Love and Love Magic
If we define love as a prolonged and mutual attachment both sexual and spiritual between two people, we find that it is sometimes considered as primarily a European phenomenon. Romantic love in Europe appears to have been unknown prior to the appearance in late eleventh century France of the troubadours and trouveres. That is not to say that attachments of this kind did not exist between individuals before that time, but that it was not accepted and formalized as a popular conception. For example, the emphasis in the Norse Sagas is almost entirely on heroic deeds and adventure. Heroines are formidable women who would not be guilty of lukewarm, feminine passions - they are admired for male qualities. This is in marked contrast to the essential erotic element of Provencal poetry of the following centuries.

The overwhelming emphasis on sexuality and sexual passion which is characteristic of the pagan literatures of Europe, particularly the Irish, is not evidence for the existence of romantic notions of love. For example, the picture which emerges from Celtic literature is of a society devoted to sexual pursuits but paying very little regard to the relationships between individuals. The incident in the Feast of Bricriu when the hero Cuchulain and his followers, who are being entertained by the King of Ulster, are offered fifty women each for their sexual needs - the number includes the Queen and her daughter - can be regarded as typical of Celtic ideas of love.

The essential refinement with which the troubadours cloaked adulterous love is indicative of the times. One of the most remarkable features of the rise of romantic love was that the same period was characterized by extremely barbaric, brutal and disgusting practices by both men and women. Sexuality might very well be the theme of magnificent poetry but at the same time to judge from contemporary poems and romances, the first thought of every knight on finding a Lady alone and unprotected was to do her violence....

There are numerous instances of this kind of behavior both in prose and poetry. The Lait de Graelent, by Marie de France, tells how a gentle and perfect knight meets a damsel alone in the forest. He brutally assaults and rapes her. However he is forgiven for underneath he is fundamentally courteous and honorable. The contradiction is quite extraordinary. It is seen again in the instructions given to the good knight Sir Perceval by his mother

"...lf thou, see a fair woman, pay thy court to her, whether she will or no; for thus wilt thou render thyself a better and more esteemed man than thou wast before..."

The argument is well put by Chretien de Troyes. A knight finding a damsel alone must offer her no harm but if another knight accompanies her, and he defeats him in combat the lady is his to do with as he wishes. The distinction is subtle but real. The adulation of fighting was on a level with love. No reasonable woman would refuse a conquering knight. To take her by force, as in Marie de France’s poem, was really not quite the thing to do.

Different interpretations can be made of this early literature of romantic love. One view, which we are inclined to support, is that the essential lawlessness and brutality of the period was overlaid by a film of idealization of the feminine which was at times acted out in reality, at other times grossly disregarded. Another is that the knights and troubadours (my note: of Provence and Flanders) constituted a kind of island of culture and gentility in a sea of (Norman and Catholic) barbarism - that in fact the two worlds were not connected. We find this difficult to accept in the face of the evidence.

Vernon Lee suggests in Euphorion a picture of a Provencal court. The court consists of all those with any pretensions to nobility from the greatest lord to the lowest page. These, as opposed to the brutal peasantry without were united in their service to the wife of the great lord, and her ladies.

The atmosphere is redolent of dedication and service; the realities of medieval life elsewhere - the burning and sacking of castles, the rape of women, the torture of peasants - are far removed. To pretend that there were not strong elements of graciousness, even spirituality, in some Provencal courts would be untrue, but at the same time to discount the barbaric elements both within the court and outside in the teeming world would be unrealistic.

It is true that Provence at the time enjoyed comparative peace compared with the condition of the rest of Europe. It is very probable that cessation from perpetual warfare and forays enabled the noble poets to develop and embellish this extraordinary manifestation of the human spirit. This would explain the transposing of ordinary knight’s service into service to a lady (my note: no it doesn’t). Instead of preoccupation with war the lord could now afford amatory adventures. It does not however explain the startling invention of the courts of love with their exacting interpretation of minute points of courtly behavior in what seems direct imitation of scholastic theological disputes. Lovers were bound by the rules of ’courtesia’, patience and moderation - that is restraint. The real problem is to discover the realities of the situation. In the literature there is metaphysical and allegorical aspect together with an appreciation of the grossest sensuality. The precepts of behavior we have quoted have to be set against the exacting fealty to one’s lady demanded by the courts of love and exemplified in Chretien de Troye’s Lancelot (lines 5641 etseq.)

