Roslin Glen and the Rose Line

The mysterious Rosslyn Chapel sits on the edge of the magical Roslin Glen in Scotland, drawing the green energy of the glen up into the chapel as demonstrated by over one hundred unique carvings of green men in the chapel. 

Rosslyn Chapel exterior (no photography allowed inside!) 

Rosslyn Chapel also sits at the heart of the Rose Line, a Scottish meridian encompassing many sacred sites and places of power.

Six hundred year old chestnut tree in Roslin Glen

The heart of the chestnut tree

Another ancient tree

Part of the yew circle, where rituals are performed

Wallace's cave on the opposite side of the river 

The River Esk flowing through Roslin Glen

The age and identity of this face are not known

Roslin Castle has a ghost dog which haunts and howls here, along with a White Lady. The drawbridge to the castle itself has also been the site of an apparition of a black knight on a black horse which gallops off the drawbridge - legend has it that the hoof prints of the horse can be seen on the vertical rocks upon which the drawbridge has been built.

Roslin Castle

Wallace's cave, referring to William Wallace of 'Braveheart' fame who is reputed to have hidden here.

Cave interior

Mysterious rock carvings near Wallace's Cave

Exploring the lost pathways of Roslin Glen today in some lovely Scottish weather! 

The mysterious hidden village of Temple, once the headquarters of the Knights Templar when it was known as Balantradoch

Mysterious masonic gravestones at Temple

 Magical stream behind the ruined church at Temple

Arthur's Seat, a volcanic plug in Edinburgh that sits directly on the Rose Line

St Fillan in Perthshire

Discovering sites associated with St Fillan around Perthshire, Scotland. Celtic saints were more like sorcerers than holy men. St Fillan used to read at night using a light that beamed out of his hand, he had healing stones and performed all kinds of miracles and magic!

St Fillan's Holy Pool 

At St Fillan's Holy Pool, men and women used to bathe in separate pools just before the first quarter of the moon. Cures, especially for madness, could be obtained by bathing in the pool, picking up 9 stones from the river bed, then walking to a nearby cairn and walking 9 times deiseal (sunwise) around the cairn, dropping one of the stones on it each time around. The patient was then taken to St Fillan's Chapel where he was then tied to a special stone and had St Fillan's Bell placed on his head. He was left there for the night and if the ropes had loosened by the morning he was said to be cured!

St Fillan's Chapel, 

with strange shaped stone altar where people leave offerings of coins etc

Dundurn Hill used to be a powerful Pictish settlement, 

on the top can be found St. Fillan's Seat

St Fillan's Seat atop Dundurn Hill

"The rock on the summit of the hill, formed, of itself, a chair for the saint, which still remains. Those who complain of rheumatism in the back, must ascend the hill, sit in this chair, then lie down on their back, and be pulled by the legs to the bottom of the hill. This operation is still performed, and reckoned very efficacious." The cure is supposedly most efficacious on Beltane (1st May).

St Fillan's Chapel seen from Dundurn Hill

St Fillan's Healing Stones 
in the Breadalbane Folklore Centre in Killin

Alt Clut - The Kingdom of Strathclyde

While dozing on Windmill Hill near Avebury last month I heard a voice psychically which simply said "Gervinion's ring". I researched Gervinion online and found out that he was a 6th century king of Dumbarton (Alt Clut). This kingdom was a Northern remant of the Britons who spoke the same language as the Welsh. They were never conquered by the Romans, Saxons or Scots, but Dumbarton rock was once sacked by the Vikings. They eventually merged into the Kingdom of Scotland. 

Alt Clut - Dumbarton Rock

This location and period of history stirs up feelings in me that I can only interpret as ancestral or past life, it's as if I remember how it felt to actually be there, and so I went on this quest to discover more about the area and the stories.

I subsequently found out that this whole area is tied up with the earliest myths of King Arthur and Merlin. I believe that when Britons migrated from Strathclyde to Wales and Corwall that they carried the stories of King Arthur and Merlin with them and transfered the stories to places that were more familiar to them.

Arthuret is the site of the Battle of Arderydd that was fought in AD 573 between the pagan king Gwendollau and the Christian kings Riderch, Peredur and Gwrgi. Riderch was the king of Alt Clut (Dumbarton). Gwendollau was defeated and his court magician Myrddin (Merlin) went mad with grief and fled to the woods of Celidon where he lived on wild food and became a prophet.

Arthuret Knowes

According to the author Hugh McArthur, Loch Lomond is the original Arthurian lake and Inchcailloch is the island of Avalon.

