Many Druids share a love of the North Cornish Coast and Tintagel Island. This area of Cornwall with its dramatic landscape and mythological associations has a particularly magical atmosphere, so we thought you would love this beautiful artwork by Craig Rossi. It depicts a gateway in Tintagel Castle and is entitled Stepping into the Otherworld. Craig explains some more about the image and it symbolism:
Here before you is a gateway of Tintagel Castle steeped in ancient history and mythology, and tales of long ago. At first glance perhaps a sense of being on the threshold of discovery and of not knowing what lays beyond is stirring within you.
Let me take you on a journey into what this represents. We will start at the edge, the golden border. Gold has a spiritual meaning recognised in many cultures and religions around the world. Its associations with the divine represent spiritual enlightenment and transformation, as we pass over the golden border we attain purity, wisdom and spiritual attainment.
Our spiritual fulfillment of crossing the gold barrier has led us into the white veil where we are cleansed and brought to peace, thus we are ready to delve on ….
We arrive at the boundary of the forest with a heightened state of consciousness, we now begin to see the world, our beautiful planet Earth with new lenses. Our Earth here is symbolized by the trees, the lungs and heart of life. Firstly as we walk into forest strength, protection and eternity is attained through the Sycamore and Maple leaves at the outer corners, stepping further into nature we glean protection from the Elder tree, and fertility and new life from the Willow. Between the trunks and branches we acquire wisdom and inspiration from the Hazel as we tread deeper. To the Oaks great wisdom is bestowed upon us along with endurance and longevity. Thus, we reach the promise of everlasting life, devotion, fidelity and loyalty symbolized by the Ivy which climbs the trunks of the Oaks.
Along this path we have developed our faculties and our senses tingling with higher attention and perception to aspects not known before.
We are thus drawn to ancient places, where our ancestors stood, we feel the spirit of the land symbolized by this gateway of Tintagel Castle. We are stood at the threshold to Land, Sea and Sky. We see through the paradigm of our ancient ancestors; we are perceptive to the souls of plant, animal and man who lived between these walls, land and shores in ages gone by. You may begin to notice a face or two of man or animal within the stone, their souls purpose echoing in the wind, signifying “Their labours must not be in vain, the light is ahead a great revolution of the spirit”.
We ask ourselves “Can we learn from our ancient ancestors? What knowledge and systems have been lost and forgotten to time and modern civilisation?” We hear a whisper in the ether, “Perhaps the knowledge is still here but hidden”, an old saying comes to mind, “Where do you hide a pebble but on the beach”. We are perceptive to the stones that are this monument of Tintagel, their existences stretching eons into deepest history, their long lives seeing the coming and going of innumerable species who have set foot, wing or fin upon this planet, yet a profound wisdom comes to mind that the prevailing force has always been Nature. The realisation that the stones live, but in an almost inconceivably slow pace, their molecules are like tomes recording history as millennia passes. This brings an epiphany to our being, of living on this magnificent world. Our steps of enlightenment have summonsed us to the archway, we are now ready to step into the Otherworld…. the world that was always here….
~ Craig Rossi
Prospective Bard.
If you would like to see the image in person, it will be in an exhibition at Capital Art Gallery, 13 Well Hall Parade, London SE9 6SP until the 4th November 2023.
If you would like to contact Craig the artist, he can be found at rossionline.cr@gmail.com