Great Britain/Prydian and Llyn-llion/Lyonness

Great Britain. Personality 1st Ray Power. Soul 2nd Ray Love. Motto. I serve. DN 50.

Country. Ruling Sign. Egoic Ray. Ruling Sign. Personality Ray.

Britain. Gemini 3rd. Second. Taurus 2nd. First. DN 58.

Great Britain. Capitol London. Soul Ruler Leo 5th. Personality Ruler Libra 7th. DN 69.

That small fortress of the Forces of Light which is the British Isles. Ext 236.

France should not forget the Napoleonic wars, nor Great Britain the Boer war. DN 77.

In Great Britain, we find the dictatorship of empire (if such a paradoxical term may be employed), but it is an empire of the middle classes, controlling and balancing. EP1 175.

The country which is the most free from selfishness today is Great Britain; she is experienced, old, and therefore mature in her thinking; she has learnt much in a relatively short time and her judgment is sound. RI 428.

There is a racial and subjective unity between the British Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America. RI 625.

The British Empire, fusing and blending races and men throughout the entire world. EA 530.

It is, however, this Uranian influence which lies behind the present shift of populations throughout Europe and Great Britain and which is responsible for the steady movement of peoples from East to West, from Asia to Europe in the earlier history of that continent and from Europe to the Western hemisphere in more modern times. EA 447.

Hence the fact that the governments of many nations found asylum in Great Britain. EA 522.

It is of deep moment to realize that Great Britain and the United States are closely related and that this relation makes certain realities and activities inevitable, once the soul of each nation is functioning potently; and that India and Great Britain are related through the first ray personality of Great Britain and the egoic ray of India. The implications are clear and interesting and also encouraging. The consciousness aspect of the British people is steadily shifting into an expression of their second ray soul and hence their seizing upon the opportunity at this time to serve humanity at immense cost. The same thing is happening to the American people. EA 524.

The U.K. is the nucleus or the living germ of the British Commonwealth of Nations wherein a great experiment in free government is being tried out; this gives complete internal freedom and choice to each related Dominion, plus an equally complete and free interrelationship. The Dominions are all of them independent nations, but belong to a united Commonwealth; a pattern is thereby presented for world consideration. RI 631.

It is obvious that the governing faculty of the Ray of Will or Power is the outstanding characteristic of Great Britain. England is an exponent of the art of control and her function has been to produce the first tentative grouping of federated nations the world has seen and to demonstrate the possibility of such a grouping. DN 51.

Great Britain and Italy are masculine and positive; they are mental, political, governing, standardizing, group-conscious, occult by inclination, aggressive, full of grandeur, interest in law and in laying the emphasis upon race and empire. But they are more inclusive and think in wider terms than the feminine aspects of divine manifestation. DN 56.

Great Britain represents that aspect of the mind which expresses itself in intelligent government, based on just and loving understanding. That is, of course, the ideal before her, but not as yet the exactly fulfiled achievement. DN 55.

Rome was the great road builder and road maker of Europe in the far distant past; today the British race (who are largely reincarnated Romans and hence the friendly feeling which basically exists between the two countries in spite of outer appearance) are the original railroad makers. DN 59.

The second Ray of Love or of Attraction governs - from the soul angle - the British Empire and there is a relation between this fact and the fact that the astrological sign Gemini governs both the United States and London. DN 52.

You will note that of the major nations only Brazil, Great Britain and the United States of America are definitely under the influence of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. An interesting fact thus emerges: Great Britain is the custodian of the wisdom aspect of this second ray energy for the Aryan race; the United States will fulfil the same office for the world of the immediate future. DN 54.

India hides the light and that light, when released upon the world and revealed to humanity, will bring about harmony in the form aspect; things will then be clearly seen as they are and will be freed from glamor and illusion; this harmonizing light is sorely needed in India itself and when it has been manifested it will bring about the right functioning of the first Ray of Power or Government. The will of the people will then be seen in the light. It is in this connection that Great Britain will emerge into renewed activity for her personality ray and India's soul ray are the same. Many British people are subjectively linked with India, by past incarnations and association; the quarrel between Great Britain and India is largely a family affair in the deepest sense of the term and hence its bitterness. As you know, there is a close link between the fourth and second rays and this again emerges in the relationship between England and India; a destiny is there which must be jointly worked out. DN 53.

There is a natural rapport indicated between the present personality rays of Germany and Great Britain, yet a relationship can be seen also between France and Great Britain through their esoteric national mottoes and also between the two symbols which are also theirs. The symbol for France is the fleur de lys, which she adopted centuries ago under divine guidance, which symbol stands for the three divine aspects in manifestation. The symbol for Great Britain, under the same divine apportioning, is the three feathers, carried as the arms of the Prince of Wales. DN 51.

It is for this reason that Great Britain can contact the German race and handle the people in that sad country more understandingly than can the other nations or Great Powers. They share similar qualities. DN 54.

Great Britain and the United States of America are definitely under the influence of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. An interesting fact thus emerges: Great Britain is the custodian of the wisdom aspect of this second ray energy for the Aryan race; the United States will fulfil the same office for the world of the immediate future. DN 54.

I would like to point out that in the British Empire there are several major and distinctive sections which are themselves definitely governed by certain ruling signs; therefore, before giving the rulers of the capitals, I would like to indicate the influences which control the British Empire through the medium of its component parts; they are an important factor in present events, owing to the major and powerful nature of the part Great Britain is playing in the present situation. As you will have noted, Great Britain is ruled by Gemini and Taurus, and consequently the principles of multiplicity and integration are simultaneously present. Duality, triplicity (England, Scotland and Wales) and also differentiation are the conditioning aspects of the empire. DN 69.

It will also be apparent to you if you have rightly understood the above suggestions that the Shamballa force is working through that community of federated nations called the British Empire and is expressing the will-towards-synthesis and the will to just and legal procedure. It is the force of the Hierarchy which can express itself increasingly through the United States of America, for an intuitive recognition of subjective realities and a real sense of the higher values can and frequently do control the impulses governing this group of federated states. EXT 132.

The force which is centered in London is that of the first Ray of Will or Power in its building aspect and not in its destroying aspect. It is the service of the whole which is being attempted at great cost and the effort is to express the Law of Synthesis which is the new emphasis, pouring through from Shamballa. Hence the fact that the governments of many nations found asylum in Great Britain. EA 522.

In considering Great Britain, we note first that the ruling sign is Gemini from the standpoint of the soul of the people, and that Taurus governs the material outer form of the nation; it is this factor that has led her people to appear before the world under the symbol of John Bull, expressive of the British personality. It has been thought by certain astrologers that Great Britain is ruled by Aries, and this is true of it, as far as that small part which is called England is concerned; but I am dealing with the empire as a whole and not with a fraction of it. It is the Gemini influence that has led to the constant movement and restlessness of the British people; which has led them to cross and recross the ocean and to stage a constant going out to the very ends of the earth, to return ever again to the center from which they came. This is characteristic of the race. It is the Gemini influence which has produced - viewing the work of the nation from the personality or lower angle - the secret and oft devious diplomacy and subtlety which has in the past distinguished Great Britain's political activity. Gemini people are often distrusted, and the Gemini effect along this line makes of Great Britain no exception. Such distrust has been warranted in the past but is not as justifiable now, for the nation is old and experienced and is fast learning the lessons which she has had to master.

As yet, from the higher angle, Gemini does not entirely control, for the soul of Britain is only now struggling for expression. For long ages Taurus has led the way with his material aims, his acquisitive desires, his arrogant will and his blind moving forward towards the possession of that which has been desired. Pervasiveness and movement are two qualities with which Gemini and Taurus have dowered the race. London, the heart center of the empire is ruled spiritually by Leo and materially by Libra and it is, therefore, the soul factor which links Great Britain to France and which should assist spiritually the Leo nature of the French personality. It is not, however, the spiritual quality of this sign which dominates British policy, but primarily the Libra aspect. Great Britain regards herself as the preserver of the balance of power among the nations and as the one to mete out justice and indicate the right methods of law and order; yet her Gemini nature at times offsets this, whilst Taurus frequently blinds her to the real issues. It is the Leo aspect also which links London to Berlin, but it is Leo in its more self-assertive aspect and hence some of the difficulty and hence also the close and not to be evaded relationship between London-Paris-Berlin, a triangle of force which conditions Europe most potently. It is between these three that the destiny of the race, of men in the immediate future lies, and again the question arises:

Will the coming decisions be based upon the good of the whole or upon the good of a part of the whole? It was the Leo force in Great Britain which attracted originally the Leo force in France and led to the Norman conquest in the 11th century. I mention this because it indicates relationship and the demonstrated results of such relations, but not because that past event has any true repercussions at this time.

