Editing Spiral (section)

==As a symbol==
The [[Celts|Celtic]] triple-spiral is in fact a pre-Celtic symbol.<ref>Anthony Murphy and Richard Moore, ''Island of the Setting Sun: In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers,'' 2nd ed., Dublin: The Liffey Press, 2008, pp. 168-169</ref> It is carved into the rock of a stone lozenge near the main entrance of the prehistoric [[Newgrange]] monument in [[County Meath]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]. Newgrange was built around 3200 [[BCE]], predating the Celts; triple spirals were carved at least 2,500 years before the Celts reached Ireland, but have long since become part of Celtic culture.<ref name="knowth.com">{{cite web |url= http://knowth.com/newgrange.htm |title= Newgrange Ireland - Megalithic Passage Tomb - World Heritage Site |publisher= Knowth.com |date= 2007-12-21 |access-date= 2013-08-16 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130726102318/http://www.knowth.com/newgrange.htm |archive-date=2013-07-26 }}</ref> The [[triskelion]] symbol, consisting of three interlocked spirals or three bent human legs, appears in many early cultures: examples include [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] vessels, coinage from [[Lycia]], [[stater]]s of [[Pamphylia]] (at [[Aspendos]], 370–333 BC) and [[Pisidia]], as well as the [[heraldic]] emblem on warriors' shields depicted on Greek pottery.<ref>For example, the trislele on [[Achilles]]' round shield on an Attic late sixth-century ''[[hydria]]'' at the [[Boston Museum of Fine Arts]], illustrated in John Boardman, Jasper Griffin and Oswyn Murray, ''Greece and the Hellenistic World'' (Oxford History of the Classical World) vol. I (1988), p. 50.</ref>

Spirals occur commonly in pre-Columbian art in Latin and Central America. The more than 1,400 [[petroglyphs]] (rock engravings) in [[Las Plazuelas]], [[Guanajuato]] [[Mexico]], dating 750-1200 AD, predominantly depict spirals, dot figures and scale models.<ref>{{cite web | title = Rock Art Of Latin America & The Caribbean | publisher = International Council on Monuments & Sites | date = June 2006 | url = http://www.icomos.org/studies/rockart-latinamerica/fulltext.pdf | page = 5 | access-date = 4 January 2014 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140105032613/http://www.icomos.org/studies/rockart-latinamerica/fulltext.pdf | archive-date = 5 January 2014}}</ref> In Colombia, monkeys, frog and lizard-like figures depicted in petroglyphs or as gold offering-figures frequently include spirals, for example on the palms of hands.<ref>{{cite web | title = Rock Art Of Latin America & The Caribbean | publisher = International Council on Monuments & Sites | date = June 2006 | url = http://www.icomos.org/studies/rockart-latinamerica/fulltext.pdf | page = 99 | access-date = 4 January 2014 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140105032613/http://www.icomos.org/studies/rockart-latinamerica/fulltext.pdf | archive-date = 5 January 2014}}</ref> In Lower Central America, spirals along with circles, wavy lines, crosses and points are universal petroglyph characters.<ref>{{cite web | title = Rock Art Of Latin America & The Caribbean | publisher = International Council on Monuments & Sites | date = June 2006 | url = http://www.icomos.org/studies/rockart-latinamerica/fulltext.pdf | page = 17 | access-date = 4 January 2014 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140105032613/http://www.icomos.org/studies/rockart-latinamerica/fulltext.pdf | archive-date = 5 January 2014}}</ref> Spirals also appear among the [[Nazca Lines]] in the coastal desert of Peru, dating from 200 BC to 500 AD. The [[geoglyphs]] number in the thousands and depict animals, plants and geometric motifs, including spirals.<ref>{{cite web | last = Jarus | first = Owen | title = Nazca Lines: Mysterious Geoglyphs in Peru | publisher = LiveScience | date = 14 August 2012 | url = http://www.livescience.com/22370-nazca-lines.html | access-date = 4 January 2014 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140104122842/http://www.livescience.com/22370-nazca-lines.html | archive-date = 4 January 2014}}</ref>

Spirals are also a symbol of [[hypnosis]], stemming from the [[cliché]] of people and cartoon characters being hypnotized by staring into a spinning spiral (one example being [[Kaa]] in Disney's [[The Jungle Book (1967 film)| ''The Jungle Book'']]). They are also used as a symbol of [[dizziness]], where the eyes of a cartoon character, especially in [[anime]] and [[manga]], will turn into spirals to suggest that they are dizzy or dazed. The spiral is also found in structures as small as the [[double helix]] of [[DNA]] and as large as a [[spiral galaxy|galaxy]]. Due to this frequent natural occurrence, the spiral is the official symbol of the [[World Pantheist Movement]].<ref name=WPM>{{cite web|last= Harrison |first= Paul|title= Pantheist Art|url= http://www.pantheism.net/pan/free/pan9.pdf|publisher= World Pantheist Movement |access-date= 7 June 2012}}</ref>
The spiral is also a symbol of the [[dialectic]] process and of [[Dialectical monism]].

<blockquote>
The spiral is a frequent symbol for [[spiritual experience | spiritual]] purification, both within [[Christianity]] and beyond (one thinks of the spiral as the [[neoplatonism | neo-Platonist]] symbol for prayer and contemplation, circling around a subject and ascending at the same time, and as a [[Buddhist]] symbol for the gradual process on the Path to [[Enlightenment in Buddhism | Enlightenment]]). [...] while a helix is repetitive, a spiral expands and thus epitomizes [[Exponential growth | growth]] - conceptually ''ad infinitum''.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Bruhn
 |first1               = Siglind
 |author-link1         = Siglind Bruhn
 |year                 = 1997
 |chapter              = The Exchange of Natures and the Nature(s) of Time and Silence
 |title                = Images and Ideas in Modern French Piano Music: The Extra-musical Subtext in Piano Works by Ravel, Debussy, and Messiaen
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=_2V4i07PNzkC
 |series               = Aesthetics in music, ISSN 1062-404X, number 6
 |publication-place    = Stuyvesant, New York
 |publisher            = Pendragon Press
 |page                 = 353
 |isbn = 978-0-945193-95-1
 |access-date          = 30 June 2024
}} 
</ref>
</blockquote>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
File:库库特尼陶碗陶罐.JPG|[[Cucuteni Culture]] spirals on a bowl on stand, a vessel on stand, and an amphora, 4300-4000 BCE, ceramic, [[Palace of Culture (Iași)|Palace of Culture]], [[Iași]], [[Romania]]
Newgrange Entrance Stone.jpg|[[Neolithic Europe|Neolithic]] spirals on the [[Newgrange]] entrance slab, unknown sculptor or architect, 3rd millennium BC

File:Mycenaean funerary stele at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens on October 6, 2021.jpg|[[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] spirals on a burial stela, Grave Circle A, {{circa}}1550 BC, stone, [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens|National Archaeological Museum]], [[Athens]], Greece

File:Temple of Amun alley of rams (4) (34143965175).jpg|[[Meroë|Meroitic]] spirals on a ram of the alley of the [[Amun]] Temple of [[Naqa]], unknown sculptor, 1st century AD, stone, [[in situ]]

File:Samarra, Iraq (25270211056) edited.jpg|[[Islamic architecture|Islamic]] spiral design of the [[Great Mosque of Samarra]], [[Samarra]], [[Iraq]], unknown architect, {{circa}} 851

File:Nantes Maison compagnonnage Clocher tors.jpg|[[Gothic Revival]] spiralling bell-tower of the Maison des compagnons du tour de France, [[Nantes]], unknown architect, {{circa}} 1910
</gallery>