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Not my field at all, but I did find out from a book review of the Penguin edition of Chretien’s Arthurian romances that Chretien was a poet at the court of the Count and Countess of Champagne, invented the ‘courtly romance’ and apparently wrote his Arthurian stories at the suggestion of Marie de Champagne, which is interesting in itself.
Michael
I don’t get them often, but I actually enjoy nightmares. When you’re having them it’s scary, but afterwards I look back on it and think, “Heh, that was really interesting.” A bit like being in your very own horror film.
Don’t know what that says about me.
So Simon, don’t keep us in suspense. What did you do? And how did she get on afterwards?
Re Yuri’s advice, I agree with keeping a journal for dreams or anything else that takes your interest, which seems to be pretty standard practice for anyone involved in psychic/magical/spiritual exploration. It might be that if your dreams are troubling you, just taking proper notice of them could be a help. But it might not be.
Sometimes I have times when I have lots of interesting dreams, and then I have barren patches when all I get is the gobbledegook variety (not even any erotic dreams, dammit). Am going through a barren patch at the moment as it happens.
Michael
Interesting question. My family has had a few ghostly experiences in which the ghost is easily identifiable as a deceased family member (or something posing as a deceased family member) , but I think that ‘ghost’ can often become something of a catch-all term for any sort of ‘presence’ that someone becomes aware of. I guess that is because most people don’t have the concept of the spirit-of-a-place, so any experience is fit into the category that they do possess.
As an example, I strongly suspect that the story of a ‘white lady’ on the lake where I live does not relate to the ghost of a lady who had a boating accident while eloping (as the story goes, though there is no evidence for it), but the genius loci. I’ve not managed to make contact though, so it is just a theory.
I tend to agree with Yuri that a GL is not usually human, but I suppose it’s possible that some part of a deceased person may bed-down at a site and become the GL or site-guardian, or perhaps become fused with the existing genius loci.
From what I’ve read, some guardians appear to have been especially created to serve a specific purpose, possibly by living human beings. If that is so then GL and site-guardian are not synonymous. I don’t really know, I just don’t have the experience, but I imagine that there is no hard-and-fast rule at work.
Michael
I was sitting in the departure lounge of Plymouth City Airport about 2 weeks ago, waiting for our delayed flight to Gatwick, and my wife found an article on Drake’s Island in the May “Devon Life” that was available for passengers. Of interest was that going back to the 10th or 11th century, the island had a church dedicated to St. Michael on its summit and was known as “St. Michael’s Island”. Later in its history the church was rededicated to St. Nicholas and the island become “St. Nicholas’ Island”, and then in the 16th century it became known as Drake’s Island after the governorship of the island was offered to Sir Francis Drake.
I’ve found this verified here: [url:2hzl9mkj]http://www.plymouthdata.info/Drake’sIsland.htm[/url]
Quote:“There was a chapel on the Island that was originally dedicated to Saint Michael and it was as St Michael’s Island that it first appears in the records, when, in 1135, it was transferred from the Valletort family to the Priory at Plympton.”This is interesting, as it has similar characteristics to St. Michael’s Mount near Penzance as a small off-shore island with church of St. Michael. It is, however, quite far south of the Michael line, and quite far north of the Apollo line. Nevertheless, I did notice something of potential interest. Procurring an OS map, I noticed that on the Cornish side of the Plymouth Sound near Mount Edgecombe is a tumulus: a straight line between this and the Plymstock tumulus near Hooe hits the southern edge of St. Michael’s Island (as was), and is also a neat east-west line, which I guess would be an equinox alignment.
If this is a genuine alignment it cuts through Hooe Lake as well as the hill on which Stamford Fort was built in the 1860s (it passes right through the fort), on the slopes of which was found a late-iron age cemetery. I’ve marked it as a thin-red line on the map:
I’m not committed to the alignment being real, it could be a fluke. But it’s definitely interesting about the island. Thinking about Yuri’s recent Somerset post, does anyone know what angle I would need to plot a Beltane line from the island?
Michael (not a saint, not likely to become one)
Cheers Simon and Yuri (and the mysterious Dr. S). Very interesting. I am intreagued by the privacy (and secrecy?) and hereditary nature of the Egretes cult (sounds like a kind of archaic Greek version of the Freemasons – religious/mystical order or chaps getting together for a bun-fight?
). Yuri’s suggestion does sound plausible, that they considered themselves descendents of the hero, as does the comparison with the host of minor saints.I wonder if the sanctuary trees are important, as the orgeones were evidently keen that they be looked after and their number kept constant. I wonder what species they were, and whether they are still there?
If there was a Stave of Egretes, perhaps it was cut from one of these sacred trees? Maybe it was the focus of the sanctuary? Perhaps it was passed down within the hereditary group after the organised cult came to an end? Perhaps I am of the lost line of Egretes, it having passed to Italy and from thence into my ice-cream selling ancestors in Florence? OK, I’m not being entirely serious (though it’s true about the ice-cream selling ancestors from Florence, not that you’d guess it from my blond-haired, blue-eyed Teutonic good looks).
