HERITAGE LORE & SITES
Et in Arcadia ego - Nicolas PoussinYear: 1637–1638
Merovingian Mythos
The Merovingian Mythos:
Its Symbolic Significance and its Roots
in the Ancient Kingdom of Atlantis
by Tracy R. Twyman
The Frankish King Dagobert II, and the Merovingian dynasty from which he came, have been romantically mythologized in the annals of both local legend and modern mystical pseudo-history, but few have understood the true meaning and origins of their alluring mystery. The mystique that surrounds them includes attributions of saintliness, magical powers (derived from their long red hair), and even divine origin, stemming from their supposed descent from the one and only Jesus Christ. However, the importance of the divine origin of the Merovingians, and the antiquity from whence it comes, has never to this author's knowledge been fully explored by any writer or historian. As Boyd Rice and I will explain in more detail in our forthcoming book, we have uncovered mountains of evidence which indicates that the origins of the Merovingian race, and the mystery that surrounds them, lies ultimately with a race of beings, "Nephilim," or "Fallen Angels," who created mankind as we know him today, and with a civilization, far more ancient than recorded history, from which came all of the major arts and sciences that are basic to civilizations everywhere, even unto today. As we intend to show, all of the myths and symbolism that are associated with this dynasty can, in fact, be traced back to this earlier civilization. It is known, in some cultures, as Atlantis, although there are many names for it, and it is the birthplace of agriculture, astronomy, mathematics, metallurgy, navigation, architecture, language, writing, and religion. It was also the source of the first government on Earth - monarchy. And the first kings on Earth were the gods.
Their race was known by various names. In Greece, the Annodoti. In Sumeria, the Anunnaki. In the Celtic lore, the Tuatha de Danaan. In the Semetic scriptures (Torah, Talmud, Old Testament, and other Apocryphal texts like the Book of Enoch), they are called The Nephilim, "The Sons of God," or the Watchers. They are described as having attachments such as wings, horns, and even fish scales, but from the depictions it is clear that these are clothes or costumes worn for their symbolic value, for these symbols indicated divine power and royal blood. The gods themselves had their own monarchy, with laws of succession similar to our own, and they built a global empire upon the Earth, with great cities, temples and monuments, and mighty nations established on several continents. They created mankind as a slave race to work on their farms and in their gold mines, among other things. The Sumerian legends are very clear: man was made to "bear the yoke of the gods." Man was separate from the gods, like a domesticated animal, and there was a great cultural taboo amongst the gods against sharing any of their sacred information with humanity, even things such as writing and mathematics. These gods ruled directly over Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley, and their rule is recorded in the histories of all three civilizations.
This global monarchy was the crowning glory of the Ages, and the period of their rule came to be called the Golden Age or, as the Egyptians called it, "The First Time," when the gods watched over man directly, like a shepherd his flock. In fact, they were often called "The Shepherd Kings." One of the symbols of this world monarchy was an eye hovering over a throne, and this eye now adorns our dollar bill, presented as the missing capstone of the Great Pyramid of Giza, underneath which are written the words "New World Order." Clearly this "New World Order" is the global monarchy that our Founding Fathers (not a Democrat among them) intended for this nation to participate in all along, symbolized by a pyramid as a representation of the ideal and perfectly ordered authoritarian empire. During the Golden Age of the Gods, a new king's ascendance to the global throne would be celebrated by the sacrifice of a horse, an animal sacred to Poseidon, one of the Atlantean god-kings and Lord of the Seas. (Recall that Merovingian King Clovis was buried with a severed horse's head.) In fact there is an amusing story about how King Sargon's rebellious son Sagara tried to prevent his father's assumption of the world throne from being solidified by stealing his sacrificial horse. The horse was not recovered until years later, and Sagara, along with the "sons of Sagara," i.e., those members of his family who had assisted him, were forced to dig their own mass grave. This grave was oddly called "The Ocean."
It was just a rebellion such as this that lead to the downfall of the entire glorious Empire. At some point, it is told, some of the gods broke rank. This is again recorded in just about every culture on Earth that has a written or oral history of legends. Some of the gods, finding human females most appealing, intermarried with them (breaking, of course, a major taboo within their own culture), and creating a race of human/god hybrids. Some of these offspring are described as taking the form of giants, dragons, and sea monsters, while others are said to have born a normal human countenance, with the exception of their shimmering white skin and their extremely long life spans. This is the bloodline that brought us Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, Jesus Christ, and many others, in other words the Grail Bloodline. Legend has it that these beings taught mankind their secrets, including the above-mentioned arts of civilization, as well as a secret spiritual doctrine that only certain elect humans (their blood descendants) would be allowed to possess. They created ritualistic mystery schools and secret societies to pass this doctrine down through the generations.
However, these actions (the interbreeding and sharing of secrets with humans) incurred the wrath of the Most High God, and a number of other gods who were disgusted by this interracial breeding. This sparked the massive and devastating battle of the gods that has come down to us in the legends of both the "War in Heaven," and the "Deluge." Then, in order to cleanse the Earth"s surface of the curse of humanity, they covered it with a flood. Interestingly, this flood is mentioned in the legends of almost every ancient culture on Earth, and the cause is always the same. Often the waters are described as having come from inside the Earth. "The Fountains of the deep are opened," it is said. "Suddenly enormous volumes of water issued from the Earth." Water was "projected from the mountain like a water spout." The Earth began to rumble, and Atlantis, fair nation of the gods, sunk beneath the salty green waves. As we shall see, this is analogous to part during the "War in Heaven" when the "rebellious" angels or gods were punished by being cast down "into the bowels of the Earth," a very significant location.
To be certain, some of the Atlanteans managed to survive, and many books have been written about the Atlantean origin of the Egyptian, Sumerian, Indo-Aryan, and native South American civilizations (bringing into question the validity of the term "Native American"). Little, however, has been written about those who escaped into Western Europe, except for a passing reference in Ignatius Donnelly's Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, in which he writes:
"The Gauls (meaning the French) possessed traditions upon the subject of Atlantis which were collected by the Roman historian Timagenes who lived in the first century before Christ. He represents that three distinct people dwelt in Gaul: 1. The indigenous population, which I suppose to be Mongoloids, who had long dwelt in Europe; 2. The invaders from a distant land, which I understand to be Atlantis; 3. The Aryan Gaul."
That the Merovingian bloodline came from elsewhere is clear because of the legend that surrounds their founder, King Merovee, who is said to have been the spawn of a "Quinotaur," a giant fish or a sea monster, who raped his mother when she went out to swim in the ocean. Now it becomes clear why he is called "Merovee," because in French, mer means sea. And in some traditions, Atlantis was called Meru, or Maru. (It is also the name of the famous "World Mountain" of Eastern tradition.) For these gods, navigation above all was important to them, for it was their sea power that maintained their military might and their successful mercantile trade. (Mer is also the origin of the word "mercantile.") The Atlanteans were associated with the sea and were often depicted as mermen, or sea monsters, with scales, fins, and horns. And they were variously associated with a number of important animals, whose symbolism they held sacred: horses, bulls, goats, rams, lions, fish, serpents, dragons, even cats and dogs. And as we will see, all of these things relate back to the sea imagery with which these gods were associated.
Now lets go back to the Quinotaur, which some have named as being synonymous with Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea and, according to Plato, one of the famous kings of Atlantis. Others have seen it as being emblematic of the fish symbol that Christ is associated with, thus indicating that he was in fact the origin of the bloodline. However, the roots of this Quinotaur myth are far more ancient. The word itself can be broken down etymologically to reveal its meaning. The last syllable, "Taur", means "Bull." The first syllable "Quin," or "Kin," comes from the same root as "King," as well as the Biblical name of Cain, whom many have named as the father of a particular branch of the Grail family. The Bull King who swims in the ocean is a recurring theme in many ancient cultures, most notably, ancient Mesopotamia. In fact, he comes from that dynasty of kings who reigned over the antediluvian world and who were all associated with the sea, as well as this divine animal imagery. These kings included Sargon, Menes, and Narmar. Their historical reality morphed into the legends we have in many cultures of gods said to have come out of the sea at various times and taught mankind the basic arts of civilization: agriculture, metallurgy, architecture, navigation, mathematics, medicine, etc. They were known by various names: Ea, Enki, Dagon, Oannes, or Marduk (Merodach). They were depicted as half-man, half-fish, half-goat half-fish, or half-bull, half-fish, but as we have said, in many of these depictions it is clear that this affect was merely achieved by the wearing of costumes, and that these god-kings were using this archetypal imagery to deify themselves in the minds of their subjects.
Dagon, Oannes and Enki are essentially synonymous, and interestingly, Marduk or Merodach is his son, just as Merovee is the son of the Quinotaur. Dagon was depicted with a fish on his head, the lips protruding upward, making what were referred to as "horns." This may be the origin for the custom (common in the ancient world) of affixing horns to the crown of a king. It has also been historically acknowledged as the origin of the miter that the Pope wears. (Now we understand why, in the post-mortem photo of Berenger Sauniere lying on his death bed, this small parish priest is seen next to a Bishop's miter.) The Christian Church has always been associated with fish. Christ himself was, as was John the Baptist, and the early Christians used the fish sign of the "icthys" to designate themselves. From Dagon's name Oannes we get the words "Uranus," "Ouranous," "Jonah," "Janus," and "John." Perhaps we finally now understand why the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion assume the symbolic name of John.
The syllable "Dag" merely means fish, which makes it interesting to note that the Dogon tribe of Africa, who have long baffled astronomers with their advanced knowledge of the specifics of the faraway star-system from which, they say, their gods came, claim that these gods were "Fish-Men." This author wonders if the words "Dag" and "Dog" aren't etymologically related, especially since the star from whence these fish-men supposedly came is named Sirius, "The Dog Star." From Dagon comes our word "Dragon," as well as the Biblical figure of Leviathan, "The Lord of the Deep," a title also applied to Dagon. In fact, many of these gods received the titles "The Lord of the Waters," "The Lord of the Deep," and "The Lord of the Abyss," which appear to have been passed down from father to son along with the throne of the global kingdom. They are specifically associated with the Flood of Noah, which as I have mentioned, destroyed their global kingdom and was somehow linked to their disastrous breeding experiment with the human race that lead to the Grail Bloodline, to which the Merovingians belong. For this they were consigned to the Abyss or the Underworld, which is why these gods were known as the Lords of both.
Enki was also known as the "Lord of the Earth," and it is because of this "amphibious" nature of their progenitor, reigning over both land and sea, that the Merovingians are associated with frogs. But this "Lord of the Earth" title is significant, for this is a title also given to Satan. And it has been historically acknowledged that Enki, as the "Fish-Goat Man," is prototype for the Zodiac sign of Capricorn, which is itself recognized as the prototype for the modern conception of Satan or Lucifer.
Furthermore, a well-known and pivotal episode in Enki's career was his rebellion against his brother Enlil over the succession of the global throne. Enki eventually slayed Enlil, something that is recorded in the Egyptian myth of Set murdering Osiris, and perhaps in the Biblical story of Cain murdering Abel. Cain eventually became King - in fact that's where the word comes from, and now it makes perfect sense why Enki would be called the "Quinotaur." The identity of Enki and Enlil with Cain and Abel can be further proven by the fact that Enki and Enlil were the son of Anu (in some Sumerian legends, the first god-king on Earth), whereas Cain and Abel were the sons of "Adamu - the First Man." Adamu and Anu appear to be etymologically related.
This family feud erupted into a long and overdrawn battle between the gods, who were split into two factions over the issue. These appear to be the same two factions who were at odds over the mating of gods and men to create the Grail Bloodline. Those who supported Enki, Satan or Cain were clearly the ones who were inclined to breed with mankind, perhaps in attempt to create a hybrid race that could assist them in retaining the throne for Cain. But they were overpowered. After they lost the "War in Heaven," they were cast into the Abyss, according to legend, now the realm of Satan, and the Earth was flooded so as to rid the Earth of their offspring.
Yet according to the legends, those gods who had created the hybrid race attempted to contact one of their most favored descendants - called Uta-Napishtim in the Sumerian legends, or Noah in the Jewish - and helped him to rescue himself and his family, preserving the seed of hybrid humanity. (Uta-Napishtim contains the Sumerian and Egyptian word for fish, "Pish," and perhaps we can see why some authors have claimed that the character of Noah is in fact based on Oannes/Dagon/Enki as well.) We see remnants of this in the Vedic legends of the Flood, in which the surviving family is warned about the Flood by a horned fish called the Manu (who turns out to be the Hindu god Vishnu in disguise). He tells them to build an Ark, and then tie its mast to his horn, then proceeds to tow them to safety upon a high mountain. So clearly Vishnu is the same as Enki, Dagon, and Oannes, and clearly he is the one who saved Noah from the Flood. Yet this same kind deed became attributed, in the Old Testament, to the same God, Jehovah, who had caused the Flood to begin with. In fact the word Jehovah, or "Jah" is said to have evolved from the name of another Sumerian sea god-king, Ea, "The Lord of the Flood." Likewise, Leviathan, or Dagon is responsible in some references for "vomiting out the waters of the Flood." This occurs at the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelations as well. Leviathan, like many of these sea gods, was the Lord of the Abyss, or "Absu" in Sumerian, and these waters were believed to he holding the Earth up from underneath, in the regions of Hell. And yet "Leviathan" is almost surely etymologically related to the Jewish name "Levi," and therefore the "Tribe of Levi," the priestly caste of the Jews from whence part of Christ's lineage came.
This dual current, being associated with both the Heavenly and the Infernal, with both Jesus and Jehovah, Satan and Lucifer, is something that has marked the history of the Merovingian dynasty, as well as all of the other Grail families, and the entire Grail story itself. It is at the heart of the secret spiritual doctrine symbolized by the Grail. This symbolism hits you immediately when you walk in the door of the church at Rennes-le Chateau and see those opposing statues of the demon Asmodeus and Jesus Christ staring at the same black and white chequered floor, which itself symbolizes the balance of good and evil. This principle is further elucidated by the words placed over the doorway, "This place is terrible, but it is the House of God and the Gateway to Heaven." This phrase turns up in two significant places. One is in the Bible, when Jacob has his vision of the ladder leading to Heaven, with angels ascending and descending. The other is in the Book of Enoch, when Enoch is taken for a tour of Hell. The existence of this phrase at the entrance to the church, coupled with the images that meet you immediately therein, render the meaning obvious. For Berenger Sauniere, who arranged these strange decorations, this Church represented some kind of metaphysical gateway between Heaven and Hell.
For this reason, the double-barred Cross of Lorraine, symbolizing this duality, has come to be associated with the Merovingians. In a now famous poem by Charles Peguy, is it stated:
"The arms of Jesus are the Cross of Lorraine,
Both the blood in the artery and the blood in the vein,
Both the source of grace and the clear fountaine;
The arms of Satan are the Cross of Lorraine,
And the same artery and the same vein,
And the same blood and the troubled fountaine." The reference to Satan and Jesus sharing the same blood is very important. A tradition exists, one which finds support among the Book of Enoch and many others, that Jesus and Satan are brothers, both sons of the Most High God, and they both sat next to his throne in Heaven, on the right and left sides, respectively, prior to Satan's rebellion and the War in Heaven. This may be just another version of the persistent and primordial "Cain and Abel" story. It makes sense that Satan should both be a direct son of God, since he is described as God's "Most Beloved Angel" and "The Brightest Star in Heaven." (Note: The Book of Enoch refers to the Watchers, or Nephilim, as "stars," with various "watchtowers" in the houses of the Zodiac. Bear in mind that the ancients saw the sky above as a giant "Sea," the waters of which were kept at bay by the "Firmament of Heaven" - that is, until the Flood.)
However, this symbol is far older than the modern conceptions of Christ and Satan, or Lucifer. As Boyd Rice will explain to you in another article, this symbol can be traced back to the hieroglyphs of ancient Sumer, where it was pronounced "Khat," "Kad," and sometimes even "Cod." This was another title for the kings who were known as god of the sea, and the word "Khatti" became associated with his entire race, and the region that was their capitol, "Amarru," "The Land to the West" (like Meru, the alternate term for Atlantis). This land was symbolized by a Lion, which may explain the origin of the word "Cat," as well as why the lion is now a symbol of royalty. We would argue that this was at the root of the word "Cathari" (the heretics associated with the Holy Grail who occupied the Languedoc region of France that the Merovingians ruled over), and Adam Kadmon, the Primordial Man of alchemy, as well as the Mesopotamian kingdom of "Akkadia," which itself has morphed into "Arcadia," which further morphs into Acacia, the traditional Sprig of Hope and symbol of Resurrection after death. Perhaps this sheds further light on the phrase "Et in Arcadia Ego," which pops up more than once in association with the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau and the Merovingians. This phrase was illustrated by Nicholas Poussin with the scene of a tomb, a human skull, and three shepherds. The tomb and skull clearly represent death, while the Sprig of Acacia implied by the word "Arcadia" translates to "resurrection from death." The Shepherds, furthermore, represent the divine kingship of the Atlantean gods and the Grail bloodline, for these god-monarchs were also known as the "Shepherd Kings" (a title, notably, taken up by Jesus as well.) This indicates that it is the Global Monarchy of these Atlantean gods that shall rise again from the tomb, perhaps through the Merovingian bloodline.
This archetype of the Fallen King who shall one day return, or the Kingdom that disappears, only to rise again in a new, Golden Age, is a very common one, and one as I have shown in another article to be integral to the Grail legend. It was also one used quite effectively by the last of the Merovingian kings who effectively held the throne of the Austrasian Empire - this magazine's mascot, Dagobert II. Dagobert's entire life, as historically recorded, is mythological and archetypal. His name betrays the divine origins of his bloodline. "Dagobert" comes, of course, from Dagon. Now the word "Bert," as the author L.A. Waddell has shown, has its roots in the word "Bara," or "Para," or Anglicized, "Pharoah," a "Priest-King of the Temple (or House.)" So Dagobert's name literally means "Priest-King of the House of Dagon." Interestingly, a rarely-found but nonetheless authentic variation on Dagobert's name was "Dragobert," emphasizing his lineage from the Beast of the Deep Waters, the Dragon Leviathan.
Dagobert made use of the myth of the Returning King early on in life. His father had been assassinated when he was 5 years old, and young Dagobert was kidnapped by then Palace Mayor Grimoald, who tried to put his own son on the throne. He was saved from death, but an elaborate ruse was laid out to make people think otherwise. Even his own mother believed he was dead, and allowed his father's assassins to take over, placing Grimoald's son on the throne. Dagobert was exiled to Ireland, where he lay in wait for the opportunity to reclaim his father's throne. This opportunity showed itself in the year 671, when he married Giselle de Razes, daughter of the count of Razes and niece of the king of the Visigoths, allying the Merovingian house with the Visigothic royal house. This had the potential for creating a united empire that would have covered most of what is now modern France. This marriage was celebrated at the Church of St. Madeleine in Rhedae, the same spot where Sauniere's Church of St. Madeleine at Rennes-le-Chateau now rests. There is an existing rumor that Dagobert found something there, a clue which lead him to a treasure buried in the nearby Montsegur, and this treasure financed what was about to come. What came was the reconquest of the Aquitaine and the throne of the Frankish kingdom. As Baigent, et. al write in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, "At once he set about asserting and consolidating his authority, taming the anarchy that prevailed throughout Austrasia and reestablishing order." The Fallen King had risen from his ashes, born anew as Dagobert II, and had come to once more establish firm rule and equilibrium in his country. The similarities to the Parzival/Grail story don't even need to be repeated.
Sadly, Dagobert II would himself play the role of the fallen king just a few years later, in 679, and the circumstances are decidedly strange. You see, since the time of the Merovingian King Clovis I, the Merovingian Kings had been under a pact with the Vatican, in which they had pledged their allegiance to the Mother Church in exchange for Papal backing of the their united Empire of Austrasia. They would forever hold the title of "New Constantine," a title that would later morph into "Holy Roman Emperor." But that "allegiance" on the part of the Merovingians towards the Church began to wear thin after a while. Obviously, given their infernal and divine origin, their spiritual bent was slightly different from that of organized Christianity. In addition, as direct descendants of the historical Christ himself, they would have possessed access to the secret teachings of Christ, no doubt shockingly different from the one promoted by the Church, and reflecting more the "secret doctrine" of the rebellious gods that we've talked about in this article. Any public knowledge of this or the blood relationship between Christ and the Merovingians would have been disastrous for the Church. Christ would therefore be a man, with antecedents and descendants, instead of the "Son of God - Born of Virgin" concept promoted by the church. Seeing in Dagobert a potential threat, the Roman church entered into a conspiracy with Palace Mayor Pepin the Fat.
On December 23, while on a hunting trip, Dagobert was lanced through the left eye by his own godson, supposedly on Pepin's orders. There are many aspects to this event that appear to be mythologically significant. For one, it took place in the "Forest of Woevres," long held sacred, and host to annual sacrificial bear hunts for the goddess Diana. Indeed, this may have taken place on such a hunt. This was near the royal Merovingian residence at Stenay, a town that used to be called "Satanicum." Then there is the date itself, almost precisely when the astrological period of Capricorn begins. Capricorn, as we have mentioned, is based on Enki, the horned sea-god that spawned the Merovingian bloodline. It is also close to the Winter Solstice, the shortest day in the year, when the Sun was said to "die," mythologically, and turn black, descending into the Underworld. This "Black" period of the Sun is associated with the god Kronos, another horned sea-god, ruler of the underworld, and king of Atlantis who figures repeatedly in this Grail/Rennes-le-Chateau mystery. Secondly, the murder is said to take place at midday, which, as I have mentioned in another article, is an extremely significant moment in time for mystery schools of the Secret Doctrine, like Freemasonry. The parchments found by Berenger Sauniere and the related poem, "Le Serpent Rouge," make a special mention of it. This is when the sun is highest in the sky. Hiram Abiff was murdered at midday, while resting from his work, just as Dagobert was murdered at midday while resting against a tree. The fact that it was done by a family member is significant too. This is similar to the "Dolorous Stroke" that wounds the Fisher King in the Grail story, something which also took place at midday and was inflicted by the King's own brother. In the Grail story, the brother who wounds the Fisher King is himself known as the "Dark Lord," and during the fight he is wounded in the left eye, precisely as Dagobert was wounded. The same thing happened to Horus in Egyptian mythology, fighting his uncle, Set. The "Left Eye of Horus" came to symbolize the hidden knowledge of the gods, just as the "left hand path" does today. Dagobert's death appears to follow the same patterns as many of other "Fallen Kings" or murdered gods whose death must be avenged. And it is meant to symbolize the concept of the "Lost or Fallen Kingdom" the same way the Dolorous Stroke does in the Grail story.
