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Caer Sidi -Fairy Fortress In his authoritative study 'Celtic Folklore' Professor Rhys writes that in Scotland and in Ireland the words 'sid' or 'sith' refer to faery folk. He considers that these words share a common origin in the Latin word 'sedes' meaning 'a seat' or 'settlement,' but that it came to signify an abode of the faery folk. 'Caer Sidi' means  'the Fortress of the Faery folk.'  ....read more

Camelot   Welsh tradition names Arthur's capital as Kelliwic ( -wic = settlement; latin -vicus) and places it in Cornwall. The first written mention of 'Camelot' appears to be in 'Lancelot' by Chretien de Troyes (c1170). ....read more

Camlann  Early texts refer to 'The Battle of Camlann' where 'Arthur and Medraut fell'  The battle was fought somewhere in the southwest of Britain. ....read more

Tarot Tarot Books and Cards....read more

The Grail Castles   The approach to the Grail Castle usually lies across or beside a river. But there are a number of passages which place the god's abode on an island out in the sea. These localisations seem to have their basis in a powerful British tradition....read more

Celestial Navigation  In the Odyssey when Odysseus leaves the island of Calypso he is told to keep the constellation of Ursa Major (the Great Bear / the Plough ) on his left hand as he sails home. 

Celestial Stuff  The scientific study of the orientation of the remains of temples and other sites in the Middle East and Europe, including the pyramids of Egypt, began early last century. With his pioneering work on Stonehenge in the late 19th century Sir Norman Lockyer brought this and other megalithic monuments under scrutiny. .... read more

......read Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments Astronomically Considered by Norman Lockyer

The Otherworld The Celts believed in the "Otherworld." It exists alongside our world, separate from it but accessible from anywhere and everywhere. It is the realm of quest and achievement, of challenge and encounter, of initiation and enlightenment. It is Arthur's Avalon, The Grail Castle ,the land of faery and enchantment where time passes at a different speed. It is the land where the story never ends. The "Otherworld" is where the music takes us, it's the never-never land of books, artists enter and return to share their visions. Mystics travel there through meditation......read more

The Head  One aspect of early Celtic religion which tends to be either ignored or over-emphasised by later writers is their reverence for the human head. To the Celts the human head represented a physical manifestation of that centre of life, the essence of being which Christians know as the soul. The head was also a prized trophy in battle......read more

Celtic sacred isles 'Many of the islands off the west coast of Britain, including Lundy, were known to the Celts as 'Isles of the Dead'. They were regarded as holy islands which formed gateways to the otherworld and to which the illustrious dead were ferried, there to be buried with solemn rite amid the spirits of their forefathers' ......read more

Chretien de Troyes   Chrétien de Troyes wrote five Arthurian romances in the last part of the twelfth century;- ‘Erec et Enide’, ‘CligÚs’, ‘Le Chevalier de la Charrette’ (Lancelot), ‘Le Chevalier au Lion’ (Yvain – Owain) and ‘Le Conte du Graal’ (Perceval);the last was left unfinished on his death in, apparently, 1191.........read more

Early Christian Gravestones  'These stone allude to British Christian dead, were erected by British, were an aspect of continuous British Christianity."  "The four inscribed stones alone make it (Lundy) archaeologically unique" ...read more

Spread of Christianity into early Britain 'The next noticeable point is that while the lives of the Celtic saints and the Celtic records contain many allusions to saints and missions associated with Damnonia, they are entirely silent about the saints and bishops who are associated with Exeter and the district east of it, and, on the other hand, the traditions and legends associated with Exeter and Glastonbury show no knowledge of such people as St. Petrock, St. Brannock, St. Nectan and other famous Devonshire missionaries who came from South Wales.' ....read more

Ecclesiastical History of Lundy  'J. R. Chanter, our best authority, in his monograph 'Lundy Island', speaks of its ecclesiastical position as 'anomalous, it being not only extra-parochial, but extra-diocesan as it seems, having been left pretty much to itself since the suppression of monasteries. When attached to the Manor and Abbey of Hartland the spiritual duties were no doubt attended to by the monks of that abbey. At a subsequent period it appears to have become a distinct parish, with a church dedicated to St. Helena, and having attached to it an oratory dedicated to St.Ann.' ....read more

Chronos, Kronos  Cronos/Saturn was a Titan, one of the elder gods, whose dominion was afterwards transferred to others. He was the father of Zeus (Jupiter/Jove) who eventually overthrew and then banished him.....read more

St Bernard of Clairvaux   In 1128, Bernard of Clairvaux "was just twenty-eight years old when the Council of Troyes asked him to help create a Rule for the Templars. He did more than that. He became their most vocal champion, urging that they be supported with gifts of land and money and exhorting men of good family to cast off their sinful lives and take up the sword and the cross as Templar Knights." ....read more

Croyde  "There are only three known dedications to St. Helen in Devon, all in North Devon, close to the sea, and all within sight of each other: the chapel on Lundy, the parish church of Abbotsham, and the ancient chapel (now ruined) on the high ground just West of Croyde village.....read more

Clovelly Dykes  The iron age hill fort of Clovelly Dykes or Ditchen Hills stands on the Hartland peninsula, North Devon, England. While it commands a panoramic sea view over the Severn estuary as far as the coast of Wales, the fort has a more restricted inland view. ....read more