It’s tantalising, but there’s so little to go on. I’ll just have to see if any more information surfaces, and encourage Egretes to give me some more (bun-fight anyone? All in honour of Egretes of course!).
That is assuming he is the right chap, and that I shouldn’t be chasing after egrets after all!
Michael
I’d never really heard much about orbs until I started listening to ‘Now That’s Weird!” Ross Hemsworth and his merry crew have done some things with orbs. From what I recall, they have had orbs exhibiting ‘intelligent’ behaviour; they have told them to appear in specific spots and the pictures come out with orbs obligingly doing as they are asked. They also show up when some sort of spirit presence is experienced, or communication is going on.
I wouldn’t take my wonky memory as an authority however. If you wanted to follow this up you can email him; he has ross@nowthatsweird.co.uk as a public address. In my experience he is a good responder to emails. He only lives in Devon, so maybe he’d meet with you if you were interested.
Michael
Alex, obviously the projector self-combusted at the film’s ‘blasphemy’. It’s the only reasonable explanation.
Me and wifey both thought the book ought to make a good film, and would like to see it, but it will probably be off the screen when we’ll be around to go.
Yuri, I had the same Torettes problem reading the ‘history’ bits about Constantine and the Council of Nicea. But I thought it was quite a page-turner, though hardly a literary masterpiece. I liked your little article.
I’m not sure why anyone gets up-tight about the question of whether Jesus had children, by Ms Magdalene or anyone else. With my theologian’s hat on, I honestly can’t see what difference it makes. It’s probably more to do with attitudes about sex. Jesus born in a cave, no problem. Jesus walking on water, fine. Jesus whipping some temple-trading arses, yay – go Jesus. Jesus brutally executed, let’s turn it into a necklace. Jesus getting hot and sweaty with a Palestinian lovely, no way – Jesus would never do that!
Of course, if Jesus did have children people might have kept quite about it for very practical reasons; Jesus was crucified for treason against the Roman state, so his heir(s) would possibly be in danger from the same authorities. But apart from the kudos of being able to say “I’m descended from Jesus” would it really matter?
Whoops, don’t really want to start a discussion on that one!
All the best,
MichaelThanks Yuri, I hadn’t heard of Egretes either before my dream. What you say about Simon’s med image is interesting, as my dream occured two days after that.
Hmmm, a winged stave sounds interesting. I’m wondering if the Mercury figure that came out of Hooe Lake (which is probably not ancient though, see my post on Hooe Lake) was carrying a caduceus? I’ll have to go back to the library when I can (or Torquay museum where I think it’s supposed to be, but the library is closer).
Your Stav man sounds interesting, though that sort of thing isn’t my cuppa, but I just thought that the runic characters as drawn/carved are called staves. I think.
Michael
Body parts eh…hmmm…pickled or un-pickled?
I’ve bought some books from Andy in the past. I can understand why selling artifacts feels sacriligious to Steve, but I think I have to agree with Simon on this. Better to appear here first, where an artifact might have significance or importance to someone involved in questing.
Michael
Thanks for that Simon. When trying to research Egretes I kept coming up with lots of egrets; I hadn’t heard of them before then (my knowledge of flora and fauna is generally appalling), and pretty much ignored them as irrelevant. But perhaps I should be taking more notice!
Looking at etymology, our English word egret comes from the Old French aigrette, from Old Provencal aigreta, both of which do look similar to Egretes. I wonder what the plural form would look like.
Googling around, the best thing I found about the egret was its appearance in Celtic iconography, especially the Nautes Pillar ([url:1mhfhi8n]http://www.chronarchy.com/esus/nautes-pillar.html[/url]). There is a good article here [url:1mhfhi8n]http://www.chronarchy.com/mjournal/patrons/aboutesus.html[/url] about the Gaulish god Esus – the egrets/cranes are with a bull and willow tree in conjuction with this Esus, who appears to be chopping at the said willow-tree. Lots here that I haven’t digested yet, but it’s quite interesting that this is from Gaul, which would possibly tie-in with the French etymology of egret. The article mentions that Esus may be a hero rather than a god, which would perhaps link up with the little-known Greek hero Egretes. But Esus may also be a Mercury or an Odin figure.
Totally speculating now, using the Gaulish material. If Egretes refers to a collection of egrets, say the three egrets on the Nautes pillar, then the stave could be a branch of the willow tree cut by Esus. So for Stave of Egretes read “willow-branch of the egrets”?
Well, that seems to be stretching it a bit, and still doesn’t mean much to me, but I’ll bear it in mind.
I’ve tried meditating and dreaming on this. All I’ve got is an indistict image of a large bearded man, who reminds me a little of Clive Prince (I got a name, but as soon as I surfaced it always left me), and the date 28 August 2007. I guess I’ll just have to be patient!
Any more comments on any of this, I’m open to pretty much anything at the moment.
Michael
I’ve often wondered about that journal section…
It would be good if Kimmy could post some follow-up. Who is Flori, and how about those photos?
Apart from this, would it be worth having an area on this site where people can post dreams, odd happenings and so on that they are happy to share and that might mean something to someone, without necessarily asking for comment? The journals could be used for this, but it would mean everyone else trawling through however many journals. What does anyone else think about this?
