MEANING: A double meaning symbol, Recovery or Pagan.
As a symbol of Narcotics Anonymous, the Circle is the total universal program that has room for all manifestations of the recovering and the recovered person. The square base is good will; the four sides signify God, Self, Society and Service. Rising as a pyramid they meet at the point which signifies Freedom. (From the Website) “NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We ... meet regularly to help each other stay clean. ... We are not interested in what or how much you used ... but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help.”
To those whom follow the Wicca and Pagan path, the circle represents the Spiritual reality and the Square symbolizes the plane on which we exist - the Earth. Thus, the Circle Squared is the place of interpretation of the Spiritual and Physical realms, the Sacred Circle of Communion with Deity.
THE CARVING:
Our carvings are single pieces of western red cedar, designed and carved to be wall hangings. Each carving begins as a 1 X 12 inch cedar board. While we use power tools (Scroll Saw, Rotary shaft Tool, handheld detail sanders etc.), we use no laser’s, CNC machines or computer operated cutting machines. All work is done with our hands and eyes…
We cut the 2 dimensional blanks with scroll and jig saws (double-sized custom orders have to be cut with jigsaw). Carving is done with rotary shaft tools and disc grinders. The 80 grit sanding is the final phase of the carving process, removing the nicks and gouges from the carving tools, and finishes the shaping of the weave. The next 2 sandings with 120 then 220 grit finishes the smoothing and polishing. They are finished with Clear Danish Oil to seal the piece, bringing out the grain and the color.
SIZE: One picture has the piece on a quilting board, lined up on the 1 inch marks. The quilting board, at its simplest, is a one inch grid. So with the piece on the board, you look at the top and follow the line to the left and look at the right side at the widest point and follow the line to the bottom and you have height by width...but wait! It's not that easy! The way this board I have is laid out, if I lined it up on the zero points it would cover up the numbers and on some pieces you wouldn't be able to see them...so, I line it up on the 1 inch marks which means when you get the numbers, you have to subtract 1 inch... TA DA! Measurements may vary slightly from piece to piece.