There is a much closer relation between the United States of America and Great Britain than between any continental power, for Gemini is the ruling sign of both countries, and they have, in many ways, a synchronous vibration. There is however little of the Taurian influence in the States and consequently you have the attitude of frequent misunderstanding which exists between the two powers. They are very close to each other and the welfare of each means much to each of them, so much so that the tendency to misinterpretation of each other's actions and motives is not aided by the fluidity of Gemini. Nevertheless, the arrogance and self-will of the Bull must give way to the fluid understanding of the inclusive Gemini consciousness, and this is a hard thing for the British temperament at this time to grasp. They are so sure of their rectitude and so convinced of their wisdom that they are apt to forget that good intentions are oft offset by bad methods. The British are just and wise, but their self-sufficient technique and their blindness to other peoples' point of view has not aided world peace and is indicative of the control of Taurus. I would add here that the belief of the German race that they constitute the super-race, the intense nationalism of the French which leads them to feel that they have a superior culture to any other race, the sure pride of the British which leads them to regard themselves as eternally in the right, and the noisy self-assertion of the United States which leads them to regard their country as the hope of the world have in reality little to choose between them and are all equally indicative of personality control. This is, as you know, a thing to be overcome in all nations and individuals. DN 83.

Great Britain has been a great and imperialistic power. Her acquisitive spirit, her tenacity and the firmness of her political maneuvers in the past have warranted this charge. She has played "power politics" and has become expert in balancing one nation against another nation in order to preserve the status quo and the integrity of the British Isles. She has wrought with diligence for a stability among the nations which will enable her to function smoothly and attain her ends. She has been accused of an intense commercialism and the phrase "a nation of shop keepers" has been applied to her by other nations. The British are frequently disliked by other peoples; their aloof hauteur, their national pride and their attitude of owning the world alienates many. Great Britain carries the sense of caste into all her international relations just as the class distinction system has controlled her internal relationships for ages. These accusations are all based on truth and the enemies of Great Britain can bring due cause to the judgment seat. The British, as a whole, have been reactionary, over-cautious and conservative, slow to move, and apt to be satisfied with existing conditions, particularly if those conditions are strictly British.

All these characteristics have been the cause of extreme irritation to other people, particularly the nation which emerged from Britain, the United States. This is one side of the picture. But the British are not anti-social; they have led the way in welfare reforms, instituting such measures as the old-age pension system long before other nations did so. They are deeply paternalistic in their handling of smaller and less developed nations and have really helped them. Being conservative, it is hard for them to know when to withdraw that paternal help. The motto of the House of Wales is: "I serve". The innate tendency of the British race is to serve the nations and the races which are gathered together under the Union Jack. It must be remembered that since the beginning of the 20th Century, great changes have taken place in the thinking of the English people. Old things have passed away; the caste system with its aloofness, its separativeness and its paternalism is rapidly disappearing as the war and labor emphasize essential equality. Great Britain seeks no more territory; she is now a commonwealth of entirely independent nations.

The major psychological problem before the British people is to gain the confidence of the world and lead other nations to recognize the existent justice and the good intentions of their thinking and planning. This she had lost during the past few centuries but is now slowly regaining. Her attitude to world affairs today is internationally based; she is desirous of the good of the whole and is prepared to make sacrifices in the interests of the whole; her intentions are just, and her will is towards cooperation; her citizens are brave and sound in their thinking and are disturbed at what the history of the past has brought to them of dislike. If the emergence from a shy and proud reticence were given free play, Great Britain and the other nations of the world could walk the way of life together with little disagreement. PH 21.

In the early days of the present cycle of hierarchical effort (between 1925 and 1936), the ray at work upon humanity was the first ray. The activity of this ray culminated in the declaration of war by Great Britain in 1939. DN 730.

London is, of course, the heart center for Great Britain (and temporarily it is also the head center, though this will not always be the case.) EXT 85.

Sydney is the solar plexus center of the British Empire. EXT 85.

Whilst Ottawa is the throat center of the British Empire. EXT 85.

Governing Great Britain, therefore, are the following energies, working through the zodiacal signs and the ruling planets:

Gemini - with its rulers, Mercury, Venus and the Earth (the Nation).
Taurus - with its rulers, Venus and Vulcan (the Nation).
Leo - with its ruler, the Sun (the Capital).
Libra - with its rulers, Venus, Uranus and Saturn (the Capital).
The soul ray - Love-wisdom - 2nd.
The personality ray - Will or Power - 1st.

Ray influences of an indirect nature, coming via the planetary rulers:
Ray 4. - Harmony through conflict, via Mercury, leading to a definite link with Germany (as a study of the earlier tabulation will show). It accounts for the warlike history of Great Britain, but works out at the present time in the harmony of the empire.
Ray 5. - Concrete Knowledge or Science, via Venus. It is interesting to note that it is this ray which links Great Britain so closely with France and appears nowhere among the influences which affect the German nation. Venus rules Taurus [84] and Libra as well as Gemini and hence the well developed lower concrete mind of the British nation. The intuitive mind however needs development.
Ray 3. - Active Intelligence or Adaptability, via the Earth and also via the planet Saturn as it appears among the rulers of Libra. Here you have the clue as to why the British Empire covers the Earth, for there is a close connection between the Earth, as a whole, and Great Britain. It links Great Britain also with the third ray personality of France.
Ray 1. - Will or Power, via the planet Vulcan. There is in the first ray - as it expresses itself through Vulcan - very little of the Destroyer aspect as there is in the planetary influence of Pluto, another agent of the first ray. Again you find in this ruler of Great Britain's Taurian personality, a link with the first ray German personality. It accounts also for the forging of the chains which tie the Empire together, making it a unity through the will of the people.
Ray 2. - Love-wisdom, via the Sun, the ruler of Leo which governs the soul of London, and which is also a channel for the soul force of the British empire which is essentially that of love-wisdom when given real expression and not controlled and dominated by the Libra influence.
Ray 7. - Ceremonial Order or Organized Ritual, reaching our planet via Uranus and giving to the empire its grounded physical plane control over place and circumstance, its legal fundamentals, in cooperation with Libra, and its love of order and of rule, thus providing full expression for the first ray energies of the British Empire. DN 85.

A study of the interplay of these energies and forces will account adequately for Great Britain and her activities; they indicate also certain definite lines of affinity and also point the way to imminent possibilities of adjustment, if the love which is the basic motivating power of the British soul is permitted expression. Hitherto it has been primarily Taurus and Leo as well as Libra which have colored British attitudes, decisions and activities. Can Britain change and - preserving the will-to-order and the balanced judgment which Libra confers upon her - eliminate the Taurian aspects which have led her blindly to seek that which she desires and because of her powerful personality to gain those ends? There is an ironic fate which determines that this great nation, having in past centuries been one of the major aggressors of the world, should now bring to an end, with the aid of France (which has a very similar aggressive tendency), the period of aggression, and so be used to inaugurate an age of cooperation, of understanding and of mutually shared responsibility.

Little can be given out anent the two English Masters. Neither of them takes pupils in the same sense that the Master K. H. or the Master M. take pupils. One of them, who resides in Great Britain, has in hand the definite guidance of the Anglo-Saxon race, and he works upon the plans for its future development and evolution. He is behind the Labor movement throughout the world, transmuting and directing, and the present rising tide of democracy has his directing hand upon it. Out of the democratic unrest, out of the present turmoil and chaos, will arise the future world condition which will have for its keynote cooperation and not competition, distribution, and not centralization. IHS 60.

One of the English Masters has in hand the definite guidance of the Anglo-Saxon peoples towards a joint destiny. The future for the Anglo-Saxon is great and not yet has the highest flow of the tide of its civilization been reached. History holds much glory for England and America when they work together for world good. EXT 60.

We come now to the preparatory work being done by the Master Who started what is called by you "the labor movement." This is regarded by the Hierarchy as one of the most successful attempts in all history to awaken the masses of men (in the brackets called middle class and lower class) to general betterment, and thus set up a momentum which would, occultly speaking, "swing them into light."Along with the development of the labor movement, mass education came into being, with the result that -from the angle of developed intelligence - the entire level of conscious awareness was universally raised. There is still much illiteracy, but the average citizen in all the western democracies and in the Soviet Union is as well educated as the intellectual man in the Middle Ages. You have, in this activity, an outstanding instance of how the Masters work, for (to the average onlooker) the labor movement arose from within the masses and the working classes; it was a spontaneous development, based upon the thinking and the teaching of a mere handful of men who were regarded primarily as agitators and trouble makers; they were in reality a group of disciples (many of them unconscious of their esoteric status) who were cooperating with the Law of Evolution and also with the hierarchical Plan. They were not particularly advanced disciples, but they were affiliated with some Ashram (according to their ray), and were therefore subject to impression. Had they been advanced disciples or initiates, their work would have been futile, for their presentation of the Plan would not have been adapted to the level of the intelligence of the then totally uneducated masses composing labor. This Master works primarily with the intelligentsia, and He is therefore a third ray Master - upon the Ray of Active Intelligence. His Ashram is occupied with the problems of industry, and the goal of all the thinking, all the planning and all the work of impressing receptive minds is directed towards spiritualizing the concepts of the labor party in every country, and of industrialists, thus turning them towards the goal of right sharing, as a major step towards right human relations.

