From Doctor McKamey...
About the CAIRN in our logo:
A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones. The word
cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn [ˈkʰaːrˠn̪ˠ]
(plural càirn
[ˈkʰaːrˠɲ]).
From prehistoric times to the present, Cairns are and have
been used for a broad variety of purposes including markers or monuments to
guide travelers, indicate safe harbors or navigational channels.
They vary in size from small stone markers to entire
artificial hills, and in complexity from loose conical rock piles to delicately
balanced sculptures and elaborate feats of megalithic
engineering.
Cairns are simple rock formations, used as landmarks to guide
travelers along a path or to mark a sacred place. From the Arctic territories of the Inuit to
temples in Korea, cairns can be found all over the world.
In modern
times, cairns are often erected as landmarks,
a use they have had since ancient times.
Hope For The Journey Ahead……..A
Pinterest article from July. The
original author is Geologist David B. Williams.
The excerpt is from his book Cairns:
Messengers in Stone.
It’s about those little piles of rocks best known as trail markers around the world. In addition to weaving together the natural history of cairns, including geology, ecology, and how to figure out how old they are, I focus on three themes. The first is communication, for cairns are arguably one of humanity’s earliest ways of sharing information. The second is connection, in that people often build a cairn or add a stone to one as a means of connecting to place, history, and/or family. And, finally, I write about cairns as a sign of community, of travelers, of hikers, of explorers; each time we build one or rely on one we are bonding with those who came before and will come later.”
During our travels as a family, we used to stack 7 stones in small towers wherever we went. There was no real reason for the practice; it was a novelty. Spiritually, seven is the number of completion or perfection. Our small monuments were a sign we had been there, left for others to know someone had passed through before them.
When Julie and I were considering logo’s for EPIC we wanted
something very special to convey a uniqueness and establish a sense of
community. Stacked stones and balanced sea
glass images began to jump into sight everywhere. It was in perfect synchronicity with
everything else that was happening. The
cairn in the image with this post, popped up on Pinterest during one of our searches
for ideas. Initially, we thought the
cairn might serve as the I in EPIC.
My light side needed something more whimsical, with the same message but not as rigid. Our immediate family rendered guidance. A friend, Jen Moore, came up with the final whimsical cairn. Many will not know its significance. To paraphrase David B Williams: It’s all about Communication, Connection and Community.
