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The Celts were the "Keepers" of special metaphysical knowledge which they safeguarded over the years by encoding it in their art, mythology, songs, and stories, and, by encrypting it in their DNA and cellular structures until the celestial cycles once again turned to a time for awakening and revival. For the ancient Celts, the Earth and the Realm of Nature were alive with sacredness and with the elementals of fire, earth, air, and water who were imbued with innate divinity and purposeful beingness. All of the animals, forests, lakes, mountains, rivers, and trees were blessed and holy to the Celts and worthy of their utmost reverence. The Natural World inspired their imaginations and enlivened their art. Even though the Celts were highly skilled artists, builders, craftsmen, farmers, merchants, and smiths who shared common customs and spiritual traditions, they were content to remain a pastoral and agricultural peoples, living in harmony with the land and the seasonal cycles. The ancient Celts had deeply rooted spiritual traditions that included: Bards, Druids, Fairy Mounds, Healing Rivers, Holy Wells, Newgrange, Otherworld, Ovates, Sacred Groves, Stonehenge, and Tree Spirits. Most of the artwork depicted the Celtic reverence and respect for Nature in the elaborate entwining plant (flowers, leaves, trees, vines) and animal (birds, deer, dolphins, griffins) motifs, as well as, in the dynamically intricate designs (chevrons, knotwork. labyrinthine patterns, spirals). Exquisitely crafted bracelets, brooches, cauldrons, cups, household objects, jewelry, religious statues, torcs, and weapons decorated with superbly stylized patterns flourished throughout the Celtic culture.
The vibrant diversity of
Celtic art permeated all areas of their daily life from the stylized animal
heads on the open ends of a neck torc to the swirling vegetative carvings on a
the handle of a bucket. All kinds of objects including household items, jewelry,
religious statues, and weapons were decorated with harmoniously balanced and
exceedingly complex geometric patterns.
The spiraling, swirling patterns which the Celts utilized to express their spiritual connectivity with the sacred mysteries, mirrored the inspirational beauty and harmony of the Natural World. The marvelously intricate Lá Téne style of Celtic art which emerged around 500 B.C. with its splendid metalwork and its intermeshed curving and swirling lines was suggestive of animal or plant life. Triple faced; triple headed Celtic Deities were venerated in various forms with the most popular being the triplicity of the Mother Goddess energy. Sometimes the three Goddesses depicted were identical; while, at other times their overall potency was heightened by showing three different aspects of the maternal role. This patterning was also reflected in a wide range of Celtic artwork from small sacred objects to huge stone monuments. For example, the front panel of the silver gilt, Gundestrup Cauldron depicted deity heads; while, another panel shows a horned male, Nature God surrounded by Animal Totems. The Celtic penchant for fluidity and curvilinear design was perhaps most aptly illustrated by the 109m long, Uffington White Horse which was carved into the chalk downs in Berkshire, England. A significant symbolic pattern or design that recurred in Celtic art, mythology, and religion was the theme of triplication or the power of a group of three. Three was a Celtic holy number which had many different meanings beside the most traditional of the representations, that of the three realms of land, sea, and sky.
There were the Three
Kindreds (ancestors, fairies, Goddesses and Gods). Storytellers told tales of
Goddesses and Otherworld Beings appearing at critical life passage moments in
"Groups of Three"...
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Celts
Celtic Ancient Civilization 
