Linda Ursin - Mythical Artist

Mjölnir or Thor's Hammer, a Norse Symbol. Thor is the protector of mankind in Norse mythology and Asatru. The hammer has been used as a symbol of protection for a very long time. The meaning of the symbol itself is power, strength, protection (both personal protection and protection of mankind). This particular one is loosely based on an archaeological find from Skåne, Sweden. The background was created using a combination of a gradation from red to blue, and salt texture.

Laugr is a Germanic rune for the L sound. The background was created using droplets, salt and lifting to resemble water with bubbles.

The Star Disc of Ishtar is from Mesopotamia. The background texture was created using a combination of splatter and blossoming.

Symbol number thirty-four is the Hindi word Namaste. The background was created using green and water droplets.

Kojo Baiden is an Adinkra symbol. Adinkra is the name of a group of symbols from Ghana that were inspired by the clothing of a captured king. They were originally was used to print on clothing for funerals but is now used for other purposes too (clothing, pottery, woodcarvings etc.). It traditionally represents the Cosmos and omnipresence. The background texture was created by adding green and red, and then lifting some of the color off with a brush.

Hathor is usually depicted as a woman with the head or ears of a cow, or as a cow. Her instrument is the sistrum, used to drive away evil and inspire goodness. Hathor had many roles. She’s the goddess of joy, celebration, music, kindness, and love and has been associated with Aphrodite (Greek) and with Venus (Roman). She’s also associated with women and women’s health in body and mind. Although she was considered to be the personification of kindness and love, she was initially a blood-thirsty deity called Sekhmet, which was unleashed on mankind by Ra to teach them a lesson. She loses it, develops a thirst for blood, and he regrets it. He gets her drunk on red beer, gets her to sleep and she wakes up as the benevolent Hathor.

The Owl of Athena or Athena's Owl. A small owl that symbolizes and/or accompanies the Greek Goddess Athena. It's been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perception, understanding, and learning across many cultures.

The twenty-sixth of the symbols is the Crescent and V used by the Picts in Scotland. The background texture was created by masking different areas for each layer.

Number twenty-seven is the Scarab from Egypt. The background texture was created using salt on damp paint.

The Torii, a spiritual gate from Japan. These gates are found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine. The purpose is to divide the physical world and the spirit world. The gate is said not to actually exist in this world. It exists in a place that overlaps with the spirit world, so where it stands is a holy place where the spirits are more likely to hear you. There are many different Torii designs, and each one provides different information about the specific. shrine. The Torii is also sometimes used as a symbol of Japan. The background texture was created by making water blossoms in the red paint.

Symbol number twenty-eight is the Elven Star, Fairy Star or 7/3 Heptagram. It's associated with Wiccans who follow the Fae tradition, Western kabbalah, and Thelema. In alchemy, it refers to the seven planets known to the ancient alchemists. It was also used by Christians to symbolize the seven days of creation and ward off evil. In the Fae tradition of Wicca, it's considered to be a gateway symbol serving as a portal between our world and the realm of the Fae. The Elven Star is also a representation of those who believe in Faeries, consider themselves to be Fae, or blessed by them. In other traditions, it's believed to be a gift from the fairies to help us understand them and make communication easier.

The twenty-ninth symbol is the Osage Spider, a Native American symbol. The background texture was created by combining salt patterns with some sgraffito.

Symbol number twenty-one is the Tursaansydän from the Finnish Ukko tradition. The texture of the background was created by pulling the paint from the corners and splattering some on top.

He’s a fertility deity of some Native American cultures, and there are many legends about him. There are so many tribes and legends that it’s impossible to share one single meaning without generalizing. So the meaning I place on Kokopelli today is someone bringing abundance and fertility, children, someone making music, dancing and spreading joy. The background texture was created by painting two colors diagonally on a wet surface.

a symbol that goes back to Neolithic petroglyphs and appears in many different cultures. It’s thought to represent the movements of the sun through a year, marking the solstices and equinoxes. The orange part of the background texture was created by adding two types of salt to the wet paint, leaving a pattern that’s meant to resemble the surface of the Sun.

Symbol number twenty-five is Lucifer’s Sigil from 16th century Italy. The background texture was created by dripping water onto damp paint and letting it blossom.

The twenty-third symbol is Hekate’s Wheel from Greece. The background texture was created by dripping color onto a wet surface.

In Buddhism, it’s the symbol of the seventh chakra, what connects us to the Universe and the divine. Some of its keywords are unity, connection, serenity, joy, peace, empathy. The word in Sanskrit translates to thousand-petaled.l. The background texture was created by dripping color onto a wet surface.

It’s a palm-shaped amulet used by Muslims and Jews throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It shows the open right hand, an image recognized and used as a sign of protection in many cultures and is believed to work as a defense against the evil eye but also represents blessings, power and strength. It’s seen as a bearer of good fortune among Christians in the region as well. It’s believed to have originated in Punic Carthage, modern-day Tunisia, and was associated with the Goddess Tanit. As Westerners might use the phrase “knock on wood” or “touch wood”, a common expression in Israel is “Hamsa, Hamsa, Hamsa, tfu, tfu, tfu”, to spit out bad luck.