Clearly it meant the end for the Merovingian kingdom. All subsequent Merovingian kings were essentially powerless, and they were officially thought to have died out with Dagobert's grandson, Childeric III. 49 years later, Charles Martel's grandson, Charlemagne was anointed Holy Roman Emperor. But in 872, almost 200 years after his death, Dagobert was canonized as a Saint, and the date of his death, December 23, became "St. Dagobert's Day." Write Baigent, et. al.:
"The reason for Dagobert's canonization remains unclear. According to one source it was because his relics were believed to have preserved the vicinity of Stenay against Viking raids - thought this explanation begs the question, for it is not clear why the relics should have possessed such powers is the first place. Ecclesiastical authorities seem embarrassingly ignorant on the matter. They admit that Dagobert, for some reason, become the object of a fully fledged cult... But they seem utterly at a loss as to why he should have been so exalted. It is possible, of course that the Church felt guilty about its role in the king's death."
Guilty, or afraid? For surely they knew that this "Priest-King of the House of Dagon," with his divine lineage, so beloved by his people that they worship him like a god 200 years later, would of course be avenged for his treacherous murder. Surely they knew, as most Dagobert's Revenge readers know, that the Merovingian bloodline didn't die out, surviving through his son Sigisbert, and continues to jockey for the throne of France to this very day in various royal bloodlines throughout Europe. Surely they knew that this kingdom would rise again, and that the Lost King would return someday. The seeds of their return have already been planted. France is united into the political mass that Dagobert had envisioned it be when he united Austrasia. And the "Holy Roman Empire," which the Merovingian Kings were clearly attempting to form with the help of the Vatican, has now become a reality, in the form of the European Union. During WWII and immediately after, the Priory of Sion, that secret order dedicated to the Merovingian agenda, openly campaigned for a United States of Europe. They even proposed a flag, consisting of stars in a circle, that is identical to the flag used by the European Union today. (This flag was carried by a divine white horse, a symbol of Poseidon and world monarchy.) Furthermore, the World Empire of the Atlantean Kings who spawned the Merovingians is closer now than it has been since the gods left the earth during the Deluge. The United Nations, a feeble example, will surely give way at some point to a united world government strong enough and glorious enough to be called an Empire. The Fallen Kingdom of the Gods is clearly returning, and the new Golden Age is upon us. And if this author's hunch is correct, this is, indeed, a glorious time to be alive.
Its Symbolic Significance and its Roots
in the Ancient Kingdom of Atlantis
by Tracy R. Twyman
The Frankish King Dagobert II, and the Merovingian dynasty from which he came, have been romantically mythologized in the annals of both local legend and modern mystical pseudo-history, but few have understood the true meaning and origins of their alluring mystery. The mystique that surrounds them includes attributions of saintliness, magical powers (derived from their long red hair), and even divine origin, stemming from their supposed descent from the one and only Jesus Christ. However, the importance of the divine origin of the Merovingians, and the antiquity from whence it comes, has never to this author's knowledge been fully explored by any writer or historian. As Boyd Rice and I will explain in more detail in our forthcoming book, we have uncovered mountains of evidence which indicates that the origins of the Merovingian race, and the mystery that surrounds them, lies ultimately with a race of beings, "Nephilim," or "Fallen Angels," who created mankind as we know him today, and with a civilization, far more ancient than recorded history, from which came all of the major arts and sciences that are basic to civilizations everywhere, even unto today. As we intend to show, all of the myths and symbolism that are associated with this dynasty can, in fact, be traced back to this earlier civilization. It is known, in some cultures, as Atlantis, although there are many names for it, and it is the birthplace of agriculture, astronomy, mathematics, metallurgy, navigation, architecture, language, writing, and religion. It was also the source of the first government on Earth - monarchy. And the first kings on Earth were the gods.
Their race was known by various names. In Greece, the Annodoti. In Sumeria, the Anunnaki. In the Celtic lore, the Tuatha de Danaan. In the Semetic scriptures (Torah, Talmud, Old Testament, and other Apocryphal texts like the Book of Enoch), they are called The Nephilim, "The Sons of God," or the Watchers. They are described as having attachments such as wings, horns, and even fish scales, but from the depictions it is clear that these are clothes or costumes worn for their symbolic value, for these symbols indicated divine power and royal blood. The gods themselves had their own monarchy, with laws of succession similar to our own, and they built a global empire upon the Earth, with great cities, temples and monuments, and mighty nations established on several continents. They created mankind as a slave race to work on their farms and in their gold mines, among other things. The Sumerian legends are very clear: man was made to "bear the yoke of the gods." Man was separate from the gods, like a domesticated animal, and there was a great cultural taboo amongst the gods against sharing any of their sacred information with humanity, even things such as writing and mathematics. These gods ruled directly over Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley, and their rule is recorded in the histories of all three civilizations.
This global monarchy was the crowning glory of the Ages, and the period of their rule came to be called the Golden Age or, as the Egyptians called it, "The First Time," when the gods watched over man directly, like a shepherd his flock. In fact, they were often called "The Shepherd Kings." One of the symbols of this world monarchy was an eye hovering over a throne, and this eye now adorns our dollar bill, presented as the missing capstone of the Great Pyramid of Giza, underneath which are written the words "New World Order." Clearly this "New World Order" is the global monarchy that our Founding Fathers (not a Democrat among them) intended for this nation to participate in all along, symbolized by a pyramid as a representation of the ideal and perfectly ordered authoritarian empire. During the Golden Age of the Gods, a new king's ascendance to the global throne would be celebrated by the sacrifice of a horse, an animal sacred to Poseidon, one of the Atlantean god-kings and Lord of the Seas. (Recall that Merovingian King Clovis was buried with a severed horse's head.) In fact there is an amusing story about how King Sargon's rebellious son Sagara tried to prevent his father's assumption of the world throne from being solidified by stealing his sacrificial horse. The horse was not recovered until years later, and Sagara, along with the "sons of Sagara," i.e., those members of his family who had assisted him, were forced to dig their own mass grave. This grave was oddly called "The Ocean."
It was just a rebellion such as this that lead to the downfall of the entire glorious Empire. At some point, it is told, some of the gods broke rank. This is again recorded in just about every culture on Earth that has a written or oral history of legends. Some of the gods, finding human females most appealing, intermarried with them (breaking, of course, a major taboo within their own culture), and creating a race of human/god hybrids. Some of these offspring are described as taking the form of giants, dragons, and sea monsters, while others are said to have born a normal human countenance, with the exception of their shimmering white skin and their extremely long life spans. This is the bloodline that brought us Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, Jesus Christ, and many others, in other words the Grail Bloodline. Legend has it that these beings taught mankind their secrets, including the above-mentioned arts of civilization, as well as a secret spiritual doctrine that only certain elect humans (their blood descendants) would be allowed to possess. They created ritualistic mystery schools and secret societies to pass this doctrine down through the generations.
However, these actions (the interbreeding and sharing of secrets with humans) incurred the wrath of the Most High God, and a number of other gods who were disgusted by this interracial breeding. This sparked the massive and devastating battle of the gods that has come down to us in the legends of both the "War in Heaven," and the "Deluge." Then, in order to cleanse the Earth"s surface of the curse of humanity, they covered it with a flood. Interestingly, this flood is mentioned in the legends of almost every ancient culture on Earth, and the cause is always the same. Often the waters are described as having come from inside the Earth. "The Fountains of the deep are opened," it is said. "Suddenly enormous volumes of water issued from the Earth." Water was "projected from the mountain like a water spout." The Earth began to rumble, and Atlantis, fair nation of the gods, sunk beneath the salty green waves. As we shall see, this is analogous to part during the "War in Heaven" when the "rebellious" angels or gods were punished by being cast down "into the bowels of the Earth," a very significant location.
To be certain, some of the Atlanteans managed to survive, and many books have been written about the Atlantean origin of the Egyptian, Sumerian, Indo-Aryan, and native South American civilizations (bringing into question the validity of the term "Native American"). Little, however, has been written about those who escaped into Western Europe, except for a passing reference in Ignatius Donnelly's Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, in which he writes:
"The Gauls (meaning the French) possessed traditions upon the subject of Atlantis which were collected by the Roman historian Timagenes who lived in the first century before Christ. He represents that three distinct people dwelt in Gaul: 1. The indigenous population, which I suppose to be Mongoloids, who had long dwelt in Europe; 2. The invaders from a distant land, which I understand to be Atlantis; 3. The Aryan Gaul."
That the Merovingian bloodline came from elsewhere is clear because of the legend that surrounds their founder, King Merovee, who is said to have been the spawn of a "Quinotaur," a giant fish or a sea monster, who raped his mother when she went out to swim in the ocean. Now it becomes clear why he is called "Merovee," because in French, mer means sea. And in some traditions, Atlantis was called Meru, or Maru. (It is also the name of the famous "World Mountain" of Eastern tradition.) For these gods, navigation above all was important to them, for it was their sea power that maintained their military might and their successful mercantile trade. (Mer is also the origin of the word "mercantile.") The Atlanteans were associated with the sea and were often depicted as mermen, or sea monsters, with scales, fins, and horns. And they were variously associated with a number of important animals, whose symbolism they held sacred: horses, bulls, goats, rams, lions, fish, serpents, dragons, even cats and dogs. And as we will see, all of these things relate back to the sea imagery with which these gods were associated.
Now lets go back to the Quinotaur, which some have named as being synonymous with Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea and, according to Plato, one of the famous kings of Atlantis. Others have seen it as being emblematic of the fish symbol that Christ is associated with, thus indicating that he was in fact the origin of the bloodline. However, the roots of this Quinotaur myth are far more ancient. The word itself can be broken down etymologically to reveal its meaning. The last syllable, "Taur", means "Bull." The first syllable "Quin," or "Kin," comes from the same root as "King," as well as the Biblical name of Cain, whom many have named as the father of a particular branch of the Grail family. The Bull King who swims in the ocean is a recurring theme in many ancient cultures, most notably, ancient Mesopotamia. In fact, he comes from that dynasty of kings who reigned over the antediluvian world and who were all associated with the sea, as well as this divine animal imagery. These kings included Sargon, Menes, and Narmar. Their historical reality morphed into the legends we have in many cultures of gods said to have come out of the sea at various times and taught mankind the basic arts of civilization: agriculture, metallurgy, architecture, navigation, mathematics, medicine, etc. They were known by various names: Ea, Enki, Dagon, Oannes, or Marduk (Merodach). They were depicted as half-man, half-fish, half-goat half-fish, or half-bull, half-fish, but as we have said, in many of these depictions it is clear that this affect was merely achieved by the wearing of costumes, and that these god-kings were using this archetypal imagery to deify themselves in the minds of their subjects.
Dagon, Oannes and Enki are essentially synonymous, and interestingly, Marduk or Merodach is his son, just as Merovee is the son of the Quinotaur. Dagon was depicted with a fish on his head, the lips protruding upward, making what were referred to as "horns." This may be the origin for the custom (common in the ancient world) of affixing horns to the crown of a king. It has also been historically acknowledged as the origin of the miter that the Pope wears. (Now we understand why, in the post-mortem photo of Berenger Sauniere lying on his death bed, this small parish priest is seen next to a Bishop's miter.) The Christian Church has always been associated with fish. Christ himself was, as was John the Baptist, and the early Christians used the fish sign of the "icthys" to designate themselves. From Dagon's name Oannes we get the words "Uranus," "Ouranous," "Jonah," "Janus," and "John." Perhaps we finally now understand why the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion assume the symbolic name of John.
The syllable "Dag" merely means fish, which makes it interesting to note that the Dogon tribe of Africa, who have long baffled astronomers with their advanced knowledge of the specifics of the faraway star-system from which, they say, their gods came, claim that these gods were "Fish-Men." This author wonders if the words "Dag" and "Dog" aren't etymologically related, especially since the star from whence these fish-men supposedly came is named Sirius, "The Dog Star." From Dagon comes our word "Dragon," as well as the Biblical figure of Leviathan, "The Lord of the Deep," a title also applied to Dagon. In fact, many of these gods received the titles "The Lord of the Waters," "The Lord of the Deep," and "The Lord of the Abyss," which appear to have been passed down from father to son along with the throne of the global kingdom. They are specifically associated with the Flood of Noah, which as I have mentioned, destroyed their global kingdom and was somehow linked to their disastrous breeding experiment with the human race that lead to the Grail Bloodline, to which the Merovingians belong. For this they were consigned to the Abyss or the Underworld, which is why these gods were known as the Lords of both.
Enki was also known as the "Lord of the Earth," and it is because of this "amphibious" nature of their progenitor, reigning over both land and sea, that the Merovingians are associated with frogs. But this "Lord of the Earth" title is significant, for this is a title also given to Satan. And it has been historically acknowledged that Enki, as the "Fish-Goat Man," is prototype for the Zodiac sign of Capricorn, which is itself recognized as the prototype for the modern conception of Satan or Lucifer.
Furthermore, a well-known and pivotal episode in Enki's career was his rebellion against his brother Enlil over the succession of the global throne. Enki eventually slayed Enlil, something that is recorded in the Egyptian myth of Set murdering Osiris, and perhaps in the Biblical story of Cain murdering Abel. Cain eventually became King - in fact that's where the word comes from, and now it makes perfect sense why Enki would be called the "Quinotaur." The identity of Enki and Enlil with Cain and Abel can be further proven by the fact that Enki and Enlil were the son of Anu (in some Sumerian legends, the first god-king on Earth), whereas Cain and Abel were the sons of "Adamu - the First Man." Adamu and Anu appear to be etymologically related.
This family feud erupted into a long and overdrawn battle between the gods, who were split into two factions over the issue. These appear to be the same two factions who were at odds over the mating of gods and men to create the Grail Bloodline. Those who supported Enki, Satan or Cain were clearly the ones who were inclined to breed with mankind, perhaps in attempt to create a hybrid race that could assist them in retaining the throne for Cain. But they were overpowered. After they lost the "War in Heaven," they were cast into the Abyss, according to legend, now the realm of Satan, and the Earth was flooded so as to rid the Earth of their offspring.
Yet according to the legends, those gods who had created the hybrid race attempted to contact one of their most favored descendants - called Uta-Napishtim in the Sumerian legends, or Noah in the Jewish - and helped him to rescue himself and his family, preserving the seed of hybrid humanity. (Uta-Napishtim contains the Sumerian and Egyptian word for fish, "Pish," and perhaps we can see why some authors have claimed that the character of Noah is in fact based on Oannes/Dagon/Enki as well.) We see remnants of this in the Vedic legends of the Flood, in which the surviving family is warned about the Flood by a horned fish called the Manu (who turns out to be the Hindu god Vishnu in disguise). He tells them to build an Ark, and then tie its mast to his horn, then proceeds to tow them to safety upon a high mountain. So clearly Vishnu is the same as Enki, Dagon, and Oannes, and clearly he is the one who saved Noah from the Flood. Yet this same kind deed became attributed, in the Old Testament, to the same God, Jehovah, who had caused the Flood to begin with. In fact the word Jehovah, or "Jah" is said to have evolved from the name of another Sumerian sea god-king, Ea, "The Lord of the Flood." Likewise, Leviathan, or Dagon is responsible in some references for "vomiting out the waters of the Flood." This occurs at the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelations as well. Leviathan, like many of these sea gods, was the Lord of the Abyss, or "Absu" in Sumerian, and these waters were believed to he holding the Earth up from underneath, in the regions of Hell. And yet "Leviathan" is almost surely etymologically related to the Jewish name "Levi," and therefore the "Tribe of Levi," the priestly caste of the Jews from whence part of Christ's lineage came.
This dual current, being associated with both the Heavenly and the Infernal, with both Jesus and Jehovah, Satan and Lucifer, is something that has marked the history of the Merovingian dynasty, as well as all of the other Grail families, and the entire Grail story itself. It is at the heart of the secret spiritual doctrine symbolized by the Grail. This symbolism hits you immediately when you walk in the door of the church at Rennes-le Chateau and see those opposing statues of the demon Asmodeus and Jesus Christ staring at the same black and white chequered floor, which itself symbolizes the balance of good and evil. This principle is further elucidated by the words placed over the doorway, "This place is terrible, but it is the House of God and the Gateway to Heaven." This phrase turns up in two significant places. One is in the Bible, when Jacob has his vision of the ladder leading to Heaven, with angels ascending and descending. The other is in the Book of Enoch, when Enoch is taken for a tour of Hell. The existence of this phrase at the entrance to the church, coupled with the images that meet you immediately therein, render the meaning obvious. For Berenger Sauniere, who arranged these strange decorations, this Church represented some kind of metaphysical gateway between Heaven and Hell.
For this reason, the double-barred Cross of Lorraine, symbolizing this duality, has come to be associated with the Merovingians. In a now famous poem by Charles Peguy, is it stated:
"The arms of Jesus are the Cross of Lorraine,
Both the blood in the artery and the blood in the vein,
Both the source of grace and the clear fountaine;
The arms of Satan are the Cross of Lorraine,
And the same artery and the same vein,
And the same blood and the troubled fountaine." The reference to Satan and Jesus sharing the same blood is very important. A tradition exists, one which finds support among the Book of Enoch and many others, that Jesus and Satan are brothers, both sons of the Most High God, and they both sat next to his throne in Heaven, on the right and left sides, respectively, prior to Satan's rebellion and the War in Heaven. This may be just another version of the persistent and primordial "Cain and Abel" story. It makes sense that Satan should both be a direct son of God, since he is described as God's "Most Beloved Angel" and "The Brightest Star in Heaven." (Note: The Book of Enoch refers to the Watchers, or Nephilim, as "stars," with various "watchtowers" in the houses of the Zodiac. Bear in mind that the ancients saw the sky above as a giant "Sea," the waters of which were kept at bay by the "Firmament of Heaven" - that is, until the Flood.)
However, this symbol is far older than the modern conceptions of Christ and Satan, or Lucifer. As Boyd Rice will explain to you in another article, this symbol can be traced back to the hieroglyphs of ancient Sumer, where it was pronounced "Khat," "Kad," and sometimes even "Cod." This was another title for the kings who were known as god of the sea, and the word "Khatti" became associated with his entire race, and the region that was their capitol, "Amarru," "The Land to the West" (like Meru, the alternate term for Atlantis). This land was symbolized by a Lion, which may explain the origin of the word "Cat," as well as why the lion is now a symbol of royalty. We would argue that this was at the root of the word "Cathari" (the heretics associated with the Holy Grail who occupied the Languedoc region of France that the Merovingians ruled over), and Adam Kadmon, the Primordial Man of alchemy, as well as the Mesopotamian kingdom of "Akkadia," which itself has morphed into "Arcadia," which further morphs into Acacia, the traditional Sprig of Hope and symbol of Resurrection after death. Perhaps this sheds further light on the phrase "Et in Arcadia Ego," which pops up more than once in association with the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau and the Merovingians. This phrase was illustrated by Nicholas Poussin with the scene of a tomb, a human skull, and three shepherds. The tomb and skull clearly represent death, while the Sprig of Acacia implied by the word "Arcadia" translates to "resurrection from death." The Shepherds, furthermore, represent the divine kingship of the Atlantean gods and the Grail bloodline, for these god-monarchs were also known as the "Shepherd Kings" (a title, notably, taken up by Jesus as well.) This indicates that it is the Global Monarchy of these Atlantean gods that shall rise again from the tomb, perhaps through the Merovingian bloodline.
This archetype of the Fallen King who shall one day return, or the Kingdom that disappears, only to rise again in a new, Golden Age, is a very common one, and one as I have shown in another article to be integral to the Grail legend. It was also one used quite effectively by the last of the Merovingian kings who effectively held the throne of the Austrasian Empire - this magazine's mascot, Dagobert II. Dagobert's entire life, as historically recorded, is mythological and archetypal. His name betrays the divine origins of his bloodline. "Dagobert" comes, of course, from Dagon. Now the word "Bert," as the author L.A. Waddell has shown, has its roots in the word "Bara," or "Para," or Anglicized, "Pharoah," a "Priest-King of the Temple (or House.)" So Dagobert's name literally means "Priest-King of the House of Dagon." Interestingly, a rarely-found but nonetheless authentic variation on Dagobert's name was "Dragobert," emphasizing his lineage from the Beast of the Deep Waters, the Dragon Leviathan.
Dagobert made use of the myth of the Returning King early on in life. His father had been assassinated when he was 5 years old, and young Dagobert was kidnapped by then Palace Mayor Grimoald, who tried to put his own son on the throne. He was saved from death, but an elaborate ruse was laid out to make people think otherwise. Even his own mother believed he was dead, and allowed his father's assassins to take over, placing Grimoald's son on the throne. Dagobert was exiled to Ireland, where he lay in wait for the opportunity to reclaim his father's throne. This opportunity showed itself in the year 671, when he married Giselle de Razes, daughter of the count of Razes and niece of the king of the Visigoths, allying the Merovingian house with the Visigothic royal house. This had the potential for creating a united empire that would have covered most of what is now modern France. This marriage was celebrated at the Church of St. Madeleine in Rhedae, the same spot where Sauniere's Church of St. Madeleine at Rennes-le-Chateau now rests. There is an existing rumor that Dagobert found something there, a clue which lead him to a treasure buried in the nearby Montsegur, and this treasure financed what was about to come. What came was the reconquest of the Aquitaine and the throne of the Frankish kingdom. As Baigent, et. al write in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, "At once he set about asserting and consolidating his authority, taming the anarchy that prevailed throughout Austrasia and reestablishing order." The Fallen King had risen from his ashes, born anew as Dagobert II, and had come to once more establish firm rule and equilibrium in his country. The similarities to the Parzival/Grail story don't even need to be repeated.
Sadly, Dagobert II would himself play the role of the fallen king just a few years later, in 679, and the circumstances are decidedly strange. You see, since the time of the Merovingian King Clovis I, the Merovingian Kings had been under a pact with the Vatican, in which they had pledged their allegiance to the Mother Church in exchange for Papal backing of the their united Empire of Austrasia. They would forever hold the title of "New Constantine," a title that would later morph into "Holy Roman Emperor." But that "allegiance" on the part of the Merovingians towards the Church began to wear thin after a while. Obviously, given their infernal and divine origin, their spiritual bent was slightly different from that of organized Christianity. In addition, as direct descendants of the historical Christ himself, they would have possessed access to the secret teachings of Christ, no doubt shockingly different from the one promoted by the Church, and reflecting more the "secret doctrine" of the rebellious gods that we've talked about in this article. Any public knowledge of this or the blood relationship between Christ and the Merovingians would have been disastrous for the Church. Christ would therefore be a man, with antecedents and descendants, instead of the "Son of God - Born of Virgin" concept promoted by the church. Seeing in Dagobert a potential threat, the Roman church entered into a conspiracy with Palace Mayor Pepin the Fat.