The obscenity of the earliest troubadours, Count William of Poitou, for example, is unbelievable. the vast majority of successors such as Arnaud Daniel and Bertram de Born are equally at pains to show that it is physical and not spiritual possession they desire. there is a very real contradiction here for in the Lancelot of de Troyes there are numerous references to abstractions such as Love and reason on an altogether different plane from sensuality. There are many other examples. The blending of sensual love, service to womankind, allegory and ambition is a strange one. But whatever interpretation is used the fact remains that the concept of courtly love invented by the troubadours in Provence was the staring point for all the subsequent European manifestations of romantic love.

My notes. Courtly Love was not invented by the troubadours.

The aggressive sexuality of William of Poitou and many of his contemporaries merely illustrates the point that the Church’s noble and royal puppets had no notion of the courtly behavior of those they usurped. Although possessing both esoteric and exoteric elements, one might suggest that a progression toward decline and secularism in regard to the popular notion of courtly love was confirmed by people like von Ragenau.

The exoteric view today seems to regard his following minnesang as truly defining the notion of courtly love.

There are numerous instances of this kind of behavior both in prose and poetry

I wish to be known my entire life as a master of one thing and one thing only;
I seek the world’s praise for this one skill
That no man can bear his suffering as beautifully as I.
If a woman causes me pain to such an extent that
I cannot remain silent night or day,
I have such a gentle spirit that I’ll accept her hate as a source of joy;
And yet, alas, how deeply that discomforts me!

One might be inclined to the view that by the 14th century, when von Hagenau was writing, the church had already begun to have a considerable influence on the concept and although some clerics, particularly the Anglo-Norman monk Fra. Orderic Vitalis, had previously roundly condemned courtly love for shifting the lord’s or knight’s attention from Mother Church and her holy wars, it had quite probably begun to appreciate how the concept might be sanitized, twisted and manipulated to facilitate religious social control by exacerbating internal division and confliction within the individual.

As a consequence and despite the influence of people like von Eschenbach, the words of von Hagenau seem to have sealed the fate of courtly love for decades, until the restoration of the fundamental raison d’etre of the concept, in the esoteric publications of the metaphysical poets, in particular the works of Marlowe, Donne and Shakespeare. His poem from ’The Passionate Pilgrim’; The Phoenix and the Turtle has, as its theme, the concept of ’love and constancy’ which in itself as a euphemism, underpinned the spiritual rules of ’courtesia’ it would seem, and I quote ’...Leaving no posterity: It was not their infirmity. It was married chastity...’

The concept of an absolute mon or hierogamy, transcending sexuality, may be clearly perceived in this particular poem. The kabalistic reference in the opening stanza is unmistakable and for these reasons, personal use was made of the phoenix and turtle motifs in the Prose Summary of the Starfire modus operandi ’Rite of the Vampire’. One must make the observation that von Hagenau, despite being given ample opportunity not to do so, appears to have merely reiterated the popular view of courtly love as a source of lament prompted by unrequited love. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Courtly Love is necessarily requited by of times lost, and this, in a sense, is the source of the pain and longing: Le Soif, as The Sundering suggests.

The Sundering

For every bloodied rend
within that heart,
there was a silent tale
for which those lips had neither wit,
nor art

And every tear he
shed, sullen eyed;
traced a shattered, ancient dream,
which in that dark despair and hopeless
silence died

How could this be,
does grief end?
His soul desired much more
of her than man could know
or manners condescend.

She loved him once
but that withdrawn,
Never could he love again
as life’s hope from very life itself
was torn.

But is this the longing for the beloved, as it would appear to be in Keats’ La Belle Dame Sans Merci, or for the condition she engenders and the vision of some ’far away country’ that can dissipate at her departure, or for both? It was fully intended that the sad anticipation of such a loss was intimated in the Prose Summary, along with the longings that accompany such encounters and relationships, because the literary evidence suggests that these unions, intended to be spiritual, inevitably come to an end, sometimes but not always, disastrously and permanently. In the latter event, though the mythical cycles vary according to the personalities involved, it is because of the breaking of some taboo, or the misconstruing of the nature of the relationship and the spiritual dynamic, usually by the male.

In support of such a view we can quote the story of Arthur and Guinevere as well as that of Raymond and Melusine. Baring-Gould says:

"...The framework of the myth is the story-radical corresponding with that of Lohengrin."

The skeleton of the romance is this:

1.   A human male falls in love with a fairy female.
2.   She consents to live with him on one condition.
3.   Re breaks the condition and loses her.
4.   He either regains her or not....

