1 10 105 https://www.filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/efc39e20af715691536ce9254b6a2ccc.pdf 1a2c2b4afb7a599a26f6e9a08ce502ce Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, typewritten (11pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document The Madrian Literature Circle: A Child's Outline of World History INTRODUCTION FOR GROWN-UPS The following pages give a very broad outline of the course of the world's history from the beginning of the present world-cycle until the present time (and a little beyond). It may be read by children or to them, though its primary purpose is not either of these. The Outline is not primarily regarded as an end in itself, but rather as a basis for teaching and discussion. Ideally, each paper should be used as the foundation of a lesson around which discussion may be centred and project work organised. The project work can include pictures, compositions, maps, models etc. This individualised approach is particularly important since it allows the teaching to be adjusted to the age and ability of the children concerned. For example, to older children more detail may be gone into about the nature of the first people's coming from heaven to earth – how we mean not "people" travelling in space, but souls becoming incarnate in a material environment; and how the first ideal and archetypal creation was translated onto successively grosser and more consolidated levels of being until finally it reached the stage of physical matter. There are various levels on which these facts can be taught, ranging from the simplest forms of presentation (to which we have largely restricted ourselves in these papers) to the abstractions of philosophical metaphysics. Which level takes predominance in any given case will depend upon the child in question. Madrian education has always proceeded orally, without the use of textbooks, and these papers represent a step towards putting some of it in a form which can be used by those who have not grown up within a traditional Madrian community. What will be missed are the traditional stories and narratives, usually told by the fireside, which give so much warmth and vitality to the historical accounts. To some extent the place of these will be taken by the accounts of the lives of children living in the different periods of history which are to provide a companion-piece to the present work. Some of the traditional stories will also be written down, but nothing can replace the traditional telling in the fireside setting by an experienced story-teller. As new open Madrian communities are founded, it is to be hoped that every Madrian child will be able to have this experience at least occasionally. If any particularly interesting or difficult questions are asked, we would be grateful to hear of them. The answers to these questions may be compiled as a supplement to the Outline. [Illustration titled The Golden Age, depicting many small figures standing in a treed field beneath the sun and clouds. A robed figure on a cloud emits beams of light from her hands on the earth below. The caption reads: "Some of the first children strayed from Heaven... ...But INANNA made the earth for them"] Where did people come from? When God first made people, She did not put them on this earth, but kept them with Her in Heaven. It was so beautiful in Heaven, that I can hardly begin to describe it. But afer a time, some of Her children disobeyed Her, and wandered away from Heaven. Now Heaven is a place for perfectly good people, and because these children were disobedient, they could not find their way back. But God sent Her Daughter, Inanna, to help them, and Inanna created a new place for them to live, and this new place was called the earth. When She first created it, the world was so fresh and bright and beautiful that if you could see it, you would say that Heaven could not be any more wonderful than that (but if you had seen Heaven, you would know that it could!). When people first came to earth, it was called the Golden Age. People were not stuck in their physical bodies the way we are, they could just "step" out of them. They could travel to another place just by thinking about it. They could understand the language of birds and animals, and build a Temple in the air without wood or stones or any other physical material. [An illustration depicts figures standing among animals and flowers in a treed field beneath sun and clouds. The caption reads: "They could understand the language of birds and animals."] [A second illustration, titled The Silver Age, shows two impressive buildings, with a caption reading, "Great temples and palaces were built."] At the beginning of the GOLDEN AGE, people did not need to build houses at all, because they did not feel the cold, and for them, it was always like the warmest days of summer. It was not until the SILVER AGE that any houses were built, and then, at first, they were only little round wooden huts. The GOLDEN AGE lasted for many thousands of years – almost as long as all the other ages put together. People lived for a very long time then, and it was not unusual for a person to be several hundred years old. As time went on, lives became shorter. In the late SILVER AGE, people only lived 150 to 200 years. Today they usually live only 70 or 80. Toward the second half of the SILVER AGE, great temples and palaces were built in many places. These were very grand and beautiful, and full of wonderful works of art, but they showed that people had moved further away from God and were trying to make themselves at home on the earth instead of seeking the way back to their real home in Heaven. But they had not forgotten God, and all their works of art, their magnificent cities and palaces, their beautiful clothes and music, just as much as their Temples, were all made in Her honour. Great princesses ruled over the cities, and everyone was happy under their reign, because like true princesses, they did not rule according to their own likes and dislikes, but ruled in obedience to God and Her laws. These laws are so perfect that when maids live by them, they are always perfectly happy. [An illustration, entitled The Golden Chain of the Law, shows a series of linked figures, starting at the far left with "Our Lady", followed by "The Princess", "Heads of Households", "mothers", and lastly "husbands & children".] [A second illustration, entitled The Bronze Age, I, shows a large seated figure in a crown raising a goblet over three smaller figures carrying various containers. The caption reads, "Princesses grew greedy & selfish." To the right of this, another image shows a broken down wall surrounded by loose bricks, with a caption reading "A brick wall without any cement."] At the beginning of the BRONZE AGE, the great cities became larger and more magnificent, but now the great danger of these earthly glories was beginning to become a reality. People were starting to forget God, and lose themselves in worldly things. The great princesses forgot that they were God's servants and behaved as if they were only given their riches and power for their own enjoyment. The people did not see why the princesses should have wealth and power instead of themselves. And of course, if the princess is not God's servant, there is no reason. But when they put up maids from among themselves to be their rulers, it was even worse, because these rulers did not obey the divine Law either, but only slipped farther from it. The worse things became, the more people tried to find comfort in worldly things, but the more they did that, the worse still things became. Those days were very much like the present time in the profane world. In the end, the whole of that civilisation collapsed, because a society without God is just like a brick wall without cement. The golden chain of Her law holds society together, and when that chain is broken, it will soon fall to pieces. Through greed and quarrelling, and by upsetting the balance of nature with materialistic inventions (just as people are doing today), the great cities of the early bronze age fell into decay. People went off into the hills or the countryside and left the magnificent buildings to crumble away. [An illustration shows the ruins of great buildings being rained upon, while a caption reads "...left the magnificent building to crumble away."] [An illustration, entitled The Bronze Age, II depicts three angelic figures over the words "The sacred arts & crafts were brought from Heaven to earth..." On the right, a figure is shown holding something aloft at the mouth of a cave, while another sits by a fire; two smaller figures a little ways off appear to be carrying bows and are accompanied by a four-footed animal. The caption reads, "...maids guarded them in cave-days – men were sent out to hunt. They were REMEMBERED, not INVENTED." After the fall of the great cities, many people wandered the countryside, or lived in caves. Many profane people believe that these were the first people in the world. They call them cave-men and believe that they had just learned the simplest things, like making fire. Actually, of course, they only REMEMBERED these things, while they had FORGOTTEN most of the other things which they used to know. Profane people believe that these "cave-people" had developed from monkets only a little time ago, and the the whole human race is only about two million years old, and could not make simple things by hand until about twenty-five thousand years ago, but they have found the imprints of well-made rope sandals in places where they must be at least fifteen million years old. But they just ignore things like that, and pretend they do not exist. The cave-people are called "cave-men" by profane people because they pretend that men were in charge in those days, just as they are in the profane world today. Actually, the profane people who know most about it know that this is not true,* but most profane people pretend that it is. Actually maids were in charge of the cave-societies, were leaders in the communities and heads in the households, just as they had always been. It was not until much later and much darker times that men took over. The cave people were not stupid, as is sometimes said. Although they had forgotten many practical things, they still had a deeper spiritual knowledge than the profane world today, and their arts and crafts were rich in spiritual meaning. Profane people often talk of these arts and crafts being "invented" by the cave-people, but, of course, no true craft has ever been invented on this earth, for maid brought all the true sacred crafts with her when she came from Heaven. So when people say "invented", they should really say REMEMBERED. [An illustration, entitled WRONG IDEAS profane people say that... shows an ape swinging from a tree next to a maid in a robe. This is x-ed out over the caption "maid is descended from monkeys" and labeled "x wrong". To the right, a similarly x-ed out image shows a man in an animal skin with a large club dragging a maid in a robe by the hair beneath the caption "...fierce cave-men ruled over maids." This is also labeled "x wrong" and "0/10".] [Another illustration, entitled The Bronze Age III, shows the edge of a map. A protrusion of land dotted with trees and a large structure is labeled "LANTIS", with the edge of another letter to the left. Off the shore of the land four ships are shown in the ocean, with the caption "Basilea's ships set sail." To the right of this scene, a clock with a single hand is shaded and labeled for the four ages. The hand points to the very end of the Bronze Age. A caption reads, "the world is slowly running down like a clock."] So, the cave-maids had forgotten many things, and also rememebered many things. But not everybody had forgotten those things which had been forgotten. One the great continent of ATLANTIS, now sunken beneath the waters, lived a race of people who had not forgotten the old ways. Their ruler was called QUEEN BASILEA. Queen Basilea decided that it was her duty to help the other peoples of the