View of Loch Lomond from the island of Inchcailloch

Ancient church dedicated to St. Kentigerna on Inchcailloch

Bluebell woods on Inchcailloch

Sun wheel made up of four serpents on a stone in Govan church

Sarcophagus of St. Constantine, King of Dumbarton

Viking hogback tombs actually represent Viking houses

The Glebe Stone, near Yarrow

The Loupin Stanes

St Michael's Church at Arthuret

Could Liddel Strength on the border with Scotland be the ancient fortress of Gwendollau who died at the nearby battle of Arderydd? His court magician Myrddin (Merlin) survived the battle but went insane and lived as a wild man in the woods.

The overgrown ramparts of Liddel Strength, Cumbria

Arthur's Round Table, a prehistoric henge in Cumbria

Standing stone at the centre of Mayburgh Henge, that

forms a complex with Arthur’s Round Table

Bridget's Shrine, Faughart

Today I watched ancient pagan rituals being performed at St. Bridget's Shrine in Faughart near Dundalk, only nowadays, and for the past 1500 years, these rituals have been Christianised with the reciting of Hail Mary's etc. I wonder how long this has been a place of healing and how old these rituals really are?

St. Bridget's healing waters

Lying out on the eye stone

This pilgrim performed a whole series of rituals while here, the whole time reciting Our Father's, Hail Mary's and Glorias.

Wishing well

The knee stone, where you kneel for cures

While at the waist stone, I saw a pregnant girl being told by her father to wrap her legs around the stone. "It's for pregnant women". 
"How do you know?" she asked. 
"Because people have been doing it for hundreds of years!" 
She also splashed the healing water on her belly, and the whole family, including the babies, had their faces and hair wetted by the healing waters.

The waist stone

The head stone, another curing stone

Reciting prayers with one foot planted on the hoof stone

Shrine to St. Bridget

Skellig Michael

Today I headed for Skellig Michael, a remote monastery off the West coast of County Kerry in Ireland. It is famous for its remarkably preserved state, having been founded as early as the 6th century and abandoned in the 12th century, it has changed very little since that date.

The boats to the island were all booked up weeks ago but I was hoping for a cancellation so I could get on board one of them. When I got there, early so I thought, there were already eight other people there waiting for a cancellation too, and we were told that there weren't any cancellations that day, so my hopes were not high! 

This was the second time I had tried to get to Skellig Michael, the previous time was a few years ago and the trip was cancelled due to bad weather. Perhaps I was not ready to go at that time because this was before I had heard about Apollo/Athena ley line, that makes its first major crossing on Skellig Michael.

After driving all the way across Ireland for 6 hours, I really felt ready to go this time, and trusted that everything would work out as it should, even if I had to try again tomorrow… Suddenly I overheard an old lady tell her friend that she couldn't go and wanted to sell her ticket, so of course I jumped at the chance and offered her the money immediately! I couldn't believe my luck as I walked down the pier to the boat, the other eight people who were waiting didn't say a word (though I’m sure they were giving me daggers!)

As the boat headed off towards the island I still couldn't believe that I was actually on my way to Skellig Michael at last! All those other poor people were still standing by the pier as our boat chugged off along the calm sound between the mainland and Valentia island, and then out through a narrow channel onto the big rolling waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Immediately Skellig Michael was visible in the distance, a tall black pyramid of rock jutting out of the limitless ocean. I imagined the poor monks in their small coracles making the treacherous journey out to this remote windswept island all those centuries ago, where all that waited for them was a life of isolation and austerity living on fish and seabird eggs.

The name Skellig derives from Sceillic which means 'steep rock'

To avoid seasickness I kept standing and focused upon the distant island, and within 45 minutes we were there landing at the tiny dock. The climb was a hard slog up, and the tiny monastery at the top was flooded with tourists, making it difficult to get any good photos.

Steep flight of steps leading to the monastery 

View of Little Skellig

Series of cells and the monk's cemetary

The monastery may have been founded as early as the sixth century

I located the Apollo/Athena node in a roofless monks cell, but unfortunately the entrance was sealed off with a block of wood. I had already been told off once for walking somewhere I shouldn't, and clearly this cell was out of bounds too. What to do? Well eventually there was nothing for it but to brazenly climb under the block of wood, plant my crystal in the cell, and perform a little ritual there which would activate the whole of the Apollo/Athena line starting at this point. Luckily the guides didn't notice and the tourists paid little attention. 

Location of the Apollo-Athena node

As I sat there I felt a warm peaceful feeling take over me, I envisioned all the energies rising up from this place, the heat from the Earth rising up through this pyramid-like volcano, surrounded on all sides by sea and sky. All four elements were here in great abundance and this was surely one the key anchor points for the whole of the Apollo/Athena line, the wild energies of this place would be carried all the way along the line across Cornwall, France, Italy and Greece, into the Holy Land, bringing with it the peaceful energy of this place and the vitality of its raw nature!