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Pagan Symbols of the Picts: The Symbology of pre-Christian Belief Paperback – February 29, 2016

by Stuart McHardy (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 27 ratings
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Stuart McHardy examines the Pictish symbols which have been discovered on various items across Scotland. The book sets out a cohesive interpretation of the Pictish past, using a variety of both temporal and geographical sources. This interpretation serves as a backdrop for his analysis of the symbols themselves, providing a context for his suggestion that there was an underlying series of ideas and beliefs behind the creation of the symbols.
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  1. Print length
    192 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Luath Press Ltd
  4. Publication date
    February 29, 2016
  5. Dimensions
    6.14 x 0.84 x 9.21 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    191002175X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1910021750
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

STUART McHARDY is a writer, occasional broadcaster, and storyteller. Having been actively involved in many aspects of Scottish culture throughout his adult life – music, poetry, language, history, folklore – he has been resident in Edinburgh for over a quarter of a century. Although he has held some illustrious positions including Director of the Scots Language Resource Centre in Perth and President of the Pictish Arts Society, McHardy is probably proudest of having been a member of the Vigil for a Scottish Parliament. Often to be found in the bookshops, libraries and tea-rooms of Edinburgh, he lives near the city centre with the lovely (and ever-tolerant) Sandra and they have one son, Roderick.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Luath Press Ltd; First Edition (February 29, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 191002175X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1910021750
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.14 x 0.84 x 9.21 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 27 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
27 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

TRVLR
5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2020
Verified Purchase
You know what I like best about this book? It's the fact that the author acknowledges up front that he bases his findings on what is actually known, things actually found at dig sites, actually still existing in writing....and not on other historians biased opinions that are formed on propaganda by the Romans; a society that sought to denigrate a society they found to be lesser than themselves. He doesn't claim to be the end all beat all authority...and because of that, I found his writing to be all that more compelling.
3 people found this helpful
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Thomas T. Simmons
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book would better be titled, "I'm Obsessed with a Goddess Theory, and Everything I present will Prove it!" Unfortunately, McHardy does not really give us a good analysis of common Pictish symbols. Instead he obsesses over An Cailleach, feeling he has to prove the existence of an ancient goddess who created the lochs and mountains. Anyone who has read anything about Scottish lore already knows this; we don't need pages ad nauseum of mountain names. This is not new information. nd he loses objectivity in so doing.

Ironically, in this book and his other one (New History of the Picts) he strongly argues that previous accounts of the Picts have been colored by non-Scottish sources who looked at the Picts from a foreign (ie Roman) perspective. He then does the exact same thing by using Russian Shamanic and modern wiccan concepts (even quoting Robert Graves), to 're-interpret' the Pictish standing stones.

After insisting that Pictish ancestors crossed the North Sea from Scandinavia and that tribal memories of stories last thousands of years, he spends pages insisting that the Moon is always equated with the feminine, and omits the fact that Scandinavian and Germanic tradition always ascribed a masculine element to the Moon and feminine to the Sun. He then rushes to suggest that arches on Pictish stones must be sideways (?!) Crescent moons.

Exasperatingly, he completely ignores the Rhynie Man, probably the most important Pictish find in the last century. But then again, it doesn't feed into his purpose. Lore of An Caileach that doesn't support his thesis is ignored. He suggests that carvings of deer heads must be shamanic masks, based on sources that have nothing to do with Picts or Celts.

Chapters 3, 4, and 5 contain a combined total of five and a half pages. He is highly repetitive and much of the writing is randomly presented. I REALLY wanted to like this and only found myself highly disappointed.
6 people found this helpful
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Titus
3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I was hoping for
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2016
Verified Purchase
I felt like the title didn't live up much to the subject matter. The author presents a nuanced case concerning the origins of an early mother goddess related to fertility. Almost every symbol is related back to this goddess... It was interesting, but not what I was hoping for. I was looking for an authoritative voice on the V-rod and Z-rod symbols. I left disappointed. Also, the pictures within the book are low quality, for the price, and publishing, I would've liked to see crisper, cleaner symbols, and certainly more examples.

The author did succeed in making me look at hills as breasts... presumably for the rest of my life :/

TL:DR - Based too much in mysticism.
15 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

lorraine sullivan
5.0 out of 5 stars Bought as a present…
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 26, 2024
Verified Purchase
I brought it as a present, for somebody, but had a peep at it first then was very tempted to keep it as it looks very interesting, the person I gave it to loved it!
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Pollysue
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2013
Verified Purchase
This was easy to read and full of fascinating facts about the Picts and their landscape. Also thought provoking as Stuart McHardy has reinterpreted many formally accepted ideas.
3 people found this helpful
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Mjolnir
1.0 out of 5 stars Deceiving and disappointing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 8, 2016
Verified Purchase
Perhaps if the title of this book were instead HOW GREAT, CIVILIZED AND EGALITARIAN SCOTLAND WAS, & F_! THE ROMANS, THE ENGLISH AND THEIR IMPERIAL ENDEAVORS, the text would be less deceiving and disappointing. As it is, it says very little about the Picts and absolutely nothing new. As for the interpretation of the pictograms, all the author's method consists in the projection upon them of the already more or less established meaning of the same symbols in other, more studied, cultures. To read this book is a complete loss of time.
10 people found this helpful
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David
4.0 out of 5 stars New Ideas About the Picts and their Symbols
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 15, 2014
Verified Purchase
4 stars because of MacHardy's originality: not bound by established academic ideas. Badly let down by his publishers (no proofreaders).
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