world, and so she made ready a great fleet of ships which sailed all over the world. And wherever the red-haired Atlanteans landed, they taught the forgotten ways to the people, and helped them to build up magnificent civilisations centred upon love and obedience to God, just like those of the Silver Age. But they could not be quite like the Silver Age, for times change, and what is possible to our mothers is not possible to us. For the world is slowly running down, like a clock that has been wound up a long time ago. But the Bronze Age cities were very good places, ruled by good princesses who obeyed the Divine Law. The people were happy, and lived close to God. Beautiful clothes and buildings and pictures and music were made, all for the love of God. Wherever they went, the Atlanteans left four objects behind them: a golden chalice, a silver moon-axe, a bronze yoke and an iron plough. These symbolized the four ESTATES into which people were divided in the bronze age. Priestesses and scholars, queens and nobles, craftsmaids, and farmers. There was also a fifth estate, which was above the other four. This was the estate of those who gave up the world, and gave their whole lives to God in contemplation, often they went away to live in lonely places and later returned to give teaching and spiritual help to others. [An illustration shows a figure seated cross-legged in a robe. Above the figure a caption reads "The Contemplative Life," while below the figure is labeled "mystics". To the right, a caption spans four figures, reading "The Active Life". The first figure carries a chalice and is labeled "Priestesses & Scholars". The second wears a crown and carries a labrys, and is labeled "Princesses & nobles". A third appears to hammer the rim of a wheel, and is labeled "craftsmaids & artists". A fourth handles a scythe and is labeled "farmers".] [An illustration, entitled The Iron Age, I depicts a yelling figure seated in a throne with arms upraised and two other figures prostrating before it. This image is captioned "cruel warrior kings". To the right, another image shows a bearded figure in a crown immersed in a cloud sprouting lightning, and is captioned "made-up male gods".] Because the world is running down like a clock, the happy time which began in the early part of the Bronze Age could not last forever. It did last for thousands of years, but towards the end of the Bronze Age, things started to decline even more badly than at the end of the Silver Age. Cities got bigger and more greedy, and people became obsessed with money and possessions. At the beginning of the Iron Age, all sorts of false ideas were starting to creep into religion itself. First, people imagined that God had not a Daughter, but a son, and later they decided that God Herself was a man! Because religion is the centre of life, these ideas quickly started to affect other areas of life. In the end, kings took the throne away from the princesses, and fathers became the heads of households instead of mothers. This arrangement is called PATRIARCHY. The kings who took over were very cruel, they often burned towns and villages in their fight to take over power, and invented horrible ways of killing people who disagreed with them. All patriarchal governments, right up to the present [illegible, short and ends in 'y'] use horrible methods like these. Sometimes, in times of peace, they stop using them for a short while, but they quickly start again when it suits them. As the iron age wore on, people believed less and less in religious truths, until, in the end, the patriarchs did not even believe in their own invented male god. Instead, they plunged themselves into worldly things even more deeply than tthe Silver or Bronze Age people had done at their worst. They invented all sorts of machines and deadly weapons, and found out many things about nature and the world, but all in order to satisfy their own greed. The world war made more and more ugly, scarred by roads and railways, and huge sprawling cities dedicated to making money. [A chaotic illustration shows roads, railways, guns, grenades, advertisements, a television, an airplane dropping bombs, a tank, a skyscraper, and a factory belching smoke. The caption reads "the end of the age".] [An illustration, entitled The Iron Age II, bears a middle caption reading "Confused States". On the left, a woman is shown on a throne with a crown, while a crowned man stands behind her. The caption reads, "Queens ruled, but kings were powerful." On the right, a crowned man sits enthroned while a crowned woman stands behind. The caption reads, "Kings ruled, but only by the queen's permission."] At the end of the Iron Age, people even stood history on its head, and pretended that the Iron Age was BETTER than all the other times, and that because people in earlier ages did not spend all their time inventing new weapons and machines and ways of making money, they must have been stupider than people are now! This idea is called PROGRESS or EVOLUTION. It says "We started off as monkeys, and we have been getting better ever since. This modern patriarchal world is the best thing ever!" This idea is a very new invention, because even in most of the patriarchal times, people knew that things were getting worse. All the wisest people in every age have taught the opposite of progress; but the clever thing about the progress story is that the people who tell it don't have to take any notion of the wisest people of the past, because they were only stupid people who had not invented bombs and factories. Whenever you see a profane book about the past, you will always find this silly idea in it somewhere. We must not forget that from the beginning of the Iron Age to the present time, which is near to the end, was a very long time indeed. The whole of what the profane world calls history does not go back as far as the beginning of the Iron Age. Patriarchy as we know it today did not come in until quite late. There were lots of in-between periods. Periods when queens ruled, but kings had a lot of power, when kings ruled, but only by the queen's permission and all sorts of other complicated situations. In spiritual wisdom, the situation was equally confusing. Some bits of the truth were kept, others were lost, and different things happened in different places. For example, the western world lost that truth that we live many different lives, but the eastern world kept it. [An illustration shows a diverse crowd of people in varying costumes collectively yelling "No!" while pointing at a man in a suit next to a sign that reads "Progress, Atheism, Materialism, Monkeys to Maids, Evolution, People Are Machines". The caption reads "The profane world boastfully ignores all the wisest people of the east (even the patriarchal ones)".] [Transcript incomplete, ending on p. 9 of original] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Child's Outline of World History Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://www.filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/f6bfd209cd2d6c537f48508e525fde29.pdf 73825395e618302c3e63e2bc07792e42 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Romantia Description An account of the resource Materials from the short-lived Romantian community—a mixed-company sister project to Aristasia. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Printed article, 3pp. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Romantic Manifesto Description An account of the resource An article describing the lifestyle and philosophy of the "Romantics" in the late 1980s. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Miss Lucinda Tyrrell Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Spectator Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 24 December 1988 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Magazine article, 3pp. Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant London https://www.filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/f489d9abd54088d266ad99bb3473335c.jpg 65cd40f3b038e4c329d8a2ebc0a983fc Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Dear Sirs, Ken Penney’s article in the September Ecologist mobilises a coherent and powerful attack upon the economics of greed. However, there is one crucial point which in this, as in many similar statements, is left vague. He points out that communities such as the Amish and the Hutterites have remained content with lifestyles unchanged over centuries, and dismisses the objection that such communities are only successful because of their high religious scale of values with the suggestion that ‘it is only a matter of definition whether some values are religious and some are not. Could it not be possible that profit making itself is the religion of materialism?’ It is scarcely disputable that the race for material goods is a religion-substitute; but that leaves unsolved the problem of what substitute the secular stable economy can find for both religion and money-grubbing. Mere contentedness to live in peace with one’s neighbours is a pleasant idea on paper, but it ignores the actual dynamics of human psychology. The late Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy pointed out in many of his works that all traditional pre-industrial societies had or have a complex metaphysical doctrine of their various crafts (including agriculture). Each is seen not only as a means of producing material necessities, but as a paradigm of the cosmogonic act; and consequently also as a meditative path. An individual’s craft was a vocation in the true sense; an inseparable part of her own being. The loss of this traditional approach to the crafts is the root cause of all ‘industrialism’, since it is only when the inner meaning of craft has been forgotten that its whole essence can be sacrificed to methods which merely increase its external productive efficiency. Having seen for myself the level of real motivation and dedication generated by the ‘path of works’ in traditional Madrian-matriarchal communities in this country, I am convinced that a return to a vocational society in the traditional sense is the only workable long-term solution to the psychological and spiritual problems of a post-industrial economy. Yours faithfully, Sister Angelina, Lux Madriana, Oxford. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data print (1p.) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Vocational Point of View Subject The topic of the resource Craft Description An account of the resource Letter written by Sr. Angelina to the editor of the ecologist, proposing a return to craft-based vocational understandings as the only sustainable path in a post-industrial world. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sr. Angelina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sr. Angelina. "A Vocational Point of View." the ecologist 9.8/9, Nov/Dec 1979; http://www.theecologist.org/back_archive/19701999/ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available the ecologist Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1979 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text craft social criticism https://www.filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/65317cd170fb59dd4d36449cfd265ab4.pdf 2a3ca71a267d516f6386de07f3ce4e5c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, handwritten (3pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document An Amazon Song "The Iron Ring" is a popular English Madrian song. It is said to be an English version of a song sung by the Amazons in early patriarchal times. The Iron Ring was a defensive formation employed by hand-picked groups of Amazon infantry. They would form into a circle, their outward-facing swords and peltae [sp?] (the light Amazon shield) forming a "ring of iron". Sometimes archers were stationed inside the Ring to fire out over their heads. The formation of a Ring to protect the wounded and the sisters attending to them is briefly described in Projection 6 of The Moira Handbook. Such was the strength of the formation and the prowess of the maids who formed it that it is said that throughout the whole of Amazon history (which covers several hundred years) the Ring was never once broken. In difficult times, the Iron Ring was often the key factos in preserving the safety of the Amazons' mountain fortresses. The verses are sung by a single singer, the chorus by the whole group of singers, and it has a faster and more robust rhythm than that of the verses. In the last four lines of the chorus everybody joins, and they are usually repeated. The Iron Ring O, the Temples are in ruins, There is treason in the town; The statues in the market-place Have all been broken down. Our dear Lady is forgotten Through the whole of Her fair land, For it languishes in darkness 'neath The tyrant's bloody hand. Chorus: But we love Her in the mountains Where the air is fresh and clear, For the bloody hand of tyranny Can gain no entrance here; [cont'd:] And we raid them and we mock them And we feast and we dance and we sing And if they want to stop us Let them break the Iron Ring [cont'd:] Let them break the Iron Ring, Let them break the Iron Ring, All the men from here to Hades Cannot break the Iron Ring. O the tyrant has made idols With his own unseemly face And has tortured our dear kinsfolk From our Lady's loving grace; And there's many a saintly priestess That has died by sword or flame For she would not call on any but Our Lady's precious Name. Chorus: But we love Her in the mountains... Let us praise our noble warriors That protect us from our foes, Let us praise their shining armour And their swiftly-arching bows; For their eyes are ever laughing And their lips forever sing. Let us praise the noble soldier-maids That make the Iron Ring. Chorus: For we love Her in the mountains... Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An Amazon Song: The Iron Ring Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Description An account of the resource A Rhennish song attributed to the Amazons, celebrating resistance to tyranny. https://www.filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/24e9ee8ab36ca95944f986815c616d1c.pdf 27814ab497ec2775d51954f963927b97 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, typewritten (12pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document An Autumn Evening The dusk is settling over the hedgerows and out along the fields. The work of the day is accomplished, and all have eaten and gathered before the fire to say the evening's Rosary. As it is finished, the Pentacle is made, and little stools are gathered as everyone takes her place about the fire. It is done with a dance-like grace, there is no scuffle or confusion, for indeed, each movement of each person has been made an hundred times before. A movement out of place will be met with a sharp rebuke or a slap from an "elder sister", but this rarely happens. The response to such a reprimand is a curtsey from a maid or a reverence from a man. One disharmony is cancelled out by another, and themis [thamë] is restored. The inward response, even from the most adult person, is what the modern world would think of as childlike: intense mortification, which is quite forgotten within a few minutes. It was a crisp, smokey autumn evening, and already the dusk was thickening into night. The lady of the house, donna Marienna, seated in her arm chair beside the fire, called for an oil lamp to be lighted. The guests were conducted to the places prepared for them, each according to her estate. An owl hooted without. Often the night's tales and discourse began with a discussion of the events of the day – crops, weather, fairies, accidents and a thousand other things might set the spark to some piece of traditional lore; but this night it was the owl's cry which begun [sic] the talking. "Does that be [sic] a bad token?" asked a boy as pieces of embroidery, knitting or carving were brought out – idleness was not encouraged, at least, not until later in the evening. "Not unless she does enter the house," said donna Marienna, "though some do say that if owls do make noise about the house on three nights successively a death shall come, but that I credit not." "Perhaps she will be the baxter's* daughter," put in old Faith, who sat opposite the mistress in another arm chair. "Who was she?" asked one of the girls. "Most truly, I cannot tell you," said Faith, for it was the custom to refuse so direct a request the first time. "Mother, I would count it a blessing if you should instruct my little ones," said the mother of the girl. "Then so be it," answered Faith. "There once was a pleasant baxter maid that lived not so far from this; and she did have a daughter that was not so goodly a child as she. "One day there came to the door a poor travelling-maid with all the dust of a long highway upon her tattered clothes, and this one asked the girl an she would give her a piece of dough; so this girl gave her just a little bit and it was put in the over with the other loaves. But when it was ready, the little bit of dough had grown bvigger than all the loaves. Well, the girl wasn't about to let the travelling maid have this, so she gavce her another piece of dough, not half the size of the fdirst. And when this was baked, why, it came out even bigger than the first one. 'You can't have that, mother', says the girl, and gives her another bvit not the size of your thumb. Well, sure enough, when it's baked, it comes out as a great brown crusty loaf bigger than either of the other two. "By this time, the tight-handed girl is starting to think that things aren't as they might be, so she turns herself around to take another look at the travelling-maid, but now, the travelling maid has thrown off her old ragged cloak, and standing there, tall as the silver birch tree and shinging with the light of Heaven. Why, the greedy girl can't find her words at all, and the only thing she can stutter out is 'Who? ... Who? ... Who? ...' "'And that is all you shall ever say!' quoth the shining one, 'For your greed and hardness have troubled this world too long. And therewithal, she struck the girl with her staff, whereat she was transformed into an owl, and flew out into the night, crying 'Whoo, whoo, whoo.'" There was a shimmering silence, broken by donna Marienna: "You may stand, mistress Melissa." A tall fair girl rose to her feet. "If you cannot mind your work while you mind the telling, you must speak with Mistress Sally." Sally is the popular name for willow, and refers to the light willow switch or bundle of willow twigs used to keep discipline in a Madrian household. Melissa curtseyed deeply, and donna Marienna smiled. "You may take your place." She did so, bending diligently over her work. "Who, then, was the travelling-maid?" asked another girl. "Who shall I say?" answered Faith. "In the passed times, many great ones did come on the earth, and even, some do say, our Lady Herself." (Everyone made the Pentacle on herself.) "But I do think perhaps it was Lady Moira [Sai Werdë]." "Perhaps," said another, "she was not really trransformed directly, but was born in the form of an owl in another life." "That may be so," said Faith, "but don't'ee, my child, make too free to play fast-and-loose with the old traditions, just to render them conformable to what seems probable. When you live as long as I have, you'll have seen a strange thing or two, if you've not kept your eyes shut." "Who'd live with her eyes shut, mother?" asked a little one. "Most of the sheep out there on the mountain," answered Faith, meaning non-Madrians – the sheep who have strayed from the fold and are out on the mountain at night. "Even the darkest unbeliever has a strange tale to tell before she dies, ai [sic], one at the least. For all of them are shown the folly of their unbelief; but they do close their eyes and pretend they have not seen. Like olf hedgehog, they curl up tight on themselves and stick their prickles out and hope the Truth can't touch them. And no more it can, if they won't have it; not for this present life, at any rate, though it's a cold awaking-up when it does come." "Do the great ones come among us yet?" asked Melissa, full of romantic curiosity. "'Tis not so often as it was," said Faith, for the darkening days are on us, but most surely, it does still happen from time to time; and I shall tell you of it on a greater night than this." Certain special tales were reserved for the telling at festival times appropriate to them. "And are they the Geniae [Janyati] of Heaven, these great ones? pursued Melissa. This time answer was given by donna Marienna. "Sometime they are, and sometime not," she said. "Not so long ago, a saintly maid did walk upon the hillside, and did meet Queen Colwyn the Fair. Ai, tall she was, and comely of aspect, and the golden tresses of her hair did come down to the skirts of her dress. Noble her bearing, with shield and sword and tall shining helmet, that this maid was filled with reverence and awe, and like to hide herself. but Queen Colwyn said: 'Fear not, my child, for thy heart is most chaste and precious, and I would gladly talk with thee.' So they did walk upon the hillside and talk upon the state of the land in these times, and on many another thing, until Queen Colwyn said that she must go, and she said to the maid, 'Tell thou thy kinsfolk thou hast met with me.' "'It is like they will misbelieve me,' said the child. "'Clasp thy hands together,' said the Queen, and the maid did even as she was bidden. 'Now open them again.' Again, the maid obeyed, and as she did, a butterfly flew forth from her fingers. 'Henceforth, when ever you do this, a butterfly shall come forth.' And so it was, and ever afterward, this maid was known far and near as the butterfly maiden. And I need not tell you that none had the smallest difficulty in believing her tale of how she met Queen Colwyn the Fair upon the hillside." "Why does Queen Colwyn come among us?" asked another of the children. "'Tis said," replied donna Marienna, "that she comes once in every hundred years, that she may see if the time is ready when she will lead the People** in battle to drive the infidels from her land." "It is like that when she next comes will be the time, I think," said Melissa. "Then be sure your eye is true and your quiver well provided, for she may most likely come in your time, little one." A few moments ago, Gilrois, donna Marienna's man, had left the room, now he returns, carrying a large stone jug. He is a most welcome sight, for the ale brewed in donna Marienna's household is famous for many a long mile. Goblets are filled. "To whom shall we drink?" asks donna Marienna. "To Queen Colwyn," urges Melissa. "So then be it. Let us raise our goblets to Queen Colwyn the Fair of Brigantia; swift be her coming and her sword victorious, that the law of heaven may reign upon the earth at the end as it was in the beginning." "To Queen Colwyn the Fair!" "Haya Niké [Vikhë]!" As the ale is drunk, Melissa speaks to donna Marienna: "Domina, an it please you, can we hear a real tale of Queen Colwyn?" "Have you not heard a real tale this night, my child?" teased donna Marienna. "I know not how to make a tale more real than that one." "I mean one of the days when she reigned upon the earth." "I can tell you one of the days before she reigned upon the earth, if that will satisfy you." All those present expressed great satisfaction in this proposal, and so donna Marienna commenced thus: "It was in those days before Queen Colwyn won back her throne, and the fair land of Brigantia lay in the hand of tyrant infidels, even as it does this day; for her mother, Queen Dictynna, had been murdered by the infidel king Mider, whom she had trusted. In those days, the number of Queen Colwyn's followers was so small that if Mider's men could have found them, he would have put a swift end to all her hopes of bringing the land back within the law of themis [thamë]. "Upon one day the very thing happened that she was feared of, and a great troop of Mider's men came upon her little band at a time when they were far from the cover of the forest. "'Lay on and put them to the sword!' cried the captain of the troop. "Morrigan the Falconer, that was Colwyn's noble lieutenant, and dark as her mistress was fair, put her hand upon her sword; 'An it is battle they are thirsting for, so they shall drink it to the lees this day,' she cried. "'Nai [sic], nai,' said her mistress. 