There was, of course, scepticism. Had we made the whole thing up? Fabricated a hoax to promote the magazine? Well, the murals were there to be seen at Harvington Hall, and the bridge existed and dated from the right time. Beside which, because the story sounded so far-fetched and directly involved people working for Strange Phenomena, everyone agreed to keep it out of print for the time being. In fact, it was not until Andy and I wrote our respective books (The Seventh Sword and The Green Stone) some years later that the events were ever made public – long after the magazine had ceased to exist.
But what about the green stone that Alan had dreamt about? Although no reference to such an item could be found in the literature concerning Mary Queen of Scots or the Gunpowder Plot, a green stone was indeed found a short while after the sword’s discovery. However, its location was revealed purely by “psychic” means. Alan Beard once more had a vivid dream he thought was significant, concerning the stone being buried in a brass casket. Knowing nothing of Alan’s dream, at the same time another member of the Strange Phenomena team, Terry Shotton, had an almost identical dream of the stone being hidden in a brass casket. They both separately drew what they had seen, and their drawings were almost identical. Other people known to the team had similar dreams: one dreamt of a swan, and another of an avenue of trees beside a river, at the end of which was a mound where she believed the stone was buried. On the map near Knights Hill there was a landmark that Andy and I thought might be relevant. It was a looping meander in the River Avon, just outside the village of Birlingham, called The Swan’s Neck. As the others were busy, I went there alone to check out the area to find that there was indeed an avenue of trees with a small mound at one end, right beside the river. In retrospect, I should have waited until others were present, but I had digging tools in my car. Impatiently, I dug a few exploratory holes at the centre of the mound, and to my surprise hit something solid about two feet down. It turned out to be a heavy brass casket, about eight inches long, five inches deep, and five inches wide, closely matching the drawings made by Alan and Terry. Once again, it was taken to the Grosvenor Museum and was identified as dating from the mid-to-late sixteenth century. And inside – incredibly – there was a stone. Three quarters of an inch long, and half an inch wide, the smooth, rounded gem was flattened at the bottom, necessary for it to have been set in a brooch or ring, and it was fashioned from jade; its colour, a two-tone shade of pale sea green.
Controversy has, of course, surrounded this discovery. There was only my word that it was found as I had claimed. I could have obtained a casket from the right era, matching the descriptions of Alan and Terry, and a green stone matching Alan’s description, and made the whole thing up. On the other hand, it would seem unlikely that there would have been a nearby location fortuitously including the name of a swan beside an avenue of trees. The swan motif was indeed important to the Rosicrucians of the early seventeenth century, who, during the hypnosis session, I had said were somehow associated with those involved in the Gunpowder Plot. One of the two new stars they regarded as portentous had appeared in the constellation of Cygnus, the swan, so it was possible for a location named after the bird to have been used in a cryptic message left by Humphrey Pakington. Although there was no swan in the surviving Harvington Hall mural, much of it had faded over time, meaning that the original might have included the depiction of one. An interesting footnote is that when Andy later visited the village of Birlingham, an elderly resident told him of a local legend concerning a green stone long ago being buried in the area. Unfortunately, neither he nor anyone else in the village could recall any specific details of the story.
Why had a whole group of people involved with Strange Phenomena magazine suddenly seemingly become psychic? And what had apparently guided us to find the two artefacts? The finding of the sword and stone was just the beginning of an astonishing series of events you will read in this book. For the moment, let’s just concentrate on the word “Meonia” that was found inscribed on the sword. Despite extensive reading, no one could find reference to it. Numerous attempts were made to get me to provide more information under hypnosis, without success. The only thing that I was able to add was that I thought that Meonia was the name of a secret society that included Catholics and Rosicrucians. What the word meant, I had no idea. And that was it. The whispering voice of “Joanna” never spoke through me again, while neither Alan, Terry, nor anyone else, had further dreams to help unravel the mystery at this time.
If my hypnosis account was to be believed, our team were left with the possibility that those involved with the Gunpowder Plot included Rosicrucians. So, who exactly were the Rosicrucians? Rosicrucianism was a movement that seems to have come into existence in the early seventeenth century with the publication of several anonymous texts purporting to announce the existence of a secret, esoteric order which possessed mystical knowledge contained in manuscripts found in a recently-discovered medieval tomb. Their purpose, it was claimed, was to use this knowledge to initiate changes in society throughout Europe; to bring about the end of religious intolerance, and to prepare the way for a new age of scientific thinking. Their name was taken from the supposed occupant of the tomb, one Christian Rosenkreuz, purportedly a German scholar who had travelled the world during the 1400s, collating mystical knowledge from various cultures, and the symbol of the order was an equal-armed, or sometimes Christian cross with a rose at its centre. Unfortunately, the texts, collectively referred to as the Rosicrucian Manifestos, fail to reveal where this tomb was supposedly found. They do not even name the country, and no one has yet uncovered an historical record of the German scholar who was said to have been interred there.
