Chapter Seven
For the St George Parry see: Teach yourself Fencing. C. L. de Beaumont OBE, The English Universities Press, 1968. Pages 99-100.
For symbolic meaning of the Dragon and dragon slaying see: An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, J. C. Cooper, Thames and Hudson, 1978.
See also: The Book of the Dragon, Judy Allen and Jeanne Griffiths, Orbis, 1979.
In 1117, when the Templars were founded by St Bernard of Clairvaux and his cousin Hughes de Payens, nine selected knights were chosen to spend nine years in Christian-occupied Jerusalem at the Temple of Solomon, preparing themselves for the task of ruling the proposed order of Knights Templar. Once again nine knights.
Chapter Nine
Although there had been no announcement proclaiming the existence of the Rosy Cross fraternity in 1605, in the previous year a lengthy manuscript entitled the Naometria appeared in Wurttemberg. Its author was a mystic and theologian named Simon Studion. Many who have examined the document, now in the Landesbibliothek at Stuttgart, believe that, amongst other indications, a rose cross design reproduced in its pages shows this to be the earliest known Rosicrucian document.
One such illustration can be found in the Naometria and is reproduced in The Rosy Cross Unveiled.
See: The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, pages 1-29.
The appearance of the stars was recorded and commented upon by Johannes Kepler in his De Stella nove in pede Serpentarii; De Stella incognita Cygni: published at Prague in 1606. (See The Rosicrucian Enlightenment.)
Chapter Ten
For information about the Rollright Stones and their connections with witchcraft see: A Guide to Occult Britain, John Wilcock, Sidgwick and Jackson, 1976.
Murder by Witchcraft, Donald McCormick, John Long, 1968.
See: An Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols.
From Vaughan's translation of the Confessio.
It must be stated that the identity of any member of this witch coven still remains a mystery. One or two suggestions were made, but subsequent investigation negated these.
Chapter Eleven
Automatic writing is when a person feels inspired to write without being consciously aware of what they are writing about. Many Spiritualists believe they can communicate with the spirit world in this way.
The story of Parsival, written by Wolfram von Eschenbach between 1300 and 1310, refers to a magical green stone, and flatly declares that this stone was the graal. It would appear that the first ideas about the Holy Grail came about through the earliest Arthurian Romances referring to a graal. The first to mention it is Conte del Graal, written by Chretien de Troyes. In this last of his five Arthurian Romances, composed probably between 1175 and 1190, he never states what a graal actually is. The word was not universally understood even in France during this period. (See: Wales and the Arthurian Legend, Roger Sherman Loomis, University of Wales Press, 1956.)
Wolfram von Eschenbach, however, refers to it as Lapsit Excillis. This was taken to mean Lapis Excilis - a small stone.
The idea of the graal or grail being a chalice used at the last supper by Christ came about thanks to the misinterpretations later popularised by Tennyson and Wagner. Eventually, the Lapis Excilis became integrated into Alchemical ideas where it becomes associated with the so-called Philosopher’s Stone.
Arnold of Villanova, in the fifteenth-century Rosarium Philosophorum writes: Hie lapis excilis extat precio quoque vilis, spernitura stultis, amaturplus a edoctis. Literally translated: This insignificant stone is indeed of trifling value, it is despised by fools, the more cherished by the wise.
A legend of imprecise age stated that a small green stone, long considered to have been a talisman against evil, was believed to have fallen out of Lucifer’s crown when he was cast out of heaven. Page 117. The Grail Legend, Emma Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz, English translation, Hodder and Stoughton, London 1971.
Also see: The Quest of the Holy Grail, Jessie L. Weston, Frank Cass, 1964.
Chapter Twelve
On Monday 4 February 1980, Andy and Graham reported the break-in to the local police, who took samples of the blue jelly for analysis and also made a cursory examination of the flat. However, the results of the analysis were not forwarded to the investigators. With the police involved, the story broke and an account of the week’s events appeared as the cover story in the local paper: The Wolverhampton Chronicle of Friday, 8 February. On Monday, 11 February, a film crew from the Midland independent television network unexpectedly arrived at the flat and interviewed the witnesses. This was screened on the regional programme, ATV Today, a few days later.
Chapter Thirteen
The spelling of Mary as Marye was probably due to the Gothic revival popular during the second half of the last century.
Two giant sculptures of baboons in quartzite, squatting on their haunches, are at Hermopolis in Egypt, the site sacred to the god Thoth.
By Akhenaten’s time, during the New Kingdom, the winged disc was a symbol of protection inscribed above temple doors.
A pseudonym is used here since his relatives may still be alive today, they having had no involvement in his Victorian black-magic practices.
Chapter Fourteen
Amon was the principal god deposed by Akhenaten.