This Master therefore cooperates with the Master R. - Who is the Head of the third ray Ashram, and Who is also one of the Triangle of Forces which controls the greater Ashram of the Hierarchy Itself. The Ashram of this Master (Who has always withheld His name from public knowledge) is a lesser Ashram within the major third ray Ashram, just as my Ashram lies within the ring-pass-not of the Ashram of the Master K.H. This Master is necessarily an Englishman, for the industrial revolution started nearly one hundred years ago in England, and the potency of the work done is related to its mass effect and to the results achieved in every land by labor and its methods. All the great labor organizations, national and international, are loosely knit together subjectively, because in each group this Master has His disciples who are working constantly to hold the movement in line with the divine Plan. It is well to bear in mind that all great movements on earth demonstrate both good and evil; the evil has to be subdued and dissipated, or relegated to its right proportional place, before that which is good and in line with hierarchical planning can find true expression. What is true of the individual is true also of groups. Before the soul can express itself through the medium of the personality, that personality has to be subdued, controlled, purified and dedicated to service. It is this controlling, subduing process which is going on now, and it is vociferously fought by the selfish and ambitious elements.

Nevertheless, the work of this Master is outstandingly successful in preparing the intellectual principle of the masses for eventual right recognition of the Christ. A right sense of values is being developed, and in the right direction of this potent labor group in every land lies the foundation of the new civilization. The Ashram of this Master is therefore occupied with worldwide economic problems, and also with a direct attack upon the basic materialism to be found in the modern world. The problems of barter and exchange, the significance of money, the value of gold (a basic symbol of the third Ray of Active Intelligence), the production of right attitudes towards material living, and the entire process of right distribution are among the many problems dealt with in this Ashram; the work done is enormous and of great importance in preparing men's mind for the return of the Christ and for the New Age which He will inaugurate. Capitalists and labor leaders, financial experts and thinking workers, and members of all the differing ideologies which are prevalent in the world today are to be found actively working within this Ashram. Many of them are what the orthodox religious man or the hide-bound occult student would regard as non-spiritual, yet all of them are in reality deeply spiritual in the correct sense, but they care not for labels, for schools of thought nor for academic, esoteric teaching. They exemplify within themselves a livingness which is the hallmark of discipleship. EXT 666.

Great Britain. At one of the magnetized spots in either Scotland or Wales, a branch for occult training will be begun before so very long, which will lay the foundation and embrace the curriculum for the earlier grades. After it has been in existence for a few years and has proved the effectiveness of its training, and after troubled Ireland has adjusted her internal problems, a school for the more advanced grades, and for definite preparation for the mysteries will be started in Ireland at one of the magnetized spots there to be found. This school will be very definitely a school where preparation for a major initiation may be taken, and will be under the eye of the Bodhisattva, preparing the pupil for initiation upon the second ray. LOM 307.

It is also interesting to remember that: "The Venerable Bede" Bede, (De Temp. rat., xiii.) writing in the early part of the Eighth Century, says that 'the ancient people of the Anglian nation', by which he means the pagan English before their settlement in Britain about A.D. 500, 'began the year on December 25th, when we now celebrate the birthday of our Lord'; and he tells us that the night of December 24th-25th 'which is the very night now so holy to us was called in their tongue Modranecht, that is to say "Mother's Night," by reason of the ceremonies which in that night long vigil they performed.' He does not mention what those ceremonies were, but it is clear that they were connected with the birth of the Sungod.

At the time when the English were converted to Christianity in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries the festival of the Nativity on December 25th had been already long established in Rome as a solemn celebration; but in England its identification with the joyous old pagan Yule - a word apparently meaning a 'jollification' - gave it a merry character which it did not possess in the south. This character has survived, and is in marked contrast to its nature amongst the Latin races, with whom the northern custom of feasting and giving Christmas presents was unknown until recent years." - The Paganism in Our Christianity, by Arthur Weigall, pp. 236, 237. BC 63.

Science speaks of an ancient continent which stretched from Spitzbergen down to the Straits of Dover. The Secret Doctrine teaches that, in the earliest geological periods, these regions formed a horse-shoe-like continent, whose one end, the Eastern, far more northward than North Cornwall, included Greenland, and the other contained Behring Straits as an inland piece of ground, and descended southward in its natural trend down to the British Isles, which in those days must have been right under the lower curve of the semi-circle. This continent was raised simultaneously with the submersion of the equatorial portions of Lemuria. SD2 326.

Thus corroborating the whole "horse-shoe" doctrine already enunciated. No more striking confirmation of our position could be given, than the fact that the ELEVATED RIDGE in the Atlantic basin, 9,000 feet in height, which runs for some two or three thousand miles southwards from a point near the British Islands, first slopes towards South America, then shifts almost at right angles to proceed in a SOUTH-EASTERLY line toward the African coast, whence it runs on southward to Tristan d'Acunha. This ridge is a remnant of an Atlantic continent, and, could it be traced further, would establish the reality of a submarine horse-shoe junction with a former continent in the Indian Ocean. SD2 233 .

The British Islands, which were not yet detached from the main continent in those days. "The ancient inhabitant of Picardy could pass into Great Britain without crossing the Channel. The British Isles were united to Gaul by an isthmus which has since been submerged. SD2 750.

There is ample geological evidence that at one time the entire area of Great Britain was submerged to the depth of at least seventeen hundred feet. Over the face of the submerged land was strewn thick beds of sand, gravel, and clay, termed by geologists "the Northern Drift." The British Islands rose again from the sea, bearing these water-deposits on their bosom. The antediluvian world. I. Donnelly.

For not only does Geology prove that the British islands have been four times submerged and re-elevated, but that the straits between them and Europe were dry land at a remote former epoch. SD2 746.

Huxley has shown that the British islands have been four times depressed beneath the ocean and subsequently raised again and peopled. In Scotland there are raised beaches with outlying stacks and skerries surmounting the shore now eroded by the hungry wave. SD2 787.

The latter -- is the future fate of your British Islands the first on the list of victims that have to be destroyed by fire (submarine volcanos) and water, France and other lands will follow suit. When they reappear again, the last seventh Sub-race of the sixth Root race of present mankind will be flourishing on "Lemuria" and "Atlantis" both of which will have reappeared also (their reappearance following immediately the disappearance of the present isles and continents), and very few seas and great waters will be found then on our globe, waters as well as land appearing and disappearing and shifting periodically and each in turn. KH Letters.

Mr. J. Starke Gardner, the eminent English geologist, is of the opinion that in the Eocene Period a great extension of land existed to the west of Cornwall. Referring to the location of the "Dolphin" and "Challenger" ridges, he asserts that "a great tract of land formerly existed where the sea now is, and that Cornwall, the Scilly and Channel Islands, Ireland and Brittany, are the remains of its highest summits." (Popular Science Review, July, 1878.) There are no ancient works to indicate that the tin mines of Cornwall were worked for any length of time in the early days. Antediluvian World. i. donnelly. 1882.

As usual, the legend is localized in the country, and the Deluge counts among three terrible catastrophes of the island of Prydian, or Britain, the other two consisting of devastation by fire and by drought. "The first of these events," it is said, "was the eruption of Llyn-llion, or 'the lake of waves,' and the inundation (bawdd) of the whole country, by which all mankind was drowned with the exception of Dwyfam and Dwyfach, who saved themselves in a vessel without rigging, and it was by them that the island of Prydian was repeopled." Antediluvian World. i. donnelly.

From this account it appears that the rain of water and mud came from a boiling lake on the mountains; it must have risen to a great height, "like a water-spout," and then fallen in showers over the face of the country. We are reminded, in this Boiling Lake of Dominica, of the Welsh legend of the eruption of the Llyn-llion, "the Lake of Waves," which "inundated the whole country." On the top of a mountain in the county of Kerry, Ireland, called Mangerton, there is a deep lake known as Poulle-i-feron, which signifies Hell-hole; it frequently overflows, and rolls down the mountain in frightful torrents. On Slieve-donart, in the territory of Mourne, in the county of Down, Ireland, a lake occupies the mountain-top, and its overflowings help to form rivers. Antediluvian World. i. donnelly.

The deluge alluded to in the first triad was the bursting of the Lake of Llyn Llion. Practically the same story is recounted of Llyn Tegid, near Bala in Merionethshire, and, as the late Sir John Rhys remarked, "probably all the other lakes of Wales were supposed to have had inhabitants wealthy in heads of cattle, and in our time each mere is supposed to have been formed by the subsidence of a city, whose bells may even now be at times heard merrily pealing."

That the memory of a submerged land should be so universal in Wales surely indicates a tradition most ancient and deep-seated. "The Druids," says Davies, "represented the deluge under the figure of a lake, called Llyn Llion, the waters of which burst forth and overwhelmed the face of the whole earth. Hence they regarded a lake as a just symbol of the deluge. But the deluge itself was viewed, not merely as an instrument of punishment to destroy the wicked inhabitants of the globe, but also as a divine lustration, which washed away the bane of corruption and purified the earth for the reception of the just ones, or of the deified patriarch and his family. Consequently, it was deemed peculiarly sacred, and communicated its distinguishing character to those lakes and bays by which it was locally represented."