The Rosicrucian Manifestos not only fail to reveal the location of the tomb, they do not disclose the contents of the manuscripts supposedly discovered inside. They don’t even divulge the names of those belonging to the organisation. Most baffling: after the Manifestos were published between 1614 and 1617, the order suddenly fell silent. Although others later claimed to be Rosicrucians, including an organisation founded in the early twentieth century that still exists today, nothing is really known concerning who was involved in the original order. There has, however, been scholarly speculation that it included various luminaries from Germany and England, such as the German theologian Johannes Valentinus Andreae, the German physician Michael Maier, the early English scientist Robert Fludd, and the English statesman and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh. Many scholars have concluded that the Rosicrucians existed from the late 1500s; there is certainly persuasive evidence they were in existence by 1604. Inspired by the supernova that appeared in that year – which was so bright it could be seen during the daytime for almost a month – the German historian and astrologer Simon Studion composed a book of prophecies called the Naometria (Temple Measurement), somewhat like the earlier work of Nostradamus. Although most of these prophecies are even more cryptic than those of Nostradamus, into which virtually any interpretation can be read, Studion does say that the new star heralded the founding of an age of enlightenment; the constellation of the serpent, in which it appeared, being the symbol for wisdom. He also seems to have been the first to propose a united Europe, and one free from religious intolerance. He went so far as to suggest this new Europe would soon be ruled by a queen, which he seemingly interpreted from the appearance of the earlier supernova in the constellation of the swan. Much of the symbolism and occult references in the Naometria are repeated almost verbatim in the Rosicrucian Manifestos, leading to the conclusion that the order was already in existence, although perhaps using a different name.
And this is where Sir Walter Raleigh comes in. During the 1590s, a society seems to have been founded by Raleigh for the express purpose of discussing new discoveries, such as the culture and religion of the peoples of North and South America, and the exciting prospects afforded by the beginnings of modern science occurring at this time. Members of this circle included the philosopher George Chapman, the mathematician Thomas Ha
rriot, and the playwright Christopher Marlowe. The name of this group is unknown, but historians often use the term “School of Night,” from a passage in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, thought by some to refer to it. Another member of this group was Robert Fludd, who later openly praised the ideals of the Rosicrucian movement and, by the style of his works, is widely considered to have been the author of one of the Rosicrucian Manifestos: the Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis (Proclamation of the Fraternity of the Rose Cross), published in 1614.
Queen Elizabeth’s reign had been relatively lax regarding the treatment of Catholics and other non-believers in the Protestant faith, even occultists. She even had an interest in the occult herself, employing a court astrologer in the person of John Dee, a self-professed adept of the mystic arts. Moreover, Walter Raleigh had enjoyed the Queen’s favour and had been a leading member of her inner circle of advisors. But when James I succeeded to the throne in 1603 things changed, and Catholics, atheists, and practitioners of the occult suffered outright persecution. In July of that year, Raleigh was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he would remain for sixteen years. It is possible that The School of Night – or whatever it was really called – disbanded in England and moved to the more liberal areas of Protestant Germany, such as Württemberg, where it was to influence Simon Studion and eventually morph into the Rosicrucian movement.
Why, though, would a group such as Raleigh’s associate itself with ardent Catholics like Robert Catesby, as I had said during the hypnosis session? It seemed completely contrary to known history, even nonsensical. But was it? Although being a Catholic, when Mary Stuart had been queen of Scotland she had not sought to oppress Protestants or any other religious faction. She even appointed her half-brother, the Protestant Lord Moray, as chief advisor. In fact, it was her religious leniency that ultimately led, in part, to her downfall and a Protestant regime being established in Scotland.
In 1603, many English Catholics hoped for a liberal monarch such as Mary Queen of Scots to be enthroned. Indeed, it was Mary’s son James who ultimately became king. However, he had been brought up in Scotland under the supervision of an austere Protestant regime and was far from what the Catholics and liberals such as Raleigh had optimistically expected. As King James I, he was easily influenced by his chief minister, the fervently Protestant Robert Cecil, to pass stringent laws against those who did not adhere strictly to the Church of England faith.
Although we could find no direct evidence for Walter Raleigh and Robert Catesby to have colluded or belonged to the same secret society, Andy and I did discover a close link between them. Raleigh’s wife, Elizabeth Throckmorton, was the daughter of Nicholas Throckmorton who had been a close friend of Mary Queen of Scots, and Catesby’s wife Anne Throckmorton was Elizabeth’s first cousin. The Throckmorton family were directly involved in the Gunpowder Plot. Arms, ammunition and horses, ready for the uprising that was hoped would follow the assassination of the king and his government, were readied at their family home of Coughton Court in Warwickshire, and many of the plot’s sympathisers waited there for news of the plan’s outcome. It is unlikely that Raleigh would have sanctioned such an extreme plot to kill so many people but, with him locked up, Catesby may have taken matters into his own hands. There was something else that Raleigh’s group and Catesby’s Catholics had in common. They both wanted to see the same new monarch on the throne: Elizabeth Stuart, the daughter of James I, and granddaughter of Mary Queen of Scots.