See: Magical and Mystical Sites, Elizabeth Pepper and John Wilcock, Abacus, 1978. Pages 289-98.
Chapter Fifteen
See: Page 243. Megaliths and their Mysteries, Alastair Service and Jean Bradbury, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979.
Reflections
Psychic Archaeology, Jeffrey Goodman, Wildwood House, 1978.
Appendix
The History of the Stone and the Nine
There are certain facts that deserve clarification about the historical periods mentioned during this account, in order that the psychic messages may be considered in their proper context.
In the course of the account, the Megalithic peoples have been mentioned on several occasions. The psychic messages received indicated that it was with these ancient peoples that the whole story had its beginnings. It was by their unwitting hand that the malefic being, whatever it was, came into existence, and it was they who created the Stone as a means ultimately to destroy it.
So who were the Megalithic peoples? We have said that they were the race who constructed such monuments as Avebury and Stonehenge, but it is important to explain a little about this civilisation. However, we are not historians nor archaeologists and are therefore only presenting information assimilated from subsequent research and reading. We have included notes for the more important reference sources used, and, in addition, there is a suggested reading list for those who may wish to read further.
The word Megalith, from the Greek meaning a great stone, is the term commonly used for any large stone structure erected in Western Europe from approximately 5000 to 500 BC. However, the monuments erected after about 1400 BC are considered to have been the work of a markedly different culture. So the more popular term Megalithic (Civilisation, Culture, Peoples etc) is the word used for the period in Western European prehistory from around 5000-1400 BC. It must also be mentioned that the term Megalithic monument is often found referring to constructions dating from this period that are not necessarily made of stone, such as earthworks or mounds. Finally, it will save confusion to add that the term Megalithic Age is not an archaeological term, but a popular lay usage. The period between 5000 BC and 1500 BC in Western Europe falls into two distinct ages: The Neolithic (New Stone Age), and the Early Bronze Age. (1)
No contemporary records survived from the Megalithic period in Europe; in fact, none seem to have been made. No written accounts tell us what these extraordinary people thought, how they lived, what religious beliefs they may have held or, most frustrating of all, why they built the thousands of mysterious monuments still to be seen scattered across the countryside.
Although some civilisations running concurrently in other parts of the world developed means
of recording their history, the Megalithic areas were still, as far as we are concerned today, very much in a prehistoric era. The only indications of Megalithic culture come from the findings of archaeologists who painstakingly unearth and reassemble the belongings that these men and women in a far-off time left behind. Ironically, it is often those discarded objects that provide us with little more than the bare fundamentals of daily life many thousands of years ago. In effect, it is like trying to understand someone today via the contents of their dustbin.
For centuries, nobody had any idea how old these Megalithic monuments really were. The early Church considered them to have been built by the pagan Celts that they hoped to convert. The first antiquarians of the Renaissance took them back a little earlier, Classical study revealing that the Romans had made written reference to them and their use by the Druids for sacrificial purposes.
Today, however, modern scientific techniques have shown that they are in fact very much older. The great sarsen stones of Stonehenge, for example, by no means the oldest Megalithic monument, precede the Roman invasion by as many years as there have subsequently elapsed since the time Julius Caesar first set foot in Britain.
The dating of these prehistoric sites is achieved basically in three different ways, which after being interrelated and cross-checked with the findings at other sites give a reasonably accurate estimation of the age of many constructions of great antiquity.
First, what is known as the thermoluminescence present in pottery, found at or near the site in question, deteriorates at a fairly constant rate. This process begins once the pot has been fired, so the period that has expired since the time of the firing can be estimated. Second, plant pollen is able to survive for a great length of time, and after scientific analysis its age can be established. Pollen found in the right place can tell scientists when certain archaeological discoveries were deposited.
The most widely used procedure is radiocarbon dating: organic matter, in whatever form, either animal or vegetable, contains Carbon 14. Once the living organism has died, the Carbon 14 gradually decays until some 60,000 years later it disappears altogether. By a chemical analysis, the amount of Carbon 14 can be gauged, thus making dating possible. Although the date the stones were erected cannot be ascertained, tell-tale organic remains can be dated. Very often organic debris is found beneath the stones and, fortunately for the archaeologist once again, what the builders discard can serve an invaluable purpose. The tools employed by Neolithic man were frequently little more than modified animal antlers or implements made from bone. Where these have been found, lining the bottom of the pit where the stone was placed, then they can be radiocarbon dated and the relative age of the site ascertained.
By using these methods, the earliest Megalithic structures have been found to date from around as early as 4700BC, which is some 1700 years before the first Egyptian pyramids were built.
These earliest monuments of the Megalithic age are known as Dolmens, which are, in effect, stone chambers formed from upright stones with one or more large flat stones laid across them to form a roof. Originally many of them would have been covered with a mound of earth, but often this has been eroded leaving the stones bare and exposed.
