Day out, no house, reading, dreams and research
Portions of this I started writing late last night and mark with a divider of (***) where I started writing later today. But before I continue with this I wanted to note a few things . . .
The raffle for the house was today . . . we did not win it, but we are filled with a very profound feeling of things progressing and of that which is right for us will soon present it self. For myself, the feeling that the transition to my father-in-laws house come late spring or early summer is just that - a transition point. We just need to be free of where we are in order to prepare for the next phase and ‘dad’s house’ will provide the transitional point we need. Both Garth and I had a very strong feeling that we were moving forward, that things will be fine and what is ‘right’ for us is soon on the way. Nice that were are on the same page here.
Second - we had an amazing day out at the ‘Headlands’ in Marin, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The day was fairly warm, the beach was relaxing and from a few points along the way we found we were being circled by Ravens that were coming in close to have a gander at us. I was able to get a few photos which I still need to download and will post tomorrow.
So here is what I started with writing last night:
Very curious - I just got into reading “The Star Temple of Avalon” which I have had since I got the “Gwyn” book as I ordered them together . . . but oddly enough I had set it aside after reading the “Gwyn” book and decided to read “Polarity Magic” first, with the interrupted reading of “The Shamanic Way of the Bees” at right about the middle of “Polarity Magic”, which was then finished (with some difficulty) - all of these seemed to link nicely together - and here I am now reading the “Star Temple of Avalon” and it is as if I needed to read the others before taking this one on! Because of the previous readings, I am very familiar with several of the discussions going on in the Star Temple book at this point! BTW - you can buy the “Gwyn: Ancient God of Glastonbury and Key to the Glastonbury Zodiac” and “The Star Temple of Avalon” from the publisher on ebay at: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZabracadabra23oo
Interestingly enough, as should be expected when dealing with issues related to Glastonbury and the Tor and things related to astronomy . . . of course Gwyn would have to make his appearance! He is mentioned in the introduction and he appears in bold on the top of page 27 (as I have read past this already - no magical occurrence here of bibliomancy) and in this section the writers elude to the fact that they will be returning to discuss Gwyn’s hand in all of this . . . in fact the index gives the other following pages where he comes up: 48-49, 62, 90, 98, 101, 107-108, 111-112 . . . and the book ends on 112 and in quick passing . . . they bring up the whole Mayan 2012 issue on the last page - from what I just noticed in glancing at it - calling it a “Wake Up Call”. That just sent shivers down my spine! This whole business with the ‘wake-up call’ . . . having heard mine clearly just about a year ago now . . . I am certainly feeling like I am being lead across a map I don’t quite understand yet. Now, I did not get this book anticipating anything to be related to Gwyn . . . but none-the-less he is present in yet another book I have chosen or been lead to chose to read. From never having heard of him until February or March of last year to all of this . . . it has been very curious indeed.
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***I also need to reflect back to fragments of dreams from either Tuesday or Wednesday ::Feb. 5-6:: (I think - see this is why I need to post everything to my LJ - these notes are in a notebook which I am currently going back through to see when I had the dreams, but I just want to write the quick notes for reference now)
In the dream I was asked to move into a suite within a rather large stone structure mansion (not sure what else to call it). The suite I was offered was rather generous . . . having three full rooms . . . a main room like a large sitting room with a fireplace, a window seat and built-in bookcases with two bedrooms off the main. There was a shared bathroom adjoined to another suite. While my accommodations were very comfortable, it was the second suite that held my curiosity in the dream. They had a somewhat similar set up of a main room with two rooms off of it however one of the rooms has two steps leading up to it as it was raise slightly higher to accommodate the stairwell that led up to our floor just outside the suites and this room was completely dedicated as an ‘altar’ room. The most fascinating feature to the room was the extension built off it . . . two wide steps up to a platform that was completely padded (just picture the largest futon you have ever seen then picture it twice as long and twice as wide) and instead of walls and ceiling over this extension it is completely encased in thick clear glass and all I could think was what a ‘perfect observatory’ it would be. The person giving me a tour so I could decide whether or not I would take the offered suite told me I was correct, that this comfortable platform was utilized as an observatory and that I could use it whenever I liked . . . unless of course it was already in use . . . and noted that I had access anytime, because even though the door to the suite would be locked, the door from the bathroom that joined the two suits would not be locked. This side of the mansion was south facing.
The reason I am coming back to include this is because of the book I am currently reading - “The Star Temple of Avalon” - as there was a section in which they mentioned the glass observatory and made the connections between Arianrhod’s Glass Castle as well as a few other links . . . I made my own connection between this and my dream straight away. Again, this is why I really need to write it all down and keep it all together.
***On another note . . . r_monoxide (THANK YOU!) made note of Beckary island, just off of Glastonbury, being associate with beekeeping . . . It took a little searching, but I figured out that Beckary was supposed to be Beckery . . . and the following references are what I found:
http://isleofavalon.co.uk/history/ancientavalon.html
“Glastonbury’s early links with Christianity are always of an ambiguous nature, with many of the saints and mystics associated with the area showing marked undertones of strange powers, origins and practices. For instance there is a tale tha the Irish St Bridget came to Glastonbury around 488 AD and that she passed some years in meditation on the ‘island of Beckery’ [just off the Glastonbury island], where there was an earlier chapel dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. When St Bridget returned to Ireland she left the ancient chapel with her name and certain personal relics - her wallet, her rosary and her oak staff. These then became imbued with miraculous powers. The ‘island’ of Beckery is located due west of the Tor and is a low, mounded ridge lying near the gently meandering River Brue. It has always been associated with religious magic, and Arthurian myth states that the great king had a potent vision of the Holy Grail in its tiny chapel. St Bridget was reputed to possess many powers over natural things: it was said that ‘animals and birds obeyed her call’ and that she could work miracles with milk and butter that paralelled Christ’s feeding of the five thousand. The legends of Beckery remain, but alas, all traces of the chapel (and much of the mound itself) have been systematically destroyed by the relentless march of progress and industry over the last couple of centuries.”