In the Prose Summary, though intentionally romantic by degrees, the main thrust of the piece is intended to convey the magical, Initiatory purpose of the encounter, which is apparent in various concealed works on the subject, including the foregoing Phoenix and the Turtle and the Song of Songs, whose romantic element conveys in allegory, the ecstasy of hierogamical union through Love.

Such unions appear to be temporary in nature and abide until the initiation intended by the mystical union is completed, or becomes completed through the pain experienced at the sundering, which is the method by which the Sumaire is awoken and the fontaine de soif is made apparent. The poem concerning the Cross of Lorraine and the Clear Fountain, (Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln: ’The Holy Blood & the Holy Grail’) is significant in this regard. The physical manifestation of the object of longing, the Grail Maiden, seems naturally to re-enact the role of Ishtar within a cycle which happens spontaneously as part of recurring archetypal myth superimposed on real life. The response of the intimate, should thus be that of the Tantric Brahmin to his lover Kali, whose blood sets him free, but necessarily "at the price of his mortal soul".

The imagery of Love and loss, the Fairy Maiden, the garden and the fountain seem inextricably linked with the final stages of this process of introduction to a supernatural world of perception hidden from mortal eyes. This world however, is one of blended pleasures and mixed blessings, whose beauty and pathos is far more evocatively, and therefore necessarily, conveyed within a prose style which attempts to describe, with the added components of imagery and emotion, the experiences of the subjects in their real life situations as they happened then and as they still happen now.

In this respect, by comparing the prose of von Hagenau, with the dedication to Candida by Jack Parsons, former Grand Master of O.T.O., we would seem able to recapture the essential vision of the Dragon Maiden and the Garden of "Love", not intellectually, in the words; but in the visions engendered by the spirit that prompted the pen. In this poem, Narcissus, one might gain a glimpse of the deeper alchemy beneath the ’courtesia’.

The work was first published as part of an alchemical compilation called ’Songs for the Witch Woman’ and later appeared in O.T.O’s publication ’Starfire’. Candida enacted the role of Grail Maiden or Scarlet Woman. Again the cycle ended abruptly and in this case Parsons lost everything, including at the end of the process, his life, fulfilling, one might suggest, the requirement for the initiate to offer up to Kali or Ishtar his life blood on the burning ground or pyre of the Saints. Spiritual allegories sometimes become physical realities, especially if the magician has realized that the divisions between what is considered "spiritual" and what is conversely labelled "physical" are merely arbitrary and linguistic.

Narcissus

Drug me with drugs; slow acting, sensuous, sweet
Co-mingle Gin and Musk, Hashish and Amber,
Let me drink and breathe
and hear slow devious, music.

Until aroused to sub he langorous moods,
Until I see Ochre and Mazarine
and Purple Emit lascivious sounds.

Then I shall go through dark and Gothic ruins,
Grey and Golden mist; down to a Forest Green,
With an Old Dream.

I shall go naked; and Magnolia and Oleander,
Datura and Jasmine,
Whose blossoms will open and vaginally flower,
In infinite time, for a relative hour,
Whose White subliminal flowers
will caress my breasts.

And I shall perform stately,
Phallic Arabesques,
In the Moonlight Pale and White.

Endocrinal dynamics
ATP is the fuel of life which in youth sustains an active, healthy body and mind. As the body ages the levels of melatonin drop and the body cells begin to slowly degenerate and become tired. In particular the cells of the thymus which stores T-cells begin to atrophy and are replaced by fatty tissue. When this starts to happen the body’s immune system slows down and finds it more difficult to shake off illnesses that in youth would not have warranted any attention at all. As the cells begin to atrophy and the mitochondria becomes frayed, it is less able to produce ATP and this itself weakens the cells further. It is thought that telomerase in menstrual blood is one of the major contributors to mitochondrial regeneration.

As the cells become weak and less able to maintain structural integrity, the ability of the Mitachondria to convert thyroxine 3 efficiently is compromised. It begins instead to produce partial reactions resulting in the ATP being converted more and more into pyrophosphates literally fossilizes the body’s cells. As the Pineal Gland begins to succumb to this process it lays down calcium salts in the pineal body which results in the production of less melatonin.

With the production of less melatonin all the bodily functions suffer but in this particular regard it means that there is less melatonin to react with the pituitary and thyroid glands which themselves have suffered a reduction in the amount of hormones they are capable of producing due to the affects of cellular atrophy. Less thyroxine 4 can be processed into thyroxine 3 because of the declining level of pineal output and the degenerating mitochondria produce less ATP and so the cycle of decline continues. The ageing process has begun.