On December 23, while on a hunting trip, Dagobert was lanced through the left eye by his own godson, supposedly on Pepin's orders. There are many aspects to this event that appear to be mythologically significant. For one, it took place in the "Forest of Woevres," long held sacred, and host to annual sacrificial bear hunts for the goddess Diana. Indeed, this may have taken place on such a hunt. This was near the royal Merovingian residence at Stenay, a town that used to be called "Satanicum." Then there is the date itself, almost precisely when the astrological period of Capricorn begins. Capricorn, as we have mentioned, is based on Enki, the horned sea-god that spawned the Merovingian bloodline. It is also close to the Winter Solstice, the shortest day in the year, when the Sun was said to "die," mythologically, and turn black, descending into the Underworld. This "Black" period of the Sun is associated with the god Kronos, another horned sea-god, ruler of the underworld, and king of Atlantis who figures repeatedly in this Grail/Rennes-le-Chateau mystery. Secondly, the murder is said to take place at midday, which, as I have mentioned in another article, is an extremely significant moment in time for mystery schools of the Secret Doctrine, like Freemasonry. The parchments found by Berenger Sauniere and the related poem, "Le Serpent Rouge," make a special mention of it. This is when the sun is highest in the sky. Hiram Abiff was murdered at midday, while resting from his work, just as Dagobert was murdered at midday while resting against a tree. The fact that it was done by a family member is significant too. This is similar to the "Dolorous Stroke" that wounds the Fisher King in the Grail story, something which also took place at midday and was inflicted by the King's own brother. In the Grail story, the brother who wounds the Fisher King is himself known as the "Dark Lord," and during the fight he is wounded in the left eye, precisely as Dagobert was wounded. The same thing happened to Horus in Egyptian mythology, fighting his uncle, Set. The "Left Eye of Horus" came to symbolize the hidden knowledge of the gods, just as the "left hand path" does today. Dagobert's death appears to follow the same patterns as many of other "Fallen Kings" or murdered gods whose death must be avenged. And it is meant to symbolize the concept of the "Lost or Fallen Kingdom" the same way the Dolorous Stroke does in the Grail story.
Clearly it meant the end for the Merovingian kingdom. All subsequent Merovingian kings were essentially powerless, and they were officially thought to have died out with Dagobert's grandson, Childeric III. 49 years later, Charles Martel's grandson, Charlemagne was anointed Holy Roman Emperor. But in 872, almost 200 years after his death, Dagobert was canonized as a Saint, and the date of his death, December 23, became "St. Dagobert's Day." Write Baigent, et. al.:
"The reason for Dagobert's canonization remains unclear. According to one source it was because his relics were believed to have preserved the vicinity of Stenay against Viking raids - thought this explanation begs the question, for it is not clear why the relics should have possessed such powers is the first place. Ecclesiastical authorities seem embarrassingly ignorant on the matter. They admit that Dagobert, for some reason, become the object of a fully fledged cult... But they seem utterly at a loss as to why he should have been so exalted. It is possible, of course that the Church felt guilty about its role in the king's death."
Guilty, or afraid? For surely they knew that this "Priest-King of the House of Dagon," with his divine lineage, so beloved by his people that they worship him like a god 200 years later, would of course be avenged for his treacherous murder. Surely they knew, as most Dagobert's Revenge readers know, that the Merovingian bloodline didn't die out, surviving through his son Sigisbert, and continues to jockey for the throne of France to this very day in various royal bloodlines throughout Europe. Surely they knew that this kingdom would rise again, and that the Lost King would return someday. The seeds of their return have already been planted. France is united into the political mass that Dagobert had envisioned it be when he united Austrasia. And the "Holy Roman Empire," which the Merovingian Kings were clearly attempting to form with the help of the Vatican, has now become a reality, in the form of the European Union. During WWII and immediately after, the Priory of Sion, that secret order dedicated to the Merovingian agenda, openly campaigned for a United States of Europe. They even proposed a flag, consisting of stars in a circle, that is identical to the flag used by the European Union today. (This flag was carried by a divine white horse, a symbol of Poseidon and world monarchy.) Furthermore, the World Empire of the Atlantean Kings who spawned the Merovingians is closer now than it has been since the gods left the earth during the Deluge. The United Nations, a feeble example, will surely give way at some point to a united world government strong enough and glorious enough to be called an Empire. The Fallen Kingdom of the Gods is clearly returning, and the new Golden Age is upon us. And if this author's hunch is correct, this is, indeed, a glorious time to be alive.
The
Merovigians were a dynasty of Frankish kings, descended, according to
tradition, from Merovech, chief of the Salian Franks , whose son was
Childeric I and whose grandson was Clovis I , the founder of the
Frankish monarchy. Merovingian kings followed Frankish custom in
dividing the patrimony. After the death (511) of Clovis I, the kingdom
was divided among his descendants into various kingdoms, which later
became known as Austrasia , Neustria , and Burgundy . These kingdoms,
whose borders were constantly shifting, were often combined; for brief
periods, they were all united in a single realm under Clotaire I
(558-61), Clotaire II (613-23), and Dagobert I (629-39). The rule of
the Merovingians before Dagobert I was disturbed by chronic warfare
among aristocrats and rivals for power, notably between Queen Brunhilda
of Austrasia and Queen Fredegunde of Neustria. Dagobert I was the
last active ruler; his descendants were called the rois fainéants,
or idle kings. They were entirely subject to their mayors of the
palace, the Carolingians , who became the nominal as well as the actual
rulers of the Franks when Pepin the Short deposed (751) the last
Merovingian king, Childeric III.
Mull is the point from which pilgrims sail to the sacred isle of Iona.
IONA, Mystic Isle
IONA, MYSTIC ISLAND
Metaphysical Ground Zero
by Iona Orr Miller, 2010
This article appeared in Green Egg Zine, #154, Yule 2010
http://www.greeneggzine.com/current.html
Y Gwir Erbyn Y Byd ("Truth Against the World”)
–Druid Motto
Divine Dreamland
Many holy sites are esteemed around the globe. The sacred isles of Britain have a spiritual role so rich that few comprehend their scope that is so disproportionate to their size. Sacred sites are natural meeting places of heaven and earth. A tiny, nearly barren speck of land, the Scottish island of Iona embodies an astounding holographic record of the span of human civilization, much of which is beyond the scope of this article. Each snippet of a hologram contains a smaller but intact version of the original image. The smallest parts of a hologram contain all the information possessed by the whole, demonstrating that separateness is an illusion. Cosmos is a superhologram, echoing the axiom, “As Above, So Below”.
The "whole in every part" nature of a hologram or fractal provides us with an entirely new way of understanding Iona which has been called “the Mecca of the Gael.” This mystic island was sacred to megalithic, iron and bronze age pagans, Druids and Celtic Christians alike. Windswept Iona is a time machine, a gem in the frigid sea, embedded in “the back of the ocean” like a planetary chakra.
Iona’s holy ground formed as the first oceans were condensing on the blistering hot surface of the earth. These rocks are so old, they contain no fossils. Perhaps the first plants took root in Iona’s thin soil. The island is the oldest rock on Earth, four billion year old remains of the Precambrian ocean’s eruptive spine. Her marble formed under vast heat and pressure. The metamorphic Lewisian gneiss shot through with green serpentine has resisted the relentless blue-foaming dragon of the devouring sea that eats up the land. Much of the island itself is highly-conductive and charged quartz, often said to enhance healing, telepathy, remote viewing, dreaming, and superconsciousness or store subtle information or energy. There are unseen things here that are eternal. From the mainland, the spiritually magnetic isle often appears like a mirage.
Iona is the “motherland of dreams”, the ethereal ground of imagination and ground zero of Druid culture. Its spell draws us into its center. Iona’s old Gaelic name Innis nan Druidhneach translates as the Island of the Druids. Their motto was Y Gwir Erbyn Y Byd (“Truth Against the World”). These Servants of Truth held greater power than the kings who took advice from them: All of nature was sacred to them and they were its students and stewards.
These seers and overlords understood the workings of Nature and our nature. To the male and female Druids and their predecessors, the “Shining Ones,” (Siddhe, Fairies), the dead live through visions in dreams, more so for those in one’s own lineage. In Druid lore myth is not plot, but image; not action, but rhythm; not character, but ghosts. Images animate the soul with guidance from higher dimensions. Alba or ‘light’ is the Gaelic name for Scotland and Iona is her most ancient and holy capital. The island Iona is the shape of a dove and curiously its name even means 'dove' in Hebrew, though it was named after the pioneering spirit, St. Columba, “the dove of the church”. The Rosarium Philosophorum equates the dove with heavenly light. Young visionaries, virginal children used as oracles or channels, are also called “Doves” in the magic tradition.
Sacred sites are like tuning forks. Iona’s colorful history is related to sea gods, King Arthur and Merlin, the Grail stories, St. Brighid and the Goddess -- Sophia, Virgin of the Light, the archetypal soror mystica. Its mystery and magic includes tales of Templars, elves, fairies, and pixies; the Sidhe or People of the Hills, Tuatha De Daanan. Angels’ Hill on Iona is associated with supernatural beings.
Iona was always an island of mystics and scholars. Iona’s most ancient Gaelic or Pictish name is Ioua. The name, (a corruption of early Gaelic Ii-shona, pronounced, Ee-hona; the 's' in Gaelic is silent before an aspirate), is steeped in multidimensional mystique that can be gradually unfolded in physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual metaphors. But it is more than a metaphor to be unraveled like a Scottish yarn. Indeed, an exciting and illuminating journey to the "heart of Iona" is a soulful initiatory journey into myth and eternity. Our journey does not have an ordinary aim.
The history and legends of Iona carry us into a vortex of the imagination, a time machine carrying us back through ages. To be a living soul is to live with imaginal images. Rather than linear, time is cyclic. There is a Celtic saying that heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in the thin places that distance is even smaller, allowing Second Sight through the veil.These ‘thin places’ may be inter-dimensional portals, a natural combination of radiation and magnetism that produces altered states of consciousness or amplifies psychic ability. In Iona, time is no barrier, for it has been said of this ground zero of Druid tradition and ancient spirituality: “This island set apart, this motherland of many dreams, still yields its secret, but it is only as men seek that they truly find. “To reach the heart of Iona is to find something eternal,” (G.E. Troup).
Iona’s heart is the white marble that gave ancient Scotland the name Alba, or Albion (‘white’). Known for its ethereal light, Iona has been the destination of many epic spiritual journeys. The name of this magnetic “isle of dreams” has been called “a talisman of spiritual beauty.” In her enduring and silent way, Iona continues affecting the spiritual evolution of humanity, whispering her deepest secrets only to a few of her 250,000 annual visitors.
Even more make the astral journey to the “Iona of the heart.” The north of Iona is the traditional place of testing and ordeal, the south of work and labor, while the west is the place of mystic vision and the spirit. The east is the place of rebirth, compliment to the west as the realm of the dead.
On Iona, vivid moments of focused experience are interspersed with those of emptiness. Magic happens in those gaps between breaths and waves when you attune with the singing wind and ringing stones. Iona’s highest hill, Dûn-I (Doon-ee), an iron-age fortress, hides a little pool amid the broken rocks and heather near the beehive cairn that marks the highest part of the island. From there you can also see the Cairn of the Back to Ireland. Sliav Starr (The Hill of Noises) faces the westernmost part of the island, Port-na-Churaich (The Haven of the Coracle) where St. Columba was said to have first landed on Iona.
Early Ogham inscriptions referred to the island as Ioua, after a Moon goddess, but other early sources said it was HyBrasil (Island of Beauty or Worth), or simply Hy, an earthly paradise found far out at sea, or perhaps a reference to the otherworldly Tir na nOg (the Land of Youths or the Ever-Young). Druid maps listed Iona as Innis nan Druidnean (or Innis na Druineach), the Isle of Druids, possibly because it is believed that at one time the island was covered with oak and yew trees, sacred to the Druids, and had 350 standing stones, megalithic structures frequented by Druids.
There are rocking stones in Iona called na clachan-bràth, within the precincts of a burial ground, placed on the pedestal of a cross. Some call them tomb supports, but finely-balanced rocking stone were used in trials. A clach-bràth is sometimes known as a judgment stone. The reason that courts were near "logan" stones is that the movement of stones in such formations was used to determine the guilt or innocence of those accused of serious crimes in ancient times. Druids used them to judge people. The accused was made to sit on the stone and by the way it moved the Druids judged the innocence or guilt of the individual.
Near to the Tormore pier and above the sandy cove, hidden amongst the rocks is a cave called "The Cave of the Dead", (Uamh na Marbh) large enough in size to hold a coffin containing an ancient Scot's king. Was it a perfect place to shelter in bad weather for the final journey of burial to Iona or a Druid initiation in Fingal's Cave? Imagine the awe of approaching such a natural wonder in times long past. In the Lord of the Isles, Sir Walter Scott beautifully contrasts the church on Iona with the cave of Staffa, opposite -
"Nature herself, it seemed, would raise
A minster to her Maker's praise!
Not for a meaner use ascend
Her columns, or her arches bend;
Nor of a theme less solemn tells
That mighty surge that ebbs and swells,
And still between each awful pause,
From the high vault an answer draws,
In varied tone, prolonged and high,
That mocks the organ's melody;
Nor doth its entrance front in vain
To old Iona's holy fane,
That Nature's voice might seem to say,
Well hast thou done, frail child of clay
Thy humble powers that stately shrine
Tasked high and hard - but witness mine.
The Druidical system peaked at the time of the Roman invasion under Julius Caesar. Against the Druids, as their chief enemies, these conquerors of the world directed their unsparing fury. The Druids, harassed at all points on the main land, retreated to Anglesey and Iona, where for a
season they found shelter and continued their sacred rites.
The Druids retained their predominance in Iona and over the adjacent islands and main land until they were supplanted and their traditions and culture overturned by the arrival of St. Columba, the apostle of the Highlands, in 563 AD.
Sheela-na-Gigs are directly related to earlier Goddess/Fertility figurines and the Goddess symbolism of the early pre-historic and Celtic periods. It is not certain how old the tradition is or the precise age of some of the earliest examples. Apparently, the Sheela-na-Gig made its appearance during the latter part of the Early Christian (or Celtic Christian) period and they were still being erected during the later Middle Ages. There is one built into the wall of the Nunnery on Iona.
Sheela-na-Gigs are religious carvings of women, special women, the symbolical representation of femininity and/or actual female deities or Goddesses. They were placed on churches, castles and other important buildings of the medieval period and, until quite recently in some instances, they acted as dedicatory or protective symbols promoting good luck and fertility. But their meaning goes much deeper and the fact that they were erected over the doorways of churches and castles and otherwise placed in very prominent positions suggests that they were a very potent and powerful image, obviously the primary religious belief of the people of that era of Christianity. Sheela-na-Gigs are directly related to earlier Goddess/Fertility figurines and the Goddess symbolism of the early pre-historic and Celtic periods.
Like many of the ancient Celtic goddesses, Cailleach had two faces: dark and light. In the winter months she was fearsome, whirling around Scotland with her nine hag-servants, casting storm, snow, and ice over the land. But in springtime, she renewed herself in the Well of Youth on the isle of Iona, and was transformed into the beautiful spring maiden, Bridget or Bride, who brought back light and warmth to her people again. She also appeared at this time of the year, called Lùnasdal in Scotland, Lughnasa in Ireland, as the personification of the ripe sheaves of oats or barley that would feed the clans at harvest time.
From the hilltop Dun-I of Iona with its sacred well, St. Bride sang daily to her lost Bridegroom. St. Bride of the Kindly Fire, St Bride of the Shores. Before she was Christianized as a saint, Brighde or Bride was already present on Iona as Goddess. Her totems were the swan and the serpent. Many generations have drunk from and ritually purified themselves in this holy healing pool called Tobar na h’oige, “the Fountain of Youth,” or “Well of Youth,” in which the dark Goddess annually renews herself for her light phase. There are energetic alignments or grids of holy islands, holy mountains and holy wells in Scotland.
Iona is a geomantic power site – a vortex. Anchoring a pentagonal matrix of ley lines, (invisible currents of earth-energy), enchanting Iona is a gateway to the Other World. This telluric intersection of three ley lines lies in a swampy part of the island, marked by low lying boulders in a perfect circle with a central altar stone. Iona’s leyline alignment extends to Montrose on the east coast of the Scottish mainland, passing through the ancient Celtic royal burial site at Dunstaffnage, then Fortingall, St. Mary’s Church, Grandtully, Aberlemno, which is marked by two ancient and inscribed stones, finally reaching Montrose (Mount of the Rose).
Precambrian Crystalline Basement
The ancient deeply bedded Lewisian Gneiss rock strata, such as that found on Iona, is rarely exposed at the surface of the planet. Ancient imbedded strata is metamorphicly altered, compacted. The enormous pressure transforms the composition of the rock to a more ordered, crystalline structure. All crystalline structures have an electromagnetic field. The greater the density, the stronger the field. The aura of balance and peace that blankets Iona is in part due to the unique qualities of this ancient metamorphic stone, the granitic Lewisian Gneiss. In addition, the strata upthrust and sharp hairpin fold of earth layer that peels the Lewisian Gneiss onto the surface also results in a magnetic energy release that 'thins the veil' between planes. Science has documented the relationship between magnetic anomalies and psychic phenomena and experiences.
An RAF pilot told a Scots freemason that every time they flew over Iona the compass would completely spin around and be useless. That suggests that the island itself had unusual geomagnetic properties. Since the druids were very aware of Earth energies it would be logical to assume that they knew about Iona, long before Columba went there with his pilgrim monks in the sixth century.
There is a remarkable geological difference on Iona from the Island of Mull, a mere two miles across the Iona Sound. The Island of Iona is a rare upthrust of one of the oldest rock formation on earth. The 2900 million year old Lewisian granitic Gneiss dominates three quarters of the island. (The earth is approximated at 4,400 million years old). Mull is dominated by a relatively young, 300 million-year-old pink granite formation. This is in part an explanation for the differentiating vibration that led both Druids and St. Columba to recognize Iona (and not Mull), as a sacred place for worship.
Such pilgrimage sites around the world have geophysical connection. You definitely feel different in such places. The local energy seems highly conducive to connecting with deeper levels of oneself and the universe. The Druids occupied Iona and used nearby Staffa Island (known for its massive crystallized pillars of hexagonal basalt) as a point of mystical initiation rites for high priests. The whole system is a magnetic anomaly.
Staffa Island is in itself a unique and very powerful energy center. Staffa is a temple, a pulsing generator of white crystalline energy, charging all around it. Staffa energizes and protects Iona, and is a key benefactor of Iona's vibrational quality. The varying lengths of hexagonal crystalline basalt pillars are like musically tuned windpipes on a massive organ creating a pure symphonic frequency, (in concert with all 7 chakras). Its generated energy is musical, crystalline, and penetrating. It energizes and effects the area like an enormous Tibetan bell. It charges and vitalizes the sea. A visit to Iona, by any seeker, requires a visit to Staffa, and especially Fingals cave.
Fingals is a pillared sea cave on Staffa, running 227 feet in length, approximately 75 feet wide with a tapered roof, and curved pipe pillars extending 100 feet high. Its symmetry is stunning, and remarkably shaped liked inside of a great cathedral, complete with buttresses. The Druids only entered Fingals Cave for initiate rites of the highest order. Geomagnetic resonance effects create a deep sense of peace, or a feeling of "being home". Pilgrims from all over the world come to Iona.
The metamorphic nature of the granitic Lewisian Gneiss, combined with earth fold magnetic fields creates a crystalline lattice energy that is very dense, and acts as a receptor to the charged harmonic projections emitted from Staffa. These energy frequencies that bombard Iona segregate in certain pockets into resonant frequencies that correlate to pure musical notes, and to the chakras. The points on Iona resonate with chakra centers.
These are:
Dun I Mound (Cairn on Top) - Crown (Seventh) Chakra, Note B#
Gneiss Slab ( 12 ' x 6 foot) ( In field on immediate north side of Abbey) - Third Eye (Sixth) Chakra, Note A
Signal Hill - Throat (Fifth) Chakra, Note G#
Angel Hill - Heart ( Fourth) Chakr, Note F#
Hill of Lambs - Emotional (Third) Chakra, Note E
Back to Ireland Cairn - Creative (Second) Chakra, Note D#
Columba Bay (Standing Rock just before the beach) - Base (Root) Chakra, Note C
The crown vortex is centered on the stone cairn atop Dun I, the highest point on the island, just behind the and to the north of the Abbey. The Dun I Mound is absolutely the strongest energy point on Iona. It is a fifteen-minute hike to reach the top, up somewhat slippery trails. The reward is immediate. The visionaries say an angelic being hovers atop the mound and anchors the portal that radiates joyous love energy into the site. The Dun I Mound itself spirals sacred earth energy in a fountaining cascade atop the mound. Dun I is a place of emergence, clearing and vision. All seven chakras are tuned and healed in this area.
Pre-Christian Ionians worshipped the Mother Goddess, sister of the sun god Bel, also worshipped in Egypt and Asia Minor. Her sites are associated with sacred springs, fountains and wells. This Mother Church connects the Gaels with the cradles of civilization in Europe and Asia. Iona used to have a circle of standing stones and there are remains of over 350 megalithic stones. One site is called The Glen of the Temple, another, the Tabernacle of Culdees. The Culdees, remnants of the Druids, practiced hereditary descent and wore white robes like the Druids. Some of Iona’s megaliths may have been carved into the numerous Celtic crosses of the island, some of which have gone missing. Both Druids and Culdees were called “certain strangers.” The term changed over centuries to Coli Dei, “servants of the Lord,” used for the Celtic Christian monks that worshiped on the island beginning in the 6th century.
Each footfall on Iona activates spontaneous “memories”, unconscious stirrings. Life is “sung with ecstatic serenity.” It resonates with the deep past as the ground of our being. The swirling ocean echoes the sounding of our unconscious. Legends of magical caves reflect images of the potentially luminous caverns of our heads. Iona is a place of sanctuary, healing, visions and prophecy. If she touches you with Fairy Ointment, thereafter, all the world and its inhabitants look beautiful. Each of us unravels the story for ourselves. It is a journey through the labyrinth of history and mystery. There are too many threads to follow in one short article, but a quick search of any of these rewarding keywords + Iona can fill in the blanks.
ROYAL ROOTS
Scotland is named after Princess Scota of the aristocratic dragon lineage, who is said to have brought the sacred Stone of Destiny with her from Egypt. The Gaels are named after their common ancestor, Gael who was born in Egypt as the son of Prince Niul, who was a son of King Fenius the Antiquary of Scythia, and of Princess "Scota", a daughter of Egyptian Pharaoh "Cincris" or "Achencres". There is speculation that this "Scota" was Meritaten, the royal daughter of Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. She migrated after his monist religious coup failed, during a plague. She took the legendary Stone of Destiny with her.
Her name “Scota” is Scythian for “ruler of the people”. According to Nicholas de Vere, “This line descended through the Tuatha de Danaan. (the Dragon Kings of Anu), on the one hand, and the Egyptian Dragon Dynasty of Sobek on the other. The later strain included the bloodline of the Davidic House of Judah who married into the descent of the Merovingian Kings of the Franks.” Her Cult of the Dragon’s Breath (cult of the spirit of An, or Ankh) was a cult of the dead or ancestor worship.