The Megalithic ideas seem to have begun in Brittany or Portugal. It did not take long for the culture to spread throughout many parts of Europe. By 3600 BC it had reached the British Isles, where, for the following 1000 years, simple dolmens, earthen long barrows (such as Wayland’s Smithy) and other variations of so-called chambered tombs dominate the period. The really fascinating and mysterious period in the Megalithic era began around 2500 BC. At about that time a great leap forward occurred, almost overnight, in archaeological terms.
In certain areas of Europe, in particular the British Isles and Brittany, the Megalithic peoples started to build staggeringly impressive structures and gigantic earthworks. There are many examples of an earthwork known as the Cursus, long, narrow enclosures, usually closed at both ends and formed by two parallel banks and ditches. Some run as far as six miles. There are also huge earthen mounds such as Silbury Hill near Avebury, which is 130 ft high and covers five and a half acres. And in many instances natural hills were the focus of gigantic reshaping projects; Glastonbury Tor in Somerset being the best-known example. Great stone rows, such as Carnac in Brittany, where hundreds of tall standing stones, some 12 feet high, cover many acres. And all over Europe, thousands of solitary standing stones known as Menhirs were erected, some only a few feet high but others very much taller. The Great Menhir just outside Locmariaquer in Brittany, which today lies shattered on the ground in four huge pieces, once stood over 60 feet high.
But most enigmatic of all are the circles or rings of stone. Although there are a few isolated examples elsewhere in Europe, these appear to have been something of a British peculiarity. There seems to have been little or no build-up to these. They began in a big way with structures such as Avebury and Stonehenge.
Just why this sudden leap forward came about is still uncertain, although it is thought to have had some connection with an influx of a new people - the Beaker people, so called because of the pottery which is characteristic of them. They came from Central Europe, or perhaps Spain, and brought with them their new skills, which caused them to be quickly adopted by the Neolithic communities who, one theory suggests, adopted them as a ruling priesthood. However, although the Beaker people undoubtedly brought with them a knowledge of metal working, there is much archaeological evidence to suggest that the move towards some of the grander structures had begun just prior to their arrival. The influence of the Beaker people on these mammoth undertakings seems to have been that of introducing a more centralised form of administration that made possible the organisation of the vast work forces necessary.
After about 2000 BC, the work on larger stone circles in the British Isles gave way to a great number of smaller ones of which about 900 are known in Britain and Ireland.
What extraordinary purpose lay behind these enigmatic constructions, built from 2500 BC, remains open to controversy. The most conservative archaeologists claim that they were erected for some unknown religious purpose.
There seems to be little doubt now that many of the stones are aligned to the rising and setting of the sun on particular important days of the year. Some authorities hold to the belief that the fundamental purpose of the stone circles was as astronomical observatories at a time when, for the greater part of the year, the skies over Britain were far clearer than they are today. The purpose, they say, for this was to give the Megalithic peoples a means of accurately calculating dates essential for the relatively advanced farming techniques they had adopted. However, the sheer size of Avebury strongly indicates that at least there was some ceremonial purpose intended here, besides merely that of observing the skies.
The purpose of the Cursus constructions and gigantic mounds like Silbury is perhaps more mysterious still. Numerous theories for the Cursus earthworks have been advanced, ranging from their use as ancient race courses (‘Race course’, incidentally, is what the name coined by Dr William Stukeley, an eighteenth-century antiquarian, literally means) to the more probable theory of their being vast processional ways for seasonal fertility rituals. Silbury Hill, once thought to have been a huge burial mound, was made more mysterious when modern excavation conducted between 1968-70 found no evidence of any burial chamber at its core. The mystery surrounding these Megalithic sites has caused many diverse theories to have been put forward.
A one-time commercial traveller, Alfred Watkins, in his book The Old Straight Track, written in the 1920s, describes how, during his travels through Herefordshire, he came to the conclusion that many of these ancient sites could be joined together by straight lines drawn on maps. This led Watkins to the conclusion that these supposed alignments, which he called ley-lines, were prehistoric trade routes. However, his theory is discredited by the fact that many of his ley-lines pass over such obstacles as bogs and cliffs. Yet the ley-li
ne theory did not die.
In more recent years, many have been inspired by the idea of a universal system of Megalithic sites. A number of writers have advanced the concept of ley-lines being not pathways but power lines, channelling some unspecified terrestrial energy utilised, or at least plotted, by Megalithic man. Author John Michell, more than any other, is chiefly responsible for the popularisation of this idea. His book View over Atlantis, which discusses in romantic style the idea of these arterials of spiritual power, became very popular in the early 1970s. (2) Archaeologists for their part, however, have not been over impressed by the ley-line concept. Most, it would seem, either totally ignore the theory or put these alignments down to pure chance. (3)
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