Explaining the Design on the Lyre.

Firstly, we had an astounding sunset last night! The whole sky was pink and purple and it made everything glow the oddest colours.  You can never capture a sunset exactly as it is, but these pics show a bit of how it was. 

East over mum's roof, with the white bark of the Lemon-scented gum picking up the colours:

 West towards the setting sun:

Lower in the West, through the trees to the firey place of the actual sun:

Now, about the Lyre design.  Lorie asked what it meant, which made me realise that I hadn't actually said anything about it.

Here it is again for reference:

The raven is for Odin, who has become a very important deity to me, providing comfort, strength and inspiration in hard times and encouraging me to be the best I can be in good times.

I actually began by trying to get two ravens into the design, Huggin and Munnin (Thought and Memory), who are his companions, but despite the design being more symmetrical that way, I just couldn't quite make it work for me, so in the end I tried one raven and that worked better.

The Norse Rune on the left bottom is Ansuz (with a bend it to fit the circle design).  It is known as Odin's Rune, though really they are all his since he is the one who hung on the world tree, Yggdrasil, for nine days, to bring the wisdom of the Runes to Midgard. He is always seeking more wisdom and is quite wiling to suffer for the gaining of it if necessary, showing us that even the old gods can learn and grow.  Ansuz is also connected to the concepts of communication, insight and inspiration, and is therefore ideal for a Lyre, I felt.


The design the Raven sits upon is the Awen. It is a symbol very commonly used  by modern Druids.  Awen is a Welsh word that loosely means, "Moving Spirit".  The Awen symbol stands for inspiration and for much more; for the three drops from the cauldron of wisdom, for the three levels of Druid studies (Bard, Ovate and Druid), for Land, Sea and sky, and still more.

For me, Awen symbolises connection to whatever it is that makes us part of the divine, to what flows through us when we get so involved in our creative pursuits that we lose ourselves in time and space.

Druidry and the Norse Gods, or even the Norse Runes, aren't in general thought of together, but for me, for my path, it was just right.  That is the beauty of doing your own designs, of making your own art. You can make things that are just perfect for your own needs and no need to compromise.    

So you can see, it wasn't a design that sprang out of nowhere.  I hope it can help this lyre and I to make beautiful, meaningful music together!