English Spiritual History
The following articles are is part of my book (published in Hebrew) England in search of the Holy Grail.
The articles span a long period of time, from prehistory to the golden age of England
Atlantis
According to the book by Harry Salman, a Dutch professor associated with the circles of the white brotherhood and anthroposophy[1], who writes about the spiritual history of the world, Europe has an important ongoing role in the natural development of human culture and the individual, as part of a global continental system.
It all begins with the existence of a lost continent called Atlantis in the North Atlantic Ocean, where a technologically and spiritually advanced human culture developed, reaching its peak 20,000-30,000 years ago. However, apocalyptic disasters eventually led to its sinking and final disappearance 10,000 years ago. These disasters caused migration waves of scholars and scientists from the spiritual schools of Atlantis, resulting in the creation of study and initiation centers around the world.
There were two different types of initiation: the northern branch of the migration, associated with the school of Jupiter, brought knowledge of the secrets of nature and the macrocosm. This was the world of the Olympian gods, the stars and angels, higher forces, and the seat of reason. The southern branch of migration, associated with the school of Dionysus, brought knowledge of the inner world of the soul, the depths of the earth, and the microcosm. This was the world of the earth goddess and the Chthonic gods (of the earth).
The importance of Europe lies in being a meeting place for the two spiritual schools. According to Salman, the two branches reached Europe by two main routes: one from the south, through the Mediterranean region, and the other from the north, through the center and north of the continent. The northern school took root among the spirituality of the Indo-European peoples, while the southern school took root among the spirituality of the Semitic peoples.
Stonehenge, Anglesey (in Wales), and Newgrange (in Ireland) were ancient centers of initiation influenced by the spiritual center of Burgenland in eastern Austria. The spiritual leaders of the Celts were the Druid priests, responsible for healing, justice, religion, storytelling, and prophecy. Another source of influence on the Druids was the spiritual center in Alesia, France. After its destruction by Julius Caesar, the importance of the spiritual center on the island of Anglesey in Wales increased, continuing to operate for another century until it was also destroyed in 70 AD.
One of the prominent proponents of the existence of Atlantis was Lewis Spence (1874-1955), a Scot who grew up and studied in Edinburgh. He was involved in occult science and folklore and was a member of the British and Scottish Anthropological Association. Spence continued the research of Ignatius Donnelly and claimed that Atlantis was a lost continent and culture that sank just before the beginning of history, around the Bronze Age. He authored several influential books on Atlantis, such as “The Problem of Atlantis” (1924) and “History of Atlantis” (1927), which later influenced the research of Immanuel Velikovsky. Spence was also an expert on Celtic culture and the Druids. His first book on this subject was titled “Mysteries of Celtic Britain” (1905), and his last was “The History and Origins of Druidism” (1949).
According to Emmanuel Velikovsky (1895–1979), the history of the planet was shaped by catastrophic events caused by the proximity of other stars, which were influenced by electromagnetic forces that govern the universe. Velikovsky, a historian, doctor, and educated man, was a Zionist Jew, one of the founders of the Hebrew University, and the first psychoanalyst in Israel. A student of Freud, he immigrated to the United States in 1929 and leaned toward alternative theories.
Velikovsky claimed that around 80,000 BC, a global catastrophe destroyed the great Atlantis, leaving only the island of Poseidonis, as described by Plato. In 9564 BC, another global catastrophe occurred, which destroyed the island and erased all remnants of Atlantis. This disaster included a significant break in the earth’s crust (possibly in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean), the elevation of mountains, and the rearrangement of continents. Accompanied by a stormy flood and a mega tsunami, this event is reflected in ancient flood myths from various cultures. It is described as a falling sky, potentially caused by an asteroid, comet impact, or a cosmic supernova that came too close to the solar system. This period marked the end of the ice age and the beginning of the agricultural revolution, erasing the remains of advanced civilizations and a previous cycle of human history.
Crop Circles
Many alternative theories posit visits of aliens and flying saucers to Earth. In this context, some argue that the enigmatic ancient stone circles and megalithic sites around the world were built by visitors from outer space advanced civilizations. Moreover, these stone circles were landing pads or tools to strengthen Earth’s energy field, designed and built with a view from above. This reasoning is supported by the presence of huge hill paintings of human and horse figures on the English coast, visible only from the sky, similar to the Nazca lines in Peru. In the case of Avebury, the entire complex, including procession roads, sacred precincts, Silbury Hill, and West Kennet Long Barrow, forms an image of a giant dragon, distinguishable only from the sky.
