine month period of human pregnancy, since the sun takes a fourth of a year to go from the celestial equator (an equinox) to extreme north or south declination (a solstice), and vice versa. During each three-month period, the sun's path across the sky appears to form a closely-wound quasi-helical shape, which can be likened to a spiral, so that three spirals could represent nine months, providing an explanation for a link between fertility and the triple-spiral symbol. The theory of Uriels Machine is postulated in a book of the same name by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas The book supposes that ancient (pre-historic) European (and by extension British) astronomers developed a stellar calendar. ... The celestial equator is a great circle on the imaginary celestial sphere, which could be constructed by inflating the Earths equator until it intersects with said sphere. ... In astronomy, declination (abbrev. ...

Version with three thick single spirals. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...

Spiral triskelion, occasionally used as a Christian Trinitarian symbol. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The armoured triskelion on the flag of the Isle of Man Triskelion (or triskele, from Greek τρισκελης three-legged) is a symbol consisting of three bent human legs, or, more generally, three interlocked spirals, or any similar symbol with three protrusions exhibiting a symmetry of the cyclic group C3. ... For other uses, see Trinity (disambiguation). ...

One decorative version of a "wheeled" form of the triple spiral symbol, sometimes considered a solar symbol Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... A solar symbol is a symbol which symbolises the sun. ...

A spiral triskelion with a hollow triangle at its center Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...

See also

• Archimedean spiral
• Celtic art
• Passage tomb

An Archimedean spiral is a curve which in polar coordinates (r, θ) can be described by the equation with real numbers a and b. ... Muiredacha Cross. ... A passage tomb near the town of Sligo in Ireland A Passage grave (sometimes hyphenated) or Passage tomb is a tomb, usually dating to the Neolithic, where the burial chamber is reached along a distinct, and usually low, passage. ...

References

The armoured triskelion on the flag of the Isle of Man Triskelion (or triskele, from Greek τρισκελης three-legged) is a symbol consisting of three bent human legs, or, more generally, three interlocked spirals, or any similar symbol with three protrusions exhibiting...

External links

• Celtic Symbols
• Symbols of the neo-Celt

Triskele Music

• TorsionBoneworm