'Put up thy sword, black Morrigan, for they are too many and we too few, and the season is not yet come. Today we must run like the wild hare beneath Columbina's moon.' "Therewith the Brigantes fled and the tyrant's men gave chase, and feathered shafts, the swift-winged messengers of death, flew forth on either side. Yet the chase was not equal, for when a maid fell wounded among the Brigantes, she could not be left behind to be slain, and therefore must be carried with them; and so, as more maids fell, the flight of the Brigantes waxed slower. "At last, fair Colwyn, running at the front, led them to a long and narrow bridge that led across a wide and rushing river. Standing herself aside, she watched her children pass over and then took her station at the head of the bridge. Now this bridge was so narrow that only one person at a time could come up to her; and the captain of the tyrant troop sent to her a big man named Eldred, who said, 'Let us pass or most surely I will cut thee down.' "'Get thee home,' replied Queen Colwyn, 'for thou shalt not cross over this bridge until Colwyn of the Brigantes wills it so.' "Thereupon, Edlred drew his great sword, and called to his manservant to hold forth a stout bar of iron. Then, with one blow, he struck the bar of iron in twain. 'See what a sword it is that thou contend with!' he cried. "Then did Queen Colwyn take a fine lace kerchief, and holding it high in the air, let it float to the ground. But as it fell, she drew her sword, and with one stroke, she cut it clean in twain, and [it] fell in two pieces at her feet. 'See what a sword it is that thou contendest with,' quoth she. "Eldred marvelled at this stroke, but cried, 'Then if you wilt not move, maiden, lay on!' "'Tis a sad day has fallen on Brigantia when a maid must curb her menfolk with a sword and not a willow rod, but if thou'lt have it so, so be it then.' Angered by her words, Eldred rushed upon her. Queen Colwyn fixed her eyes upon his, smiling merrily, but moved not a hair. Eldred raised his great sword to deal her such a blow as should cleave her body in twain from the top of her head to her belly, but still she moved not. Then, just as the blow was but a finger's breadth from her, she leapt aside with the speed of a cat, and her sword flashed in the sunlight. Eldred's sword bit deep into the timber of the bridge, and his head fell beside it. "Queen Colwyn laughed aloud. 'There lies a loyal subject truly,' she cried, 'which man among you next will offer his head in tribute to his queen?' Then did many men come up to her, one upon another, and each one she felled as he tried to slay her, until at last the men grew afraid to approach her. But the captain of the tyrant's men was not dismayed. "'Truly,' he said, 'calling his men about him, 'we shall no longer send our warriors to fight her, but shall shoot her down with arrows where she stands.' But though their arrows darkened the skies, Queen Colwyn's enchanted bucklet did stay them all. "With renewed anger, the captain again sent his men against her in hopes she might grow weary; but again she cut them down as quickly as they came, until again they fell back in fear. At last the captain called his men about him. 'Surely,' he said, 'it is too late now for us to capture Colwyn's maids, even if we should cross the bridge this very moment. But we have caught ourselves a greater prize, for we have Colwyn herself. We shall send off riders to bring fresh men to watch the bridge, and others shall cross the river by another bridge and take her from behind. And even if she cannot be taken when she is attacked from both sides at once, she dare not step off the bridge, and she must starve, else fall asleep and be slain.' "Yet even as the captain was engaged in this talk, Queen Colwyn did whistle high and loud, like to a maid that whistles up the wind; and faster than the wind itself came Granya, Colwyn's white mare that had been waiting on the far side of the bridge. As Granya sped past, Queen Colwyn leapt upon her back. Roused by the clatter of hooves upon timber, the tyrant's men looked up, but already, in one leap, Granya was in their very midst, and the startled warriors scattered before Queen Colwyn's flashing blade. In another leap, Granya was beyond them, and in a third she had left them far behind, and was heading for the woodlands. When they recovered themselves, the tyrant's men gave chase, but there was not a steed in all the land that could come up with fiery-hooved Granya. "So it did pass that Mider found not his prey that day, nor any day thereafter, for 'the lawless wolf shall have his season, then shall the courteous hunting-hound have hers.'" "Would that season shall come soon again," said Melissa. "Would that it may," said donna Marienna, "but God knows best; for She will do what She will do, and blessed is Her Name." Everyone made the Pentacle upon herself, and thoughts turned towards the evening's prayers. "An apple shall be put by each child's bed for the morning who has worked well this day," said donna Marienna – child here really meant everyone, and the apples would be much prized as tokens of the mistress' favour. A whisper of excitement passed about the room. "Let each of you contemplate the meaning of the apple in this apple-season." "Contemplation is very difficult to me," said Marienna. "Then you must speak to Madria when she comes," said donna Marienna. "That will be very soon." "Truly the child's difficulty puts me in mind of a little tale," said Gilrois. "I bid you share it with us," said donna Marienna (it is not, of course, custom for a man to make refusal to his wife, even in the matter of telling a tale). "There was a priestess rode a fine horse with proud and shining harness. One day, she travelled away from her village and came upon a proud maiden that she knew not. 'Where did you come by that fine horse, Madria?' asked the maiden. "'Most truly, my daughter,' said the priestess, 'it was a gift to me from my children in the village wherein I dwell.' "'By my oath,' said the ungracious maid, 'I am full as pious as any priestess, and none hath given me a gift for it.' "'Well then,' said the priestess, 'perhaps I can put a remedy to that. If thou canst say the Silver Star with thy mind fully upon it and not divert thy thoughts once from the rememberance of our Lady, then I do declare that this horse shall be thine and I shall walk upon my way.' "'Why, that is an easy matter,' laughed the maid, and she knelt down there and then to say her prayer aloud. Well, she had just said the word 'splendour,' when she broke off, asking, 'And shall I have the saddle and harness also?' So she did lose her wager." Everyone laughed, until donna Marienna held up her hand. She arose, and went to kneel meekly before the statue of our Lady, and all the 'children' gathered about her. The moon was enthroned high in the heaven, shedding her pale light across the autumn fields. A reverent quietness settled on all the earth, as the mistress of the house called upon the Queen of Heaven, and all Her radiant Geniae [Janyati] to look down upon her little household and to grant their protection to all the shining souls that they had put into her care. *Baxter, the traditional feminine word for baker. The masculine is Baxteren. The term survives in the surname as do other traditional feminine craft names such as webster (weaver), brewster (brewer), etc. **Traditional Madrians often refer to the community of the faithful as the People. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An Autumn Evening Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://www.filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/f642881a51c434e33c7dd64317395b22.pdf 7d13ce5cb850c16869ce5283fa622fa8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, typewritten (13pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document An Introduction to the Language of the Rhennes The Rhennes, the traditional matriarchal people of Britain, have been said to speak a different language from the "lost sheep", or non-Madrian inhabitants of these islands. In fact, the Rhennish dialect is recognisably the same tongue as that spoken by modern English or Americans. On the other hand, it is more different from modern standard English than any regional dialect. This is largely due to the fact that changes which have taken place in the English spoken from Mayfair to the depths of Yorkshire and Cornwall have often failed to affect the conservative matriarchal communities. Indeed, in some respects, the Rhennish may appear to be a mixture of several regional dialects; for most dialects retain certain conservative features; thus the Scots pronunciation of "house" and the Irish pronunciation of "meat" (which was current in the time of Swift) and the American inflexion of "gotten" (which could be heard in England in Shakespeare's time) are found side by side in Rhennish. An unfamiliar eavesdropper on a Rhennish conversation would undoubtedly find it almost impossible to follow. Modern English sentences spoken with Rhennish pronunciation would prove a little difficult at first, but the many unfamiliar words and turns of phrase would make it much harder. For this reason, many Rhennes, in intercourse with outsiders, drop into a sort of imitation of Modern English which is jokingly called half-Rhennish; a fact which has led to adaptations of certain Scriptural and other traditional phrases in communities where the old speech has become all but incomprehensible. Mother Alethea, who has often (wrongly) been supposed to be an innovator, was greatly anxious for the preservation of the Rhennish speech and of all the Rhennish traditional narratives. There are, in fact, considerable regional variations within Rhennish itself, but all of these have more in common with each other than with any other English dialect. Another variation within Rhennish is that between High Rhennish and Low Rhennish. The usual explanation given of this is that High Rhennish is that dialect spoken by the Kindred, by scholars, and by certain other groups (the Kindred were once the Raihira – princesses, nobles and warriors – Estate; but after centuries of living within a state not ordered on lawful matriarchal lines, they have become a group of old families defined only by a certain noblesse oblige, and the fact that they have been locally acknowledged as Kindred for many generations), while Low Rhennish is that spoken by the peasants and craftmaids (the word "peasant", of course, is never a term of contempt among Madrians, but rather the reverse. Only the bourgeoisie and the urban proletariat, who blong to no legitimate Estate, and are therefore "outcastes", belong to a social class which is per se contemptible. They are contemptible not because the individuals who comprise them are necessarily so, but because as social entities they have no legitimate existence). But it is not really quite so simple, for there is really no one dialect which can be called High Rhennish and another which can be called Low Rhennish. Both dialects vary greatly from region to region (Low Rhennish far more so than High), and there is considerable transference between them. There are also numerous stages in between the two, so much so, that it can be said that the ideal absolute High Rhennish and the ideal absolute Low Rhennish do not really occur at all. The homely pictorial colloquialisms of Low Rhennish salt the speech of most of the rural Kindred (and most of the Kindred have been rural these thousand years, at least), while the eloquent use of High Rhennish polysyllables in even the most mundane contexts has long been a notable foible of many Low Rhennish speakers, as in a sentence such as "They two cattis be indistinguishable one from t'other on a night so obscure as this." Having