The descendants of Gael and "Scota" fled, migrating over succeeding generations, from Egypt, first to Candia [ancient Crete], then back to their ancestral homeland of Scythia, then to the Caspian Sea for several years, then to Getulia [ancient Libya], then to Galicia [northwestern Spain], then back to Scythia, and back to Egypt again. But the Scots Gaels come directly from the second Scythian-Egyptian royal marriage. The matrilineal Dragon Queen empowered the Grail King. There is archaeological evidence of a cultural influx in the Third Millenium BC.
Another "Scota", a daughter of Pharaoh "Nectanebus", married the Gael's leader Míl [Milesius], and they sailed to the islands of Irena and Gothia, then back to Galicia, and finally on to the conquest of Ireland, the promised land of the Gaels, under the leadership of the eight sons of Míl and their mother, the second "Scota". Irish history records that Scota, the daughter of Pharaoh of Egypt arrived in the southern part of Ireland between 4,000 and 3,500 years ago. Scota is buried on the sloped mountains in view of Tralee Bay at a place called Glenscoheen (Scota's Glenn). Scota is the progenitor of Irish and Scottish kings, a royal lineage which eventually gave birth to St. Columba of Iona.
The word Iona and the Egyptian On (Heliopolis, holy place, light), are related, as is the kind of theology practiced in both places. The age-old connections between Ireland and Egypt have been guarded for millennia. On was a word used to signify the holiness of light, and was used by the Solar-Cults of Egypt and Ireland. The place-name On is probably related to the Celtic Iona, the island seat of the Druids in Scotland. When the island was a powerful Druid center it was planted with sacred groves of yew (Ioha), and the traditions of Iona involve rebirth and reincarnation.
"The Chaldeans, had the God "Iao" as the secret name of the Mystery God, that of creation. The Hebrews adopted Iao, and transformed it into YHWH, considering him/her as a national power of salvation. "Iao, Iaho, or Yaho would mean breath of life generated or springing forth between an upright male and an egg-shaped female, principles of Nature. Thus, Ye(a)va, Jehovah, Yahweh is the Hermaphrodite Supreme Divinity of the Hebrews, being Ievo-hevah, Adam-Eve, or Yod-Heva, hence, the Demiurge, preached by the alleged Moses!"
IO is the cry of the lower as OI of the higher.
In figures they are 1001; (9) in letters they are Joy. (10)
For when all is equilibrated, when all is beheld from
without all, there is joy, joy, joy that is but one
facet of a diamond, every other facet whereof is
more joyful than joy itself. --Crowley, Dragon-flies
Another name for the island is Innis nam Druineach, meaning the Island of the Cunning Workmen, or sculptors. After the arrival of St. Columba, it was also called Icolmkill, "island of Columba of the Church." Eilean Idhe means "the isle of Iona", also known as Ì nam ban bòidheach ("the isle of beautiful women"). The title of Merlin as Seer to the King is well established in Druid tradition. The Merlins preserved the Mer-Line, the umbilical to the Mother or matriarchal line (mitochondrial DNA) -- the connection to the divine feminine and the ocean of greater consciousness. Folklore says, “You walk Merlin’s line on Iona through the Mother’s landscape body to the Mother."
Columba is one of the three patron saints of Ireland. As a young royal, he was tutored by Druids. He relinquished royal claims, chose the monastic life and finally settled the dove-shaped island sanctuary of Druid overseers in 563 AD to pursue his mission. He was essentially banished from Ireland for creatively editing the scriptures. Columba could only dream about what the Archdruid Merlins knew. Both the Druids and the monks used tonsure and performed baptisms. The local Picts considered the monastery’s bronze bells very powerful shamanic medicine, instruments of art. Columba’s monastery became a glorious center of pilgrimage. The guesthouse was always occupied. At first, access was restricted to high status pilgrims, royal and ecclesiastical visitors, or those in serious trouble. Later humble pilgrims were welcomed at the Celtic Christian monastery.
SACRED KINDRED
Columba took the Stone of Destiny to Iona as a portable altar. Opinions differ on whether it is related somehow to the Blarney Stone. This Lia Fal was called a “speaking stone” that named the king to be chosen. Columba used the holy stone, traditionally considered “Jacob’s pillow,” as a coronation chair for the consecration of Aedan as first King of Dal Riada, the proto-Scot Gaelic kingdom. Did he consult silently with the Stone before he did so? This singular act links Columba and Iona to the Pendragons and Grail legends. All are related by blood to the root dragon lineages of Central Asia.
King Aeden’s Merlin (Emrys) was his elder cousin. He is arguably the Merlin of Grail legends. According to Sir Laurence Gardner, the real King Arthur's father, King Aedan mac Gabran of Scots, became Pendragon by virtue of the fact that he was Prince Brychan's grandson. In this line Aedan's mother, Lleuan of Brecknock, was descended from Joseph of Arimathea who is the subject of much lore in the British Isles, including that of Glastonbury and its middle eastern "thorn tree". The name 'Uther Pendragon', meaning ‘terrible dragon’ was invented in the 12th century by the romancer Geoffrey of Monmouth (later Bishop of St. Asaph).
The true significance of King Arthur was his immediate joint descent in both the male and female lines of the Albi gens. His father was King Aedàn of Dalriada, the Pendragon of Britain in the year 559 - a descendant of the Wood Lord, Beli Mawr. His mother was Ygerna del Acqs, the daughter of Queen Viviane, whose grandson (by Ygerna’s sister, Viviane II) was the legendary Lancelot del Acqs. Ygerna (sometimes called Igraine in the Grail tradition) was the High Queen of the Celtic kingdoms and her daughter, Morgaine (by her first husband, Gwyr Llew of Carlisle), was High Priestess of the Sisters of Avallon. (Gardner)
St. Columba himself established the monarchs of Dal Riada. St. Columba correctly predicted Arthur, eldest son and natural heir to King Aeden would not live to succeed his father. In doing so, in answer to an inquiry from the Pendragon about his succession, St. Columbia’s prophecy fulfilled the ancient Druid role, essentially meaning that St. Columba was a recognized Merlin, himself. His human sacrifice of the monk Oran to fight off demons in the building of his monastery ratifies the theory. Columba took fighting demons as seriously as the Druids did.
Columba was exiled to the Scottish Isle of Iona. This island hosted a mixture of Druids, Culdean monks and priests. He built his monastery near a former Druid grove as a base for Christianizing Western Scotland. First he proved his might in battle with Druids that were aligned with Warlords. He dispelled their winds and brought light into a Magical Darkness.
Columba returned to Ireland on only one occasion, to render a verdict at Drimceatt when Aedh, the new Ard Righ, attempted to outlaw the Druid remnant or Filidh (the Druidic Poets). Columba's stature was such that his arguments for the poets saved their status and class from extinction. Columba was trained by a Druid and was not above using Druid magic to further his interests. In fact, he used them in overcoming the magicians of the Pictish king, Brude. The Celtic Christian saints engaged in many magical battles with various Magicians.
Columba began meditating on the Hill of the Angels -- Cnoc nan Aingeal. The Hill of Angels is adjacent to the Sithean, the Fairy Mound, the supernatural hotspot on Iona. These hills were the center of pagan rituals in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Columba's meditations there attracted the attention of angels passing in the distance who then came near and asked: “Who is this mortal who has turned his face away from the outer world to build a temple of God within his own body and soul?”
Legend says the angels would answer: “This is the Dove and Wolf of the church: Like the Dove, his eyes shine with infinite peace; and like the Wolf, he hungers and stalks. He wants to know more than priests are willing to teach. The church has already forgotten that the Truth is only found by listening to God speak from within the stillness of the heart. But Columba is not as these. He quests in search of God Himself.”Columba's meditation was so powerful, on those days when no angel came to visit him, Columba knew that he was needed elsewhere, and turned his attention to the outer world and to whomever came to visit the island.
MEN & MAGIC
Life of St. Columba: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/T201040/text001.html
Reported miracles and blessings by Columba include phenomena now called 'astral travel,' remote viewing, foretelling the future, prophecy, predictions, ESP, dreams, apparitions, visions of angels and demons, visions of Divine Light, battles of supernatural wills, and out-of-body experiences. Many of them involved distance healing, secret sins, or imminent death. Did the island of Iona amplify the exile's powers?
Today, he would be called a psychic, much like the "Edgar Cayce" of his day. Many of his 'miracles' were elemental -- involving earth, air, fire or water or driving out 'demons'. Did he turn water into wine, or was the congregation hypnotically susceptible to suggestion? Ditto for turning bitter apples into sweet. Were his blessings evoking spontaneous healing or the placebo effect? Were the visions of the pious poet bard a neurological condition? He managed to amass a great deal of power with his predictions, cures, and missionary zeal.
Much has been made of Merlin’s magic but Columba’s powers in evocational magic could have made a thousand Merlins green with envy. Columba was a poet and the Druids embraced him as a bard. In the third book of St. Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, there is an episode entitled 'Of a manifestation of angels meeting the soul of one Emchath.'
Loch Ness Monster
Columba made his way beyond the ridge of Britain (Drum-Alban), the the lake of the river Nisa (Loch Ness) and was suddenly inspired by the Holy Spirit. He called to his brethren journeying with him at the time: "Let us make haste to meet the holy angels who, that they may carry away the soul of a certain man, who is keeping the moral law of nature even to extreme old age, have been sent out from the highest regions of heaven, and are waiting until we have come thither, that we may baptize him in time before he dies." Thereafter the aged saint made as much haste as he could to go in advance of his companions, until he came to the district which is named Airchartdan (Glen Urquart).' There he found 'the holy heathen man,' Emchath by name. His account of the proto-Loch Ness monster follows:
How an aquatic monster was driven off by virtue of the blessed man's prayer: when the blessed man was living for some days in the province of the Picts, he was obliged to cross the river Nesa (the Ness); and when he reached the bank of the river, he saw some of the inhabitants burying an unfortunate man, who, according to the account of those who were burying him, was a short time before seized, as he was swimming, and bitten most severely by a monster that lived in the water; his wretched body was, though too late, taken out with a hook, by those who came to his assistance in a boat. The blessed man, on hearing this, was so far from being dismayed, that he directed one of his companions to swim over and row across the coble that was moored at the farther bank. And Lugne Mocumin hearing the command of the excellent man, obeyed without the least delay, taking off all his clothes, except his tunic, and leaping into the water.
But the monster, which, so far from being satiated, was only roused for more prey, was lying at the bottom of the stream, and when it felt the water disturbed above by the man swimming, suddenly rushed out, and, giving an awful roar, darted after him, with its mouth wide open, as the man swam in the middle of the stream. Then the blessed man observing this, raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and, invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the ferocious monster, saying, ‘Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.’ Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes, though it had just got so near to Lugne, as he swam, that there was not more than the length of a spear-staff between the man and the beast. Then the brethren seeing that the monster had gone back, and that their comrade Lugne returned to them in the boat safe and sound, were struck with admiration, and gave glory to God in the blessed man. And even the barbarous heathens, who were present, were forced by the greatness of this miracle, which they themselves had seen, to magnify the God of the Christians.
Sacred Kindred of Columba
Clearly, Columba grafted his religion on the old craft. His behavior is half-Druid magician and half Christian missionary. He tried to heal the split between the Scots and the Picts. Pict tradition was matrilinear so a system was devised for Pictish Princesses to marry Scots kings, but successors could be chosen from parallel lines of descent from sons, nephews and cousins. King Malcolm II deviated from the tradition of Druid election of successors to offer his daughter Bethoc the crown. She was married to Crinan, Irish royalty and Archpriest of the Sacred Kindred of St. Columba. The strongest hereditary claim of succession to the Scottish throne thereafter passed through Bethóc.
The only known historical candidate for the legendary Pendragon title is one Artur MacAeden, 6th century son of the Dalriadic King of Scots in Argyll, whose mother and grandmother were reputedly from British Strathclyde. This Arthur had a sister called Morgana, a nephew known as St. Kentigern, the Patron Saint of Glasgow, and some say that St. Constantine, King of Cornwall, and founder of Govan, was Arthur's uncle. We can be certain though that Arthur was distantly related to St. Columba through his father, Aeden MacGabhran, and the High Kings of Ireland. Also without doubt, is the Merlin-esque role that St. Columba played in the life of Arthur and Aeden. He chose and placed Aeden MacGabhran on the throne of Dalriada (Argyll & Ulster), and after a prophetic dream, he foretold Arthur's death.
There was only ever one Arthur born to a Pendragon - Arthur Mac Aedan of Dalriada. They "married" the land they ruled. Gardner describes how Arthur descended the Merovingian line through his mother Ygerna del Acqs. His grandmother was Viviane I, dynastic Queen of Bergundian Avallon, a Merovingian kinswoman. King Aedan was a celtic church Christian of the Sacred Kindred of St. Columba, which incorporated Druidic ritual. His sacred sister-bride in the tradition of the pharaohs, Morgaine was a Celtic Priestess, a soror mystica and holy sister of Avallon, with whom he ritually consummated the archetypal Royal Marriage, as the Egyptian royalty had done.
But alignment with the Roman church made Arthur a political and religious enemy of his own son Modred, who was Archpriest of the Sacred Kindred of Columba and an anointed Fisher King. In 608, Aedan died and was buried on Iona, similar to Arthur’s reported burial on Avalon. Is Iona the mythic Avalon? Both were entrances to the underworld. Only 6 miles of from Iona, Staffa with Fingal's Cave is the largest, most dramatic such aperture in the British Isles. The underworld of the Celts is called A-val or Avilion, the “fire of the heart.” If so, is Iona, not Glastonbury, the heart chakra of the world? Avalon was a school for Merlins, and Iona continued that tradition with a passion.
Today’s senior Stewart line claims decent from King Arthur’s father, King Aedan of Scots, on the one hand and to Prince Nascien of the Septimanian Midi on the other. The Scots descent traces further back through King Lucius of Siluria to Bran the Blessed and Joseph of Aramathea (St. James the Just), while the Midi succession stems from the Merovingians male ancestral line through the Fisher Kings to Jesus and Mary Magdalene. If the "Grail" is the sacred bloodline, it resided in Iona on multiple occasions. Its spirit never left.
The sacred Stone of Destiny remained with Iona’s monks until 843 when Viking raids caused them to move to Scone, where they used it for crowning Scottish Kings. According to an old chronicle, "no king was ever wont to reign in Scotland unless he had first, on receiving the royal name, sat upon this stone at Scone, which by the kings of old had been appointed to the capital of Alba."
In 807, the “Book of Kells” was also removed from Iona to Kells to save this luminous treasure of Celtic art from invading Vikings. Illuminated manuscripts from Iona’s scriptorium were thought to have supernatural properties. These Celtic designs were transferred to metal and stone. The Stone of Destiny was captured in 1296 by King Edward I (Long Shanks) and kept in England for 700 years. It was kept under the English throne through the coronation of Elizabeth II. It was only returned to Edinburgh in 1996 after an attempted theft. Aiden's Coronation
"How an ANGEL OF THE LORD appeared in a vision to St. Columba while he stayed in the Hinba island (Eilean-na-Naoimh), being sent to him in order that he might appoint Aidan king: ON another occasion, when this eminent man was staying in the Hinba island (Eilean-na-Naoimh), he saw, on a certain night, in a mental ecstasy, an angel sent to him from heaven, and holding in his hand a book of glass, regarding the appointment of kings. Having received the book from the hand of the angel, the venerable man, at his command, began to read it; and when he was reluctant to appoint Aidan king, as the book directed, because he had a greater affection for Iogenan his brother, the angel, suddenly stretching forth his hand, struck the saint with a scourge, the livid marks of which remained in his side all the days of his life. And he added these words: ‘Know for certain,’ said he, ‘that I am sent to thee by God with the book of glass, that in accordance with the words thou hast read therein, thou mayest inaugurate Aidan into the kingdom; but if thou refuse to obey this command, I will strike thee again.’
When therefore this angel of the Lord had appeared for three successive nights, having the same book of glass in his hand, and had repeated the same commands of the Lord regarding the appointment of the same king, the saint, in obedience to the command of the Lord, sailed across to the Iouan island (Hy, now Iona), and there ordained, as he had been commanded, Aidan to be king, who had arrived at the same time as the saint. During the words of consecration, the saint declared the future regarding the children, grandchildren and great- grandchildren of Aidan, and laying his hand upon his head, he consecrated and blessed him.
Cummene the Fair, in the book which he wrote on the virtues of St. Columba, states that St. Columba commenced his predictions regarding Aidan and his children and kingdom in the following manner: ‘Believe me, unhesitatingly, O Aidan,’ said he, ‘none of thine enemies shall be able to resist thee, unless thou first act unjustly towards me and my successors. Wherefore direct thou thy children to commend to their children, their grandchildren, and their posterity, not to let the sceptre pass out of their hands through evil counsels. For at whatever time they turn against me or my relatives who are in Hibernia, the scourge which I suffered on thy account from the angel shall bring great disgrace upon them by the hand of God, and the hearts of men shall be turned away from them, and their foes shall be greatly strengthened against them.’ Now this prophecy hath been fulfilled in our own times in the battle of Roth (Magh Rath, fought 637), in which Domnall Brecc, the grandson of Aidan, ravaged without the slightest provocation the territory of Domnall, the grandson of Ainmuire. And from that day to this they have been trodden down by strangers-a fate which pierces the heart with sighs and grief." --Life of Columba
TRIPLE DEATH
There are a number of stories in Celtic mythology that clearly are formed by the Tripartate functions of Proto-Indo-European. The theme of triple-death occurs in several places in medieval Celtic sources. The first story comes from the Life of St. Columba (Vita Columbae):
Aedh, surnamed the Black, descended of a royal family, and a Cruthinian by race. Aedh wore the clerical habit, and came with the purpose of residing with him in the monastery for some years. This Aedh the Black had been a very bloodthirsty man, and cruelly murdered many persons, amongst others Diarmuid, son of Cerbul, by divine appointment king of all. This same Aedh, then, after spending some time in his retirement, was irregularly ordained priest by a bishop invited for the purpose... The bishop, however, would not venture to lay a hand upon his head unless Findchan, who was greatly attached to Aedh, in a carnal way should first place his right hand on his head as a mark of approval. When such an ordination afterwards became known to the saint, he was deeply grieved, and in consequence forthwith pronounced this fearful sentence on the ill-fated Findchan and Aedh... And Aedh, thus irregularly ordained, shall return as a dog to his vomit, and be again a bloody murderer, until at length, pierced in the neck with a spear, he shall fall from a tree into the water and be drowned... But Aedh the Black, a priest only in name, betaking himself again to his former evil doings, and being treacherously wounded with a spear, fell from the prow of a boat into a lake and was drowned.
This story of triple-death corresponds to the elements which Evans finds in a whole host of similar stories. In all of these stories, the tripartate death is foretold. Here St. Columba foretells the triple death of Aedh. At the same time Columba's prophecy is a curse or a punishment which he dispenses to Aedh because of his sins. This leads to the next element common in many 'Triple-death' stories, the sins of the warrior. According to Dumezil, the warrior often commits a sin against each one of the functions.He is punished for each sin, with a punishment fitting for his crime. In this passage from the Life of St. Columba, three specific sins are mentioned. Aedh blasphemes by being ordained a priest outside of the Church. This is a sin against the priestly function of Indo-European society. Aedh's second sin is murder; he has killed numerous people, most notably King Diarmuid. This is a sin against the warrior function. Aedh's last sin is against the productive/fertile function in Indo-European society, he has slept with another man—an act which is by its very nature unfertile. The Tripartite death of Aedh is linked with another story of triple-death. Diarmuid, who is killed by Aedh, also dies a triple death:
When the king sent men to arrest Aedh, St. Ronan hid him and so Diarmuid had Ronan arrested and tried in his stead. He was condemned by the ecclasiastics for this act and Ronan himself uttered the famous curse, 'Desolate be Tara forever!' Soon after, Tara was abandoned, never to achieve its former splendor... [Diarmuid's wife] had an affair with Flann, so Diarmuid had Flann's fortress burnt over his head. Sorely wounded, Flann tried to escape the flames by crawling into a vat of water where he drowned... Bec Mac De [Diarmuid's druid councilor] prophesied that Diarmuid would be killed by Flann's kinsman, Aedh Dubh in the house of Banban... The manner of his death would be by slaughter, by burning, by drowning and by the ridge pole of a roof falling on his head... The Prophecy seemed so unlikely that Diarmuid scorned it, even when Banban invited him to a feast... Aedh Dubh was there and stabbed the High King with his spear. Wounded, Diarmuid fled back into the house. Aedh Dubh's men set fire to it. Seeking to escape the flame, Diarmuid scrambled into a vat of ale. A burning ridge pole fell on to his head. The prophecy was fufilled (Ellis, 84).
In this story, there is a prophecy of the threefold death before it occurs. In fact, Diarmuid's death is foretold by three different men in the original story. Diarmuid has also clearly violated two of the three functions. He sins against the sanctity of the priestly function, by trying St. Ronan. For this crime Ronan curses the throne at Tara. Diarmuid also murders Flann, a violation of the warrior function. Diarmuid is punished for his transgressions by the triple nature of his death.
Merlin
In Welsh legend, Myrddin Wylit, one of the sources for Merlin of Arthurian legend, is associated with threefold death. As a test of his skill, Merlin is asked to prophesy how a boy will die. He says the boy will fall from a rock. The same boy, with a change of clothes, is presented again, and Merlin prophesies that he will hang. Then, dressed in a girl's clothes, the boy is presented, and Merlin replies, "Woman or no, he will drown." As a young man, the victim, in a hunt, falls from a rock, is caught in a tree, and hanging head down in a lake, drowns.
Myrddin Wyllt also reportedly prophesied his own death, which would happen by falling, stabbing, and drowning. This was fulfilled when a gang of jeering shepherds drove him off a cliff, where he was impaled on a stake left by fishermen, and died with his head below water.
Arthur’s father was King Aedan of Dalriada the youngest son of King Constantine. Arthur was recognized as the King of Britain at the time his father was crowned the King of what is now Scotland. Columba ordained the two Pendragons in 575. King Constantine was the first Roman Christian monarch. Arthur was a Roman Christian as well. His mother, Igraine wanted him to make the Celtic Christian Church the Church of the Britons. Arthur’s half sister, Anna married King Loth of Lothian and had several children including Gawain and Lancelot.
Gawain, Lancelot and Arthur were all trained at a military instillation in Sweetheart which is now New Abbey across the Nith River near Dumfries. The Merlin was a mortal man as well as Arthur, Lancelot, Gawain, Constantine and King Aedan. Merlin was the title for the Seer to the King. His birth name was Emrys of Powys. He was the chief advisor for both Pendragon Kings. He was also an elder cousin of Aedan Mac Gabran. The Merlin did prophecy the future. He told King Aedan that he would be alive to see all three of his sons die in battle as the Celtic Christians fought the Roman Christians for the Head of the Island.
