Rev. C. Scot Giles, D.Min., LLC

I'm amazed at the attention this informal web site gets from readers. I made a small change in web site design last night, and this morning brought a couple of emails asking about it.

That's kind of neat, actually.

The change was an alteration in my practice logo. For almost twenty years I used a small Celtic Knot as a logo. I picked it up in the early days of the Internet. I think it was a freebie from Microsoft. Here it is:

I used this little design to dress up business cards, brochures, letterhead and this web site.

Recently, I've gotten involved in planning a major medical conference here in Chicago. Called "A Chicago Perspective: Meeting the Psychosocial Needs of Cancer Patients." I'm one of the sponsors, along with Wellness House, Wellness Place, Edward Hospital Cancer Center, Loyola University, Rush University Medical Center, The University of Chicago, The Adventist Cancer Network and a long list of other fine institutions. I'm on the Steering Committee for the conference, and feel honored to have a place at that table.

The graphic designer who created the brochure had a problem with my little Celtic Knot. It's not a high-resolution graphic, and she had to do a lot of extra work to get it to look good in the brochure.

So I figured it was time for an update. I decided to go with a more obvious spiritual symbol this time. Being of Celtic ethnicity, I also wanted to keep a Celtic Knot motif.

After a bit of hunting I licensed a beautiful graphic from Cari Buziak of Aon Celtic Art (you will find a link to her gorgeous web site on my Useful Links page). Here is the new graphic:

This is called a Celtic Cross and was used by the ancient church to combine the themes of Christianity, Eternal Life and the Interconnectedness of Nature, Humanity and Spirit. I love it.

The lines on either side of the cross are Ogham, an old Celtic alphabet. At a time when paper and ink were expensive, but there was plenty of wood, the people in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales worked out an easy way to write. They inscribed a "stemline" in a piece of wood, and then made marks to the left, right or intersecting it to form letters. Each of the 20 Ogham letters is named after a tree, and the name of the letter is the same as the name of the tree in Gaelic.

The Ogham on the logo spells out "Hold Fast." It's a phrase from scripture and something of a personal motto.

I hope you like it.