Yin and Yang from Taoism. The background is a blended blue.

The fifteenth of the symbols is a Spiral Goddess from Wicca. The background texture was created by allowing the colors to blossom.

Chaos Star, a symbol of chaos adopted by practitioners of chaos magick

My thirteenth symbol in the series of 100 sacred symbols is is a symbol from Adinkra, the Nyamedua.

The fourteenth symbol in the series is a Laurel which is used in Hellenism.

Awen which is a Gaelic word for “inspiration” or “essence”. Awen is what sparks an idea and gives it form. Druids embrace creativity as part of their spiritual path. It’s so important to them that many modern Druids use the Awen symbol as the primary symbol of their spiritual path. The three rays of light also symbolize the importance of threes, which is a sacred number in Druidry. The three rays are also said to represent the harmony of opposites in the universe. One example would be that the two outer rays represent male and female energy, and the central ray the balance between them.

orus was an Egyptian sky god usually depicted as a falcon. The symbol was also used as a measurement, particularly for ingredients in drugs and pigments. For this, it was divided into six parts, representing the shattering of Horus´ eye into six pieces. Each piece was associated with a specific fraction, but also with one of the six senses they assigned to humans, thought being the one we don’t use as a sense today. In one of the Egyptian myths, Seth gouged out Horus’ left eye when they were fighting for the throne after the death of Osiris.

In Santeria and Vodun, a Simbi is a messenger spirit, the bearer of souls to all places, and the creative principle. The background was created with color puddles and splattering. Who do you think of when you read this? Maybe someone who’s an artist?

the World Tree from Norse mythology. This stylized version appears on the Överhogdal Tapestry from 1066 which depicts the events of Ragnarok. The tree connects the nine worlds in Norse cosmology. In one of the myths, it’s said that its branches extend all over the world over the heavens, and it’s supported by three roots that reach far out into other realms. One theory is that the tree was a way to explain the cosmos, a way of explaining the unexplainable. Another is that the tree is what binds everything together. It weaves through the nine worlds, joining them together. Odin found the wisdom of the runes by hanging in the tree for nine days. Several creatures live in the tree itself, all with their own function and symbolism.

This symbol is found in many NeoPagan and Wiccan traditions as a symbol of the Triple Goddess described as the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, each of which symbolizes both a separate stage in the female life cycle and a phase of the Moon. The waxing moon is the Maiden and symbolizes purity, youth, beginnings, rejuvenation, excitement, enthusiasm, enchantment and expansion. The full moon is the Mother and represents fulfilment, fertility, stability, compassion, sexuality, giving, caring, nurturing, protection and power. The waning moon represents the Crone and stands for maturity, wisdom, intuition, experience, knowledge, understanding, completion, death and rebirth.

The Web of Wyrd is an Anglo-Saxon symbol which symbolizes the threads of fate spun by the Norns. It can serve as a reminder that the past affects the present and the present affects the future. It’s built from nine staves arranged in an angular grid, and it contains all of the shapes of the runes and therefore all of the past, present, and future possibilities represented by them.

Did you know that several cultures consider the Lotus a holy flower? In Buddhism, it’s associated with purity of body, speech, and mind, as well as a spiritual awakening. It’s thought of as pure because it’s able to be perfectly clean despite being rooted in mud. It’s also a symbol of detachment because the water easily slides off its petals. In Hinduism, it’s associated with beauty, fertility, prosperity, spirituality, and eternity. Many of the Hindu deities are linked to the Lotus. Laxmi, the goddess of prosperity, is usually depicted as being seated on a fully open lotus flower. Brahma, the god of creation, is in some accounts considered to have been born from a lotus flower growing from Vishnu’s navel.

.It’s related to trinities, continuity, and balance. Some of the more current interpretations say that it is a symbol for the cycles of life, personal growth, human development, and spiritual expansion. Because it’s sometimes drawn in one continuous line, it’s also said to represent a continuous movement of time. It was created in watercolor, using a wet on wet technique, and then I applied some bubble wrap to add some texture to it. Who do you think of when you read this? Forward the card to the special person that comes to mind when you read this explanation

The Valknut is one of the most discussed of the Norse symbols. There are several theories as to what it stands for. The name Valknut is a modern invention and the word roughly means “knot of those fallen in battle” but there is no evidence of use in relation to the fallen. Some say it depicts “Hrungnir‘s Heart” mentioned in Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, and some say it’s related to seidr, a shamanic practice from Scandinavia. It appears on several runestones and memorial stones, as well as on items found in graves. It appears in two distinct forms, unicursal and tricursal, meaning that it’s drawn as one line or as three.

Did you know that, despite what some believe, the pentagram has been a potent protection against evil, shielding the wearer and the home. The five elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit) are assigned to the points of the pentagram in some Pagan traditions. If the single point is upwards, it signifies the spirit ruling matter. With two points up and one (spirit) down, the emphasis is on the descent of spirit into matter, according to some traditions. Historical depictions of the pentagram were as likely to be one way as the other.

I decided to create a deer in the same style as the giraffe and puppy. As the others, it’s colored pencil on a base of watercolor

This happy little piglet was created in coloured pencil on a watercolour background