Arthur did have an ancestral relationship with his half-sister Morgan Le Fay that lead to the birth of a son by the name of Modred. The Celtic Church did not see this as wrong for they believe that there is a Male and a Female that makes up God. Therefore, the divine union between Morgana and Arthur was blessed. This created a whole ruler for the Celts of Britain. Morgana or Morgan Le Fey raised Modred to be the Head of the Celtic Christian Church, after Arthur proved to be a Roman Christian. Modred also had the same Roman soldier training that his father and uncles had received.
There is a misconception of Arthur being Welsh for a very good reason. During the 6th century there were two Arthurs. The one this story is based on and the second was Arthur Prince of Dyfed whom was installed by St. Dubricius in 506. This Arthur was a descendant of the Deisi leaders from Ireland that were the enemies of the Welsh. The confusion is from the Merlin connection. Merlin’s father was Aurelious of Powys. Aurelious’ wife was the sister Arthur of Dyfed. This made Merlin the nephew of Arthur of Dyfed while at the same time the cousin to Arthur Mac Gabran, the Pendragon.
The Welsh and the Scots were allies and had towns and villages of very similar names. Only with modern translations can both Arthurs be identified. King Arthur did marry Queen Gwenhwyfar of Brittany. Gwenhwyfar is know to us as Gunivere or modern translation of Jennifer. Gunivere was a Celt priestess and a Queen by her own rights. She was recorded by Columba as being a fierce fighting woman. Sir Lancelot was actually her knight before she and Arthur were married. She brought Lancelot into the Pendragon’s service. The treacherous affair between Lancelot and Gunivere was recorded by St. Columba and other scholars at the time. King Urien of Gorre made a declaration of war because he claimed Gunivere and her lands as his. King Urien actually kidnapped the Queen. Lancelot came to her rescue; that in turn led to their affair.
LAND OF LEGENDS
Iona, the primordial Dreamland is a magical burial place of over 60 Kings, including the Scots Macbeth and his victim Duncan. Known graves include 48 Scottish, 8 Norwegian, 1 French and 4 Irish kings plus numerous clan chiefs. Templar knight gravestones reveal their presence on the island. Megalithic remains suggest it was a prehistoric burial site, too. Iona is a borderland between life and death. Those buried there often arrived while still alive to prepare for their final journey. The monks essentially died while living a very solitary life. A beehive cell or single hermitage was called a ‘disert.’
An island legend tells of a lonely monk who fell in love with a mermaid. When she was banished, she shed tears that can be found today as small green tear-shaped crystals along Iona’s beaches. There are also legends about magical “green eggs,” called Druid’s Eggs or Serpent’s Eggs. Iona’s other tales include Blood Eagle tortures of monks by Vikings, Fairy Ointment, Place of the Great Crosses, human sacrifice, Earthworks, “House of the Fairies,” Culdees, and Moneymusk Reliquary -- even Atlantean priestesses. Staffa the nearest uninhabited island facing Iona displays the gaping maw of the astonishing Fingal’s Cave, the Scottish end of the Giant’s Causeway, noted for its massive basalt columns. The giant's cave was a Druid initiation chamber. Looking out from inside this extraordinary cave, Iona is framed in the entrance. Both islands form an initiatory circuit. Caves are portals to the underworld, the world of the dead.
Columba, the Celtic Saint was a wanderer. He realized he had no abiding home on earth. Many early monks left their homes as a sign of the spiritual quest - the white martyrdom. One of these monks was Saint Columba - a nobleman of one of the leading families in Ireland. With some other companions, including his cousin Beathain (Bean), he settled in the isle of I - Iona. While there he sailed up Loch Ness to negotiate with the Pictish king, Brude at Inverness. On the way he is recorded to have encountered (and tamed) the "water horse" which dwelt in Loch Ness. He baptized natives along the banks of the Ness, and eventually left his cousin in Cannich, where he is traditionally held to have founded the cell known as Kil Beathain - now Clachan Comar. Above Clachan Comar is the spring still known as St. Bean’s spring.
Other ancient stories tell of Joseph of Arimathea visiting the island to trade in tin; some include his young nephew Jesus accompanying him. Another legend says Mary Magdalene was buried in a cave on Iona and in the future a Divine Woman from the fair isle will redeem the world. Though less is known of its pagan past, much more has been written on the Christian history of Iona after Columba drove out a rival monastic order, not the indigenous Druids, as is frequently but wrongly reported. But even Iona’s Celtic Christianity must be seen in a pagan light. This was not the Roman church.
The monastics of Iona lived simple, often solitary lives. The “Black Nuns” on Iona followed the teaching of St. Augustine of Hippo, in Egypt. They wore black habits, and their church was locally called an eaglais dhubh (‘the black church’). They pursued a contemplative and cloistered life. Their first prioress was Bethoc. Gravestones demonstrate the nunnery was favored for retirement and burial for ladies of noble birth from across the western seaboard. The ninth Abbot of Iona, who wrote the hagiography of St. Columba, demonstrates the hereditary succession: Adomnán was a descendant of Colman mac Setna, a cousin of St. Columba and the ancestor, through his son Ainmire, of the kings of Cenel Conaill. He was the son of Ronan mac Tinne by Ronat, a woman from the (northern Ui Neill lineage known as the Cenél nÉnda.
Metaphysical Ground Zero
by Iona Orr Miller, 2010
This article appeared in Green Egg Zine, #154, Yule 2010
http://www.greeneggzine.com/current.html
Y Gwir Erbyn Y Byd ("Truth Against the World”)
–Druid Motto
Divine Dreamland
Many holy sites are esteemed around the globe. The sacred isles of Britain have a spiritual role so rich that few comprehend their scope that is so disproportionate to their size. Sacred sites are natural meeting places of heaven and earth. A tiny, nearly barren speck of land, the Scottish island of Iona embodies an astounding holographic record of the span of human civilization, much of which is beyond the scope of this article. Each snippet of a hologram contains a smaller but intact version of the original image. The smallest parts of a hologram contain all the information possessed by the whole, demonstrating that separateness is an illusion. Cosmos is a superhologram, echoing the axiom, “As Above, So Below”.
The "whole in every part" nature of a hologram or fractal provides us with an entirely new way of understanding Iona which has been called “the Mecca of the Gael.” This mystic island was sacred to megalithic, iron and bronze age pagans, Druids and Celtic Christians alike. Windswept Iona is a time machine, a gem in the frigid sea, embedded in “the back of the ocean” like a planetary chakra.
Iona’s holy ground formed as the first oceans were condensing on the blistering hot surface of the earth. These rocks are so old, they contain no fossils. Perhaps the first plants took root in Iona’s thin soil. The island is the oldest rock on Earth, four billion year old remains of the Precambrian ocean’s eruptive spine. Her marble formed under vast heat and pressure. The metamorphic Lewisian gneiss shot through with green serpentine has resisted the relentless blue-foaming dragon of the devouring sea that eats up the land. Much of the island itself is highly-conductive and charged quartz, often said to enhance healing, telepathy, remote viewing, dreaming, and superconsciousness or store subtle information or energy. There are unseen things here that are eternal. From the mainland, the spiritually magnetic isle often appears like a mirage.
Iona is the “motherland of dreams”, the ethereal ground of imagination and ground zero of Druid culture. Its spell draws us into its center. Iona’s old Gaelic name Innis nan Druidhneach translates as the Island of the Druids. Their motto was Y Gwir Erbyn Y Byd (“Truth Against the World”). These Servants of Truth held greater power than the kings who took advice from them: All of nature was sacred to them and they were its students and stewards.
These seers and overlords understood the workings of Nature and our nature. To the male and female Druids and their predecessors, the “Shining Ones,” (Siddhe, Fairies), the dead live through visions in dreams, more so for those in one’s own lineage. In Druid lore myth is not plot, but image; not action, but rhythm; not character, but ghosts. Images animate the soul with guidance from higher dimensions. Alba or ‘light’ is the Gaelic name for Scotland and Iona is her most ancient and holy capital. The island Iona is the shape of a dove and curiously its name even means 'dove' in Hebrew, though it was named after the pioneering spirit, St. Columba, “the dove of the church”. The Rosarium Philosophorum equates the dove with heavenly light. Young visionaries, virginal children used as oracles or channels, are also called “Doves” in the magic tradition.
Sacred sites are like tuning forks. Iona’s colorful history is related to sea gods, King Arthur and Merlin, the Grail stories, St. Brighid and the Goddess -- Sophia, Virgin of the Light, the archetypal soror mystica. Its mystery and magic includes tales of Templars, elves, fairies, and pixies; the Sidhe or People of the Hills, Tuatha De Daanan. Angels’ Hill on Iona is associated with supernatural beings.
Iona was always an island of mystics and scholars. Iona’s most ancient Gaelic or Pictish name is Ioua. The name, (a corruption of early Gaelic Ii-shona, pronounced, Ee-hona; the 's' in Gaelic is silent before an aspirate), is steeped in multidimensional mystique that can be gradually unfolded in physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual metaphors. But it is more than a metaphor to be unraveled like a Scottish yarn. Indeed, an exciting and illuminating journey to the "heart of Iona" is a soulful initiatory journey into myth and eternity. Our journey does not have an ordinary aim.
The history and legends of Iona carry us into a vortex of the imagination, a time machine carrying us back through ages. To be a living soul is to live with imaginal images. Rather than linear, time is cyclic. There is a Celtic saying that heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in the thin places that distance is even smaller, allowing Second Sight through the veil.These ‘thin places’ may be inter-dimensional portals, a natural combination of radiation and magnetism that produces altered states of consciousness or amplifies psychic ability. In Iona, time is no barrier, for it has been said of this ground zero of Druid tradition and ancient spirituality: “This island set apart, this motherland of many dreams, still yields its secret, but it is only as men seek that they truly find. “To reach the heart of Iona is to find something eternal,” (G.E. Troup).
Iona’s heart is the white marble that gave ancient Scotland the name Alba, or Albion (‘white’). Known for its ethereal light, Iona has been the destination of many epic spiritual journeys. The name of this magnetic “isle of dreams” has been called “a talisman of spiritual beauty.” In her enduring and silent way, Iona continues affecting the spiritual evolution of humanity, whispering her deepest secrets only to a few of her 250,000 annual visitors.
Even more make the astral journey to the “Iona of the heart.” The north of Iona is the traditional place of testing and ordeal, the south of work and labor, while the west is the place of mystic vision and the spirit. The east is the place of rebirth, compliment to the west as the realm of the dead.
On Iona, vivid moments of focused experience are interspersed with those of emptiness. Magic happens in those gaps between breaths and waves when you attune with the singing wind and ringing stones. Iona’s highest hill, Dûn-I (Doon-ee), an iron-age fortress, hides a little pool amid the broken rocks and heather near the beehive cairn that marks the highest part of the island. From there you can also see the Cairn of the Back to Ireland. Sliav Starr (The Hill of Noises) faces the westernmost part of the island, Port-na-Churaich (The Haven of the Coracle) where St. Columba was said to have first landed on Iona.
Early Ogham inscriptions referred to the island as Ioua, after a Moon goddess, but other early sources said it was HyBrasil (Island of Beauty or Worth), or simply Hy, an earthly paradise found far out at sea, or perhaps a reference to the otherworldly Tir na nOg (the Land of Youths or the Ever-Young). Druid maps listed Iona as Innis nan Druidnean (or Innis na Druineach), the Isle of Druids, possibly because it is believed that at one time the island was covered with oak and yew trees, sacred to the Druids, and had 350 standing stones, megalithic structures frequented by Druids.
There are rocking stones in Iona called na clachan-bràth, within the precincts of a burial ground, placed on the pedestal of a cross. Some call them tomb supports, but finely-balanced rocking stone were used in trials. A clach-bràth is sometimes known as a judgment stone. The reason that courts were near "logan" stones is that the movement of stones in such formations was used to determine the guilt or innocence of those accused of serious crimes in ancient times. Druids used them to judge people. The accused was made to sit on the stone and by the way it moved the Druids judged the innocence or guilt of the individual.
Near to the Tormore pier and above the sandy cove, hidden amongst the rocks is a cave called "The Cave of the Dead", (Uamh na Marbh) large enough in size to hold a coffin containing an ancient Scot's king. Was it a perfect place to shelter in bad weather for the final journey of burial to Iona or a Druid initiation in Fingal's Cave? Imagine the awe of approaching such a natural wonder in times long past. In the Lord of the Isles, Sir Walter Scott beautifully contrasts the church on Iona with the cave of Staffa, opposite -
"Nature herself, it seemed, would raise
A minster to her Maker's praise!
Not for a meaner use ascend
Her columns, or her arches bend;
Nor of a theme less solemn tells
That mighty surge that ebbs and swells,
And still between each awful pause,
From the high vault an answer draws,
In varied tone, prolonged and high,
That mocks the organ's melody;
Nor doth its entrance front in vain
To old Iona's holy fane,
That Nature's voice might seem to say,
Well hast thou done, frail child of clay
Thy humble powers that stately shrine
Tasked high and hard - but witness mine.
The Druidical system peaked at the time of the Roman invasion under Julius Caesar. Against the Druids, as their chief enemies, these conquerors of the world directed their unsparing fury. The Druids, harassed at all points on the main land, retreated to Anglesey and Iona, where for a
season they found shelter and continued their sacred rites.
The Druids retained their predominance in Iona and over the adjacent islands and main land until they were supplanted and their traditions and culture overturned by the arrival of St. Columba, the apostle of the Highlands, in 563 AD.
Sheela-na-Gigs are directly related to earlier Goddess/Fertility figurines and the Goddess symbolism of the early pre-historic and Celtic periods. It is not certain how old the tradition is or the precise age of some of the earliest examples. Apparently, the Sheela-na-Gig made its appearance during the latter part of the Early Christian (or Celtic Christian) period and they were still being erected during the later Middle Ages. There is one built into the wall of the Nunnery on Iona.
Sheela-na-Gigs are religious carvings of women, special women, the symbolical representation of femininity and/or actual female deities or Goddesses. They were placed on churches, castles and other important buildings of the medieval period and, until quite recently in some instances, they acted as dedicatory or protective symbols promoting good luck and fertility. But their meaning goes much deeper and the fact that they were erected over the doorways of churches and castles and otherwise placed in very prominent positions suggests that they were a very potent and powerful image, obviously the primary religious belief of the people of that era of Christianity. Sheela-na-Gigs are directly related to earlier Goddess/Fertility figurines and the Goddess symbolism of the early pre-historic and Celtic periods.
Like many of the ancient Celtic goddesses, Cailleach had two faces: dark and light. In the winter months she was fearsome, whirling around Scotland with her nine hag-servants, casting storm, snow, and ice over the land. But in springtime, she renewed herself in the Well of Youth on the isle of Iona, and was transformed into the beautiful spring maiden, Bridget or Bride, who brought back light and warmth to her people again. She also appeared at this time of the year, called Lùnasdal in Scotland, Lughnasa in Ireland, as the personification of the ripe sheaves of oats or barley that would feed the clans at harvest time.
From the hilltop Dun-I of Iona with its sacred well, St. Bride sang daily to her lost Bridegroom. St. Bride of the Kindly Fire, St Bride of the Shores. Before she was Christianized as a saint, Brighde or Bride was already present on Iona as Goddess. Her totems were the swan and the serpent. Many generations have drunk from and ritually purified themselves in this holy healing pool called Tobar na h’oige, “the Fountain of Youth,” or “Well of Youth,” in which the dark Goddess annually renews herself for her light phase. There are energetic alignments or grids of holy islands, holy mountains and holy wells in Scotland.
Iona is a geomantic power site – a vortex. Anchoring a pentagonal matrix of ley lines, (invisible currents of earth-energy), enchanting Iona is a gateway to the Other World. This telluric intersection of three ley lines lies in a swampy part of the island, marked by low lying boulders in a perfect circle with a central altar stone. Iona’s leyline alignment extends to Montrose on the east coast of the Scottish mainland, passing through the ancient Celtic royal burial site at Dunstaffnage, then Fortingall, St. Mary’s Church, Grandtully, Aberlemno, which is marked by two ancient and inscribed stones, finally reaching Montrose (Mount of the Rose).
Precambrian Crystalline Basement
The ancient deeply bedded Lewisian Gneiss rock strata, such as that found on Iona, is rarely exposed at the surface of the planet. Ancient imbedded strata is metamorphicly altered, compacted. The enormous pressure transforms the composition of the rock to a more ordered, crystalline structure. All crystalline structures have an electromagnetic field. The greater the density, the stronger the field. The aura of balance and peace that blankets Iona is in part due to the unique qualities of this ancient metamorphic stone, the granitic Lewisian Gneiss. In addition, the strata upthrust and sharp hairpin fold of earth layer that peels the Lewisian Gneiss onto the surface also results in a magnetic energy release that 'thins the veil' between planes. Science has documented the relationship between magnetic anomalies and psychic phenomena and experiences.
An RAF pilot told a Scots freemason that every time they flew over Iona the compass would completely spin around and be useless. That suggests that the island itself had unusual geomagnetic properties. Since the druids were very aware of Earth energies it would be logical to assume that they knew about Iona, long before Columba went there with his pilgrim monks in the sixth century.
There is a remarkable geological difference on Iona from the Island of Mull, a mere two miles across the Iona Sound. The Island of Iona is a rare upthrust of one of the oldest rock formation on earth. The 2900 million year old Lewisian granitic Gneiss dominates three quarters of the island. (The earth is approximated at 4,400 million years old). Mull is dominated by a relatively young, 300 million-year-old pink granite formation. This is in part an explanation for the differentiating vibration that led both Druids and St. Columba to recognize Iona (and not Mull), as a sacred place for worship.
Such pilgrimage sites around the world have geophysical connection. You definitely feel different in such places. The local energy seems highly conducive to connecting with deeper levels of oneself and the universe. The Druids occupied Iona and used nearby Staffa Island (known for its massive crystallized pillars of hexagonal basalt) as a point of mystical initiation rites for high priests. The whole system is a magnetic anomaly.
Staffa Island is in itself a unique and very powerful energy center. Staffa is a temple, a pulsing generator of white crystalline energy, charging all around it. Staffa energizes and protects Iona, and is a key benefactor of Iona's vibrational quality. The varying lengths of hexagonal crystalline basalt pillars are like musically tuned windpipes on a massive organ creating a pure symphonic frequency, (in concert with all 7 chakras). Its generated energy is musical, crystalline, and penetrating. It energizes and effects the area like an enormous Tibetan bell. It charges and vitalizes the sea. A visit to Iona, by any seeker, requires a visit to Staffa, and especially Fingals cave.
Fingals is a pillared sea cave on Staffa, running 227 feet in length, approximately 75 feet wide with a tapered roof, and curved pipe pillars extending 100 feet high. Its symmetry is stunning, and remarkably shaped liked inside of a great cathedral, complete with buttresses. The Druids only entered Fingals Cave for initiate rites of the highest order. Geomagnetic resonance effects create a deep sense of peace, or a feeling of "being home". Pilgrims from all over the world come to Iona.
The metamorphic nature of the granitic Lewisian Gneiss, combined with earth fold magnetic fields creates a crystalline lattice energy that is very dense, and acts as a receptor to the charged harmonic projections emitted from Staffa. These energy frequencies that bombard Iona segregate in certain pockets into resonant frequencies that correlate to pure musical notes, and to the chakras. The points on Iona resonate with chakra centers.
These are:
Dun I Mound (Cairn on Top) - Crown (Seventh) Chakra, Note B#
Gneiss Slab ( 12 ' x 6 foot) ( In field on immediate north side of Abbey) - Third Eye (Sixth) Chakra, Note A
Signal Hill - Throat (Fifth) Chakra, Note G#
Angel Hill - Heart ( Fourth) Chakr, Note F#
Hill of Lambs - Emotional (Third) Chakra, Note E
Back to Ireland Cairn - Creative (Second) Chakra, Note D#
Columba Bay (Standing Rock just before the beach) - Base (Root) Chakra, Note C
The crown vortex is centered on the stone cairn atop Dun I, the highest point on the island, just behind the and to the north of the Abbey. The Dun I Mound is absolutely the strongest energy point on Iona. It is a fifteen-minute hike to reach the top, up somewhat slippery trails. The reward is immediate. The visionaries say an angelic being hovers atop the mound and anchors the portal that radiates joyous love energy into the site. The Dun I Mound itself spirals sacred earth energy in a fountaining cascade atop the mound. Dun I is a place of emergence, clearing and vision. All seven chakras are tuned and healed in this area.
Pre-Christian Ionians worshipped the Mother Goddess, sister of the sun god Bel, also worshipped in Egypt and Asia Minor. Her sites are associated with sacred springs, fountains and wells. This Mother Church connects the Gaels with the cradles of civilization in Europe and Asia. Iona used to have a circle of standing stones and there are remains of over 350 megalithic stones. One site is called The Glen of the Temple, another, the Tabernacle of Culdees. The Culdees, remnants of the Druids, practiced hereditary descent and wore white robes like the Druids. Some of Iona’s megaliths may have been carved into the numerous Celtic crosses of the island, some of which have gone missing. Both Druids and Culdees were called “certain strangers.” The term changed over centuries to Coli Dei, “servants of the Lord,” used for the Celtic Christian monks that worshiped on the island beginning in the 6th century.
Each footfall on Iona activates spontaneous “memories”, unconscious stirrings. Life is “sung with ecstatic serenity.” It resonates with the deep past as the ground of our being. The swirling ocean echoes the sounding of our unconscious. Legends of magical caves reflect images of the potentially luminous caverns of our heads. Iona is a place of sanctuary, healing, visions and prophecy. If she touches you with Fairy Ointment, thereafter, all the world and its inhabitants look beautiful. Each of us unravels the story for ourselves. It is a journey through the labyrinth of history and mystery. There are too many threads to follow in one short article, but a quick search of any of these rewarding keywords + Iona can fill in the blanks.
ROYAL ROOTS
Scotland is named after Princess Scota of the aristocratic dragon lineage, who is said to have brought the sacred Stone of Destiny with her from Egypt. The Gaels are named after their common ancestor, Gael who was born in Egypt as the son of Prince Niul, who was a son of King Fenius the Antiquary of Scythia, and of Princess "Scota", a daughter of Egyptian Pharaoh "Cincris" or "Achencres". There is speculation that this "Scota" was Meritaten, the royal daughter of Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. She migrated after his monist religious coup failed, during a plague. She took the legendary Stone of Destiny with her.