England is a country with many reports of flying saucers or UFOs (unidentified flying objects). Many sightings have occurred near stone circles, especially in Avebury, an area also known for the phenomenon of crop circles. These large geometric shapes appear in grain fields, often visible only from the sky. Crop circles usually appear from June to September, each time in a different location and form. Some believe they are messages from intelligent beings visiting Earth, and they try to decipher them. Others seek out the circles for their believed energetic properties, considering them healthy and enriching.
The establishment treats crop circles with skepticism, dismissing them as acts of clowning or art. However, these circles are generally not tourist sites, no one profits from them, and many are large, complex, and require significant manual labor (the shapes of crop circles are created by trampling the grain in a specific direction). Their size, accuracy, and the amount of work required call into question the hypothesis that they are merely acts of clowning, leaving the circles as a mystery. There is a website for crop circle hunters where you can stay updated on the status of the circles at any given moment: cropcircleconnector.com.
About 10 km south of Avebury, on the banks of a canal and not far from a huge white horse on the side of a hill called The Alton Barnes White Horse, is a pub called The Barge Inn, which is the center for those searching for stone circles in the area. Nearby is the sacred Marden complex.
Prehistory in Britain
Britain was inhabited in early prehistoric times, but harsh conditions during the Ice Age led to its abandonment. Resettlement began at the end of the current Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago. At that time, Britain was still connected by a land bridge to Ireland and Europe. The connection with Ireland was severed due to rising sea levels 11,000 years ago, and the connection with Europe was lost about 8,000 years ago.
The ancient inhabitants of Britain were likely shorter and browner, somewhat resembling the Basque population in Spain, which is the last genetic remnant of the peoples who once inhabited Europe and North Africa. The culture in Britain in those distant days was probably matriarchal, with a deep spirituality connected to the Mother Goddess and the mysteries of the earth. Life was organized in groups or families living in large round huts scattered across the landscape, somewhat similar to traditional African settlements. Men may have lived in groups and were recruited for projects, while women maintained the family, crafts, and religion. The deity was female, and her worship was associated with the construction of megalithic structures, including huge sacred complexes like stone circles. Society was based on small-scale farming.
After the end of the ice age, more than 10,000 years ago, the climate changed, making Britain attractive for human settlement. The Gulf Stream brought warm water, creating a stable and relatively warm climate, with timely rain and fertile soil. The first large megalithic sites appeared in the fifth millennium BC and spread from west to east. Some attribute their establishment to the influence of an advanced culture that existed in the Atlantic Ocean and disappeared with the sinking of the continent of Atlantis. Ancient Greek and other sources mention a fertile and sacred island called Hyperborea, which existed in the northern waters and was a source of spirituality and agriculture. This may hint at the existence of Atlantis or suggest an advanced culture in Britain itself.
The first known culture in Britain is the Beaker Culture, which spread throughout Europe starting at the end of the fourth millennium BC. This culture is characterized by ceramic vessels shaped like pear cups, with wide openings and narrower waists. These cups were used for drinking beer or other alcoholic beverages, perhaps explaining the long-standing affection the English have for beer.
It is speculated that the Beaker Culture started in Portugal and maintained developed trade lines from the Carpathians to Ireland, where they traded metals and sometimes special stones. Britain was home to the world’s first tin mines, crucial for hardening copper to create bronze. The Beaker Culture excelled in metallurgy, including the use of gold. In 2002, a tomb of the “Archer,” a man from 4500 years ago, was discovered in Stonehenge. His grave contained gold, suggesting he might have come from afar, possibly accompanied by the elves. In Ireland, gold necklaces, which were worn around the neck, were discovered. These artifacts, over four thousand years old, resemble those from Thracian and possibly Egyptian styles.
Prior to the Beaker Culture, Britain had large and compact societies that built the impressive megalithic structures of Avebury and many other ancient stone circles, dolmens, and sites. In other words, there was an ancient mother culture that built huge stone structures all over the island as early as seven thousand years ago, though we know little about them.
Goddess Culture
The fascinating British archaeologist Margaret Murray (1863-1963) discovered at the beginning of the 20th century that prehistoric societies (more than 5,000 years ago) created female figurines and maintained equality between the sexes. Another important archaeologist, Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994), developed the concept of a matriarchal society in the second half of the 20th century. She argued that such societies existed in harmony and prosperity for thousands of years during prehistory, representing a sort of human golden age.
Women who worship the goddesses today are therefore convinced that once upon a time, before patriarchal history (4,000 years of “indoctrination” under male rule), the feminine ethos ruled the world, and “everything was good.” Matriarchal societies, based on small-scale farming where women played a more important role than men, existed both globally and particularly in Britain. God was perceived as a woman—the mother goddess, art, work, house industry and agriculture were Sacred. This is reflected in the figurines and objects of worship, the connection between worship and dance and music, and the proximity of places of worship to workshops such as pottery. This situation existed in Britain until 4,000 years ago, but then something happened that changed everything.
