More Pict Stones and surprise Tree Avenues.
Our journey from Nairn to Aberdeen Airport allowed time for a stop at another carved Pict Stone.
This was another sunny day and warmer, a pleasant 10C, 50F.
Easy to find, this stone is the Picardy Stone, not far from Insch village, about 12 miles North of Inverurie and quite well signposted from Insch village.
The Picts are a mystery and are mainly presented as a warrior race with painted faces and tattoos that lived in the forests and may have been hunter gatherers.
The found items of their times seem to tell a different story. They tell of people of quite a sophisticated order who lived community lifestyles very similar to the monastic communities that thrived from the time of Columcille.
It does seem that the Columcille template for monastic living, community farming, the monastic schools, and scribing industries was learned from the Picts
It does seem that the Picts had two language forms that also appeared on papyrus and parchment as well as stone long before the Gaels applied them to their archiving.
One language seems to be the ones of symbols that include intricate animal and bird images as well as the abstract Z shapes that host other images, and sometimes V shapes. This is something the Gaels and even the arriving Saxons were unable to do well until well into the scribing revolution. These people must have been taught Pict skills.
The other is the Ogham alphabet that largely makes no sense when it is attempted to be translated through our current alphabet and word constructions. The Pict Ogham was always carved onto stone faces while the Gael Ogham was carved on stone edges like notches. Why?
Who was the inspiration for the Memory of Trees for the memory of Ogham, the Picts or Gaels?
Both Picts and Gaels are said to have spoken very different languages, had different structures of community and leadership bloodline very different with Picts being matriachal and Gaels being patriachal.
Both Picts and Gaels were established in farming and fishing but Picts worked with horses while Gaels worked with oxen.
The symbols of the Picardy Stone are very speculative.
Starting at the bottom there is the Mirror, thought to have reference to vision and revelation and strongly connected with the feminine.
The snake tends to be connected to the flow of unseen spirit, the goddess or god guiding and even surprising.
This Z that the snake wraps around is thought to be as above as below and the Z is the pathway.
At the top is the double disc with a Z, that could be speculated as the passing from one world to the next. All together this may be a simple grave stone honouring the passing of someone with the blessing and guidance of the feminine spirit.
For some miles before this stone and for some miles after are beautiful avenues of coppiced Ash Trees ... so here are some pics of them ....
Before I leave this, back to Forres where the largest Pict stone ever found is displayed, the Sueno's Stone.
This was another sunny day and warmer, a pleasant 10C, 50F.
Easy to find, this stone is the Picardy Stone, not far from Insch village, about 12 miles North of Inverurie and quite well signposted from Insch village.
The found items of their times seem to tell a different story. They tell of people of quite a sophisticated order who lived community lifestyles very similar to the monastic communities that thrived from the time of Columcille.
It does seem that the Columcille template for monastic living, community farming, the monastic schools, and scribing industries was learned from the Picts
It does seem that the Picts had two language forms that also appeared on papyrus and parchment as well as stone long before the Gaels applied them to their archiving.
The other is the Ogham alphabet that largely makes no sense when it is attempted to be translated through our current alphabet and word constructions. The Pict Ogham was always carved onto stone faces while the Gael Ogham was carved on stone edges like notches. Why?
Who was the inspiration for the Memory of Trees for the memory of Ogham, the Picts or Gaels?
Both Picts and Gaels are said to have spoken very different languages, had different structures of community and leadership bloodline very different with Picts being matriachal and Gaels being patriachal.
Both Picts and Gaels were established in farming and fishing but Picts worked with horses while Gaels worked with oxen.
Starting at the bottom there is the Mirror, thought to have reference to vision and revelation and strongly connected with the feminine.
The snake tends to be connected to the flow of unseen spirit, the goddess or god guiding and even surprising.
This Z that the snake wraps around is thought to be as above as below and the Z is the pathway.
At the top is the double disc with a Z, that could be speculated as the passing from one world to the next. All together this may be a simple grave stone honouring the passing of someone with the blessing and guidance of the feminine spirit.
Comments
Post a Comment