Of Sprats and Scallops

One might wonder, why "Ichthys Cybernetics"?

Quite apart from an interest in Jungian archetypes and symbols there is something iconic about Sprats and Scallops.

The word "Ichthys" represents the Fish. In early Christian and ecclesiastical iconography, ichthys  was  an emblematic fish, and in Greek an acronym for "Jesus, Christ, Son of God, Saviour.".

"Cybernetics", the theoretical study of communication and control processes in biological, administrative, mechanical, ecological, and electronic systems. It is also from the Greek, kubernesis,  meaning "a rudder". "to steer", or "a governor". In 1 Corinthians 12:28 it one of the charisms of the Holy Spirit.

The two words represents something of my own vocations in life. There were the fascinating years during the late 1960s tracking and steering spacecraft through the deep, lonely tracks of outer space to far flung destinations at the Hartebeeshoek Deep Space Tracking Facility, Johannesburg. Then latterly the 35 years of Methodist ministry and calling represented by the fish.

The scallop is the traditional emblem of not only of the pilgrim traveller but  also of Methodism especially. It derives from the Wesley family coat of arms.

Interestingly the name "Garvie" is also a fish. The fish appears in the Garvie coat of arms. The sprats or young herrings found round the coasts of Scotland was the staple diet of the very poor. They were called "garvies". The Scottish theologian, Alfred Ernest Garvie relates an amusing story in his autobiography...

A small fish found on the east coast of Scotland also bears the name.  At school in Edinburgh. one of my nicknames was Sprat; and my eldest sister was asked by rude boys in the Sunday-school...: 'Hoo many garvies dae ye get for a penny?'

- AE Garvie, Memories and Meanings of My Life

According to the Dictionary of the Scots Language:

In Scotland sprats, garvocks, etc. and herrings, are roasted on the girdle which toasts the  family bread, and this plan answers very well in cottage economy.  ....garvies, as they are called, find their way to some of the  large Enghsh towns; and it is no secret that large quantities of them are despatched to  market in tin boxes cured as sardines.  ...a nick-name given to the Ninety-Fourth Foot Regiment  because of the youth or poor physique of the recruits, most of whom  came from the Edinburgh district.  ...the townspeople called it the Garvies . . . because it consisted of  mere boys.

Scallops and Sprats have these and many more connotations which I've collectively called... "Ichthys Cybernetcs"!