Above and below:  Calder Stones, Neolithic tomb stones, Liverpool. Believed to have once formed part of a Neolithic chambered tomb erected some 4,000 years ago, the Calder Stones have been protected inside a large greenhouse since 1954.  The circle's current arrangement is based only on 19th century guess-work about how a stone circle should look, following an assumption that druids had created the tomb - which actually predates druidry in Britain by a considerable margin. The tomb itself was destroyed some time during the 18th century.  The six remaining sandstone pieces were then sited near the main entrance to Calderstones Park in Allerton, Liverpool.  The disturbance revealed pottery urns containing human dust and bones. None of these were preserved as (or so I was told by park staff) the groundsmen who removed them smashed them all for 'fun'.  These photos were taken by me back in the spring o...

Click on the image to view it larger.     I was surprised to discover that one of my poetry ebooks, Entering the Grove , currently ranks at #66 in the Amazon.com Best Sellers listing for "Inspirational and Religious Poetry". The book blurb reads: "This collection of Adele Cosgrove-Bray’s poetry describes how, at the age of nineteen, she entered an order known variously as the Eternal Companions or the Initiates of Ma'at, which was led by an elderly man called Thomas Joseph Walton, (or "T"). His philosophy was similar to that of GI Gurdjieff's.  Entering the Grove describes her seven years with this group. She hoped to find answers to a series of experiences which had haunted her since early childhood, as depicted in the poems I Wonder , Twilight and Love's Hermitage , but she gradually became disillusioned with Walton’s philosophy. In 1999, Adele joined the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD), and this heralded the start of...

  

The large white and purple envelope has arrived, carrying the census to our door.   The questions seem silly, given that the data they seek is readily available from other sources.  HM Taxes can confirm that we pay our taxes, and how our income is generated.  All bank accounts have been on computer for decades already, so The Powers That Be can easily peer into how anyone gains and spends money.  The house can be seen on Google Street View and its design and legal description can be found at the Land Registry.  Our birth dates and similar information were logged with the appropriate official bodies at the appropriate times.  Council Tax banding has long been settled upon and so our home's number of rooms, etc. is well established.  Who cares how we heat our home?   As the Census information is supposedly kept private for 100 years - unless some anarchist hacks into the database - who cares that we don't ...

Philip Carr-Gomm, Chosen Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD) has just told me that my description of Lily's meeting with Ross Nichols has been published in his book, Journeys of the Soul. This book's description reads:  " Ross Nichols was one of the key figures in the revival of interest in Druidry and Celtic Spirituality in modern times. The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids, which he founded, is now the largest Druid group in the world. Journeys of the Soul vividly describes Nichols’ journey through life in the first complete biography of this enigmatic and influential Druid Chief, allowing us an intimate and controversial glimpse into the life and mind of one of the founding figures of the modern Pagan movement." My contribution is an extract from my novel Tamsin , which offers a  description of Lily's meeting with Ross Nichols.  This describes a factual event, and Lily's character is loosely based on a friend of mine who...

My feet first led me to St John the Baptist's some two decades ago.  I had seen enough of Chester's shops for one afternoon and, as if drawn by some subtle instinct, I found myself wandering around the sandstone ruins of what must have once been an impressive Norman church built close to the shores of the River Dee. Early churches were often built on top of pre-existing sacred sites, earlier even than the Roman shrine which once stood where the Norman ruins now lie.   With the Roman ampitheatre just yards away, this may have been a shrine to Mithras. A person can only speculate about what may have been here prior to the Roman structure.  During the Reformation, St John's received far worse treatment than the nearby, and much bigger, St Werburgh's Cathedral which legend places directly over an ancient Druidic Grove.   It seems unlikely that those same Druids would have overlooked this energy-rich focal point.  Norman ruins of an...

It’s strange to realise that we’re only eleven days from the summer solstice and yet spring blossom lingers on the trees here. How are you planning to spend the solstice? Do you do anything to celebrate the year’s longest day? Many people assume I’ll be heading off to Stonehenge. They’re wrong. I much prefer to visit such places when I’m the only person around, so that means out-of-season and usually in weather which deters everyone else. I have my reasons. In all truth, I’ve never once been to Stonehenge. When I was a child, my parents tried visiting it but couldn’t find it. I kept insisting they were walking in the wrong direction…. Speaking of amusing visits, much fun was had during a recent weekend break with friends. Topics for discussion were kittens, pregnancy, the whereabouts of food deliveries and the mysteries of the universe - all splendid stuff! Returning home, chaos awaited. Can’t I leave this house for a few days without mayhem erupting?!! The dogs had sulked, t...

I’m in the process of developing three new fictional characters for Fabian . I use a combination of methods when creating new people. There’s no right and wrong way to do these things. It’s more a case of experimenting to discover what works for you. For example, with one of these new characters I used a rather direct method. He appears very briefly in Rowan , so I already had his first name and the fact that he’s a musician. I wanted physical contrast with my other main male characters, so choices about looks were easily arrived at. I also wanted a personality which would provide a strong contrast to my other main characters, and so he was given a big, bombastic name to match his loud, exuberant traits and the plot role he plays. For a middle name, I thought of those marvellous Victorian names, heavy with pomp. The surname had been floating around in my mind for a while, and I liked the feel of it and it sounded right. Then I encountered a touch of serendipity. As his is a very ...

Richard took this photo of me yesterday. It was taken in our garden; you can see part of the thick curtain of glossy ivy which climbs up the wooden fence by the contorted hazel tree, right by the entrance to the Grove or "circular lawn" as I obliquely describe it in my latest Hubpage: http://hubpages.com/hub/Adeles-Garden The photo was taken for use with my author's bio for a horror/dark fantasy anthology to be edited by Raven Digitalis , who started this project two years ago. Raven intends to submit the MS to an interested prospective publisher on October 1st. My contribution was Spanish Jones , part one of which was broadcast live on 7 Waves Radio in October last year. It's a tale of pirates, selkies and witches fighting to the death on Hilbre Island and Middle Eye. Anyway, here's hoping that the MS will be accepted. Meanwhile, Riverside Writers have now received one quote for printing our anthology. Obviously we're waiting for other quotes to come in, b...