Her name “Scota” is Scythian for “ruler of the people”. According to Nicholas de Vere, “This line descended through the Tuatha de Danaan. (the Dragon Kings of Anu), on the one hand, and the Egyptian Dragon Dynasty of Sobek on the other. The later strain included the bloodline of the Davidic House of Judah who married into the descent of the Merovingian Kings of the Franks.” Her Cult of the Dragon’s Breath (cult of the spirit of An, or Ankh) was a cult of the dead or ancestor worship.
The descendants of Gael and "Scota" fled, migrating over succeeding generations, from Egypt, first to Candia [ancient Crete], then back to their ancestral homeland of Scythia, then to the Caspian Sea for several years, then to Getulia [ancient Libya], then to Galicia [northwestern Spain], then back to Scythia, and back to Egypt again. But the Scots Gaels come directly from the second Scythian-Egyptian royal marriage. The matrilineal Dragon Queen empowered the Grail King. There is archaeological evidence of a cultural influx in the Third Millenium BC.
Another "Scota", a daughter of Pharaoh "Nectanebus", married the Gael's leader Míl [Milesius], and they sailed to the islands of Irena and Gothia, then back to Galicia, and finally on to the conquest of Ireland, the promised land of the Gaels, under the leadership of the eight sons of Míl and their mother, the second "Scota". Irish history records that Scota, the daughter of Pharaoh of Egypt arrived in the southern part of Ireland between 4,000 and 3,500 years ago. Scota is buried on the sloped mountains in view of Tralee Bay at a place called Glenscoheen (Scota's Glenn). Scota is the progenitor of Irish and Scottish kings, a royal lineage which eventually gave birth to St. Columba of Iona.
The word Iona and the Egyptian On (Heliopolis, holy place, light), are related, as is the kind of theology practiced in both places. The age-old connections between Ireland and Egypt have been guarded for millennia. On was a word used to signify the holiness of light, and was used by the Solar-Cults of Egypt and Ireland. The place-name On is probably related to the Celtic Iona, the island seat of the Druids in Scotland. When the island was a powerful Druid center it was planted with sacred groves of yew (Ioha), and the traditions of Iona involve rebirth and reincarnation.
"The Chaldeans, had the God "Iao" as the secret name of the Mystery God, that of creation. The Hebrews adopted Iao, and transformed it into YHWH, considering him/her as a national power of salvation. "Iao, Iaho, or Yaho would mean breath of life generated or springing forth between an upright male and an egg-shaped female, principles of Nature. Thus, Ye(a)va, Jehovah, Yahweh is the Hermaphrodite Supreme Divinity of the Hebrews, being Ievo-hevah, Adam-Eve, or Yod-Heva, hence, the Demiurge, preached by the alleged Moses!"
IO is the cry of the lower as OI of the higher.
In figures they are 1001; (9) in letters they are Joy. (10)
For when all is equilibrated, when all is beheld from
without all, there is joy, joy, joy that is but one
facet of a diamond, every other facet whereof is
more joyful than joy itself. --Crowley, Dragon-flies
Another name for the island is Innis nam Druineach, meaning the Island of the Cunning Workmen, or sculptors. After the arrival of St. Columba, it was also called Icolmkill, "island of Columba of the Church." Eilean Idhe means "the isle of Iona", also known as Ì nam ban bòidheach ("the isle of beautiful women"). The title of Merlin as Seer to the King is well established in Druid tradition. The Merlins preserved the Mer-Line, the umbilical to the Mother or matriarchal line (mitochondrial DNA) -- the connection to the divine feminine and the ocean of greater consciousness. Folklore says, “You walk Merlin’s line on Iona through the Mother’s landscape body to the Mother."
Columba is one of the three patron saints of Ireland. As a young royal, he was tutored by Druids. He relinquished royal claims, chose the monastic life and finally settled the dove-shaped island sanctuary of Druid overseers in 563 AD to pursue his mission. He was essentially banished from Ireland for creatively editing the scriptures. Columba could only dream about what the Archdruid Merlins knew. Both the Druids and the monks used tonsure and performed baptisms. The local Picts considered the monastery’s bronze bells very powerful shamanic medicine, instruments of art. Columba’s monastery became a glorious center of pilgrimage. The guesthouse was always occupied. At first, access was restricted to high status pilgrims, royal and ecclesiastical visitors, or those in serious trouble. Later humble pilgrims were welcomed at the Celtic Christian monastery.
SACRED KINDRED
Columba took the Stone of Destiny to Iona as a portable altar. Opinions differ on whether it is related somehow to the Blarney Stone. This Lia Fal was called a “speaking stone” that named the king to be chosen. Columba used the holy stone, traditionally considered “Jacob’s pillow,” as a coronation chair for the consecration of Aedan as first King of Dal Riada, the proto-Scot Gaelic kingdom. Did he consult silently with the Stone before he did so? This singular act links Columba and Iona to the Pendragons and Grail legends. All are related by blood to the root dragon lineages of Central Asia.
King Aeden’s Merlin (Emrys) was his elder cousin. He is arguably the Merlin of Grail legends. According to Sir Laurence Gardner, the real King Arthur's father, King Aedan mac Gabran of Scots, became Pendragon by virtue of the fact that he was Prince Brychan's grandson. In this line Aedan's mother, Lleuan of Brecknock, was descended from Joseph of Arimathea who is the subject of much lore in the British Isles, including that of Glastonbury and its middle eastern "thorn tree". The name 'Uther Pendragon', meaning ‘terrible dragon’ was invented in the 12th century by the romancer Geoffrey of Monmouth (later Bishop of St. Asaph).
The true significance of King Arthur was his immediate joint descent in both the male and female lines of the Albi gens. His father was King Aedàn of Dalriada, the Pendragon of Britain in the year 559 - a descendant of the Wood Lord, Beli Mawr. His mother was Ygerna del Acqs, the daughter of Queen Viviane, whose grandson (by Ygerna’s sister, Viviane II) was the legendary Lancelot del Acqs. Ygerna (sometimes called Igraine in the Grail tradition) was the High Queen of the Celtic kingdoms and her daughter, Morgaine (by her first husband, Gwyr Llew of Carlisle), was High Priestess of the Sisters of Avallon. (Gardner)
St. Columba himself established the monarchs of Dal Riada. St. Columba correctly predicted Arthur, eldest son and natural heir to King Aeden would not live to succeed his father. In doing so, in answer to an inquiry from the Pendragon about his succession, St. Columbia’s prophecy fulfilled the ancient Druid role, essentially meaning that St. Columba was a recognized Merlin, himself. His human sacrifice of the monk Oran to fight off demons in the building of his monastery ratifies the theory. Columba took fighting demons as seriously as the Druids did.
Columba was exiled to the Scottish Isle of Iona. This island hosted a mixture of Druids, Culdean monks and priests. He built his monastery near a former Druid grove as a base for Christianizing Western Scotland. First he proved his might in battle with Druids that were aligned with Warlords. He dispelled their winds and brought light into a Magical Darkness.
Columba returned to Ireland on only one occasion, to render a verdict at Drimceatt when Aedh, the new Ard Righ, attempted to outlaw the Druid remnant or Filidh (the Druidic Poets). Columba's stature was such that his arguments for the poets saved their status and class from extinction. Columba was trained by a Druid and was not above using Druid magic to further his interests. In fact, he used them in overcoming the magicians of the Pictish king, Brude. The Celtic Christian saints engaged in many magical battles with various Magicians.
Columba began meditating on the Hill of the Angels -- Cnoc nan Aingeal. The Hill of Angels is adjacent to the Sithean, the Fairy Mound, the supernatural hotspot on Iona. These hills were the center of pagan rituals in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Columba's meditations there attracted the attention of angels passing in the distance who then came near and asked: “Who is this mortal who has turned his face away from the outer world to build a temple of God within his own body and soul?”
Legend says the angels would answer: “This is the Dove and Wolf of the church: Like the Dove, his eyes shine with infinite peace; and like the Wolf, he hungers and stalks. He wants to know more than priests are willing to teach. The church has already forgotten that the Truth is only found by listening to God speak from within the stillness of the heart. But Columba is not as these. He quests in search of God Himself.”Columba's meditation was so powerful, on those days when no angel came to visit him, Columba knew that he was needed elsewhere, and turned his attention to the outer world and to whomever came to visit the island.
MEN & MAGIC
Life of St. Columba: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/T201040/text001.html
Reported miracles and blessings by Columba include phenomena now called 'astral travel,' remote viewing, foretelling the future, prophecy, predictions, ESP, dreams, apparitions, visions of angels and demons, visions of Divine Light, battles of supernatural wills, and out-of-body experiences. Many of them involved distance healing, secret sins, or imminent death. Did the island of Iona amplify the exile's powers?
Today, he would be called a psychic, much like the "Edgar Cayce" of his day. Many of his 'miracles' were elemental -- involving earth, air, fire or water or driving out 'demons'. Did he turn water into wine, or was the congregation hypnotically susceptible to suggestion? Ditto for turning bitter apples into sweet. Were his blessings evoking spontaneous healing or the placebo effect? Were the visions of the pious poet bard a neurological condition? He managed to amass a great deal of power with his predictions, cures, and missionary zeal.
Much has been made of Merlin’s magic but Columba’s powers in evocational magic could have made a thousand Merlins green with envy. Columba was a poet and the Druids embraced him as a bard. In the third book of St. Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, there is an episode entitled 'Of a manifestation of angels meeting the soul of one Emchath.'
Loch Ness Monster
Columba made his way beyond the ridge of Britain (Drum-Alban), the the lake of the river Nisa (Loch Ness) and was suddenly inspired by the Holy Spirit. He called to his brethren journeying with him at the time: "Let us make haste to meet the holy angels who, that they may carry away the soul of a certain man, who is keeping the moral law of nature even to extreme old age, have been sent out from the highest regions of heaven, and are waiting until we have come thither, that we may baptize him in time before he dies." Thereafter the aged saint made as much haste as he could to go in advance of his companions, until he came to the district which is named Airchartdan (Glen Urquart).' There he found 'the holy heathen man,' Emchath by name. His account of the proto-Loch Ness monster follows:
How an aquatic monster was driven off by virtue of the blessed man's prayer: when the blessed man was living for some days in the province of the Picts, he was obliged to cross the river Nesa (the Ness); and when he reached the bank of the river, he saw some of the inhabitants burying an unfortunate man, who, according to the account of those who were burying him, was a short time before seized, as he was swimming, and bitten most severely by a monster that lived in the water; his wretched body was, though too late, taken out with a hook, by those who came to his assistance in a boat. The blessed man, on hearing this, was so far from being dismayed, that he directed one of his companions to swim over and row across the coble that was moored at the farther bank. And Lugne Mocumin hearing the command of the excellent man, obeyed without the least delay, taking off all his clothes, except his tunic, and leaping into the water.
But the monster, which, so far from being satiated, was only roused for more prey, was lying at the bottom of the stream, and when it felt the water disturbed above by the man swimming, suddenly rushed out, and, giving an awful roar, darted after him, with its mouth wide open, as the man swam in the middle of the stream. Then the blessed man observing this, raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and, invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the ferocious monster, saying, ‘Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.’ Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes, though it had just got so near to Lugne, as he swam, that there was not more than the length of a spear-staff between the man and the beast. Then the brethren seeing that the monster had gone back, and that their comrade Lugne returned to them in the boat safe and sound, were struck with admiration, and gave glory to God in the blessed man. And even the barbarous heathens, who were present, were forced by the greatness of this miracle, which they themselves had seen, to magnify the God of the Christians.
Sacred Kindred of Columba
Clearly, Columba grafted his religion on the old craft. His behavior is half-Druid magician and half Christian missionary. He tried to heal the split between the Scots and the Picts. Pict tradition was matrilinear so a system was devised for Pictish Princesses to marry Scots kings, but successors could be chosen from parallel lines of descent from sons, nephews and cousins. King Malcolm II deviated from the tradition of Druid election of successors to offer his daughter Bethoc the crown. She was married to Crinan, Irish royalty and Archpriest of the Sacred Kindred of St. Columba. The strongest hereditary claim of succession to the Scottish throne thereafter passed through Bethóc.
The only known historical candidate for the legendary Pendragon title is one Artur MacAeden, 6th century son of the Dalriadic King of Scots in Argyll, whose mother and grandmother were reputedly from British Strathclyde. This Arthur had a sister called Morgana, a nephew known as St. Kentigern, the Patron Saint of Glasgow, and some say that St. Constantine, King of Cornwall, and founder of Govan, was Arthur's uncle. We can be certain though that Arthur was distantly related to St. Columba through his father, Aeden MacGabhran, and the High Kings of Ireland. Also without doubt, is the Merlin-esque role that St. Columba played in the life of Arthur and Aeden. He chose and placed Aeden MacGabhran on the throne of Dalriada (Argyll & Ulster), and after a prophetic dream, he foretold Arthur's death.
There was only ever one Arthur born to a Pendragon - Arthur Mac Aedan of Dalriada. They "married" the land they ruled. Gardner describes how Arthur descended the Merovingian line through his mother Ygerna del Acqs. His grandmother was Viviane I, dynastic Queen of Bergundian Avallon, a Merovingian kinswoman. King Aedan was a celtic church Christian of the Sacred Kindred of St. Columba, which incorporated Druidic ritual. His sacred sister-bride in the tradition of the pharaohs, Morgaine was a Celtic Priestess, a soror mystica and holy sister of Avallon, with whom he ritually consummated the archetypal Royal Marriage, as the Egyptian royalty had done.
But alignment with the Roman church made Arthur a political and religious enemy of his own son Modred, who was Archpriest of the Sacred Kindred of Columba and an anointed Fisher King. In 608, Aedan died and was buried on Iona, similar to Arthur’s reported burial on Avalon. Is Iona the mythic Avalon? Both were entrances to the underworld. Only 6 miles of from Iona, Staffa with Fingal's Cave is the largest, most dramatic such aperture in the British Isles. The underworld of the Celts is called A-val or Avilion, the “fire of the heart.” If so, is Iona, not Glastonbury, the heart chakra of the world? Avalon was a school for Merlins, and Iona continued that tradition with a passion.
Today’s senior Stewart line claims decent from King Arthur’s father, King Aedan of Scots, on the one hand and to Prince Nascien of the Septimanian Midi on the other. The Scots descent traces further back through King Lucius of Siluria to Bran the Blessed and Joseph of Aramathea (St. James the Just), while the Midi succession stems from the Merovingians male ancestral line through the Fisher Kings to Jesus and Mary Magdalene. If the "Grail" is the sacred bloodline, it resided in Iona on multiple occasions. Its spirit never left.
The sacred Stone of Destiny remained with Iona’s monks until 843 when Viking raids caused them to move to Scone, where they used it for crowning Scottish Kings. According to an old chronicle, "no king was ever wont to reign in Scotland unless he had first, on receiving the royal name, sat upon this stone at Scone, which by the kings of old had been appointed to the capital of Alba."
In 807, the “Book of Kells” was also removed from Iona to Kells to save this luminous treasure of Celtic art from invading Vikings. Illuminated manuscripts from Iona’s scriptorium were thought to have supernatural properties. These Celtic designs were transferred to metal and stone. The Stone of Destiny was captured in 1296 by King Edward I (Long Shanks) and kept in England for 700 years. It was kept under the English throne through the coronation of Elizabeth II. It was only returned to Edinburgh in 1996 after an attempted theft. Aiden's Coronation
"How an ANGEL OF THE LORD appeared in a vision to St. Columba while he stayed in the Hinba island (Eilean-na-Naoimh), being sent to him in order that he might appoint Aidan king: ON another occasion, when this eminent man was staying in the Hinba island (Eilean-na-Naoimh), he saw, on a certain night, in a mental ecstasy, an angel sent to him from heaven, and holding in his hand a book of glass, regarding the appointment of kings. Having received the book from the hand of the angel, the venerable man, at his command, began to read it; and when he was reluctant to appoint Aidan king, as the book directed, because he had a greater affection for Iogenan his brother, the angel, suddenly stretching forth his hand, struck the saint with a scourge, the livid marks of which remained in his side all the days of his life. And he added these words: ‘Know for certain,’ said he, ‘that I am sent to thee by God with the book of glass, that in accordance with the words thou hast read therein, thou mayest inaugurate Aidan into the kingdom; but if thou refuse to obey this command, I will strike thee again.’
When therefore this angel of the Lord had appeared for three successive nights, having the same book of glass in his hand, and had repeated the same commands of the Lord regarding the appointment of the same king, the saint, in obedience to the command of the Lord, sailed across to the Iouan island (Hy, now Iona), and there ordained, as he had been commanded, Aidan to be king, who had arrived at the same time as the saint. During the words of consecration, the saint declared the future regarding the children, grandchildren and great- grandchildren of Aidan, and laying his hand upon his head, he consecrated and blessed him.
Cummene the Fair, in the book which he wrote on the virtues of St. Columba, states that St. Columba commenced his predictions regarding Aidan and his children and kingdom in the following manner: ‘Believe me, unhesitatingly, O Aidan,’ said he, ‘none of thine enemies shall be able to resist thee, unless thou first act unjustly towards me and my successors. Wherefore direct thou thy children to commend to their children, their grandchildren, and their posterity, not to let the sceptre pass out of their hands through evil counsels. For at whatever time they turn against me or my relatives who are in Hibernia, the scourge which I suffered on thy account from the angel shall bring great disgrace upon them by the hand of God, and the hearts of men shall be turned away from them, and their foes shall be greatly strengthened against them.’ Now this prophecy hath been fulfilled in our own times in the battle of Roth (Magh Rath, fought 637), in which Domnall Brecc, the grandson of Aidan, ravaged without the slightest provocation the territory of Domnall, the grandson of Ainmuire. And from that day to this they have been trodden down by strangers-a fate which pierces the heart with sighs and grief." --Life of Columba
TRIPLE DEATH
There are a number of stories in Celtic mythology that clearly are formed by the Tripartate functions of Proto-Indo-European. The theme of triple-death occurs in several places in medieval Celtic sources. The first story comes from the Life of St. Columba (Vita Columbae):
Aedh, surnamed the Black, descended of a royal family, and a Cruthinian by race. Aedh wore the clerical habit, and came with the purpose of residing with him in the monastery for some years. This Aedh the Black had been a very bloodthirsty man, and cruelly murdered many persons, amongst others Diarmuid, son of Cerbul, by divine appointment king of all. This same Aedh, then, after spending some time in his retirement, was irregularly ordained priest by a bishop invited for the purpose... The bishop, however, would not venture to lay a hand upon his head unless Findchan, who was greatly attached to Aedh, in a carnal way should first place his right hand on his head as a mark of approval. When such an ordination afterwards became known to the saint, he was deeply grieved, and in consequence forthwith pronounced this fearful sentence on the ill-fated Findchan and Aedh... And Aedh, thus irregularly ordained, shall return as a dog to his vomit, and be again a bloody murderer, until at length, pierced in the neck with a spear, he shall fall from a tree into the water and be drowned... But Aedh the Black, a priest only in name, betaking himself again to his former evil doings, and being treacherously wounded with a spear, fell from the prow of a boat into a lake and was drowned.
This story of triple-death corresponds to the elements which Evans finds in a whole host of similar stories. In all of these stories, the tripartate death is foretold. Here St. Columba foretells the triple death of Aedh. At the same time Columba's prophecy is a curse or a punishment which he dispenses to Aedh because of his sins. This leads to the next element common in many 'Triple-death' stories, the sins of the warrior. According to Dumezil, the warrior often commits a sin against each one of the functions.He is punished for each sin, with a punishment fitting for his crime. In this passage from the Life of St. Columba, three specific sins are mentioned. Aedh blasphemes by being ordained a priest outside of the Church. This is a sin against the priestly function of Indo-European society. Aedh's second sin is murder; he has killed numerous people, most notably King Diarmuid. This is a sin against the warrior function. Aedh's last sin is against the productive/fertile function in Indo-European society, he has slept with another man—an act which is by its very nature unfertile. The Tripartite death of Aedh is linked with another story of triple-death. Diarmuid, who is killed by Aedh, also dies a triple death:
When the king sent men to arrest Aedh, St. Ronan hid him and so Diarmuid had Ronan arrested and tried in his stead. He was condemned by the ecclasiastics for this act and Ronan himself uttered the famous curse, 'Desolate be Tara forever!' Soon after, Tara was abandoned, never to achieve its former splendor... [Diarmuid's wife] had an affair with Flann, so Diarmuid had Flann's fortress burnt over his head. Sorely wounded, Flann tried to escape the flames by crawling into a vat of water where he drowned... Bec Mac De [Diarmuid's druid councilor] prophesied that Diarmuid would be killed by Flann's kinsman, Aedh Dubh in the house of Banban... The manner of his death would be by slaughter, by burning, by drowning and by the ridge pole of a roof falling on his head... The Prophecy seemed so unlikely that Diarmuid scorned it, even when Banban invited him to a feast... Aedh Dubh was there and stabbed the High King with his spear. Wounded, Diarmuid fled back into the house. Aedh Dubh's men set fire to it. Seeking to escape the flame, Diarmuid scrambled into a vat of ale. A burning ridge pole fell on to his head. The prophecy was fufilled (Ellis, 84).
In this story, there is a prophecy of the threefold death before it occurs. In fact, Diarmuid's death is foretold by three different men in the original story. Diarmuid has also clearly violated two of the three functions. He sins against the sanctity of the priestly function, by trying St. Ronan. For this crime Ronan curses the throne at Tara. Diarmuid also murders Flann, a violation of the warrior function. Diarmuid is punished for his transgressions by the triple nature of his death.
Merlin
In Welsh legend, Myrddin Wylit, one of the sources for Merlin of Arthurian legend, is associated with threefold death. As a test of his skill, Merlin is asked to prophesy how a boy will die. He says the boy will fall from a rock. The same boy, with a change of clothes, is presented again, and Merlin prophesies that he will hang. Then, dressed in a girl's clothes, the boy is presented, and Merlin replies, "Woman or no, he will drown." As a young man, the victim, in a hunt, falls from a rock, is caught in a tree, and hanging head down in a lake, drowns.
Myrddin Wyllt also reportedly prophesied his own death, which would happen by falling, stabbing, and drowning. This was fulfilled when a gang of jeering shepherds drove him off a cliff, where he was impaled on a stake left by fishermen, and died with his head below water.
Arthur’s father was King Aedan of Dalriada the youngest son of King Constantine. Arthur was recognized as the King of Britain at the time his father was crowned the King of what is now Scotland. Columba ordained the two Pendragons in 575. King Constantine was the first Roman Christian monarch. Arthur was a Roman Christian as well. His mother, Igraine wanted him to make the Celtic Christian Church the Church of the Britons. Arthur’s half sister, Anna married King Loth of Lothian and had several children including Gawain and Lancelot.