What happened was that patriarchal warrior tribes invaded the ancient world from the surrounding wastelands. The Indo-European peoples migrated (probably due to climatic changes) to Europe, Turkey, Persia, India, and Central Asia from the Eurasian steppes. Their god and values were centered around a male deity, who appeared in the form of a warrior hero, replacing the Great Mother. These tribes supplanted the old, matriarchal world culture.
Marija Gimbutas developed the Kurgan theory, which posits that the steppes north of the Black and Caspian seas were the origin of the Indo-Europeans. The ancient population of this region built burial mounds called Kurgans, giving the theory its name. According to Gimbutas, the Indo-European tribes brought with them male dominance and a war culture, destroying the sacred matriarchal culture. This matriarchal society was seen as a golden age of economic equality, mutual respect, and peace, led by the great goddess and her women priestesses and devotees.
Gimbutas wrote many fascinating books on this subject (see bibliography at the end of the book, there is also a movie about her called Signs Out of Time). It is interesting to note that the two great women archaeologists, Marija Gimbutas and Margaret Murray, also dealt with folklore and relied on it in their research. Gimbutas was an expert in Lithuanian folklore and worked with Joseph Campbell, while Margaret Murray, in her later years, served as the head of the British Folklore Society.
The ancient matriarchal culture was based on herding and small-scale farming. Women ran the household, and therefore their role was more important than the men’s. The men were essentially used for building projects and household works. Sex was free and sacred, and paternity was not always known (sometimes the men lived in a brotherhood at the edge of the village, in a large shared house, and the little boy adopted a father figure at a relatively old age). The goddess culture was a culture of peace and harmony, where the values of awareness, vigilance, and responsibility were cultivated.
reliance on folklore
Due to the lack of written sources, there is a tendency to rely on folklore, in addition to archaeology, in the study of ancient times in Britain. According to folklore, there are tales of megalithic stones that dance, move from place to place, people turning into stones, dragons, giant mythological creatures, fairies, and nature spirits. Is it possible that there is a kernel of meaning in all this?
Folklore also associates megalithic stones with healing and fertility, describing them as glowing and making sounds. Damage to holy stones is said to result in weather changes. Often, stones are found in groups of nine, three, or seven, and sometimes they are difficult to count. Traditions include walking around them several times, passing through them, and other rituals. Sacred Megalithic Stones are believed to cause blurriness and tingling and are thought to be activated at certain times of the year, such as midnight on a full moon.
Tom Lethbridge proposed a theory that the energies of the earth are concentrated in special places in nature, such as waterfalls and mountains. This could explain the folklore of entities like Naiads in waterfalls, Nereids in the sea, and other nature spirits. It Is possible also that at ancient times these energies appeared around the huge stones.
Early Historical times
In the third millennium BC, a culture known as the Beaker culture emerged, consisting of farmers living in villages where class differences began to appear. They maintained and possibly built some of the megalithic centers, especially Stonehenge. They had distinct burial customs, marking the first appearance of groups of warriors. In southern England, a variant of this culture called the Wessex culture developed, characterized by rich tombs containing bronze objects, marking the beginning of the Bronze Age and the use of metals.
In the second millennium BC, and perhaps earlier, Indo-European peoples, mainly Celts, began migrating and settling in Western Europe. The Celts arrived in Britain in two main waves. The first wave, at the beginning of the second millennium BC, consisted of people who established themselves in Scotland and Wales, often referred to as Gaels. The second wave arrived at the end of the second millennium BC, about three thousand years ago, settling mainly in central and southern Britain; these people are referred to as Britons, giving rise to the name “Britons.”
The Celts brought a new religion and culture to Britain. Previously, the religion was associated with stones and megalithic complexes, with the Earth deity symbolized by womb-like long barrows. With the Celts, the emphasis shifted to forests and wells, focusing on the magic of wild nature. They worshiped the forest, trees, animals, plants, and were fascinated by shape-shifting and hidden worlds.
The Britons introduced iron (marking the beginning of the Iron Age) and a culture of warrior bands to Britain. They were led by priests called Druids, who specialized in magic, healing, and prophecy. Some believe that the Celts migrated to the island a thousand years or more before the commonly accepted date (around 3,000 years ago), while others claim they were a mixture and continuation of the local population.
According to legends, legendary kingdoms began to exist in Britain during the Celtic period. Archaeology reveals the existence of large settlements within ramparts in the first millennium BC. Parallel Celtic cultures existed in France, Spain, and other Western European countries. At the end of the first millennium BC, with increasing conflicts with the Romans, another wave of Celtic migration to Britain occurred, bringing established and advanced groups from France (Gaul) and the Low Countries, leading to significant settlement development.