The Lake of Llion, then, in the minds of the Welsh of the twelfth century stood for a mythic symbol of deluge and catastrophe by water. Of a somewhat different class is the tradition of the Cantref Gwaelod, or the "Submerged Hundred," which recounts how the Plain of Gwyddneu was drowned. This, says Professor Lloyd, "first makes its appearance in a poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen." It appears that the Plain of Gwyddneu was overwhelmed by the sea by reason of the wickedness of its inhabitants, who had given themselves up to eating and drinking and insolent pride of heart. The Occult Review, Vol. XLIII, No. 1, Jan. 1926.

The rocking, or Logan, stones bear various names. The Celts had their clacha-brath, the "Destiny or judgment-stone"; the divining-stone, or "stone of the ordeal" and the oracle stone; the moving or animated stone of the Phoenicians; the rumbling stone of the Irish. Brittany has its "pierres branlantes" at Huelgoat. They are found in the Old and the New Worlds: in the British Islands, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Germany, etc., as in North America. SD2 342.

This is a strange coincidence, as Irish tradition attributes the origin of her circular stones to a Sorcerer who brought them from Africa. De Mirville sees in that sorcerer "an accursed Hamite." We see in him a dark Atlantean, or perhaps even some earlier Lemurian, who had survived till the birth of the British Islands, GIANTS in every and any case. SD2 344.

In the West we find magic of as high an antiquity as in the East. The Druids of Great Britain practised it in the silent crypts of their deep caves; and Pliny devotes many a chapter to the "wisdom" of the leaders of the Celts. The Semothees, -- the Druids of the Gauls, expounded the physical as well as the spiritual sciences. They taught the secrets of the universe, the harmonious progress of the heavenly bodies, the formation of the earth, and above all -- the immortality of the soul. Into their sacred groves -- natural academies built by the hand of the Invisible Architect -- the initiates assembled at the still hour of midnight to learn about what man once was and what he will be.

They needed no artificial illumination, nor life-drawing gas, to light up their temples, for the chaste goddess of night beamed her most silvery rays on their oak-crowned heads; and their white-robed sacred bards knew how to converse with the solitary queen of the starry vault. On the dead soil of the long by-gone past stand their sacred oaks, now dried up and stripped of their spiritual meaning by the venomous breath of materialism. But for the student of occult learning, their vegetation is still as verdant and luxuriant, and as full of deep and sacred truths, as at that hour when the arch-druid performed his magical cures, and waving the branch of mistletoe, severed with his golden sickle the green bough from its mother oak-tree. IU1 18.

DRUIDS. -- A sacerdotal caste which flourished in Britain and Gaul. In the West we find magic of as high an antiquity as in the East. The Druids of Great Britain practised it in the silent crypts of their deep caves; and Pliny devotes many a chapter to the "wisdom" of the leaders of the Celts. Isis 29.

Druids – A sacerdotal caste which flourished in Britain and Gaul. They were initiates who admitted females into their sacred order, and initiated them into the mysteries of their religion. They never entrusted their sacred verses and scriptures to writing, but, like the Brahmans of old, committed them to memory; a feat which, according to the statement of Ceasar, took twenty years to accomplish. Like the Parsis they had no images or statues of their gods. The Celtic religion considered it blasphemy to represent any god, even of a minor character, under a human figure. ... The three chief commandments of their religion were:—Obedience to divine laws; concern for the welfare of mankind; suffering with fortitude all the evils of life. (TG) AY Gloss.

The Druids were the Masons of very ancient times ... At the head of the Druids was a woman, who bore the title of Mother of the Druids. LHR II.

The Druids had a ritual in which all those who were present had to move around the sacrificial place or altar, exactly in the direction of the sun, whereas the Hierophant himself was moving against the sun, symbolizing his superior knowledge. LHR II.

Fires are still lighted in England and Scotland as well as Ireland for superstitious purposes; so that the people of Great Britain, it may be said, are still in some sense in the midst of the ancient sun-worship of Atlantis. Antediluvian World. i.donnelly.

Nor were all such cyclopean structures intended for sepulchres. It is with the so-called Druidical remains, such as Carnac in Brittany and Stonehenge in Great Britain, that the travelling Initiates above alluded to had to do. And these gigantic monuments are all symbolic records of the World's history. They are not Druidical, but universal. Nor did the Druids build them, for they were only the heirs to the cyclopean lore left to them by generations of mighty builders and "magicians," both good and bad. SD2 754.

The Archaeologists have their Stonehenge in England with its thousands of secrets, and its twin-brother Karnac of Brittany, and yet there is not one of them who even suspects what has been going on in its crypts, and its mysterious nooks and corners, for the last century. More than that, they do not even know of the existence of such "magic halls" in their Stonehenge, where curious scenes are taking place, whenever there is a new convert in view. SD3. HPB.

The feats of King Arthur. IU1 12.

David is the Israelitish King Arthur. He did great achievements and established a government in
all Syria and Idumea. His dominion extended from Armenia and Assyria on the north and north-east,
the Syrian Desert and Persian Gulf on the East, Arabia on the south, and Egypt and the Levant on
the west. IU2 439.

The stories of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table are also fairy tales to all appearance; yet they are based on facts, and pertain to the History of England. SD2 393.

Tahmurath visits on his winged steed (Ahriman) the Mountains of Koh-Kaf or Kaph. He finds there
the Peris ill-treated by the giants, and slays Argen, and the giant Demrusch. Then he liberates
the good Peri, Mergiana*, whom Demrusch had kept as a prisoner, and takes her over to the dry island,
i.e., the new continent of Europe.

* Mergain, or Morgana, the fairy sister of King Arthur, is thus shown of Oriental descent.
** Where we find her, indeed, in Great Britain, in the romance of the Knights of the Round Table.
Whence the identity of name and fairy-hood, if both heroines did not symbolize the same historical
event which had passed into a legend? SD2 398.

In Cornwall and in ancient Britain the traditions of these giants are, on the other hand, excessively common; they are said to live even down to the time of King Arthur. All this shows that giants lived to a later date amongst the Celtic than among the Teutonic peoples. The stories of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table are also fairy tales to all appearance; yet they are based on facts, and pertain to the History of England. THEOSOPHY, Vol. 44, No. 8, June, 1956 (Pages 358-364 HPB.

The Scandinavian traditions affirm that the Trolls were always driven from their abodes by the bells of the churches. A similar tradition is in existence in relation to the fairies of Great Britain. Isis2 624.

Queen Iseult of Cornwall?

Thamas Hardy.
In dinasti (the The Dynasts, 1903-08), written epico drama after to have visited the field of Waterloo, the napoleoniche battles are seen from a chorus of ultramundane intelligences. In 1923 it comes represented the Queen of Cornovaglia (The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall at Tintagel in Lyonness), tragedy in backs inspired to the vicissitude of Tristano and Isotta.

Lyonnesse: (li´enes) , once a region W of Cornwall, now sunk beneath the sea more than 40 fathoms deep. The Lyonnesse of Celtic legend, the home of Tristram and of the Lady of Lyones, has been identified with Lothian in Scotland. www.

How the Line of Kings was Lost
As recorded by Elemmhir Lanatrea, Scribe and Archivist to the Queen's Household

After the death of Arthur II there followed several generations of relative peace and plenty. The Land of Albion had a True King and was ruled wisely. The King's benevolence rubbed off onto his vassals who in turn looked to their own people. Serfdom was abolished and three great families rose to prominence amongst the Nobles of Albion.

The rise of the noble households

In the reign of the young Arthur II the commander of the King's forces had been one Hroc, known as Rook. He became the King's Lord Chancellor and was succeeded by his son; the position quickly became hereditary although not always from father to son, sometimes one would stand aside for a more capable cousin or nephew. The house of Rook remained closest to the King and came to be called House Corvadae.

In the west of Albion, at the border with Cymrija, lies a great forest known as the Greenwood; this has been inhabited by Elves from years uncounted. The Elves were supporters of Arthur I and his descendants but most of their energies were spent in keeping the Goblin hordes, from the mountains, out of Albion. Arthur II saw the need to remain friends with the Elves but also needed a strong military man on the border to deal with the Cumrijans. One of his commanders, Marin, had elven blood in his veins so he was the obvious choice as King's representative in the area. The court joked about the Greenwood being the King's hunting preserve and Marin quickly became known as the King's Huntmaster, from this nickname the House of Hunter was born and the border region is now called the Huntshire.

(Cymru /Prydian) Wales / Britain, Albion. Llyn-llion / Lyonness. Recall, Lord of the Rings ect. jc.

