The Triskele of Energy

The Triskele of Energy

"Energy is eternal delight"
   __ William Blake, "Energy is eternal delight."


   The Celtic peoples had a sacred symbol that embodied the energy of life. In the interlocking continuity of movement within the triskele - the three legged cross - we see the spiraling movement of life. Its perpetual motion, turning its three legs ever sunwise, is the very turas of delight. The three-legged whirligig of the triskele appears in Celtic art from the fifth century B.C. on, adorning many articles as the central design feature. It is a sign of good fortune, all things moving sunwise in the centrifugal dance of life. The triskele preserves the wearer from scathe and gives him a long life.

   The triskele spins like a whirlpool or a propeller blade, lending its threefold motion to the wheel of life. Stasis is not in its nature. The innate triplicity of the cosmos underscores the whole of Celtic culture, providing a sacred impetus for all action. Each leg of the triskele is one limb of the sacred spirit of all life; all three legs together imbue the universe with the energy to activate the body, heart, and mind of all beings with physical vitality, emotional responsiveness, and mental agility, unlocking the wealth of our potential from sheer inertia, emotional stasis, and mental laziness. The energy of the threefold triskele runs consciously upon its qualities, we can grace our lives with an ever-living energy that encompasses the beginning, middle, and end of everything we undertake.

"If there is any leg of the triskele to which you are unresponsive, look to the appropriate areas in your own life to see what fear, doubt, or uncertainty is keeping you static and unmoving in your developement."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Endless Knot

   The Celts were fascinated by the symbol of the endless knot - an elaborately interlaced line without a starting or finishing point. The knot is a kind of Celtic mandala, a cosmic mind-map. It expresses the Celts' belief in eternity - a transcendental state beyond the material world.

Meditate on the Eternal Truth:

Meditate on the endless knot as the ultimate reality of the cosmos, the eternal truth of existence, the immortality of the spirit.

1.  Sit comfortably with the endless knot in front of you. Breathe evenly and deeply.
2. Focus your awareness on the endless knot. Let the image seep into your consciousness.
3. Don't attempt to put your thoughts into words, but just sit there, with the knot in your mind, calmly experiencing the present, sensing time as a continual flow inseparably linked with eternity. Stay like this for five to ten minutes.
4. Find your meditation by repeating to yourself seven times the following affirmation: "Each moment is a curve on the endless knot of time."

[From: "Celtic Inspirations" by Lyn Webster Wilde]