According to archaeological findings, Britain in the first millennium BC was heavily populated. The Celts mixed with the original ancient inhabitants, likely peacefully, and organized themselves into large tribes, known in Scotland as Civitate. Below these were smaller areas called Pagi, with the smallest and most organic unit being the tribe or clan. Kings were elected, accompanied by a council of elders who oversaw the king’s actions. The army was led by a separately elected military leader. In addition to civil and military leadership, the Celts had a religious leadership led by the Druid priests
Ancient Mysterious Legends
According to legends first chronicled in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s 12th-century book “The History of the Kings of Britain,” in the first millennium BC (the time of the Celts), there existed an ancient kingdom in Britain with origins linked to Trojan refugees from the Greek wars. The legend states that a Trojan prince named Brutus, the grandson of Aeneas, was born in Alba Longa in Italy (where the refugees arrived after the war). Forced to leave his country, Brutus migrated to France, where he founded the city of Tours. From there, he continued to Britain and established “New Troy” on the site of London, initially called Trinovantum. He founded a dynasty of kings, filled the country with laws, and ruled with justice. After his death, the country was divided among his three sons, who ruled over Wales and England. All this supposedly occurred in the 11th century BC.
Brutus and his fellow Trojans were guided by the goddess Diana on their journey. At that time, Britain was inhabited by giants and was called Albinion. The Trojans fought and defeated these giants. One notable giant was found on St. Michael’s Island, marking the start of England’s main energy line. He too was defeated and vanished. One leader of the Trojans, named Corineus, settled in Cornwall, which was named after him. The largest giant, named (unsurprisingly) Gogmagog, was wrestled and thrown off the cliffs to his death by Corineus.
Baldud was the tenth king in Brutus’s Trojan dynasty. His name means “lord of the wolf.” He was sent by his father to study in Athens and returned with four philosophers to found a university in Lincolnshire. However, leprosy led to his expulsion from the palace, and he lived as a swineherd near Bath. Observing that pigs cured their skin diseases by dipping in the hot water, he did the same (interestingly, pig skin closely resembles human skin). According to legend, Baldud founded the city of Bath by magical means and dedicated it to Minerva (Athena). His statue still overlooks the hot springs in the heart of the city.
Baldud was a magician who practiced magic. He fashioned wings like Icarus and attempted to fly to London, but he crashed into a wall and died. He was buried in “New Troy,” which is indeed London. His son was named Lear, who appears in Shakespeare’s play as “King Lear.” John Wood the Elder, an 18th-century city planner for Bath and a member of the Druid societies, suggested identifying Baldud with a wizard named Avaris, associated with the legendary Hyperborean lands of the North.
Avaris is a legendary figure who discovered the world while flying on Apollo’s crossbow. According to Plato, he is related to the Thracians, and other sources describe him as a Scythian involved in the arts of prophecy. However, John Wood believed he was British. Regardless, Avaris is a legendary figure respected by the Greeks, most of whom claimed he came from Hyperborea. Pausanias, a Greek historian, claimed that Avaris purified Sparta and built a temple to Persephone, the goddess of the underworld.
Continuing the story from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s 12th-century book “The History of the Kings of Britain,” in the 5th century BC, a legendary king named Molmutius ruled Britain and wrote a set of laws. He declared that holy places would serve as cities of refuge. Finally, one of the last kings of the Trojan dynasty of Brutus was King Lud, who built a castle in London in 70 BC, giving the city its name—Lud’s Castle, or London.
The Arrival of the Romans in Britain
Beginning in the 2nd century BC, refugees from Celtic Gaul arrived in Britain, fleeing from the Romans and bringing with them a more complex and advanced Celtic culture, slightly different from the indigenous British one. However, in 43 AD, Britain was conquered by the Romans, marking the start of a new chapter in its history.
The local inhabitants of Britain (the Britons) lived in relative peace until the Romans arrived and conquered them. This conquest led to a difficult struggle between the Roman conquerors and the religious-social elites of the Britons, particularly the Druid priesthood. The Druids found refuge on the island of Anglesey in North Wales, which was not conquered until 70 AD.
Eventually, the Britons merged into the Roman British kingdom. Their women married Roman rulers, creating a new ruling class that lived in the cities and comprised a mix of local Britons, Roman settlers, and people from across the empire. Britain became part of a vast, interconnected world with cultural characteristics similar to those found throughout the empire, yet it retained a local flavor, the most significant of which was the continued use of the ancient Celtic language.Bottom of Form
[1] Harry Salman, Europe: A Continent With Global Mission, kibea, sofia, 2009