The border to the north also required strong leadership as the Caledonians rarely missed an opportunity to raid across into Albion. One of Arthur II's most trusted veterans, Sir Bedivere from Lyonness, was sent to oversee the north but had little luck in dealing with some of Arthur II's northern vassals who objected to an outsider being sent in. One of the most truculent of these was a young noble woman, Elon. She was the last of her family, having lost many in the civil wars (her grandfather and father supported the "wrong" side). Her family seat was in the small pass at the northern end of the Vale of Eaton and was known locally as "Caer Elon". She was fiercely protective of "her" people and did not take kindly to anyone, other than the King himself, telling them what to do. However Sir Bedivere found the perfect way to win her trust and loyalty; he arranged for her to meet the most dashing young knight he could find (who just happened to be his youngest son Kalor) and soon they were betrothed. However, many of the locals still did not like being ruled by an outsider so Sir Bedivere (with the King's blessing) passed on control of the north to his son Kalor and Elon jointly. With the birth of their first son the King created a new family name and the Karlennon family became his Marshals of the north. Later on the Karlennons also took on the role of Keepers of the Wellspring of Life.

In the year 670AF King Stephen I created a new title to honour these three families. He made the head of each house a Lord General, answerable directly to him and with an assured place on the King's Council.

The King is lost

In the year 838AF Albion's peace would once more be in peril. King Frederick had but recently ascended to the Pendragon Throne, his wife was the daughter of the King of Estragales and they arranged a State visit to there, Lyonness and Teutonia. They sailed forth on a calm day in late spring taking with them a large part of the court as well as their young son and infant daughter. The three Lords General were left in charge. After a very successful visit where many treaties and trade agreements were signed the Royal Party set out for home. It was a fine day in the late summer but their ship never returned to Albion shores. Some timbers were found but the ship was presumed lost with all hands, the King and his family were no more and Excalibur was lost with them. Treachery was suspected since the day had been fine and clear and the sea calm, but the truth was not known and the mystery is yet to be solved.

The Royal succession was clouded. The King had had two brothers and two sisters. His elder brother, Matthew, had renounced all claim to the Throne when he took up studies as a Mage and could not even be found. The younger brother, Jeremy, had been slain fighting Caledonians some years earlier leaving a daughter, Isabel. Of the King's sisters, one Eleanor was an unmarried twelve year old and the other, Ursula, was widowed with a grown son, Edgar. Nobody had ever set in law just how the succession should work. It was generally accepted that a younger brother would take precedence over an older female but when the generations were mixed nobody knew who the rightful heir was. The learned Chancellor Ravern, later known as peace-maker, studied the old texts and pronounced that a noble Lady of Albion must quest for the Swords of Waylund that Excalibur should be found again. But the court had grown soft, the King's sister Ursula tried and failed, Isabel was forbidden from trying by Connor her husband and Edgar's wife, Meganwy was Cumrijan.

Civil war

Peace held for a little while as the Council of Lords General debated what must be done but then Edgar's wife was poisoned, she lost the child she was carrying and died as a result of the miscarriage. Although there was no evidence, Edgar accused Isabel's husband and swords were drawn. Within six months Albion was swamped in civil war.

The great houses took little part at first. Corvadae being busy trying to run what was left of the Kingdom, Hunter and Karlennon busy on their respective borders but inevitably they were at last drawn in. Turmoil ruled the land for some years with none gaining the advantage. Isabel's husband had died and her son, Simon, now fought on her behalf. He and Edgar were well matched militarily and in September of 844AF it came to a final battle on a field near Warwick. The losses on both sides were dreadful, none more so since the battle of Camlann. One account of the battle describes seven unmatched warriors striding through the field wreaking havoc wherever they went, unharmed by all weapons. Later a warrior in blue armour was seen winning a fight with Edgar and another all in black had bested Simon. Thus at the end of the battle both claimants to the Pendragon Throne were slain. The two sides left the field in disarray, where now to turn for leadership?

What was not known at the time was that Eleanor (the King's youngest sister) had fled to her friends in Lyonnesse. She had married and had had two children one, by then, a boy of three and an infant son. She had also, between the births, completed the quest for the Seven Swords and had summoned them once but decided not to reveal the truth until she could present Excalibur to the Council. When she learned of the appalling bloodshed at the battle she felt it was her fault for not giving the hope of Excalibur's appearance in a few years. She refused food, would take no rest, and wasted away about a month after hearing the news. Her two sons were the rightful (and probably would have been undisputed) heirs to the Pendragon Throne. But trusted retainers fearing the worst spirited the boys away and it is not known what became of them.

The Land of Albion was completely leaderless and in disarray. Border incursions from Caledonia and Cumrija increased, privateers attacked the coast and the Elves in the Greenwood suffered greatly trying to keep the Goblin hordes at bay. After two years of such depredations Chancellor Ravern from house Corvadae decided that enough was enough. He was an old man, well liked and well respected so he drew up a plan which would be listened to. He travelled to the west, to Hunter and north to Karlennon, both listened and agreed to join him.

The Council of Albion

On the first day of spring in the year 848AF they called for all the Nobles of Albion to meet at the Wellspring of Life, under the supervision of the GrandMaster. They proposed that the Lords General should jointly take on the responsibility to rule Albion in the King's absence, thus they would keep the peace while the land awaited the coming of a new Pendragon. The assembled Nobles, heartily sick of civil war agreed to this and so the rulership of the Council of Albion began. Once per year all the Nobles of Albion would meet in a Great Council but the three Lords General would run the Kingdom awaiting a new claimant to the Pendragon Throne.

There was peace in the land once more, the people forgot the time when a King had ruled in Albion and accepted the Council. In the eyes of the people and much of the nobility the Lords General were equal in power and stature, yet this was not the case. House Corvadae was pre-eminent, the idea for the council had come from them and they were able to be more involved with the Kingdom as a whole, rather than concentrating on the border regions. This was no problem and the leadership of Corvadae was especially strong when in 1045AF the Lady Rioc became the head of the House Corvadae; she was wise and fair, a good military leader and in her youth was called the "Flower of Albion". She bore two children, a daughter, Alicia, and a son known simply as Corvus, who became head of his house and the council in 1087AF. Alicia married the Duke of Charenten and bore him sons and one daughter, Elspeth who married Lord General Elias Karlennon on 21st March 1088. But recent history tells the story of these people.
http://www.hartsofalbion.org.uk/library/lostkings.htm

Traditions of Atlantis in Britain
by Lewis Spence,
Author of "The Problem of Atlantis," "Atlantis in America," etc.

Recent investigation has led me to the belief that a considerable body of traditional and legendary material associated with the former existence and fall of Atlantis is to be discovered in the ancient records of Britain. This is not surprising, for it is clear that the continent of Atlantis cannot have been far distant from our island. In any case, the myths and tales of cataclysms and submergence of land preserved in early British literature appear to point conclusively to some such catastrophe as that to which Plato alludes in his account of Atlantis and its downfall. In the ancient books of Wales and Ireland there exist traditions which, if compared with the myth of Atlantis, cannot be accounted for by any other theory than that they were originally derived from it.

The traditional material in the ancient books of Wales which deals with the subject of lands submerged by cataclysm is of such extent that to contain it in its entirety a large volume would be needed. Before attempting a justification of the theory that the flood-legends of Wales relate to the Atlantean catastrophe, we may, perhaps, examine a few of the better known of these.

In the book of Caradoc of Nantgarvan, which dates from the twelfth century, and the book of Jeval Brechva, Thomas Jones of Tregarn in 1601 found certain verses known as the Triads of the Isle of Britain. These were printed by the Rev. Edward Davies in his Celtic Researches (London, 1804). Under the caption of "The Three Awful Events of the Isle of Britain," we read that these catastrophes consisted of:

First, the bursting of the lake of waters, and the overwhelming of the face of all lands; so that all mankind were drowned, excepting Dwyvan and Dwyvach, who escaped in a naked vessel (without sails) and from them the Island of Britain was re-peopled.

The second was the consternation of the tempestuous fire, when the Earth split asunder to Annwn (the lower region) and the greater part of all living was consumed.

The third was the scorching summer, when the woods and plants were set on fire by the intense heat of the Sun, and multitudes of men and beasts and kinds of birds, and reptiles, and trees, and plants were irrecoverably lost.

***The deluge alluded to in the first triad was the bursting of the Lake of Llyn Llion. Practically the same story is recounted of Llyn Tegid, near Bala in Merionethshire, and, as the late Sir John Rhys remarked, "probably all the other lakes of Wales were supposed to have had inhabitants wealthy in heads of cattle, and in our time each mere is supposed to have been formed by the subsidence of a city, whose bells may even now be at times heard merrily pealing."

The person who let loose this judgment upon the land was a maiden, perhaps called Margaret ("Mererid"), who at a time of feasting suffered the waters of a magical well which was under her charge to escape and overflow the country round. For the germ of the modern legend, which is in many ways a very different one, we have to look to the third series of Triads, belonging to the sixteenth century; the third of the Three Arrant Drunkards of Britain (a festive group unknown to the older triadic literature) is there said to be Seithennin the Drunkard, King of Dyfed, who in his cups let the sea loose over the Lowland Hundred, a region of fair cities and the patrimony of Gwyddno Garanhir, King of Ceredigion. The well maiden has now disappeared, Seithennin has become the author of the mischief, and the drowned kingdom is no longer his, but that of his neighbour Gwyddno.