There is this site:
http://www.glastonburyshrine.co.uk/stbrigid.htm
And here:
http://gothicimage.co.uk/books/glastabbey-ch4.html
“St Brigit's name appears under 1 February in the two tenth-century liturgical calendars with Glastonbury associations. By the time William of Malmesbury visited the community St Brigit's cult was well established and William accepted unquestioningly the house-tradition that she had made a pilgrimage to Glastonbury in 488, that she stayed for some time on the nearby island of Beckery and that she left various objects behind when she ultimately returned to Ireland: a wallet, a collar, a bell and assorted weaving implements.
Glastonbury's own records state that there had been a church at Beckery dedicated to St Mary Magdalene previous to St Brigit's visit, and this was later rededicated to Brigit. The chapel had a small opening on the south side and it was rumoured that anyone who squeezed through this opening would be forgiven his sins. King Arthur himself, so some romances relate, had a strange adventure at this chapel. On one occasion when he was staying with a group of nuns at Wearyall, Arthur had a recurring dream admonishing him to arise and go to the Chapel of St Mary Magdalene. The third night Arthur's squire also dreamt about the chapel, which he thought he entered and from which he stole a rich and ornate candlestick. As he was leaving the chapel he received a mortal blow in revenge for the theft. At this point the squire awoke, screaming in pain, and discovered amazingly that both the wound and the candlestick were real. The squire died and the candlestick was given to either St Paul's or Westminster in memory of the strange event. Arthur himself understood this as a sign that he should visit the chapel alone, which he then did, although with some trepidation. There he witnessed a literal re-enactment of the miracle of the mass, in which the Virgin herself offered up her Infant Son to the priest for the sacrifice. After the completion of the Office the Virgin presented King Arthur with a crystal cross in commemoration of the adventure. The king, in turn, changed his arms in token of the adventure and made them green with a silver cross; on the right arm of the cross he placed an image of the Mother and Child. Ultimately, the same arms were adopted by Glastonbury Abbey itself.
Excavations do, in fact, confirm that a chapel did exist at Beckery in the Middle Ages: there was an outer building dating from the fourteenth century, enclosing a similar chapel of late Saxon or early medieval date, which may even have been built by St Dunstan. Charters indicate that by the tenth century, that is by the time of St Dunstan, the accepted etymology for Beckery was Becc Eriu = Parua Hibernia (ie., Little Ireland), although modern scholars think that the real derivation is from 'beocere' = beekeeper and 'ieg' = island.3' Interestingly, Brigit's bell (made specifically for her by St Gildas, according to some accounts) resurfaced briefly in the twentieth century, when it appeared among the collections of Miss Alice Buckton, the owner of Chalice Well. Like Arthur's sword, however, it seems to have disappeared beneath the waters with the passing of its custodian. Two stone carvings illustrating Brigit in her traditional role as milkmaid survive at Glastonbury, one in the doorway of St Mary's Church and the other on the tower of St Michael's on the Tor.”
http://www.isleofavalon.co.uk/gpt/bridesmound.html
Beckery
William of Malmesbury and John of Glastonbury both state that a charter of 670 recorded the granting of lands at Beckery, where Bride's Mound is located. Beckery is also known locally as Little Ireland, though the true derivation of the name is Beo Cere, 'beekeepers island'.
A papal charter of 1168 refers to Beckery as the first of the islands in the Abbey's estate. John of Glastonbury also mentioned a chapel dedicated to St. Bridget which had a special opening in the southern wall which healed those who passed through it.� The fields around are still called 'the Brides'.
More researching produced this:
Apparently Beo Cere is Anglo-Saxon . . . . Beo = Bee, Beo Bread = Bee Bread, honey comb, and Beo ceorl or Beo cere = bee farmer, bee keeper.
Above information on Beo Cere from http://books.google.com/books?id=YIALAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=beo+cere&source=web&ots=a07zY3V5vD&sig=pdOxi8QcwPyrrxQc4P1YHQPEA88
Anyone who is interested in this subject I would recommend visiting the following site:
http://zeidlerguild.awardspace.com/beekeeping_in_anglo.htm
Beekeeping in Anglo-Saxon/Norman England
By Baroness Morgan of Anglesey © Melissa Newton
Amphorae - Seeing this word in: (http://books.google.com/books?id=Wxtk8RsN2kIC&pg=PA207&lpg=PA207&dq=beo+ceorl&source=web&ots=UAgS3tqtbM&sig=ZfqfltO9C0lCVL3n682HbJiwfuY#PPA206,M1 ) - “The Old English Manor: A Study in English Economic History” (pgs. 205-208) where it discusses the importance of the Beo ceorl or ‘gerefa’ it got me thinking about the dream I had of telling someone about the earthenware jars that were meant for honey and not wine and oil which was proceeded by the world Olmphallis which turned out to be Omphalos which means 'navel' and the Omphalos found in Dlephi had a pattern of bees on it!
Great Image here of amphorae:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphora
More on Amphorae
http://www.athenapub.com/amphora1.htm
. . . and another . . .
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_amphora.htm
And just seeing the Welsh word “Bryn” here got me all excited to see if there was a Welsh connection . . .
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2006/2006-02-44.html
I decided to do a search on amphorae and honey . . . .
. . . at this site the project cites finds of DNA testing and actually hieratic inscriptions on fragments of amphorae showing honey as being transported in amphorae
http://www.amarnaproject.com/pages/recent_projects/material_culture/canaanite.shtml