Gawain, Lancelot and Arthur were all trained at a military instillation in Sweetheart which is now New Abbey across the Nith River near Dumfries. The Merlin was a mortal man as well as Arthur, Lancelot, Gawain, Constantine and King Aedan. Merlin was the title for the Seer to the King. His birth name was Emrys of Powys. He was the chief advisor for both Pendragon Kings. He was also an elder cousin of Aedan Mac Gabran. The Merlin did prophecy the future. He told King Aedan that he would be alive to see all three of his sons die in battle as the Celtic Christians fought the Roman Christians for the Head of the Island.
Arthur did have an ancestral relationship with his half-sister Morgan Le Fay that lead to the birth of a son by the name of Modred. The Celtic Church did not see this as wrong for they believe that there is a Male and a Female that makes up God. Therefore, the divine union between Morgana and Arthur was blessed. This created a whole ruler for the Celts of Britain. Morgana or Morgan Le Fey raised Modred to be the Head of the Celtic Christian Church, after Arthur proved to be a Roman Christian. Modred also had the same Roman soldier training that his father and uncles had received.
There is a misconception of Arthur being Welsh for a very good reason. During the 6th century there were two Arthurs. The one this story is based on and the second was Arthur Prince of Dyfed whom was installed by St. Dubricius in 506. This Arthur was a descendant of the Deisi leaders from Ireland that were the enemies of the Welsh. The confusion is from the Merlin connection. Merlin’s father was Aurelious of Powys. Aurelious’ wife was the sister Arthur of Dyfed. This made Merlin the nephew of Arthur of Dyfed while at the same time the cousin to Arthur Mac Gabran, the Pendragon.
The Welsh and the Scots were allies and had towns and villages of very similar names. Only with modern translations can both Arthurs be identified. King Arthur did marry Queen Gwenhwyfar of Brittany. Gwenhwyfar is know to us as Gunivere or modern translation of Jennifer. Gunivere was a Celt priestess and a Queen by her own rights. She was recorded by Columba as being a fierce fighting woman. Sir Lancelot was actually her knight before she and Arthur were married. She brought Lancelot into the Pendragon’s service. The treacherous affair between Lancelot and Gunivere was recorded by St. Columba and other scholars at the time. King Urien of Gorre made a declaration of war because he claimed Gunivere and her lands as his. King Urien actually kidnapped the Queen. Lancelot came to her rescue; that in turn led to their affair.
LAND OF LEGENDS
Iona, the primordial Dreamland is a magical burial place of over 60 Kings, including the Scots Macbeth and his victim Duncan. Known graves include 48 Scottish, 8 Norwegian, 1 French and 4 Irish kings plus numerous clan chiefs. Templar knight gravestones reveal their presence on the island. Megalithic remains suggest it was a prehistoric burial site, too. Iona is a borderland between life and death. Those buried there often arrived while still alive to prepare for their final journey. The monks essentially died while living a very solitary life. A beehive cell or single hermitage was called a ‘disert.’
An island legend tells of a lonely monk who fell in love with a mermaid. When she was banished, she shed tears that can be found today as small green tear-shaped crystals along Iona’s beaches. There are also legends about magical “green eggs,” called Druid’s Eggs or Serpent’s Eggs. Iona’s other tales include Blood Eagle tortures of monks by Vikings, Fairy Ointment, Place of the Great Crosses, human sacrifice, Earthworks, “House of the Fairies,” Culdees, and Moneymusk Reliquary -- even Atlantean priestesses. Staffa the nearest uninhabited island facing Iona displays the gaping maw of the astonishing Fingal’s Cave, the Scottish end of the Giant’s Causeway, noted for its massive basalt columns. The giant's cave was a Druid initiation chamber. Looking out from inside this extraordinary cave, Iona is framed in the entrance. Both islands form an initiatory circuit. Caves are portals to the underworld, the world of the dead.
Columba, the Celtic Saint was a wanderer. He realized he had no abiding home on earth. Many early monks left their homes as a sign of the spiritual quest - the white martyrdom. One of these monks was Saint Columba - a nobleman of one of the leading families in Ireland. With some other companions, including his cousin Beathain (Bean), he settled in the isle of I - Iona. While there he sailed up Loch Ness to negotiate with the Pictish king, Brude at Inverness. On the way he is recorded to have encountered (and tamed) the "water horse" which dwelt in Loch Ness. He baptized natives along the banks of the Ness, and eventually left his cousin in Cannich, where he is traditionally held to have founded the cell known as Kil Beathain - now Clachan Comar. Above Clachan Comar is the spring still known as St. Bean’s spring.
Other ancient stories tell of Joseph of Arimathea visiting the island to trade in tin; some include his young nephew Jesus accompanying him. Another legend says Mary Magdalene was buried in a cave on Iona and in the future a Divine Woman from the fair isle will redeem the world. Though less is known of its pagan past, much more has been written on the Christian history of Iona after Columba drove out a rival monastic order, not the indigenous Druids, as is frequently but wrongly reported. But even Iona’s Celtic Christianity must be seen in a pagan light. This was not the Roman church.
The monastics of Iona lived simple, often solitary lives. The “Black Nuns” on Iona followed the teaching of St. Augustine of Hippo, in Egypt. They wore black habits, and their church was locally called an eaglais dhubh (‘the black church’). They pursued a contemplative and cloistered life. Their first prioress was Bethoc. Gravestones demonstrate the nunnery was favored for retirement and burial for ladies of noble birth from across the western seaboard. The ninth Abbot of Iona, who wrote the hagiography of St. Columba, demonstrates the hereditary succession: Adomnán was a descendant of Colman mac Setna, a cousin of St. Columba and the ancestor, through his son Ainmire, of the kings of Cenel Conaill. He was the son of Ronan mac Tinne by Ronat, a woman from the (northern Ui Neill lineage known as the Cenél nÉnda.
Prehistoric Spirituality
Prehistoric Deluge: Meltwater Pulse 1A
Narratives are frames best read in the context of their own cultural, mythological and philosophical origins. Perspective defines how wide or narrow that view is – broad or fine strokes. The story of Iona begins in Atlantis, both a literal story of radical changes in coastal geomorphology from cyclical natural catastrophe as well as a metaphor of ancient wisdom sinking into the subconscious.
We don't have to give such a place or time a name, but simply say, "Before a near-extinction." The best known meltwater pulses is referred to as Meltwater Pulse 1A (mwp-1A), which started at around 14,200 years ago and lasted for close to 500 years. Over this short period, sea level rose approximately 20 m – or around 40 mm/y – almost 7 times the average rate.
The late Ice Age comet impact on the Laurentian Ice Sheet, melted enough ice to create the evidence of super flooding seen in the St. Lawrence, Mississippi water ways and the fresh water spike seen in the sediments on the floor of the gulf of México. This large impact event plausibly created a "Nuclear Winter". As the super flood of water entered the oceans, the sea level began to raise.
The rise in sea level, though small, was enough to lift the edges of the grounded Continental Ice Sheets which were in a precarious balance with the warming of the climate and frequent surges into the sea. It tipped the balance and caused a massive entry of glacial ice from the Laurentian Ice Sheet into the Atlantic ocean and created the 1A event of scatted stones found throughout the North Atlantic floor sediments. Stones dropped from the ice as it melted in the ocean as the huge surge of glacial ice drifted far and wide.
This wholesale entry of Glacial ice into the world oceans in the massive 1A event, raised sea level world wide in a matter of days by quite a number of feet. This sudden huge rise in sea level could have destabilized the other Ice Sheets and Glaciers which existed in Ice Age, and could have resulted in a domino chain reaction as one glacier after another slid into the sea, with each one raising the sea level higher and causing more glaciers to surge into the sea in a run away chain reaction.
In the Ice Ages, Britain was a peninsula of Europe. Doggerland was the heart of mesolithic culture. It began sinking Doggerland, the landbridge linking the British Isles with Europe, changing migratory patterns and creating pockets of isolation. Sea level began to rise before 15,000 BC as soon as the ice sheets began to recede. The most rapid phases were between 8000 BC and 5000 BC, and the general increase was effectively over by 2000 BC when it may have been one or 2 m higher than today.Mega-fauna became extinct. Freshwater disruption of the thermohaline oceanic pump led to the Younger Dryas glacial period, which subsided 6,500 years ago. A Holocene submarine landslide off Norway created a huge tsunami that finished off Doggerland, making it part of the North Sea.
Others would have witnessed the sea racing inland at the breaching of a shingle ridge or dune. Still others such as the inhabitants of what would one day become the town of Inverness in eastern Scotland faced catastrophe. Archaeologists have recovered almost 5,000 flint artifacts, bone fragments and a fireplace so far. On some day close to 7,000BC a small group of Mesolithic hunters were in a natural hollow in the dune. A few hours earlier, the massive sub-marine Storegga landslide occurred 1,000km to the north within the Arctic Ocean between Norway and Iceland.
Profiles across the scarp show the great change in the seismic character of the disturbed sediments. They become jumbled, massive and form an irregular sea-bed, and produce strongly hyperbolic immediately below the scarp. Seismic reflection profile from the Storegga Slide.
It created a huge tsunami that probably hit their beach with a height of 8m. More than 17,000 cubic kilometers of white, stony sand buried everything as far as could be seen to the north and south. The impact of this tsunami across the low-lying coast of Doggerland must have been devastating. Many km of coastline are likely to have been destroyed
within a few hours, perhaps minutes and many lives were lost.
Another catastrophe happened on the other side of Europe 3,500km away. The victims lived on the shore of the freshwater lake that would become the Black Sea. The lowlands around the lake provided flat fertile soil covered with oak woodlands in which people hunted and gathered for thousands of years. By the date of the event, however, a new people had arrived: Neolithic farmers. They had come from Turkey and settled on the rich alluvial soil; felling trees to make way for fields of wheat and barley and to provide wood for their houses, fences, and pens for cattle and goats. The Black Sea had become a lake during the Ice Age.
The settlement of Britain by early modern humans commenced before the last glacial maximum (LGM, 19–23 000 BP; Mix et al. 2001), but the ice advance during it led to the British Isles being abandoned by temperate species, including humans (Barton et al. 2003). Although a variety of scenarios have been proposed based on archaeological and genetic data, there is still debate over the nature and timing of the reoccupation of the British Isles by humans after the LGM (Oppenheimer 2006; Conneller 2007; Jacobi & Higham 2009). Likewise, linked in with these scenarios, there is much discussion on the regional impact (both biologically and culturally) of subsequent human migrations into the British Isles.
In terms of current regional distributions in the British Isles, the long-standing human occupants of the western and northern periphery are distinct culturally and genetically from those in central and eastern Britain (Davies 1999; Forster et al. 2004; Oppenheimer 2006). The cultural distinctiveness is most evident at present through the separation of the peripheral people and areas into the nations of Scotland, Ireland (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) and Wales, the dependency of the Isle of Man and the most westerly English county of Cornwall. The central and eastern areas and the people within them constitute England. The traditional languages in the peripheral areas (Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Welsh, Manx and Cornish) are closely related to each other linguistically (Forster & Toth 2003) and distinctive from English. Genetically, there are differences between people in the peripheral areas and those in England; for example, in peripheral areas there are high frequencies of individuals with the mtDNA marker J/16192 and belonging to the Y-chromosomal gene cluster R1b-14, while J/16231 and I1a occur at high frequencies in England (Forster et al. 2004; Oppenheimer 2006).
While the pattern is clear, the processes that led to that pattern remain contentious. The vernacular name for the peripheral regions and people within them is the Celtic fringe, which also includes Brittany in north-western France. This reflects a traditional scenario that Celts spread into and occupied the whole of the British Isles by 2600 BP, replacing earlier inhabitants. It is generally assumed that the Celts remained numerically dominant and geographically widespread until they were themselves partially replaced by Anglo-Saxons at approximately 1600–1200 BP, resulting in the Anglo-Saxon territory of ‘England’ and a peripheral fringe of Celtic people, which has persisted to the present day (Davies 1999). However, this scenario is controversial among historians and human geneticists and, while supported by some, alternative scenarios involve, for example, greater persistence of pre-Celtic people, and cultural spread rather than population replacement by the Anglo-Saxons (Davies 1999; Burmeister 2000; Weale et al. 2002; Capelli et al. 2003; Oppenheimer 2006). Therefore, interpretation of the human pattern may need to take into account the aspects of human migration leading all the way back to the recolonization of the British Isles after the LGM.
The Human Effects
With the fall of "Atlantis", the collective psyche of humankind began to degenerate. The esoteric map of Atlantis is a map of transformation. Deep within there is an Atlantis of the soul, from which we yearn to recover what we sense has been lost – our potential for transcendence. But it is ‘transparency’ that makes us seers by allowing us to see through the veil of history and legend. Rather than answers, we might only find better questions. Very little informs us of who lived in Scotland from 10,000 B.C. until the Megalithic Age, roughly 3500 B.C. to 1500 B.C. Perhaps some of the earliest ancestors were refugees from the Atlantean Deluge.
The primordial solar church existed in proto-Ireland before the historically known "Druids." The Megalithic Irish (or Arish) were known as the Hyperboreans, which implied not only that they inhabited Northern climes but that they were the descendants of the pre-diluvian inhabitants of Atlantis, before the cataclysms that devastated the lands of the North-West.
During the so-called "Age of Catastrophe," titanic cataclysms (following on from those that destroyed Atlantis) displaced the original inhabitants of Britain, who were forced to flee to the Continent across land-bridges now lost beneath the waves and known as Doggerland. The lost ground is a vast plain that joined Britain to Europe for nearly 12,000 years, until sea levels began rising dramatically after the last Ice Age. Taking its name from a prominent shipping hazard—Dogger Bank—this immense land bridge vanished beneath the North Sea around 6,000 B.C.
Evidence suggests early migrations from the West to the East, preceding a return of the Scythian Druid kings. The Black Sea princes settled in Ireland about 800 BC. Arguably, it was the former who transmitted the elements of civilization to the world at large, before the return waves of Celtic-Scythian "Druids". Anciently, they were one. But the Royal Scyths were masters of transcendent consciousness, called Sidhe (pronounced “Shee”), which colloquially means fairy or elf, but translates as ‘powers’. Many religious symbols were first employed by the Druid elders of the West, from the "Land of the Pure or Noble Ones." The high priests of Ireland were commonly known as Druids.
The ancient priests were hereditary serpent kings who founded mystery schools. The Druids held the symbols of the serpent and the dragon in the highest esteem and considered them insignias of royalty. They referred to themselves as Naddreds, meaning "Wise Serpents” -- those initiated into the highest mysteries, that possessed healing abilities and great knowledge of architecture, astronomy and astrology. The Druid's pre-diluvian theology was based on the observance and veneration of the stars, of the sun, the moon, and the zodiac. From its inception, Druidry was a stellar religion. It is linked to the words for 'door' or portal and 'bringer of truth.’
West to East Celtic expansion - http://www.enter.net/~torve/trogholm/wonder/indoeuropean/indoeuropean3.html
DRAGON AGE
These "enlighteners" were fully aware of the 26,000-year cycle of Precession of the Equinoxes. When their line arose, the star Thuban in the constellation Draco was the pole star. They were a hereditary caste of seers, philosophers, political advisors, priests, natural scientists, historians, doctors of medicine, judges, poets, royal advisors, musicians, geometers, orators, navigators, and magicians. The Bards sang oracular songs. They preserved 'knowledge' or gnosis. The solar deity of Beltane was known as Bel, Beli, Belanus, celebrated with vast bonfires. Iona still echoes symbols of the ancient solar cult on Easter, displaying an altar cloth showing the reborn rising sun.
Druidry recognizes eight markers in the shamanic Solar cycle. Winter Solstice, called Alban Arthan [the Light of Arthur] is the time of death and rebirth. The sun appears to be abandoning us completely as the longest night arrives; it stops in its tracks. Our own inner journey is linked to the yearly cycle, in which whatever impedes the appearance of light or holds us back must be cast away. As one lamp is lit from a flint and raised up on the Druid's crook in the East, the year is reborn and a new cycle begins.
The dynamic between body and soul is revealed in the Druid natural philosophy of reincarnation, not in immediate rebirth but in reincorporation of the spirit into a new body after a length of time. Transmigration is symbolized by the serpent that sheds its skin. Funeral pyres were considered portals through which one could send “letters” to the dead. Memories arise with no known reality. Old patterns die so that new psychic patterns are born through the void’s grace. Iona gives us the grace to breathe that void. Empty space is Iona’s central metaphor, informing the vacuum. We become containers for the ceaseless flow of images. Second sight means to “know again.” We re-cognize our own images. We embody the idea of ancient hidden knowledge being carried through to our own time.
From the light of Albion, the light of consciousness radiates out to the world. Some legends mirror the solar cycle, claiming Jesus and Mary Magdalene were on Iona, where she gave birth to His son, John Martinus. We can assume a spiritual significance for the association that implies a family lineage, a holy bloodline older than Jesus. Does Mary Magdalene lie buried in a hidden cave on Iona? She was worshipped there as the Holy (Saint) Bride, “Mary of the Gael.” The children and descendants of early Celtic saints, both male and female, belonged to the old British royal lineages. Does the Martin’s Cross on Iona, with its solar circle, encode such memories for those who can read them?
The Winter Solstice, Alban Arthan, represents a time to open to inspiration and conception. All about us is darkness. Our only guide is Arthur, the Great Bear, the Pole Star (or the Southern Cross in the Southern hemisphere). Intuition is born in the stillness of night. This is the mystery of the rebirth of the inner light within us. The Winter Solstice is the time when the seed of Light, represented both by the one light raised on high and by the white mistletoe berries, comes down from the inspired realms and incarnates in the womb of the night and of the Earth Mother.
This is a potent time to open ourselves to the fertilizing power of the divine, which gives birth to our creativity. The Druid’s yew tree, Ioha, is a symbol of immortality. Great yew trees can be 2-4,000 years old whereas Iona’s churches are far newer. The yews came first, planted on sacred sites of the Druids. Regardless of their symbolic names, the elements of light, consciousness and rebirth are woven and rewoven.
Narratives are frames best read in the context of their own cultural, mythological and philosophical origins. Perspective defines how wide or narrow that view is – broad or fine strokes. The story of Iona begins in Atlantis, both a literal story of radical changes in coastal geomorphology from cyclical natural catastrophe as well as a metaphor of ancient wisdom sinking into the subconscious.
We don't have to give such a place or time a name, but simply say, "Before a near-extinction." The best known meltwater pulses is referred to as Meltwater Pulse 1A (mwp-1A), which started at around 14,200 years ago and lasted for close to 500 years. Over this short period, sea level rose approximately 20 m – or around 40 mm/y – almost 7 times the average rate.
The late Ice Age comet impact on the Laurentian Ice Sheet, melted enough ice to create the evidence of super flooding seen in the St. Lawrence, Mississippi water ways and the fresh water spike seen in the sediments on the floor of the gulf of México. This large impact event plausibly created a "Nuclear Winter". As the super flood of water entered the oceans, the sea level began to raise.
The rise in sea level, though small, was enough to lift the edges of the grounded Continental Ice Sheets which were in a precarious balance with the warming of the climate and frequent surges into the sea. It tipped the balance and caused a massive entry of glacial ice from the Laurentian Ice Sheet into the Atlantic ocean and created the 1A event of scatted stones found throughout the North Atlantic floor sediments. Stones dropped from the ice as it melted in the ocean as the huge surge of glacial ice drifted far and wide.
This wholesale entry of Glacial ice into the world oceans in the massive 1A event, raised sea level world wide in a matter of days by quite a number of feet. This sudden huge rise in sea level could have destabilized the other Ice Sheets and Glaciers which existed in Ice Age, and could have resulted in a domino chain reaction as one glacier after another slid into the sea, with each one raising the sea level higher and causing more glaciers to surge into the sea in a run away chain reaction.
In the Ice Ages, Britain was a peninsula of Europe. Doggerland was the heart of mesolithic culture. It began sinking Doggerland, the landbridge linking the British Isles with Europe, changing migratory patterns and creating pockets of isolation. Sea level began to rise before 15,000 BC as soon as the ice sheets began to recede. The most rapid phases were between 8000 BC and 5000 BC, and the general increase was effectively over by 2000 BC when it may have been one or 2 m higher than today.Mega-fauna became extinct. Freshwater disruption of the thermohaline oceanic pump led to the Younger Dryas glacial period, which subsided 6,500 years ago. A Holocene submarine landslide off Norway created a huge tsunami that finished off Doggerland, making it part of the North Sea.
Others would have witnessed the sea racing inland at the breaching of a shingle ridge or dune. Still others such as the inhabitants of what would one day become the town of Inverness in eastern Scotland faced catastrophe. Archaeologists have recovered almost 5,000 flint artifacts, bone fragments and a fireplace so far. On some day close to 7,000BC a small group of Mesolithic hunters were in a natural hollow in the dune. A few hours earlier, the massive sub-marine Storegga landslide occurred 1,000km to the north within the Arctic Ocean between Norway and Iceland.
Profiles across the scarp show the great change in the seismic character of the disturbed sediments. They become jumbled, massive and form an irregular sea-bed, and produce strongly hyperbolic immediately below the scarp. Seismic reflection profile from the Storegga Slide.
It created a huge tsunami that probably hit their beach with a height of 8m. More than 17,000 cubic kilometers of white, stony sand buried everything as far as could be seen to the north and south. The impact of this tsunami across the low-lying coast of Doggerland must have been devastating. Many km of coastline are likely to have been destroyed
within a few hours, perhaps minutes and many lives were lost.
Another catastrophe happened on the other side of Europe 3,500km away. The victims lived on the shore of the freshwater lake that would become the Black Sea. The lowlands around the lake provided flat fertile soil covered with oak woodlands in which people hunted and gathered for thousands of years. By the date of the event, however, a new people had arrived: Neolithic farmers. They had come from Turkey and settled on the rich alluvial soil; felling trees to make way for fields of wheat and barley and to provide wood for their houses, fences, and pens for cattle and goats. The Black Sea had become a lake during the Ice Age.
The settlement of Britain by early modern humans commenced before the last glacial maximum (LGM, 19–23 000 BP; Mix et al. 2001), but the ice advance during it led to the British Isles being abandoned by temperate species, including humans (Barton et al. 2003). Although a variety of scenarios have been proposed based on archaeological and genetic data, there is still debate over the nature and timing of the reoccupation of the British Isles by humans after the LGM (Oppenheimer 2006; Conneller 2007; Jacobi & Higham 2009). Likewise, linked in with these scenarios, there is much discussion on the regional impact (both biologically and culturally) of subsequent human migrations into the British Isles.
In terms of current regional distributions in the British Isles, the long-standing human occupants of the western and northern periphery are distinct culturally and genetically from those in central and eastern Britain (Davies 1999; Forster et al. 2004; Oppenheimer 2006). The cultural distinctiveness is most evident at present through the separation of the peripheral people and areas into the nations of Scotland, Ireland (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) and Wales, the dependency of the Isle of Man and the most westerly English county of Cornwall. The central and eastern areas and the people within them constitute England. The traditional languages in the peripheral areas (Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Welsh, Manx and Cornish) are closely related to each other linguistically (Forster & Toth 2003) and distinctive from English. Genetically, there are differences between people in the peripheral areas and those in England; for example, in peripheral areas there are high frequencies of individuals with the mtDNA marker J/16192 and belonging to the Y-chromosomal gene cluster R1b-14, while J/16231 and I1a occur at high frequencies in England (Forster et al. 2004; Oppenheimer 2006).