Davies quotes the record of the catastrophe as given in the Triads:

Seithinin the Drunkard, the son of Seithin Saidi, King of Dyved, in his liquor let in the sea, over Cantre'r Gwaelod, so as to destroy all the houses and lands of the place, where prior to that event, there had been sixteen cities, the best of all the towns and cities of Wales, excepting Caerleon upon Usk. This district was the dominion of Gwyddnaw Garanhir, King of Cardigiawn. The event happened in the time of Emrys, the sovereign. The men who escaped the inundation came to land in Ardudwy, in the regions of Arvon, and in the mountains of Snowdon, and other places which had hitherto been uninhabited.

This legend is, of course, nothing more than a Welsh version of the legend of Ys, the submerged city of Brittany, the story of which is told in my Legends of Brittany, or it would probably be more correct to say that both tales have a common origin, and are deeply imbedded in the Celtic tradition of the past. Be it noted, moreover, that both agree with the Atlantis tradition in the circumstance that the land was overwhelmed in consequence of the wickedness of its inhabitants.

A similar story is told of Lake Savadda in Brecknockshire. Such traditions of the submersion of cities in the lakes of the country, or of populous districts by the intrusion of the sea, are current all over Wales. These legends are obviously not accounts of actual historical occurrences, but memories of some far-distant catastrophe which overtook the Celtic race in another environment.***

In the poem of the bard Taliesin called "The Spirits of the Deep," Arthur, in his mythological character, is alluded to in connection with a great deluge or similar catastrophe. The composition in question is obscure in verbiage and import, and evidently, as Turner observes, "involved in mythology." Davies believed the poem to allude "to the mysteries of the British Bacchus and Ceres," which were connected with "diluvian mythology," but admits that "another hand might be more dexterous in moving the rusty wards which guard these mysteries." The poem states that "Thrice the number that would have filled Prydwen (Arthur's ship) we entered into the deep; excepting seven, none have returned to Caer Sidi" (Place of the Circle).

The second stanza of this mysterious song proceeds to praise the lore, or mystic knowledge, "which was four times reviewed in the quadrangular enclosure." "We went," it concludes, "with Arthur in his splendid labours." Farther on, the bard sings: "In the quadrangular enclosure, in the island with the strong door, the twilight and the pitchy darkness were mixed together."

This passage, and that which precedes it, appear to me to enshrine a vivid memory of the Atlantean tradition. The reader will recollect that in Plato's account the city of Atlantis was said to be divided into zones or circles of land and water, and in my book The Problem of Atlantis, I brought a great deal of proof to bear that the circular plan of Atlantis was copied in many subsequent city- sites. The passage which summed up these resemblances is as follows: "Starting then from a knowledge of the Atlantean design as described in Plato, we find that is reflected not only in that of Carthage, but in numerous other ancient sites scattered over the length and breadth of those areas where we might expect to find architectural remains approximating to the Atlantean model--on the one hand along the entire stretch of the Mediterranean, and on the other along the sea-coasts of the Western Atlantic, to Britain and Ireland."

The fifth stanza of this weird lay also casts further light upon its Atlantean significance: "I will not redeem the multitudes with trailing shields. They knew not on what day the stroke would be given, nor what hour in the serene day, Cwy ('the agitated person') would be born, or who prevented his going into the dales of Devwy ('the possession of the water'). They know not the brindled ox with the thick head-band, having seven score knobs in his collar." This obviously refers to the populace of a country unconsciously awaiting the shock of catastrophe by deluge. As regards the allusion to the ox, "in almost every British memorial of the deluge," writes Davies, "the ox is introduced." The ox or bull was, it will be recalled, the sacred animal worshipped and sacrificed in Atlantis.

The song quoted above evidently refers to the escape from deluge of a company of persons under the 1eadership of the mythological Arthur. These were, it would seem, the leaders or aristocracy of the island alluded to, who had little or no anxiety for the populace, and saved themselves by flight. The circuluar or quadrangular nature of the city they abandoned is mentioned, and it is hinted that from it they carried with them the memory and apparatus of their sacred mysteries.

But do we find in the ancient Welsh tradition any reminiscence more definite of the lost Atlantis, reminiscences which would justify us in saying that our British forefathers associated the tradition of a submerged country with a region in the Atlantic? These appear to be indicated in the legends relating to Arthur and Lyones or Lyonesse and the Isle of Avallon.

In the first place it is clear that the Lake Llion, whose legend we have already discussed, is nothing more or less than a symbol of oceanic submergence adapted to a Welsh locality--that indeed the traditions relating to Lake Llion and Lyonesse have a common origin. Nor will it be difficult to prove that Lake Llion, Lyonesse, Avallon and Atlantis are merely names for one and the same oceanic locality. Let us examine first the traditions associated with the Isle of Avallon. The site of Avallon was regarded by the Celts of Britain as lying in the western ocean. The name has been explained as implying Insula Pomorum, or the Isle of Apples, although the spelling of the word with two ll's rather seems to siguify "Isle of Apple Trees."

By Geoffrey of Monmouth it was equated with the dragon-guarded Isle of the Hesperides. A similar account of it is given by an anonymous poet cited in Ian Morti's edition of Geoffrey, the verses being ascribed by Usher to the British bard Gildas. From internal evidence in these poems, and from William of Malmesbury, it appears that the Insula Avallonia or Ynys Avallach signified the island belonging to a king Avallach, who resided there with his daughter. This Avallach is identified by the Harleian MS as the son of Beli and Annu, and by Rhys with Evalach, the wounded fisher king of the Grail Legend.

Atlantis, it is needless to say, has been again and again identified with the Island of the Hesperides which contained the sacred apples, so that the association of Avallon with that insular paradise equates the British with the Platonic locality, and Avallon seems to be revealed as the Atlantis of Plato. If the equation be justified, we must then be prepared to find in Avallach, the king of the island, Atlas in his British form, and in Beli and Annu, his parents, the Greek Poseidon and Cleito of the Platonic tradition.

Seeking for the moment for further associations between the localities of Avallon and Atlantis, before we deal with their respective rulers and inhabitants, we find in the Grail legend of the "Revolving Castle" entered by Peredur, an incident peculiarly Atlantean. This is to be found in the Welsh Seint Greal. The passage runs thus:

And they rode through the wild forests, and from one forest to another until they arrived on clear ground outside the forest. And then they beheld a castle coming within their view on level ground in the middle of a meadow; and around the castle flowed a large river, and inside the castle they beheld large spacious halls with windows large and fair. They drew nearer towards the castle, and they perceived the castle turning with greater speed than the fastest wind they had ever known. And above, on the castle, they saw archers shooting so vigorously, that no armour would protect against one of the discharges they made. Besides this, there were men there blowing in horns so vigorously, that one might think one felt the ground tremble. At the gates were lions, in iron chains, roaring and howling so violently that one might fancy the forest and the castle uprooted by them.

This Revolving Castle Rhys unhesitatingly equates with the Castle of the Grail, the abode of the fisher king. We find this mysterious stronghold mentioned also in one of the poems of Taliesin, in which he says:

Perfect is my chair in Gaer Sidi:
Plague and age hurt him not who's in it-
They know, Manawydan and Pryderi.
Three organs round a fire sing before it,
And about its points are ocean's streams
And the abundant well above it-
Sweeter than white wine the drink in it.

The name "Caer Sidi" signifies "circular" or "revolving place" and is identified by Rhys with the "Revolving Castle" alluded to above. Now this Caer Sidi was mentioned as the insular locality abandoned by Arthur and his companions on the occurrence of a deluge. This, therefore, identifies the Revolving Castle with an oceanic locality once overwhelmed by deluge. The circumstances of the legend seem to associate it with a locality prone to cataclysm, and in the whole we appear to have an indubitable memory of the Atlantean site. It is situated "on level ground in the middle of a plain or meadow," as was Atlantis, and, like it, is surrounded by a mighty ditch or fosse. The ground trembles and the castle whirls, as if in the throes of an earthquake. The lions which surround it typify the natural forces of destruction. Its site is, according to the poem, of an insular character.

"About it are ocean's streams." "The word used," says Rhys, "is banneu or ban" (meaning points) and this connects the place with the Benwyk of Arthurian romance, the island kingdom of King Ban. It also implies that it had four corners or angles, which seems to asiociate it with the "Isle of the Four Precious Walls" in the Irish saga of "The Voyage of Maeldune." These walls met in the centre, and consisted respectively of gold, silver, copper and crystal. This is Atlantis over again, the several walls of which were constructed of gold, silver, and orichalcum, or copper. Let us compare Plato's account with that of the Welsh Seint Greal.

In the Welsh account Peredur rode through wild forests, "from one forest to another." Plato says that the country surrounding Atlantis was deeply afforested.

The Revolving Castle is situated on level ground in the middle of a meadow. Atlantis was built "on a level plain."

Around the Revolving Castle "flowed a large river. "The plain," says Plato, "was encompassed by a mighty ditch or fosse, which received the mountain streams and the outflow of the canals."

Caer Sidi is "The Revolving or Circular Place." Atlantis was also built in circular form.