Collating the information from my hypnosis session, the dreams of others in the Strange Phenomena team, the discovery of the Harvington mural, the sword, and the stone, and subsequent research, we inferred that there may well have been a mystical organisation, precursors to the Rosicrucians, which existed in England in the early 1600s, perhaps called The Order of Meonia. It consisted of Protestant, atheist, and occultist followers of Sir Walter Raleigh, and Catholics led by Robert Catesby, whose interests coincided in wanting to see the establishment of a liberal government. The sword we had discovered was evidently regarded as a sacred relic by the Catholics in the group, but the green stone was a mystery. As the later Rosicrucians clearly believed in the occult, and even claimed to possess mystical artefacts, perhaps the gem was thought to possess magical properties. Whatever these items really were, we, the Strange Phenomena team, had seemingly been led to find them. But by what? And why?
Graham Phillips
London 2019
Authors’ Note
The account you are about to read may sound fantastic and unbelievable, but it is true. All the events occurred just as we have presented them. The witnesses to these events stand to lose much by admitting to having been involved in something so unorthodox, and it is for this reason that we must explain why this book has been written.
Throughout the period concerned, many of those who found themselves involved hoped that others would not need to know about what was taking place. However, as time progressed, more and more people either became directly drawn into or got to know something of the events. It was therefore unavoidable that some parts of the story received media coverage and, as the phenomena continued, so did the interest.
In retrospect it was perhaps short-sighted of us to have imagined that the lid would remain sealed for long on such a story. It was inevitable that, sooner or later, something would find its way into print. Eventually, when fragmentary accounts were presented, either as short features or newsworthy items, they sometimes misrepresented what was actually taking place. In addition, distorted word of mouth accounts and various individual ideas about what was responsible for the affair also brought about some very peculiar versions. We realised then that only a straightforward and full account told by those involved would minimise the problems that could be foreseen.
19 Oaks Crescent, Wolverhampton, once the Parasearch office
Chapter 1
The Chosen
22 November 1875
The barking of a dog echoed faintly in the distance. Outside the rising wind blew through the trees. But this was no time for listening to familiar night sounds. Seven people, seven diverse backgrounds, all aware that for them the cold light of morning might never come. Soon their lonely vigil would be over.
The solitary gas lamp hissed and flickered, breaking the uneasy silence in the darkened room. A wisp of pipe smoke revealed a bearded old man sitting motionless and silent on an old oak chair. About him six others, shadowy indefinable figures waiting patiently for the inevitable.
Anxious eyes fell on the old man as he rose and shuffled over to the heavy iron stove. Opening the buckled door, he knocked his pipe against the metal, the glow from the dying embers of the fire casting eerie shadows around the room, red light reflecting from row after row of bottled potions and chemicals on the dusty shelves.
Time was short. This they all knew. Repeatedly they had tried to destroy the power that threatened them. But now they must finally face that power. They would not trouble the old man, for the burden of decision lay heavy on his shoulders. He alone would decide their fate.
After a time, he turned and spoke. ‘Friends, we can wait no longer. The time has come, we must do what must be done.’ He glanced down at his gold pocket watch. ‘A quarter past eleven. We must make ready.’ He fell silent, eyes slowly closing as if to allow time for his proclamation to take hold. A tense silence fell upon the group. This time there would be no escaping the confrontation.
A sudden ring broke the silence. The doorbell. The party cast anxious glances towards the old man. He gestured his hand to command quiet, kindling one of the oil lamps and picking a slow but deliberate path between them. He made his way along the narrow passage into the front room of the house.
Nervously, he opened the door. Before him stood two figures, a man and a woman. In the darkness he recognised her, a tall, elegant woman in her late twenties. Next to her stood a shorter man of similar age, wearing a heavy tweed coat. The woman looked distressed. Through the light of the
oil lamp her swollen eyes betrayed recent tears. Clasped to her breast she held a short rectangular box. And then the old man knew.
She strode forward into the room, pulling off her bonnet and releasing her long, brown hair.
‘What has happened?’ asked the old man. He knew as well as they, but could not, did not want to believe it.
At last she spoke. ‘We must act now, and we must act quickly. With each passing moment our chances diminish as their power grows.’
The man said nothing. Momentarily he raised his head and nodded in agreement.
The old man sighed. His decision had been made for him. Only the two of them had come, and she had brought the box.
The three made their way down the corridor into the back room. ‘
My friends,’ the old man announced, ‘the decision has been made for me. We are now in the hands of God, he alone can help us.’
In silent unison, the assembly rose and lit the remaining oil lamps, filing almost reverently along the corridor leading to the cellar entrance. The old man crouched, pulling aside the heavy wooden panel. A rush of cold air struck their faces as the door was lifted, the dank smell of the underground chamber reaching out as they descended the sand-covered steps.
The lamps quickly filled the room with shimmering light, unveiling four white walls, richly adorned with ancient symbols: the ankh, the winged sun disc. Upon the floor a large eight-pointed star painted in white. At each point stood an earthenware plate containing sand. Adjacent to each plate was a phial of water. The group lit candles and placed them between the water and the sand. Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The circle was complete.
The Green Stone Page 2