said this, we must recognize that High Rhennish is a language of great elegance, beauty and subtlety in which the high matriarchal philosophical tradition has been perpetuated, and which has lent itself perfectly to that particular blend of wit, charm and self-effacing sophistication which is the hallmark of the English Kindred. Low Rhennish, on the other hand, is a vivid and colourful dialect, a language alive and in contact with the soil. Each language continually feeds the other, and in that respect, the two dialects are not only complementary, but mutually necessary. Both High and Low Rhennish are fundamentally intelligent languages, as opposed to the modern use of English by most speakers and writers. Each deals, for the most part in concrete images, pictures and stories, while underlying the thought of each are non-tangible spiritual Realities. This is true of any traditional speech. Modern English, like other degenerate styles of speech, reverses this, for while its thought is limited to the realm of matter, it habitually expresses itself in abstractions and in vague metaphors which are virtually abstractions, since their actual meaning is forgotten, if it was ever known. To take a single example, the term "feedback", which has become a modish word used in a variety of contexts, is a metaphor from audio electronics, yet it is used in a sense almost opposite to its original meaning, since it is used to refer to an articulate response to something or other, whereas an actual feedback in a sound recording system creates a high-pitched screech which cuts out all articulate sound until the feedback is stopped. This may seem a fairly minor matter, and certainly one could point to far more pernicious abuses of language – such as the use of the term "democratic" in politics as a vague synonym for "good", so that practices which are obviously not democratic according to any literal interpretation of the word are called "democratic" by anyone who wishes merely to state that they are good – but the point really is that one begins to use abstractions and vagaries of this sort only when one has ceased to think clearly. Only among a people whose minds are going soggy can anyone get away with declaring a work of art to be "significant" without being immediately challenged by the question "Significant of what?"; or with declaring anything to be relevant without the challenge "Relevant to what?" This sort of loose thinking and loose speaking occurs inevitably when there is no concrete philosophical basis for thought. Meaningless value-words like significant, relevant, progressive, forward-looking, are simply substitutes for a real scale of values and an authentic intellectual basis for distinguishing what is good and valuable from what is bad or worthless (we may note that many modern good-words such as "progressive" and bad-words such as "reactionary" or "out-of-date" rest merely on the vague unspoken prejudice "past = bad, future = good"). On the other hand value-words used within Madrian thought – such as the word "legitimate", used earlier in this paper in connection with the Estates – are never mere carriers of vague prejudice, but always have a precise definition and meaning. The word "legitimate" derives from legis, law. To say that something is legitimate is to say that it is in accordance with the law, to say that it is illegitimate is to say that it contravenes the law. Nor is there any question about which law is being referred to, for there is only one authentic law, the Law of God; the themis [thamë] which She has established for the ordering of all human activities. Thus, things are judged not by considerations of their fashionability or their direction in time, nor by their "relevance" to some tenuous Zeitgeist, but only by their accordance or otherwise withthe unchanging and unchangeable canons of the Absolute. This may seem to lead us a little away from the subject of Rhennish dialect, but in actuality it does not, for a conscious[ness] of supra-physical Reality and of absolute values underlies every word spoken both in High and in Low Rhennish, just as materialism and relativism underlie every word in the flaccid jargons spoken by the television pundit and the factory operative in the profane world. Nor is the lack of any concrete value-words in modern language unconnected with, for example, the high rate of adultery among all social classes in the profane world, and the utter lack of any real sense of wrongdoing with which it is carried out. Language, culture, morality and intelligence (or the lack of it) are all intimately bound up, and a people cannot remain degenerate for long without their language degenerating also; not can they for long speak a degenerate language without succumbing to its corrupting influence. Conversely, there can be no reform of life without a reform of language, nor any reform of language without a reform of life. We have concentrated here upon words which have directly to do with values, since their implications are easier to analyze without digressing too far from the immediate purpose of this paper, but it must be understood that all the words of everyday speech, together with the particular ways in which they are used carry profound implications as to the world-view which underlies them, and inevitably act as powerful psychological agents for good or ill. In a healthy traditional language, the "essential" and "substantial" poles of its existence (represented in the present case by High and Low Rhennish respectively) are on the one hand its intellectual basis, preserved by its philosophical, ritual and courtly use, and on the other by its rootedness in the life of the soil and the crafts. As with Essence and substance on the cosmological level, it is the continual interplay of these two elements which maintains the vitality and the very existence of the language. The great epic narratives which arise at certain points in the development of a culture always represent a wedding of the two styles. The "High" forms may appear more directly intellectual, but in fact, the "Low" style, being rooted in the phenomena of nature and the crafts, which, in a traditional society can never be considered in separation from the informing Realities which they express, is no less so, although it may be less complex; and wherever "High" speech begins to abandon the simple, natural images which as a part of its heritage from the "Low", it is moving toward degeneracy. Modern developments in English speech, like modern developments in many areas, represent a parody of the true development of language, with the place of "High" speech being taken by the jargon of sociology, psychology, pseudo-philosophy and the journalese of the mass-media, and that of the "Low" by the argot of the New York slums and the criminal underworld, together with items of adolescent pop-slang gleaned from all over Britain and North America, all of which is systematically taught and popularised by means of the television. We may note here that slang of all types is always associated with rootless urban populations whether proletarian or bourgeois, and is intimately related to the cult of change and progress, being motivated by a desire for novelty and for increasing intensity in language, and a wish to keep up with fashions. Traditional societies in undisturbed times have relatively settled speech patterns, and change takes place very slowly. We may see, then, that the "High" element in modern English speech development springs from the "intellectual" perversions of false philosophy, while the "Low" element springs from the emotional perversions and distorted way of life of those elements in modern urban society most vulnerable to its disruptive influence: the young, the dispossessed, the ethnic minorities and those drawn to the fringes of urban sub-culture. It is noteworthy that, as with musical fads and styles of dress, slang phrases which begin by being obviously crude and decadent are quickly established in common usage by continual media exposure which begins by being snickeringly shock-mongering and quickly becomes commonplace. So far we have confined ourselves to the relatively "exoteric" aspects of language, but we must understand that deeper issues are involved in the form and structure of language than merely the philosophy and assumptions which underly it. For every human language is, as the Scriptures tell us, a descendent from "the first, the mother language" [1 Teachings 1:4], which is itself the manifestation of the single Divine Word. The Word, which is pure Intelligence, corresponds to the Point from which all manifestation unfolds. Every created thing, in its highest essence, that is to say, every celestial Archetype is a word of God; the expression of an Idea in Her mind. Thus, the primordial language is the sum of all possible acts and entities conceived in perfection. Thus also, while from the earthly point of view it is natural to conceive of names as being the consequences of things, from the absolute standpoint, things are the consequences of names; for all things were known and denominated by God before (in the sense of being manifested) they were. And, indeed, it was "the naming of their names" by which their manifestations took place. Perfect human language is thus a microcosm of the primordial language; and we see the creation of this microcosm in Creation I, 11, where the naming of the things of creation by the first maid reflects her Mother's creation of them, even as her own being reflects her Mother's Being; and it is achieved by virtue of her knowing that same "cunning" which the Mother knew in verse 5. From this it follows that the words of the perfect human language are very far from being mere arbitrary conventional "symbols" for concepts. On the contrary, each word is a perfect depiction or "imitation" of the thing which it represents in terms of sound, just as a painting is an "imitation" in terms of colour. But just as traditional sacred art, unlike modern "realistic" art represents not the physical "shadows" of things, but the supre-physical Realities which are their essential being, so the original human language is not an imitation of physical things and events in terms of sound (which is manifestly impossible) but rather the manifestation in sound of the unspoken Language, whose words are the essences of all things (even as sacred music is the manifestation in sound of the unheard music of the spheres). Now, the breaking of this original language into different dialects was obviously a cardinal stage in the fragmentation and degeneration of language. The major families into which language split – i.e. those which use completely different root-words to express most concepts – may be likened to radically different styles of music or painting, which use fundamentally different formal conventions (for all sacred art is formal and stylistic) to express the same eternal verities. However, the groups divided by such radical differences are fewer in number and greater in extent than might at first be expected. The Indo-European group, for example, to which English belongs, contains Sanskrit and all its derivatives (Hindi, Bengali, etc.), Russian and all the Slavic languages, Latin, Greek, all the Teutonic languages, all the Celtic languages, together with the Iranian and Lithuanian families, and, of course, all modern European languages (with the exception of Basque) which are all descendants of one or more of these. It is a notable feature of Rhennish that its pronunciation of words in many cases is far closer to the root-language than is modern English. For example, most question-words in the [L]atin languages begin with (qu) – quod, quis, quando, que, etc. as do such words as question, quiz, enquire, etc. These words have their equivalents in the Teutonic languages, Sanskrit, Greek and Latin. In English, as in Icelandic and German, the (k) of the (kw) sound is represented by a hard h. Now in modern French the sound has been corrupted by dropping the (w), so that que and qui are pronounced (ke) and (ki), whereas in modern English it is the (k) that has been dropped, so that what, when and where are pronounce (wot), (wen) and (wer) by most speakers. Rhennish, on the other hand, retains the (h), and in many regional variants, retains it in a hard form (some Rhennish speakers write the word Rhen as Kren – though a pronunciation so hard is the exception). Who, on the other hand is pronounced (hou) in modern English, while Rhennish continues to pronounce it (hwo). Again, the retention of the rough-breathing in the middle of the word daughter leaves it much closer to the consonantal structure of the root-word which gave rise also to the Sanskrit duhitri. The pronunciation of "one" as (one) as opposed to (wun) leaves it closer to uno and its equivalents in all the Indo-European languages, and the retention of the old form tehen for modern ten, bearing in mind previous comments on the function of h, leaves it closer to Latin decem, Greek deka, Sanskrit dacan etc. One could list countless other examples; but in any case, this approach is a little oversimplified, since it does not take into account certain laws of sound-change which have operated between the various groups of Indo-European dialects. The point is not so much that Rhennish approaches closer to the original human language (although in some respects it certainly does), for all English is very much an Iron Age tongue, but that Rhennish represents a legitimate development of the original language, whilst modern English language, like modern English society, has, since the "Renaissance" been formed by influences which are the very reverse of legitimate. We have said that English is very much an Iron Age tongue; but we might go further and say that English is the ultimate Iron Age tongue; for the British Isles represent the far west of the old world (the Americas are for many reasons a case apart; and in any case, those parts of them which are having the most profound effect upon world history are English-speaking), and the modern aberration is specifically western in character (as befits its relation to the end of the present world-era; the west being the land of the setting sun). It is no coincidence, then, that these islands were prominent in the birth of both industrial capitalism and Marxist communism (although Marx was born in Germany, most of his theoretical work was done in the British Museum), the two ideologies (which at root are but two faces of the same coin) which dominate the modern world. By the same token, it is no coincidence that English is the most specifically Iron Age of all the Indo-European dialects. The earliest Indo-European dialects are highly "synthetic"; that is to say that they have extremely complex inflectional structures which make it possible to convey a large amount of information in a single word. This can be seen by a cursory glance at a Latin/English or Greek/English parallel text, where a passage in the original language must always be rendered by a much longer passage in English; while a passage of Sanskrit must usually be rendered by an English passage twice or three times as long. This descent from the highly concise and synthetic original forms has taken place in all Indo-European languages. The Neo-Latin romance languages (primarily French, Italian and Spanish, all of which are dialectical variants of low Latin), for example, gradually rejected all case-endings and passive verbal forms. The Latin amabor, for instance, is expressed by three words in Italian and French: io sarò amato; je serai aimé. It would require four in English: I shall be loved; for English has travelled further along this path than any other Indo European [sic] language, having retained scarcely a dozen of the many hundred inflections characteristic of the original Indo-European speech. At the opposite pole stands Lithuanian, a language even more ancient than Sanskrit, and which, unlike Sanskrit, was still a living language up until the invasion of Lithuania by the Russians, and its cultural devastation by means of mass deportations and other disruptive measures.* Lithuanian retained more of the original inflectional system than any other language spoken in modern times. It is worth noting in this context that Lithuanian-language folk-culture contains material of the profoundest metaphysical significance which is undisguisedly matriarchal in character. See "Old Lithuanian Songs" by Martin Lings in The Sword of Gnosis (Penguin Metaphysical Library). The matriarchal character of the songs is unmistakable, despite the author's attempts to gloss over it. It is no coincidence, then, that in these latter days English should have become the most widely disseminated and most rapidly spreading language of the world, and the lingua franca of international commerce and diplomacy; any more than the sudden destruction of Lithuanian as the world era enters its final phase is "accidental". What is the significance of the descent of the Indo-European language group from synthetic to analytic, of which English represents the terminal point? From the most "outward" point of view, it is evidnt that with the continual intellectual decline which takes place from the beginning to the end of the world-era, people are striving for ever simpler and simpler language forms. Ancient Greek is to the modern mind a maze of case endings, while among classical Vedic scholars in India – people who are already speaking Sanskrit-based dialects – it normally takes ten years of intensive study to master Sanskrit grammar. But while the drive to simplification necessitated by intellectual decline provides the outward cause and motive-force for this movement, far deeper and more significant issues are involved in the inner meaning of the change. The progressive "fragmentation" of the language is an image of the descent or unfolding of manifestation from the primordial Unity to the multiplicity of material nature. Specifically, it is related to the corresponding phenomenon in the human mind – of which, of course, human language is primarily the embodiment. In the first Age, maid was possessed of a unitive vision of Reality; a vision direct and immediate which required no rational formulation. She could "take in the universe at a single glance". The earliest philosophical treatises were terse to the point of being utterly enigmatic to later generations. The next generation could not understand them without commentaries expanding and elaborating their meaning. The generation after that required commentaries upon the commentaries, and so forth. The work of the Pallas Academy today is purely a matter of "translating" the one primordial Doctrine into a form yet more elaborate and explicit for the benefit of these last generations. Thus, the "translation" of a passage from one generation to the next requires progressively more words, even when it is expressed in the same dialect. It is fitting, therefore, that the same process should take place in the very structure of language itself. The fragmentation of language accompanies also the fragmentation of ideas. In the first Age, maid sees only the First Principles; she requires no other science, for the knowledge of all things is contained within these; it is only when she ceases to see them sufficiently clearly that the secondary sciences – applications of the Principles to the things of nature and to human uses – become necessary. Here again, we may see that the fragmentation of ideas in the human microcosm mirrors the macrocosmic process of manifestation, in which things descend, or unfold from the level of principial, unmanifest Divine Ideas, or Archetypes into all the ramifications of manifestation on the various levels of matter. At its lowest levels, the fragmentation of ideas reaches a state at which the Principle is wholly lost to sight, and only the appearances of multiplicity are seen; this is the standpoint of modern materialism or scientism, as described in the first paper of the Pallas Academy's Foundational Diploma Course: "The unitive nature of metaphysical knowledge stands in sharp distinction to the fragmentary and ever more "specialistic" tendency of profane studies, and (since the outward characteristics of a phenomenon are never merely 'accidental') symbolises the antithetical spiritual 'directions' of the two systems of knowledge: the one directed ultimately toward the central unifying Principle 'from whence all comes, whereto all must return' [1 Teachings 2:26]; the other toward the chaos and indistinction of brute matter." The pyramid and the wheel are both traditional symbols of manifestation. In the first case, we see the descent from the single point of the apex toward the square base (representing the fourfold nature of matter) large enough to contain countless points. In the second we see the spokes raiating out from the unity of the hub, becoming ever more widely separated until they reach the rim. In either case, the descent is from unity to multiplicity and separativity. This is precisely the process mirrored in the descent of language from synthetic to analytic; and indeed, this is what the very words mean: syn-thesis, a putting-together; ana-lysis, an unloosing or separating. In the realm of ideas, there is no reason why the process of analysis or breaking-down should not continue indefinitely without aberrating from the Truth (although it is metaphysically necessary on other grounds that the cycle should realise its most inferior possibilities). The "descent" of metaphysical exposition into ever lower and more fragmented domains is an act of Grace precisely analogous to our Lady's descent into the nether regions; and indeed, it is by Her Sacrifice that it is rendered possible, for She is the Mayaranya: the primordial Teacher, by Whom, through Whom and in Whom all earthly teachers teach (which is the reason for the traditional reverence and devotion accorded to the Ranya). For just as our return to God is a paradox wrought by Her sacrifice, so the exposition of the Truth which can be known only through the unitive Vision in the absence of that Vision is a paradox, and therefore a miracle. And it is a miracle wrought fundamentally through the medium of language. Out Lady's declaration "I have forged thy words into a crystal mirror that they may reflect the Truth" [1 Teachings 1:6], which follow upon Her explanation of the degenerate state of human language, refer primarily to the revelation of the Scriptures, but they also refer in a secondary sense to the rendering of human language to be a fit vehicle for the exposition of Truth; and indeed the two senses of the passage are inextricably linked. Now just as the descent of our Lady into the nether regions is for the purpose of raising up the souls fallen into those regions that they may return to God; so the descent of metaphysics – and therefore of the language which is its substantial support – into the realms of ever greater fragmentation takes place solely in order to make some part of the Truth intelligible to the minds of the age in which it finds itself, and to lead them out of the fragmentary state in which they are and back to the unitive Vision, which is the goal of all metaphysical endeavour. So long as this is the end in view, the process of fragmentation, or analysis, can continue indefinitely and still remain legitimate. It is only when the purpose is lost, and analysis is pursued as an end in itself; the fragmentary nature of things in manifestation is mistaken for reality – as happens in the materialist or scientific world-view – that analytical thought becomes aberrant. Now it is precisely in this that Rhennish differs from modern English. It is no less analytical in structure (except for the retention of a handful of extra inflexions, such as "gotten", which are of no practical significance); but the analytical function in Rhennish has never deviated from its true and legitimate purpose. It remains a language rooted in metaphysical Reality, both in the underlying assumptions of its idiomatic form and "style", and in its legitimacy, in pronunciation and other matters, as an authentic – though very distant – development of the original human language; and therefore a microcosmic reflection of the unheard Language which contains the inner essences of all things in the form of divine Words or Names. *In the '40s and '50s of the present century. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An Introduction to the Language of the Rhennes Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://www.filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/017bf142e899955ad79b4605ce3a8346.pdf 7c7dd41fe499e6b42d335d5e1afe8871 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rosa Madriana Description An account of the resource Materials produced and/or used by Madria Olga and Rosa Madriana. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rosa Madriana Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Rosa Madriana Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1999 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data booklet, 11pp. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An Introduction to the Madrian Faith : The Religion of the Goddess Description An account of the resource An introductory booklet describing the basic doctrines, practices, and community of Madrianism, authored by Madria Olga. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Madria Olga Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Donated by the recipient, Joey McEvoy III. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Rosa Madriana Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1999 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource booklet, 11pp. Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://www.filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/5c7c8f2eaa38306bb6f2b86af57ec49d.pdf 00087a3ccc85fcebd4fb6b9fa1fb005d https://www.filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/f3452e05086669b0728ad19495ea0339.pdf bf4652f496861faa0f07cdb975966e4b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, handwritten (4pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document Anima: Jung and the Female Soul One of the most valuable contributions Jung has made to the understanding of psychology is the discovery of the anima. Broadly speaking, Jung defined the anima as the female personality existing in the unconscious of every man. Nevertheless, Jung made two fundamental mistakes in this description, both of which may be directly attributed to the materialist and masculist environment in which it was formulated. The first of these was to see the anima as merely the function of the mind, inferior to the rational consciousness; the second was to recognize its existence only in men. The word chosen to denote the idea is particularly appropriate and revealing. Anima is the Latin word for soul; as in most languages, it is a feminine noun. The Romans pictured the soul as a bird and always referred to it as 'she'. The fact is that the anima is not a function of the mind. It is the soul itself. The soul is a spiritual rather than a material entity, and as such is regarded by the materialists as a mere abstraction without reality. When the soul is properly considered, however, it is clear that it is more, not less real than the body and the mind. It has lived from before the beginning of time – they have not; it will live forever – they will not; it has been perfect and will once again be perfect – they by their very nature are imperfect. The human soul, like all other spiritual creatures, is female because it is a reflection of the Divine – the Goddess. It is female because it is the very nature of spiritual things to be female,* for the feminine principle is the principle of the dominance of spirit over matter. Jung and his followers come close to this truth regarding the anima in men as the root of spiritual aspiration and all creative expression. The transcendence of material existence is the aim and function of the soul. The crude interpretation of the anima in material (and often sexual) terms, together with the fundamental unbalance of a male-dominated society, has led to attempts to see women as embodiments of the anima. Thus the masculist may regard women as incomprehensible, uncontrollable, irrational (in the lowest sense), creative (in the sense of bearing children only) and so on. And this has done great harm to many women. When the woman is seen as anima, her own anima, her soul is denied: she is said to be tied to the body; her spiritual aspirations are blunted; her creative nature frustrated; her view of herself is severely circumscribed. The Jungians say that while men have anima, women have animus (a latent male personality); but as we will see, this is neither an equivalent nor an adequate substitute. It is important to remember that in masculist society, the male is taken as the norm – (as, for example, the word 'man' is used to refer to all humanity; the individual/citizen/child is 'he') – and this is true in psychology as in all other areas of life. Psychology as applied to women has been a secondary study, and has usually consisted of second-rate deductions and inferences from findings about male psychology. The over-emphasis in masculist society on sexual matters has led to the idea that psychic processes in men and women must be opposite and complementary. Thus Jung has described the animus in women as complementary to the anima in men. However, as with the Oedipus complex, the anima is potentially stronger in women than in men, as they are closer to the archetypally female form of creative and spiritual energy. The animus is not a mere figment of the Jungian imagination, however, although it is not a permanent feature of human psychology. It is the personification of the masculist values thrust on women throughout their lives in a masculist culture. These male-oriented values, which are fundamentally incompatible with the woman's inner psychic nature, group themselves together in a distinct and alien bloc in the mind which may appear to be a separate personality. This is then represented in dreams and other psychic experiences by the figure of a man which may be called the animus. Dreams of rape suffered by some women may represent the violation of her natural psychic processes by the masculist values forced upon her. The difficulties and imbalances caused by the undervaluing and misinterpretation of the anima affect both women and men quite radically. They are connected with the general undervaluing of the spiritual in an atmosphere increasingly dominated by a masculist philosophy. Yet the soul, which reflects the Goddess, is our most precious possession; it is the part of us which is most truly ourselves. The development of the soul towards its original perfection is one aim of life. *"female" here refers to the universal female principle which operates in women and men, though generally more strongly in women, not to biological femaleness. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Anima: Jung and the Female Soul Subject The topic of the resource Jung, Psychology, Anima Description An account of the resource An article critiquing Carl Jung's description of the anima from a matriarchal perspective. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text anima femininity Jung masculism psychology social criticism https://www.filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/9953ec16972f3512b2daff115070ef09.pdf 444a09dbf138781ab949d44e2f61df20 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, handwritten (11pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document Apocalypse All the great prophetic traditions agree that we are now approaching the end of an age. The astrological calculation of the precession of the equinoxes tells us that we are passing from the era of Pisces into the age of Aquarius. Nostradamus, who in the sixteenth century predicted such things as the French Revolution, the rise of Hitler and both world wars, often in great detail, set the end of the epoch at about the year 2000. His prophecies, which cover 400 years, go no further than that time.* Dozens of lesser prophets, all of whom have predicted events of this century from former times, see the period around the end of the century as the end of the world or of some great world-era. A. Woldben has collected a number of these prophecies, and writes in an intrduction to them: "They are culled from a number of sources and on the whole reveal a striking similarity about the chief events which will take place at the end of the century... "According to all the prophecies, during the next thirty years the world will pass through terrible tribulations. The necessity of renewal will first lead to the destruction of everything we know in our present civilisation, to give way, in a second phase, to the building of a fundamentally different society."** The Four Ages Ancient Indian tradition going back to Madrian-matriarchal times speaks of a Great Year or Manvantara of 25,920 earthly years (this is equivalent to the astrological Great Year, since each zodiacal age lasts about 2,160 years and 2,160 x 12 = 25,420) divided into four ages or Yugas: Devpara-yuga, Tetra-yuga, Satya-yuga and Kali-yuga. We are now in the final phase of Kali-yuga. This division corresponds to the four ages set out by the Greek historian Hesiod at the opening of the present yuga. He described them as the Age of Gold, the Age of Silver, the Age of Bronze and Age of Iron. It is significant that Hesiod, of all patriarchal writers, knew most about the Madrian-matriarchal ages, and describes the Silver Age specifically as matriarchal. Both systems make it clear that the first age was the best and that each succeeding age saw a decline both in happiness and in spirituality. Robert Graves, writing on the Greek tradition, says: "The myth of the Golden Age derives from a tradition of tribal subservience to the ... goddess ... The myth of the Silver Age also records matriarchal conditions ... Silver is the metal of the moon goddess ... the third race adopted the cult of the goddess and her son." The four ages are not of the same length, but just as each age is inferior to its redecessor, so is each much shorter. The lengths are given as follows:– Devpara-yuga 10,386 years Tetra-yuga 7,776 years Satya-yuga 5,184 years Kali-yuga 2,592 years Kali Yuga: The Tightening Grip of Matter The primary tendency of our own era – Kali Yuga – is the dominance of matter over spirit, or to put it another way, of quantity over quality. In what is perhaps the best non-Madrian stufy of the condition of the modern world, Réné Guénon writes:– "... our period could almost be defined as being essentially and primarily 'the reign of quantity'. This characteristic is chosen in preference to any other ... because of its truly fundamental nature ... and also because it is the particular tendency in question that leads to the lowest point of the 'descent' which proceeds continuously and with ever-increasing speed from the beginning to the end of a Manvantara ... the lowest point takes on the aspect of pure quantity deprived of every qualitative distinction."*** Guénon makes it clear that the reign of quanitty is not just a doctrine or idea, but a real change both in people and in their surroundings:– "The materialist certitude, whether it be a question of explicit and formal materialism or of some simple 'practical' materialism necessarily imposes on the whole 'psycho-physiological' constitution of the human being a real and very important modification ... modern man (sic) has become impermeable to any real influences other than such as impinge on his (sic) senses."**** Guénon points out that this spiritual blindness in itself reinforces the profane point of view which created it in the first place. But beyond this, there is: "a sort of progressive 'materialisation' of the cosmic environment itself, and it is only when this 'materialisation' has reached a certain stage, by now very marked, that the materialistic concept can appear in man."