"I will not redeem the multitudes with trailing shields," says the singer in "The Spoils of the Deep," speaking of the people of Caer Sidi. The landowner in Atlantis, says Plato, "was bound to furnish the sixith part of a war-chariot so as to make up ten thousand chariots, two horses and riders upon them, a light chariot without a seat and an attendant and charioteer, two heavily-armed infantrymen, two archers, two slingers, three stone-shooters, three javelin-men, and four sailors, to make up the complement of twelve hundred ships."

"They" (the multitude, the plebeians) "know not the brindled ox with the thick head-band." "Near the temple of Poseidon in Atlantis," says Plato, "grazed the sacred bulls, and these the ten kings of the island periodically offered up in sacnfice.... They put on azure robes and judged offenders." They were, in short, an aristocracy of the cult of the bull or ox, a worship unknown to the multitude.

Perhaps these comparisons render more clear the Atlantean origins of the Welsh legends of Caer Sidi and Avallon, and we may now proceed to examine still other British myths which deal with insular or submerged localities, in the hope of finding further evidence.

The sea to the Celts was the pathway to the Otherworld, a notion which is to be encountered in many mythologies, and the Celtic Place of the Dead is invariably located in the western ocean. Thus it appears probable that the place to which all souls were supposed to depart after death was associated with a locality formerly inhabited by the living, the Place of the Ancestors, the original home. Early man invariably believed that after death he would join his ancestors in an environment of unterrestrial bliss. The genius of this country is a Dame Liones, the owner of a Castle Perilous, hard by the Isle of Avallon.

Rhys attaches her country to the west coast of Cornwall, "lying somewhere under the sea, between Lundy and the Isles of Scilly." The name Liones or Lyonesse, of course, equates with that of the mythical lake Llyn Llion, which was supposed to have overwhelmed the world in its bursting, and, as has already been mentioned, it can be associated with the sunken Land of Ys, of Breton legend. But it also seems to me to have an etymological as well as a traditional connection with Atlantis. Indeed, I believe the name Atlantis to be merely a Hellenized version of the Celtic Llyn Luon or Lyonesse, just such a form, indeed, as the Greeks would give to a Celtic name.

Atlas can readily enough be associated with the gods of Britain. He was of the Titan breed, and the brother of Albion, who, like him, was a son of Poseidon. Albion was the original tutelary god of Britain. Both Atlas and Albion contested the western passage of Heracles. According to Pomponius Mela, Albion with his brother Iberius (the god of Ireland) the sons of Poseidon, challenged and fought the Greek demi-god near Aries. Albion is also that Alba, from which Scotland takes her name of Albany. There was thus a family or gens of Titans connected with the western ocean, and if Albion and Iberius can be associated with the British Isles, to which, indeed, their names still powerfully adhere, it is only reasonable to assunie that Atlas was also once the tutelary divinity of a western land in the ocean with which myth persistenty connects his name.

Albion (Britain), Iberius (Ireland), Atlas (Atlantis). The sequence is precise, and it is hard to believe that if the two former names were attached to islands still extant that the third can be regarded as the deity of a locality which existed only in the mythical imagination, especially as the personages alluded to had the same progenitor, and all belonged to one and the same gens. There is no example in mythi-history of a clan of ancestral figures issuing from one eponymous ancestor, some members of which were attached to actual and the rest to mythical localities. Search the pages of the Old Testament, the Rig-Veda, the Eddas--any body of traditional writings which supply ancestral genealogies--and nowhere in their pages can such an anomaly be encountered.

Let us examine the Greek myth of Geryon, lord of an Atlantic isle, a story which has Celtic equivalents. Geryon was the ruler of the island of Erytheia, and was furnished with three heads, and a corresponding number of hands and feet. He was the owner of numerous herds of magnificent cattle of a purple-red colour which grazed near the Lands of the Sun, that is in the West, for his isle of Erytheia was situated in the western ocean, beyond the Pillars of Heracles, and enjoyed a salubrious climate. Heracles, in the course of his labours, sailed to the island in the golden bowl of the Sun, or the vessel in which the Sun was imagined to float back to the east during the night hours.

On landing in the island Heracles was attacked by Geryon's dog, Orthus, and his herdsman Eurytion, and slew both. Geryon, hearing of this, hastened after Heracles and attacked him, but was likewise slain by the hero, who then drove the cattle to the shore and with his horned spoil and Geryon's daughter safely embarked in the golden bowl. In almost precisely the same manner, Cuchulainn, the Irish Heracles, carries off the cows and daughter of King Mider of the Inis Fer Falga, or Island of the Men of Falga. But more to the point is the circumstance that both Geryon and Mider, who resided in Atlantic islands, were, like Atlanteans, possessed of a herd of sacred cattle.

We see, then, that the Atlantic island of British Celtic myth is in many of its circumstances the parallel of Atlantis. Not only is it an inslar locality, but it boasted a city, Caer Sidi, which was built, like Atlantis, in circular form, surrounded by a great fosse, or canal, garrisoned by heavily-armed infantrymen, and its worship was connected in some manner with sacred cattle. We know, too, that it was regarded as having been overwhelmed by a flood or other cataclysm of nature.

The native myths of Britain contain further references to cataclysmic insular disturbances than those already referred to and associated more with volcanic or seismic upheaval than with flood. Plutarch in his De Defectu Oraculorum alludes to one of them as follows:

Demetrius further said, that of the islands around Britain many lie scattered about uninhabited, of which some are named after deities and heroes. He told us also that, being sent by the emperor with the object of reconnoitering and inspecting, he went to the island which lay nearest to those uninhabited, and found it occupied by a few inhabitants, who were, however, sacrosanct and inviolable in the eyes of the Britons. Soon after his arrival a great disturbance of the atmosphere took place, accompanied by many portents, by the winds bursting forth into hurricanes, and by fiery bolts falling. When it was over, the islanders said that some one of the mighty had passed away.... Moreover, there is there, they said, an island in which Cronus is imprisoned, with Briaerus keeping guard over him as he sleeps, for, as they put it, sleep is the bond forged for Cronus. They add that around him are many deities, his henchmen and attendants.

Now this myth is of great importance from more than one point of view. In the first place, it refers to "islands around Britain," many of which are called after gods and heroes. Man and Skye, for example, are so named. But some were uninhabited. Why? In all probability because at that period such volcanic or seismic disturbances as that described in the above passage were of constant occurrence. The islanders believed these storms and eruptions to be connected in some manner with the dead, that is, with those who dwelt in the west.

Further, the allusion to Cronus as being imprisoned in a still more distant island "with Briaerus keeping guard over him as he sleeps," is, as Rhys justly remarks, a parallel with the sleep of Arthur in Avallon, the island which I have already shown to be in all likelihood one and the same with Atlantis. Nennius, too, describes how Benlli, a British giant, having resisted St. Germanus, was, together with his entire court, burnt to ashes by fire from heaven. Now Benlli is also associated with the island of Ynys Benili, or Bardsey, the locality in which Merlin disappeared in his house or ship of glass, and it too has been equated with Avallon.

Thus we find practically all the broader and more general circumstances of Plato's account of Atlantis duplicated in British tradition--the belief in the submergence of a former insular marine locality situated in the west, its destruction by flood, volcanic, or seismic agency, its possession of a city built in a certain peculiar manner, and having a religious cult connected with cattle. The irresistible conclusion is that Atlantean refugees, or emigrants who had come closely in touch with them, must at some period have settled on British soil, and that the impression of the great catastrophe which had befallen their ancestors in the Atlantean continent remained undimmed for centuries, acquiring a literary and religious significance which mere legend could never have achieved.

Scanned and hand-corrected by A. Grinder from his copy of the periodical The Occult Review, Vol. XLIII, No. 1, Jan. 1926.

According to Grinder, The Occult Review was a popular occult magazine. Beginning publication in London, January, 1905, it ran until the Second World War. Published by Ralph Shirley and distributed in Britain, the US, and Australia/New Zealand, literally every theosophist, occultist and New Thinker of any significance of the era can be found in its pages.

Historical Hermetic Documents recommends: A. E. Waite, site of A. Grinder, which features additional historical hermetic documents from the same sources.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2282/adepti/lsatbrit.htm

Mount St Michael. Lyonness.

THIS most picturesque and romantic Mount lies off the south coast of Cornwall, opposite to the little market town of Alarazion, or Market-Jew - the name referring probably to its ancient Jewish inhabitants; in fact, some of the old smelting houses in its vicinity are still called Jews' Houses.

Alarazion is delightfully situated on the inner shore of Mount's Bay, and has a mignificent prospect before it, a wide and glorious expanse of waters; to the westward the Rundlestone, to the east the Lizard's Point, and in front St. Michael's, " the Guarded Mount," a towering peak of greenstone. It was, as legendary lore tells us, a part of Lyonness in the days of King Arthur; a vast forest - then six miles distant from the sea - environed it, and it was the haunt of wild beasts. Here Arthur, fought one of his many battles.

The Cornish name for the Mount is in accordance with the legend that it once stood inland in a forest, for they call it "Caraclowse in Cowse," i.e. - "The Grey Rock in the Wood." The inroad of the sea that insulated the Mount took place, according to the Saxon Chronicle, in 1099.