While the pattern is clear, the processes that led to that pattern remain contentious. The vernacular name for the peripheral regions and people within them is the Celtic fringe, which also includes Brittany in north-western France. This reflects a traditional scenario that Celts spread into and occupied the whole of the British Isles by 2600 BP, replacing earlier inhabitants. It is generally assumed that the Celts remained numerically dominant and geographically widespread until they were themselves partially replaced by Anglo-Saxons at approximately 1600–1200 BP, resulting in the Anglo-Saxon territory of ‘England’ and a peripheral fringe of Celtic people, which has persisted to the present day (Davies 1999). However, this scenario is controversial among historians and human geneticists and, while supported by some, alternative scenarios involve, for example, greater persistence of pre-Celtic people, and cultural spread rather than population replacement by the Anglo-Saxons (Davies 1999; Burmeister 2000; Weale et al. 2002; Capelli et al. 2003; Oppenheimer 2006). Therefore, interpretation of the human pattern may need to take into account the aspects of human migration leading all the way back to the recolonization of the British Isles after the LGM.
The Human Effects
With the fall of "Atlantis", the collective psyche of humankind began to degenerate. The esoteric map of Atlantis is a map of transformation. Deep within there is an Atlantis of the soul, from which we yearn to recover what we sense has been lost – our potential for transcendence. But it is ‘transparency’ that makes us seers by allowing us to see through the veil of history and legend. Rather than answers, we might only find better questions. Very little informs us of who lived in Scotland from 10,000 B.C. until the Megalithic Age, roughly 3500 B.C. to 1500 B.C. Perhaps some of the earliest ancestors were refugees from the Atlantean Deluge.
The primordial solar church existed in proto-Ireland before the historically known "Druids." The Megalithic Irish (or Arish) were known as the Hyperboreans, which implied not only that they inhabited Northern climes but that they were the descendants of the pre-diluvian inhabitants of Atlantis, before the cataclysms that devastated the lands of the North-West.
During the so-called "Age of Catastrophe," titanic cataclysms (following on from those that destroyed Atlantis) displaced the original inhabitants of Britain, who were forced to flee to the Continent across land-bridges now lost beneath the waves and known as Doggerland. The lost ground is a vast plain that joined Britain to Europe for nearly 12,000 years, until sea levels began rising dramatically after the last Ice Age. Taking its name from a prominent shipping hazard—Dogger Bank—this immense land bridge vanished beneath the North Sea around 6,000 B.C.
Evidence suggests early migrations from the West to the East, preceding a return of the Scythian Druid kings. The Black Sea princes settled in Ireland about 800 BC. Arguably, it was the former who transmitted the elements of civilization to the world at large, before the return waves of Celtic-Scythian "Druids". Anciently, they were one. But the Royal Scyths were masters of transcendent consciousness, called Sidhe (pronounced “Shee”), which colloquially means fairy or elf, but translates as ‘powers’. Many religious symbols were first employed by the Druid elders of the West, from the "Land of the Pure or Noble Ones." The high priests of Ireland were commonly known as Druids.
The ancient priests were hereditary serpent kings who founded mystery schools. The Druids held the symbols of the serpent and the dragon in the highest esteem and considered them insignias of royalty. They referred to themselves as Naddreds, meaning "Wise Serpents” -- those initiated into the highest mysteries, that possessed healing abilities and great knowledge of architecture, astronomy and astrology. The Druid's pre-diluvian theology was based on the observance and veneration of the stars, of the sun, the moon, and the zodiac. From its inception, Druidry was a stellar religion. It is linked to the words for 'door' or portal and 'bringer of truth.’
West to East Celtic expansion - http://www.enter.net/~torve/trogholm/wonder/indoeuropean/indoeuropean3.html
DRAGON AGE
These "enlighteners" were fully aware of the 26,000-year cycle of Precession of the Equinoxes. When their line arose, the star Thuban in the constellation Draco was the pole star. They were a hereditary caste of seers, philosophers, political advisors, priests, natural scientists, historians, doctors of medicine, judges, poets, royal advisors, musicians, geometers, orators, navigators, and magicians. The Bards sang oracular songs. They preserved 'knowledge' or gnosis. The solar deity of Beltane was known as Bel, Beli, Belanus, celebrated with vast bonfires. Iona still echoes symbols of the ancient solar cult on Easter, displaying an altar cloth showing the reborn rising sun.
Druidry recognizes eight markers in the shamanic Solar cycle. Winter Solstice, called Alban Arthan [the Light of Arthur] is the time of death and rebirth. The sun appears to be abandoning us completely as the longest night arrives; it stops in its tracks. Our own inner journey is linked to the yearly cycle, in which whatever impedes the appearance of light or holds us back must be cast away. As one lamp is lit from a flint and raised up on the Druid's crook in the East, the year is reborn and a new cycle begins.
The dynamic between body and soul is revealed in the Druid natural philosophy of reincarnation, not in immediate rebirth but in reincorporation of the spirit into a new body after a length of time. Transmigration is symbolized by the serpent that sheds its skin. Funeral pyres were considered portals through which one could send “letters” to the dead. Memories arise with no known reality. Old patterns die so that new psychic patterns are born through the void’s grace. Iona gives us the grace to breathe that void. Empty space is Iona’s central metaphor, informing the vacuum. We become containers for the ceaseless flow of images. Second sight means to “know again.” We re-cognize our own images. We embody the idea of ancient hidden knowledge being carried through to our own time.
From the light of Albion, the light of consciousness radiates out to the world. Some legends mirror the solar cycle, claiming Jesus and Mary Magdalene were on Iona, where she gave birth to His son, John Martinus. We can assume a spiritual significance for the association that implies a family lineage, a holy bloodline older than Jesus. Does Mary Magdalene lie buried in a hidden cave on Iona? She was worshipped there as the Holy (Saint) Bride, “Mary of the Gael.” The children and descendants of early Celtic saints, both male and female, belonged to the old British royal lineages. Does the Martin’s Cross on Iona, with its solar circle, encode such memories for those who can read them?
The Winter Solstice, Alban Arthan, represents a time to open to inspiration and conception. All about us is darkness. Our only guide is Arthur, the Great Bear, the Pole Star (or the Southern Cross in the Southern hemisphere). Intuition is born in the stillness of night. This is the mystery of the rebirth of the inner light within us. The Winter Solstice is the time when the seed of Light, represented both by the one light raised on high and by the white mistletoe berries, comes down from the inspired realms and incarnates in the womb of the night and of the Earth Mother.
This is a potent time to open ourselves to the fertilizing power of the divine, which gives birth to our creativity. The Druid’s yew tree, Ioha, is a symbol of immortality. Great yew trees can be 2-4,000 years old whereas Iona’s churches are far newer. The yews came first, planted on sacred sites of the Druids. Regardless of their symbolic names, the elements of light, consciousness and rebirth are woven and rewoven.
Atlantis: Lost & Found
The myths of lost Atlantis are Egyptian. The oldest known
example of archeoastronomy with stone circles (Nabta Playa, Nubian
Desert) is in pre-sand Egypt, dated to the fifth Millennium BC. – 2000
years before Stonehenge. This temple of the stars demonstrates the sky
‘moves’ in a predictable long-term cycle. An alignment with Sirius in
6088 BC and other alignments dated to 6270 suggest an estimated date
1500 years earlier. The site was used as a necropolis in the Saharan wet
period of pre-history, roughly 11,000 – 5,000 years ago when the playa
bloomed. The area became arid 4,800 years ago when the monsoon
returned to the equator. Egyptian culture moved to the Nile Valley.
The circle of Precession is called the “circle of Sidi” or Circle of Seven, which is also a name for Stonehenge. The Welsh name for Zodiac or ecliptic is ‘Sidydd.’ ‘Sidi’ is the Arabic honorific, ‘Lord,’ ‘master,’ or ‘saint.’ It refers to the seven (periods of) the pole stars. Seven shifting positions are also the model for the stellar crown of seven stones. Over the cycle of Precession constellations have “sunk” below the horizon in the Abyss of the heavens.
In the Dragon lineage the astronomical mythos came down to Earth as seers and overlords – the Siddhe, who described how to live in harmony with nature within the divine scheme of things. Galactic alignment of Earth with the core of the Milky Way is the long lost zero point of the precessional cycle. Precession defines the Great Year of circulation about the signs of the Zodiac. There is some evidence the Druids even placed a taboo on their people against speaking the names of the sacred planets, mandating euphemisms, such as ‘brightness’ for the Moon.
There were three cataclysms, or major geologic changes, in Earth's recent history. The first, around 20,200 BC, was declared as the starting point for reasons which are not clear and by people now unknown. The glaciers started to melt. A second geologic change occurred around 12,200 BC. There, again, was a sudden warming, causing more glaciers to melt. Many people died.
A third geologic change occurred around 8100 BC. This marked the end of the ice age with a climactic optimum. There was a sudden rise in sea level, drowning many coastal cities, many mammals became extinct, and most of the world's population died. Britain lost her solid connection with the mainland when lower lying Doggerland finally disappeared beneath the waves, severing her from the continent. These epic disasters came down as legends of pre-diluvial Atlantis and sent surviving megalithic inhabitants on nomadic treks across Europe, the Middle East, toward China and India and back again via Gaul, Egypt and Spain.
Egyptian beliefs were in Druid practice, but Egypt was originally a colony of Atlantis, the true source of the Druids.Although the Scythians of later ages were originally affiliated with the Megalithic Arya, some of their number became spiritually and morally corrupt. Today, a few mainstream historians and archeologists hesitatingly accept that Western "Celts" (sic) had settlements in the Middle and Far East. This is because these migrations were relatively late, historically speaking. They date from approximately 600 BC onward. The Hyksos/Atonists were originally Scythians from the West who migrated through Egypt.
The Ouroboros that bites its own tail can be traced back to ancient Egypt, circa 1,600 BCE. Also the serpent entwined around the (serpent's) egg, was a symbol common to the Egyptians and the Druids. It referred to the creation of the Universe, Precession and the Milky Way. The World egg also known as the Serpent’s Egg, or the Druid’s Egg is a potent symbol of the union of masculine and feminine. It depicts the creation of the World from these two aspects of divinity and reminds us that we contain both male and female within.
Survivors of drowned islands knew the nature of cataclysm. Arguably, according to de Vere's research, the Atlanteans were antediluvian Dragon gods of ancient proto-Scythia driven from their homeland by the Black Sea flood, now scientifically dated to 6,900 years ago when vast ice sheets melted inundating their freshwater lake with seawater. This led to mass migrations as the climate re-adjusted. Modern research suggests migrations went both ways many times and cultures mixed, even while the royal bloodline persisted.
Legend says, "One group consisting of seven males, three females and one child, established an Atlantean colony on Iona. They built a small library for ancient sacred works. Around the library which they called their ‘heart seed', they built a strong, almost fortress like Temple." They called Iona Aberuk, or "distant place of the heart'." It is said the Hyperboreans called it Luma or "bright land." The priestesses on Iona called themselves the Priestesses of Ank, or ‘sacred well of life'. Ank is strongly suggestive of the Egyptian Ankh, symbol of life. Ionian priestesses were the basis for the Celtic legends concerning sanctuaries of ‘Lady of the Lake' type anima women who regenerate the male psyche and often his physical form as well.
Descriptions of activities on Iona throughout history echo Egyptian forebearers. The Egyptians had several classes of priesthood, but the Sesh-Per-Ankh were the scribes of the House of Life. These, too, were frequently associated with magical knowledge because of their connection with the sacred texts. The scribes worked largely within the Per-Ankh copying temple texts. They were considered to be very wise and scholarly. The scribes were also considered healers, possessing medical knowledge. French Egyptologist, Dr. Serge Sauneron describes the activities of the scribes in the Per-Ankh:
"The main activities in the house of life consisted in preparing the religious works necessary to the cult, in recopying the old manuscripts, in correcting errors, in completing the gaps and passages short of lines; they developed the texts of theology or of liturgy particular to each temple; they prepared the magic books of protection, the astronomical tables; they recopied a thousand times, versions of the Book of the Dead; they discussed with ardor, between copying sessions, philosophical and religious problems, without neglecting medicine and literary activities . . . For everything was not just mechanical copying, in these studies; sometimes an original text, sometimes a theosophical exposition would be drawn up following meditation or the exchange of fruitful views . . . Some of the finest spiritual or ethical texts we possess were stimulated by the reflections and convictions of some obscure scribe whose name will never be known to us . . ." (Sauneron 1960.136)
The migrations of Atlantis, Egypt, Scythia, Ireland, Scotland and Iona bring us full circle in the Celtic cycle. We’ve seen the Cosmos in a fractal grain of Iona’s sand. On Iona, the sANKHtuary, every stone could be a Philosopher’s Stone. The vision of the reborn spirit within us is that of “heaven spread upon Earth.”
The circle of Precession is called the “circle of Sidi” or Circle of Seven, which is also a name for Stonehenge. The Welsh name for Zodiac or ecliptic is ‘Sidydd.’ ‘Sidi’ is the Arabic honorific, ‘Lord,’ ‘master,’ or ‘saint.’ It refers to the seven (periods of) the pole stars. Seven shifting positions are also the model for the stellar crown of seven stones. Over the cycle of Precession constellations have “sunk” below the horizon in the Abyss of the heavens.
In the Dragon lineage the astronomical mythos came down to Earth as seers and overlords – the Siddhe, who described how to live in harmony with nature within the divine scheme of things. Galactic alignment of Earth with the core of the Milky Way is the long lost zero point of the precessional cycle. Precession defines the Great Year of circulation about the signs of the Zodiac. There is some evidence the Druids even placed a taboo on their people against speaking the names of the sacred planets, mandating euphemisms, such as ‘brightness’ for the Moon.
There were three cataclysms, or major geologic changes, in Earth's recent history. The first, around 20,200 BC, was declared as the starting point for reasons which are not clear and by people now unknown. The glaciers started to melt. A second geologic change occurred around 12,200 BC. There, again, was a sudden warming, causing more glaciers to melt. Many people died.
A third geologic change occurred around 8100 BC. This marked the end of the ice age with a climactic optimum. There was a sudden rise in sea level, drowning many coastal cities, many mammals became extinct, and most of the world's population died. Britain lost her solid connection with the mainland when lower lying Doggerland finally disappeared beneath the waves, severing her from the continent. These epic disasters came down as legends of pre-diluvial Atlantis and sent surviving megalithic inhabitants on nomadic treks across Europe, the Middle East, toward China and India and back again via Gaul, Egypt and Spain.
Egyptian beliefs were in Druid practice, but Egypt was originally a colony of Atlantis, the true source of the Druids.Although the Scythians of later ages were originally affiliated with the Megalithic Arya, some of their number became spiritually and morally corrupt. Today, a few mainstream historians and archeologists hesitatingly accept that Western "Celts" (sic) had settlements in the Middle and Far East. This is because these migrations were relatively late, historically speaking. They date from approximately 600 BC onward. The Hyksos/Atonists were originally Scythians from the West who migrated through Egypt.
The Ouroboros that bites its own tail can be traced back to ancient Egypt, circa 1,600 BCE. Also the serpent entwined around the (serpent's) egg, was a symbol common to the Egyptians and the Druids. It referred to the creation of the Universe, Precession and the Milky Way. The World egg also known as the Serpent’s Egg, or the Druid’s Egg is a potent symbol of the union of masculine and feminine. It depicts the creation of the World from these two aspects of divinity and reminds us that we contain both male and female within.
Survivors of drowned islands knew the nature of cataclysm. Arguably, according to de Vere's research, the Atlanteans were antediluvian Dragon gods of ancient proto-Scythia driven from their homeland by the Black Sea flood, now scientifically dated to 6,900 years ago when vast ice sheets melted inundating their freshwater lake with seawater. This led to mass migrations as the climate re-adjusted. Modern research suggests migrations went both ways many times and cultures mixed, even while the royal bloodline persisted.
Legend says, "One group consisting of seven males, three females and one child, established an Atlantean colony on Iona. They built a small library for ancient sacred works. Around the library which they called their ‘heart seed', they built a strong, almost fortress like Temple." They called Iona Aberuk, or "distant place of the heart'." It is said the Hyperboreans called it Luma or "bright land." The priestesses on Iona called themselves the Priestesses of Ank, or ‘sacred well of life'. Ank is strongly suggestive of the Egyptian Ankh, symbol of life. Ionian priestesses were the basis for the Celtic legends concerning sanctuaries of ‘Lady of the Lake' type anima women who regenerate the male psyche and often his physical form as well.
Descriptions of activities on Iona throughout history echo Egyptian forebearers. The Egyptians had several classes of priesthood, but the Sesh-Per-Ankh were the scribes of the House of Life. These, too, were frequently associated with magical knowledge because of their connection with the sacred texts. The scribes worked largely within the Per-Ankh copying temple texts. They were considered to be very wise and scholarly. The scribes were also considered healers, possessing medical knowledge. French Egyptologist, Dr. Serge Sauneron describes the activities of the scribes in the Per-Ankh:
"The main activities in the house of life consisted in preparing the religious works necessary to the cult, in recopying the old manuscripts, in correcting errors, in completing the gaps and passages short of lines; they developed the texts of theology or of liturgy particular to each temple; they prepared the magic books of protection, the astronomical tables; they recopied a thousand times, versions of the Book of the Dead; they discussed with ardor, between copying sessions, philosophical and religious problems, without neglecting medicine and literary activities . . . For everything was not just mechanical copying, in these studies; sometimes an original text, sometimes a theosophical exposition would be drawn up following meditation or the exchange of fruitful views . . . Some of the finest spiritual or ethical texts we possess were stimulated by the reflections and convictions of some obscure scribe whose name will never be known to us . . ." (Sauneron 1960.136)
The migrations of Atlantis, Egypt, Scythia, Ireland, Scotland and Iona bring us full circle in the Celtic cycle. We’ve seen the Cosmos in a fractal grain of Iona’s sand. On Iona, the sANKHtuary, every stone could be a Philosopher’s Stone. The vision of the reborn spirit within us is that of “heaven spread upon Earth.”
REFERENCES
de Vere, Nicholas (1985-2004), The Dragon Legacy, San Diego, California; The Book Tree.
de Vere, Nicholas, (2005-2010), The Dragon Cede, San Diego, California; The Book Tree.
Dunford, Barry, “Iona, Sacred Isle of the West,” http://www.sacredconnections.co.uk/holyland/iona.htm
Dunford, Barry, “The Mystery of the Mother Church,” http://www.sacredconnections.co.uk/holyland/motherchurch.htm
Ellis, Peter Berresford, A Brief History of the Druids http://books.google.com/books?id=PIXAREdVI_QC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Gardner, Laurence (2003), “Realm of the Ring Lords,” Nexus Magazine.
Gardner, Laurence (2002), Bloodline of the Holy Grail, Fair Winds Press; Rev Exp edition.
Menzies, Lucy (1920), Saint Columba of Iona.
Miller, Iona (2010), “Iona Mystic Isle.” http://ionamiller.weebly.com/iona-mystic-island.html
Sauneron, Serge (1957-2000), The Priests of Ancient Egypt,” Cornell University.
Tsarion, Michael (2007), Irish Origins of Civilization, Taroscopes: http://www.irishoriginsofcivilization.com/irishoriginsexcerpts/book1_chap1.html
©2010 Iona Miller is a nonfiction writer for the academic and popular press, hypnotherapist (ACHE) and multimedia artist. She has pursued a lifelong interest in esoterics and mysticism. Her conspirituality work is an omni-sensory fusion of intelligence, science-art, new physics and emergent paradigm shift, melding many social issues into a new view of society. She is interested in the effects of doctrines from religion, science, psychology, and the arts. Website: http://ionamiller.weebly.com
de Vere, Nicholas (1985-2004), The Dragon Legacy, San Diego, California; The Book Tree.
de Vere, Nicholas, (2005-2010), The Dragon Cede, San Diego, California; The Book Tree.
Dunford, Barry, “Iona, Sacred Isle of the West,” http://www.sacredconnections.co.uk/holyland/iona.htm
Dunford, Barry, “The Mystery of the Mother Church,” http://www.sacredconnections.co.uk/holyland/motherchurch.htm
Ellis, Peter Berresford, A Brief History of the Druids http://books.google.com/books?id=PIXAREdVI_QC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Gardner, Laurence (2003), “Realm of the Ring Lords,” Nexus Magazine.
Gardner, Laurence (2002), Bloodline of the Holy Grail, Fair Winds Press; Rev Exp edition.
- Bloodline of The Holy Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed (1996) (ISBN 1852308702)
- Genesis of the Grail Kings: The Astonishing Story of the Ancient Bloodline of Christ and the True Heritage of the Holy Grail (1999) (ISBN 0553817744)
- Illustrated Bloodline of the Holy Grail (2000) (ISBN 1862047707)
- Realm of The Ring Lords: The Ancient Legacy of the Ring and the Grail (2003) (ISBN 1931412146)
- Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark: Amazing Revelations of the Incredible Power of Gold (2004) (ISBN 0007142951)
- The Magdalene Legacy: The Jesus and Mary Bloodline Conspiracy (2005) (ISBN 0007200854)
- The Shadow of Solomon: The Lost Secret of the Freemasons Revealed (2005) (ISBN 1578634040)
- The Grail Enigma: The Hidden Heirs of Jesus and Mary Magdalene (2008) (ISBN 0007266944)
Menzies, Lucy (1920), Saint Columba of Iona.
Miller, Iona (2010), “Iona Mystic Isle.” http://ionamiller.weebly.com/iona-mystic-island.html
Sauneron, Serge (1957-2000), The Priests of Ancient Egypt,” Cornell University.
Tsarion, Michael (2007), Irish Origins of Civilization, Taroscopes: http://www.irishoriginsofcivilization.com/irishoriginsexcerpts/book1_chap1.html
©2010 Iona Miller is a nonfiction writer for the academic and popular press, hypnotherapist (ACHE) and multimedia artist. She has pursued a lifelong interest in esoterics and mysticism. Her conspirituality work is an omni-sensory fusion of intelligence, science-art, new physics and emergent paradigm shift, melding many social issues into a new view of society. She is interested in the effects of doctrines from religion, science, psychology, and the arts. Website: http://ionamiller.weebly.com
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All Rights Reserved for Original Multimedia, Graphic & Written Content.
[email protected]
For Educational Purposes Only.
Materials mirrored here under "Fair Use" for Educational Purposes Only.
Fair Use Notice
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