***** Guénon's analysis coincides in its conclusions with the prophecies: that we are fast approaching "the end of a whole Manvantara, and so of the temporal existence of what may rightly be termed a humanity." This does not necessarily mean the end of the physical world (though the means of such destruction are certainly now available). But it certainly means the destruction of all the tendencies of the past several thousand years and the 'opening' of a completely new principle. Working from a different viewpoint, Elizabeth Gould David came to the same conclusion:– "The rot of masculist materialism has indeed permeated all spheres of twentieth century life and now attacks its very core ... "The ages of masculism are not drawing to a close. Their dying days are lit up by a final flare of universal violence such as the world has seldom before seen ... Any and all social reforms omposed upon our sick civilisation can be no more effective than a bandage on a gaping and putrefying wound. Only the complete and total demolition of the social body will cure the fatal sickness. Only the overthrow of the three-thousand-year-old beast of masculist materialism will save the race."****** Historically, then, Kali-yuga began about 600 years before the Christian era. At this time patriarchy was established in most parts of the world, and the first exclusively male-god religion was being developed by the Jews. Satya-yuga had seen a steady decline from the glories of the Silver Age, beginning with a decline in spirituality and the first signs of what we now call materialism. The masculine principle is the symbolic expression of the materialist tendency, therefore the image of a so-called 'son' of the Goddess was introduced into religion. As matter became more important than spirit, so physical strength and material "progress" came to be more highly valued than psychic power. In the Silver Age, according to Madrian traditions, people lived in co-operation with nature, providing for their material wants with a minimum of labour, exercising control over material things by sheer power of mind and spirit rather than by physical technology. (The feats of Indian yogis and recent experiments in telekinesis, among other things, reveal that remnants of this power still exist.) Being less obsessed with matter, maidkind was less dominated by matter, and the primary aim of life was not material acquisition but spiritual advancement. Through the course of Satya-yuga this situtation was lost. The human body became more and more dense and material, and the physical environment, as a result, more and more intractable. Towards the end of the Silver Age, cities grew up around the great temples, and the early part of Satya-yuga was the age of the great matriarchal cities, peaceful & satisfying all earthly needs by a mixture of physical and spiritual science. But as materiality increased, religion became adulterated by idolatrous 'son' and 'consort' cults, and a few patriarchal revolutions took place in remote areas. Wherever this happened, all the benefits of Madrian civilisation were lost, and the people degenerated into what is miscalled a "primitive" state. For the first time, physical force became a factor in human affairs, and soon a new phenomenon had appeared on earth – war. It is impossible to construct a calendar of degeneration. In different places the change happened at different times and in different ways. Some nations were reduced almost overnight to a "stone-age" condition. Others passed from a modified matriarchy to a modified patriarchy more or less intact. In some, a degenerate matriarchy continued even into Kali-yuga. But we can say that in the last millenium of Satya-yuga, patriarchy was almost universally established politically and was making deep inroads into religion. Dr. A. C. Bouquet writes: It is a commonplace with specialists in the history of religion that somewhere within the region of 800 B.C. there passed over the populations of this planet a stirring of the mind which ... produced in a number of different spots on the earth's surface prophetic individuals who created a new starting-point for human living and thinking."******* This was the great spiritual convulsion toward the end of Satya-yuga which began those wonderful and terrible anomalies, the masculist world religions. Religions which would provide comfort to millions and also be the cause, the justification and the driving force of wars, persecutions, genocide and torture. The stage was set for Kali-yuga – the dark age. If it is true that the end of the age is close upon us, we would expect some turbulence, some "stirring in the spiritual ether" as the movement of the future trembles into life. There has indeed been such a stirring. Perhaps at no time in recorded history have there been so many spiritual apparitions as during the past century, and nearly all of them have one thing in common – nearly all have been visions of a beautiful and awe-inspiring female figure. A Woldben writes:– "There has never been a time as the last hundred years in which the Virgin has revealed herself so frequently."******** At the end of his book, Miracles of the Gods, Erich von Daniken appends a "calendar of visions". It is not an exhaustive list, but contains all those which the author dealt with in the course of his research, and may be taken as a fair cross-section. Analysing the list, two facts emerge unmistakeably. Firstly, the visions increase dramatically after 1830. (The list from pre-Christian times takes up just under 7 1/2 pages; from 1830–1974 just over 7 1/2 pages.) Secondly, the predominance of the female figure is almost overwhelming. Out of the 107 post-1830 cases, 93 are of a magnificent or sorrowful female figure, usually, but not always, identified by the seers a "Mary". Of the remaining 14, 6 concern inanimate objects, 5 are of "jesus," 3 miscellaneous. Many of these cases represent more than one vision – in one, "four different females" had between them 160 visions of 'Mary'. Many of the visions were seen by several people at once – sometimes as many as 50 or 60. Sometimes the figure is with a child, very often Her appearance is strikingly majestic and awe-inspiring. At SIgny in 1890, She appeared "in a cloud of light, with a long veil held by angels, hands folded and silent." In the 160 visions at Allenstein, "Sometimes She was floating, sometimes sitting, but always surrounded by angels." Often, those who saw Her called Her "the Queen of the angels." The two most famous visions, of course, were those of Lourdes and Fatima. At Fatima the sun whirled and danced in the sky at the command of our Lady. It was witnessed by some 70,000 onlookers and sceptical newspapermen who had declared their intention of proving the whole thing a 'fake' were forced to admit that they had seen a miracle. Until recently, these events have usually been interpreted in a Christian context (despite the notable absence of Christ). Of course it is debatable to what extent the worship of Mary is Christian anyway. Protestants often rightly point out that this devotion leads the soul away from Christ to an independent Goddess-figure.********* Briffault writes that as early as the eleventh century, "the Holy Virgin ... had well-nigh replaced the male trinity in the devotion of the people ... She had, in fact, entirely regained her original position as the Great Goddess."********** Nevertheless there are already the stirrings of an entirely new and revolutionary interpretation. Olivia Robertson writes:– "Studying the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone (i.e. God the Mother and Her sacrificed Daughter), to me the visions of Lourdes and Fatima are a portrayal of these dramas in actual human history." She adds: "When a Mystery is performed on the earth before an earthly audience, a new age is upon us."*********** Commenting upon the prophecies of Fatima, a Christian spokesman writes:– "A tremendous earthquake rocks the spiritual foundation of the universe, and from a ruins a new light is to shine, and a new civilisation is to arise when ... all the world feels the spiritual exhilaration of the Age of Mary and the triumph of Her immaculate heart. "Already, She has claimed the love and affection of countless millions not of the Christian faith. "The pilgrim statues that have traversed the world have been received with reverence and honor amongst Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists and other non-Christian faiths."************ Now let us be clear about this. There was very rarely any question of these people bring 'converted' to Christianity – so they were not revering Mary as Mother of God for the simple reason that they did not accept the divinity of Christ. At some level of consciousness they recognised the true Image of Deity, and worshipped Her in Her own right. If this is a foretaste of the Age of Mary, it will be very different from what most Christians would imagine. But as more and more people are turning to the direct worship of the Goddess in Her own Name, we may expect to see visions and miracles in which She is fully known and recognised. Indeed, the process has already begun. The vision at Lourdes was closely connected with healing waters, as are many places of Marian devotion. Olivia Robertson recently wrote to a sister of the Daughters of Artemis, telling of a well in Ireland consecrated to the Goddess by a priestess. This well has produced water which has brought supernatural healing to a number of people. A phial of the water was taken to England and was seen to emit rays of "brilliant silvery-white light." In recent years there have been several visions of the Goddess recognised as such, and we may expect this to increase in years to come, as Her children become more attuned to Her and to the ancient and universal religion which is beginning to re-emerge through the crumbling surface of the doomed patriarchal civilisation. First published in The Coming Age No. 3 *A Woldben, After Nostradamus, pub Neville Spearman 1973 p. 11 **The Prophecies of Nostradamus, ed Erica Cheetham, pub Neville Spearman 1973 ***Réné Guénon (trans. Lord Northbourne), The Reign of Quantity, Penguin Metaphysical Library, 1953, page 10. ****Ibid., p. 125. *****Ibid., p. 161. ******Elizabeth Gould Davis, The First Sex, Penguin, pages 338–334. *******A. C. Bouquet, Comparative Religion, Penguin, 1953, page 96. ********Woldben, After Nostradamus, Neville SPearman 1973, page 168. *********Examples: (1) "Mary has eclipsed her son. There has been another eclipse too. The devotion to Mary, in its operation, hides and virtuallty negates ... the fatherhood of God." (Prof. W. Smith in The Virgin Mary by Prof. G. Miegge, Lutterworth, page 9.) (2): "The evangelical has a strong suspicion that the deepest roots of the Marian cultus are not to be found in the Christian tradition at all. The religious history of mankind (sic) shows a recurring tendency to worship a mother goddess ... may it not be that what we have here is in reality an older religion ... whose ancient features persist under a thin Christian veil?" (Canon John de Satge in G. Ashe's The Virgin, R.K.P. 1976, pages 7–8.) **********R. Briffault, The Mothers, Grosset 1963, page 624. ***********Olivia Robertson, The Call of Isis, Cesara Pubns., page 125. ************R. Bergin, This Apocalyptic Age, Voice of Fatima International, 1971, pages 101–2. (The capitalised pronouns are the author's.) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Apocalypse Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text decline of the ages eschatology Fatima Goddess Revival Lourdes Mary miracles Olivia Robertson prophecy Rene Guenon https://www.filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/a83295a31a2bc16057ef6e7b237e3279.zip 7be1d15f32c7e1c99f0cc59bbc8efe96 Website A resource comprising of a web page or web pages and all related assets ( such as images, sound and video files, etc. ). Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Apron Strings Archive Description An account of the resource Archive of the old Wordpress blog Apron Strings. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-2022