St. Michael's Mount had early a sacred character, for it was said that here St. Michael himself had appeared to a holy anchorite who dwelt upon it, and so sacred was it hence esteemed that St. Keyne made a pilgrimage to it in 490.

The Mount does not look as high as it really is, because the vast expanse of sea round it diminishes its apparent size.

It is, however, 231 feet above the level of the sea, exclusive of the buildings on its summit. It is reached from Marazion at low water by a paved causeway 1,200 feet long; but at high water the rock is insu lated. It is a mile round; on the right is a pile of greenstone on clay slate called the Chapel Rock.

A little fishing village lies at the foot of the Mount, with a harbour of sufficient depth of water for vessels of 500 tons; above it towers precipitously the great grey rock. The ascent was commanded by a cross-wall pierced with embrasures, and by a platform having two small batteries.

The castle must have been a strong building.

At present the monastic remains are occupied as a country seat by the proprietor of the Mount, Lord St. Levan; it is a delightful summer residence. The diningroom was the refectory of the monastery, and contains a curiously carved frieze of hunting subjects; it is called by the people the Chevy Chase room.

At one of the angles of the tower on the Mount is to be seen the stone lantern in which, during the fishing season, or in tempestuous weather, the monks kept a light to guide seamen. This lantern is vulgarly called St. Michael's Chair. "Only one person can sit in it, and the attempt is not without danger, for the chair, elevated above the battlements, projects so far over the precipice, that the climber must actually turn the whole body at that altitude in order to take a seat in it." The superstition is that if a married woman sits in it before her husband has done so, she will rule him; if the husband enters it first "the awful rule and right supremacy" of his position will be his.

The monks who in early time occupied the Mount were Benedictines. Some time after the Conquest the Gilbertines took their place, and their cell was attached by Robert Earl of Cornwall to the Abbey of St. Michael, on Mont St. Michel, off the coast of Normandy; for both France and England possess a St. Michael's Mount.

While Richard Coeur de Lion was in captivity in Austria, Hugh de la Pomeroy, an adherent of John's, seized the Mount, expelled the monks, and fortified the place for that rebellious prince. On the return of Richard, however, Pomeroy, dreading his vengeance, fled to his castle of Berry Pomeroy, and some say had himself bled to death, others, that mounting his favourite charger, he leapt from the edge of the rocks at Berry Pomeroy, and was thus killed.

Shortly after the lost battle of Barnet, John, Earl of Oxford, a Lancastrian noble, sailed hither, disguised himself and some of his followers as pilgrims, gained an entrance to the castle (which belonged to Canterbury at that time), overpowered the garrison, and held the stronghold for Henry VI. The Yorkists besieged the Mount for several months ineffectually, and Oxford, when he surrendered, obtained honourable terms of capitulation and a full pardon.

Perkin Warbeck possessed the castle for a time, and left his beautiful wife, "the White Rose of Scotland," here for safety; but she was taken from it by Lord Daubeny, and carried to Henry VIL's court. He treated her with marked respect, and gave her a place about the queen.

Upon the suppression of the monastery, St. Michael's Mount was given to Humph-rey Arundell of Lanherne, but as lie placed himself at the head of the Cornish insurrection in 1549, it was taken from him as the forfeiture of treason, and he was beheaded. He had obstinately contested the possession of the Mount with the royal forces.

In Charles I.'s civil war, the fortress was held for the king by Sir Francis Bassett, who was, however, compelled to surrender to the Parliamentarians in 1646.

Charles II. visited the Mount; and in 1846 Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort honoured it with their presence. The print of the Queen's foot on the pier is marked by an inlaid brass.

Tintagel:

On the very brink of a tremendous precipice, 300 feet above the sea, is the ruined castle of King Arthur. It stands on the extremity of a bold headland, called by the people "the Island," because the rush of waters has nearly separated it from the mainland. The castle occupied originally both its present site and the opposite hill, the two portions being united by a noble bridge, the foundations of which are still visible. Arches and steps cut in the rock remain, and walls of different elevations inclose wide areas, which were once royal apartments, but are now carpeted with turf, and roofless. Here the mountam goat graces, and the children of the neighbourhood play.

Arthur was born in Tintagel, and kept his court in manhood here, at times, surrounded by his famous knights. Fuller gives us this quaint account of the King of British chivalry.

"King Arthur," he says, "son of Uther Pendragon, was born in Tintagel Castle, and proved afterwards monarch of Great Britain. He may fitly be termed the British Hercules in three respects : (1) for his doubtful birth; (2) painful life - one famous for his twelve labours, the other for his twelve victories against the Saxons, and both of them had been greater had they been made less, and the reports of them reduced within the compass of credibility. (3) Violent and woeful death: our Arthur's being as lamentable and more honourable, - not caused by feminine jealousy, but masculine treachery - being inurdured by Mordred near the place where he was born,-

'As if no other place on Britain's spacious earth
Were worthy of his end, but where he had his birth.'
"After the Conquest, Tintagel was trequently the residence of royalty. It was here that David, Prince of Wales, was splendidly feasted during his war with Henry III., in 1246."

Three centuries later, Leland speaks of it as "sore weather-beaten and in ruin."

The ruins of the ancient chapel on the island were investigated in 1860 by the Vicar of Tintagel.

"The chapel," says the Building News of Sept., 1860, "has been cleared, and the stone altar stands revealed in a perfect state, except that the slab (a ponderous block of granite) had been removed and was lying on the floor. This has been replaced. On either side of the altar is a grave lined with slate; but no bones were found in them.

That on the south side has a singular recess in it, constructed of granite, and intended apparently to allow of access by the hand to the interior of the vault, which may have been used as a receptacle for relics. The position of the chancel-screen is indicated by two recesses in the walls, north and south, from which it has been removed."

But the chapel must have been built very long after Arthur's time, for it is Transition Norman in character, and probably dates from the middle of the twelfth century.

The vicar has also effected considerable repairs of Tintagel Castle, and converted the old sheep-walk up the side of the "island" into a good path.

Near Camelford is the place where Arthur fell mortally wounded, and his treacherous nephew, Mordred, was also slain.

Here fell in that terrible battle the remaining Knights of the Round Table, dying with their lord - one only survived.

When all day long the noise of battle rolled
Among the mountains by the wintry sea,
Until King Arthur's Table, man by man,
Had fallen in Lyonness around their lord.
- TENNYSON.

Sloven Bridge was anciently called Slaughter Bridge, because it was choked with dead by that fatal battle.

Boscastle is three miles from Tintagel, by a hilly road. To the left is a bold range of hills, said to have been the ancient boundary between the land of the Saxons and the Celts.

At Longbridge a stream is crossed, which about a mile inland falls over a steep rock, forty feet high, into St. Nectan's Keeve. A keeve is a basin; the bowl used by a miner in washing his tin-nuggets is called a keeve.

"There is another leap of about ten feet," says Mr. White, "and you may descend to it by returning to the outside of the rocks, scrambling down to their base, and along the narrow, slippery path leading into the chasm. Here you see an arch below the edge of the keeve, in which a flat slab having lodged, the water, broken as it shoots through, falls a thin, flickering curtain into the pool beneath. The best view is from the farther margin of the stream, and to cross on the gravelly shallow below the pool will scarcely wet more than your shoesoles. The effect is singularly pleasing. You are at the very bottom of the dell, in complete seclusion, with trees above on each side forming a screen that admits but a dim light; a glimpse of the upper fall through the arch, and the pretty noise of the falling water-no other sound audible save the occasional twittering of a bird. Retracing your steps, you see where the stream flows past the massive slab of slate rock lying in its bed, and disappears in the brake. Then up the damp, weedy path to the top of the bank, where stand the walls of a cottage, once the habitation of two recluse ladies who lived in it some years - a mystery to the neighbourhood - and died without revealing their secret."

Glen Nectan
IT is from Nectan's mossy steep
The foamy waters flash and leap;
It is where shrinking wild flowers grow,
They lave the nymph that dwells below.
But wherefore in this far-off dell
The relics of a human cell,
Where the sad stream and lonely wind
Bring man no tidings of his kind?
"Long years agone," the odd man said -
'Twas told him by his grandsire dead -
One day two ancient sisters came,
None there could tell their race or name.
Their speech was not in Cornish phrase,
Their garb had signs of loftier days;
Slight food they took from hands of men,
They withered slowly in that glen.
One died, - the other's sunken eye
Gushed till the fount of tears was dry;
A wild and withering thought had she, "
I shall have none to weep for me."
They found her silent at the last,
Bent in the shape wherein she passed,
Where her lone seat long used to stand,
Her head upon her shrivelled hand!
Did fancy give this legend birth
The granddam's tale for winter hearth?
Or some dead bard by Nectan's stream
People these banks with such a dream?
We know not; but it suits the scene
To think such wild thing; here have been;
What spot more meet could grief or sin
Choose at the last to wither in?
-THE REV. ROBERT STEPHEN HAWKER. www.

Jeremy Condick jpcondick@ntlworld.com