LANGUEDOC & PROVENCE SUN

Heather Connie MARTIN

Dundee born author and illustrator Heather Connie Martin studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Glasgow School of Art.
She now lives and works in the Cevennes mountains range in the south of France.
Since the early 1980s she has been painstakingly picking out and mapping the star patterns which make up the Pictish constellations.

So far she has identified the thirty star symbols which are fully illustrated in The Lost Language of the Stars.

THE BOOK :

THE LOST LANGUAGE OF THE STARS

The Picts are probably best known for the remarkable carved stones which they left for us dotted throughout the north-east of what is now Scot­land. The earliest of these stones are sculpted with a system of enigmatic symbols, some rich with elaborate knotwork, others elegantly plain.

Now there is a completely new the­ory about the origins of these Pictish symbols to add to our understand­ing of Scottish culture and identity.

The Picts had a unique vision of the night sky. They were early astronomers who saw a system of star pictures which resonated with them in the context of their own myths and beliefs. The constellations of the Picts were recorded on stone, later to be overshadowed by the constellations of the Babylonians and the Greeks.

The book explains the rediscovery of the lost constellations, ex­plores the symbolic meanings behind the images seen by the ancient Picts in the night sky and attempts to shed light on the historical events which contributed to our loss of knowledge of these early sky-mappers. The symbol illustrations and clear star charts allow the reader to use the book as a guide to exploring the night sky and picking out the ancient signs for themselves.

Some examples of her work can be found on the web-site www.languedocliving.com/village

ISBN: 97862695307326061

Paperback, A4 format, 80 pages, 77 black and white illustrations

Published in France, December 2007

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PRICE: £10.50 + £2.50 (to UK countries) Payment by paypal

Contact me for details of price and postage to France or other countries.