Google Books

What a fantastic service this is. Slowly, Google are negotiating with publishers to publish books in full on the internet.

There are many on there now and it makes researching Goddess in the Thames Valley (snappy title huh!) easier, especially with two kids.

That said, a visit to the local library is definitely called for today; I have a list of books for ordering a mile long.

Link to Google Books; http://books.google.co.uk/books (Books can then be 'saved' to your account.)

Check out this one for Imbolc;

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WQL4W13EYlUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_slider_thumb#v=onepage&q=&f=false

... and details of the Michael line too!

Sinudon Hill
Node on hill - Michael and Mary cross
'Fairty Mound', North Moreton (next to the church)
'Mound', South Moreton
Blewburton Hill
Churn Knob
Crosses Ridgeway at 'Land's End'
Farnborough Church
Two Tumuli, Nr South Fawley
St Michael's Church, Aldbourne, Wiltshire

Again, please see; Paul Broadhurst & Hamish Miller, The Sun and the Serpent, "Cornwall, Mythos ,2003", pp 190-193

Mary Line in Oxfordshire

For those who are interested, according to the seminal book; The Sun and the Serpent, the Mary line passes through the following in Oxfordshire

Sinodun Camp
Node on hill - Michael and Mary cross
All Saints, Didcot
Harwell Church
St Mary, East Hendred
St Augustine, East Hendred
All Saints, East Lockinge
St Andrew's, Letcome Regis
Church of the Holy Cross, Sparsholt
St Mary, Uffington
St John the Baptist, Bishopstone, Wiltshire


For more details please see;

Paul Broadhurst & Hamish Miller, [i]The Sun and the Serpent,[/i] "Cornwall, Mythos ,2003", pp193-195

Ley lines in Hampshire

In Alfred Watkins' classic, The Old Straight Track, we learn that he believes that there is a ley line running from the church in Mortimer to the church in Silchester (which of course lies on the ruins of a pagan temple). It runs from the church at Mortimer West End, through one of the four Silchester temples, then the church (St Mary's) before intersecting with a moat.

A closer inspection of the church of St Mary's reveals what looks to be part of a column – could this be from the old pagan temple? Some of the church has been built from the stones of the old building currently there are renovations on-going. Curiously, as I moved away from the column and towards a new extension on the church, I was quickly struck with a headache and was left with the impression that the ongoing renovations were disturbing the energy in the area.

But back to the ley line; certainly the church is well sited; it is located on a hill and thus offers a lovely vista of the fields and the defensive roman walls.

I just had a funny feeling today that I wanted to get out and about an visit Silchester. Initially, I had a mind to try and dowse Watkin's Ley but this impression got lost at some point because I left the house without my dowsing crystal! Heading towards Silchester, I took a wrong turn and ended up going towards Mortimer – but this meant that I did have the opportunity to go up and down the road that links Mortimer to Little Heath. This goes past a St Catherines Hill – a road which leads up a fairly steep embankment.

Now hills that are names after St Catherine are very interesting. I can recollect two which are crowned with chapels. One of them, located at Winchester had a fairly large chunk of it carved out by work on the M3. This hill is crowned with a 'Miz-Maze'.

In her book, Ancient British Goddess, Kathy Jones equates St Catherine with the Goddess Bridget. A quick look at an OS map for the area shows that in the woods that bound the road, there are located several tumuli. A little further on and we can see part of 'Grim's ditch' a bronze or early iron age defensive embankment which is found in Berkshire and Hampshire. The name Grim meaning Odin or Woden, 'the masked one'. Could this site be a location of pagan worship, perhaps venerating the Goddess in Her maiden form?