Michael
If I’ve got this right, beyond the hole in the picture is the kieve, and most of the waterfall is going into that. Sounds good, I’m pretty sure I can persuade the Mrs to see a 60ft waterfall, especially if it’s a faery site as well. I’ll try and remember to take my camera – good to see that I’m not the only person who hasn’t got a digital camera yet! Hope your pictures have some nice surprises! If I remember, after a short walk down the valley from the Mill and labrynths, the path goes two ways. Do we go left or right?
All the stuff about Nechtan and Nudd is really interesting (and how is the Gwyn ap Nudd booklet coming along? No pressure, I know your busy). What AC says about Nudd as representing the Abyss and what you say about him being a god of healing, the two go together if by Abyss you mean the dark and mysterious deep from which the world comes forth in many creation myths (and I guess you do, as it has the water connection). Eliade wrote (Myths, Dreams and Mysteries) that many healing ceremonies involve a recitation or re-enactment of the creation; by taking the sick person back to the primordial time/place/event of beginnings, they re-emerge as a ‘new’ person. The same principal is also found in initiations.
At the glen perhaps we have the basin holding the waters of the Abyss, and the yonic opening through which the world and life are born . Mythologically speaking, of course.
There are strong connections of the Abyss with the underworld. I’m not sure if the underworld is supposed to be entirely the same thing as the ‘otherworld’, but they seem to be related.
Michael
It was a while before I could seen the picture, but I got there sometime during Sunday evening and printed it. I tried to avoid looking at anyone else’s comments until I could get my own impressions. Nice picture by the way, worth a wet arse I’d say!
First impressions on Sunday. The face-in-profile in the rock on the left side of the hole jumps out at me. Is that naturally there or did you put it in there Yuri? Also reminded me of the holed stones such as Men-an-toll (does it align to anything?). It is quite inviting – I have the urge to clamber through the hole (not sure how physically easy or safe that would be).
In the night I was half-awake around 1.30am and my mind turned to it. I was ‘thinking’ (if you can call it that) about the face in the rock, and suddenly the hole took on solidity and became the moon (man in the moon, obviously), my imagination taking a few liberties and rounding out the shape a little. A little later on, again in a half-awake state, ‘thinking’ about the water cascade, suddenly I saw the hole as a bowl or cup, tipped up and pouring the water out.
Having now looked at Simon’s comment I suppose my own desire to climb through gels with the portal idea. Apart from doing this physically I imagine one could project one’s consciousness through it.
I might be in the area myself at the end of May, I’ll go if we get the chance. I haven’t been far enough down Rocky Valley to find the glen. By the way, did you hear that a third labrynth has been discovered, cut very faintly into the rock above the other two?
Michael
Just thought I’d add this to clarify Boismard’s theory:
Boismard and his close colleague Lamouille think, on the basis of an enormous textual study, that the earliest version of “John’s” gospel was written circa 50 C.E. in Palestine by Lazarus. This was expanded by ‘John II’ (aka John the Presbyter, author of the Johannine epsitles), who wrote two versions of the gospel, one in Palestine and a second many years later in Ephesus. A ‘John III’, who is unknown, then reworked the two John II gospels in the second century to give the final text. In the late second century Irenaeus confused John the Presbyter with John the apostle, resulting in the gospel being attributed to the latter.
So I suppose we might actually have five “John’s” altogether: (1) John the apostle, who doesn’t write anything: (2) Lazarus, who writes the original version of the Gospel of John as the ‘beloved disciple’: (3) John the Presbyter, who ends up in Ephesus and fleshes out the Lazarus material: (4) ‘John III’, whose identity is unknown, but is probably a Jewish Christian, and who redacts the final text: (5) John of Patmos, who writes the Apocalypse in the late first century, and is presumably unconnected with this particular quest. Phew!
Michael
Interesting experience. The geometric patterns sounds like it could be something like this:
Quote:Thanks to modern scientific work with volunteers who are given hallucinogens and whose experiences are studied, we know the typical visionary sequence begins with patterns and geometrical forms – dots, dashes, zig-zag lines – and gradually begins to turn into a fuller sense of altered realityThat’s from Graham Hancock’s interview in Issue 2 of Sub Rosa Magazine, p34-5 (available from The Daily Grail). It should still be available if you’re interested. It seems that our ancient ancestors painted these geometric visions (as well as their visions of otherworld beings) on cave walls. Which is why I wonder if you’re seeing something similar, as spirals are also a common neolithic motif.
Is there a difference between a download and an intuitive flash? I’ve experienced moments of insight following a ritual or meditation. I did have a reasonably ‘dramatic’ experience after the first time I tried a meditation using the 7-circuit labrynth. I woke at 1am to find everything in the room glowing with different colours, which quickly wore off, but the atmosphere felt like it was buzzing, alive, my brain felt like it was being cooked, keeping me awake for hours. During this time I had an insight into a connection between the 7-circuit labrynth and the myth of the Descent of Ishtar/Inanna. However, this insight wasn’t visionary like your pyramids, scrolls and patterns.
Michael