Summary
The Grail comprises not only of the Grail Maiden but of a set of psychosomatic exercises which stimulate enhanced endocrinal function within her physiology. Furthermore these exercises also polarize the general energy field around the body which in turn polarizes the ions of the hormones required. In laboratory experiments on Seratonin conducted in America it has been demonstrated that the field should be positive, which correlates with what the Tantrics, the Alchemists and Grail Knights already knew anyway. The recipient of the Grail Maiden’s generosity similarly has to perfect the art of accomplishing this exercise efficiently. She or he engages in the rite in exactly the same manner as the Maiden up to the fountain point. At this juncture the recipient’s energy field should be charged negatively by using the reverse components to those being installed by the Maiden.

At the point where the Grail Maiden has successfully fired up her system and the recipient similarly has sensitized their constitution, the process of extraction takes place. In the case of The Rose of Diana this is achieved orally. However, in the case of The Lily of the Valley the beneficiary, like the Fisher King, sups from the Grail with a Golden Straw. Simply put the Tantrics et al would insert a golden flute into the urethra and massage the internal area of the vagina just under the pubic bone. After a few minutes a swelling is detected. This is the engorging of the Graffenberg Gland which has corresponding to it a special little chakra.

At the point of g-spot orgasm the fluid contained in the gland is discharged into the urethra and is sucked through the golden straw. As with the Rose of Diana, the Lily of the Valley is held sublingually for some time before swallowing. The reason for this is that the process of digestion reduces the intake of the required hormones, whereas sublingual ingestion is achieved directly through the blood vessels under the tongue.

This act is the physical aspect of Courtly Love. If Intercourse were to take place the psyche of the Grail Maiden would change and the same psychosomatic dynamics which allow her to affect the functioning of her endocrinal system would also radically affect subconsciously, the levels of hormones she was capable of producing. In tandem with the reduction of melatonin in the blood stream caused by an increase in body mass after puberty, sexual intercourse actually triggers the genes to start the ageing process and the reduction of hormonal output. The female body recognizes vaginal penetration as a key to the maturing process.

This is Royal Vampirism on the physical level, rather than being predatory, Royal Vampirism is actually founded upon intimacy and love. It offers spiritual depth and value in its celebration of the most private of female processes, ones with which other cultures insult and shame the female by making unclean or taboo. The legend of the homosexuality of the Templars is probably founded upon truth. On Lindon Hill in Lincoln there used to be a Templar Preceptory devoted to the Magdalene. In practice, so the local story goes, it was a Templar brothel. It is more than likely that the institution was a Solomonic Harem (harem means "Holy Place") devoted to the support of Virgin Maidens of the Grail. The Templars themselves probably did not indulge in penetrative intercourse with these girls but provided for their upkeep as templar nuns whose task it was to perform the Rite of RTU. To avoid intercourse with them the Templars relieved each other.

In the tradition of Courtly Love the interaction was described as non sexual and Platonic. The Chosen Maiden was not just considered to be the incarnation of the Goddess, she was the Goddess, and in the rites described the devotion to her would have been considered as worship. Here is an example of a form of Union with the goddess Diana, where her essence is partaken of but her flesh remains uncompromised. She gives birth to inspiration in her devotee and is the mother of their creative and transcendent perceptions, but like Mary the Ichthys, Diana remains the Virgin Queen of Heaven.

* The original ’Hierarchical Rule’ of the Templars founded by King Baldwin de Vere in 1100 admitted women and children.

The Grail Maiden of History
The ideal Grail Maiden in classical times generally speaking, was described by medieval and Renaissance writers as being between approximately 12 and 18 years old and of Royal Scythian Blood. Her hair would have been flaming red, her skin white, with an underlying hint of pale gold, like peach and cream.

Her figure would have been slight, with understated gender development and her facial features would have been refined, framing large, penetrating eyes of blue or vivid green behind which would be suggested the vast abyss of eternity and infinite space.

The aura about her would have been physically felt as a charge, underlying which would have been detected an unselfconscious stillness, compassion and detachment from worldly cares. Above all she would have been a virgin for the duration of her attachment to the Queen or King as their Shunnamite or Twylleg.

Virginity
Females have larger pineal glands than males and even though they mature earlier than boys, girls with their larger pineal glands and smaller blood volume, usually tend to produce more melatonin and other hormones than boys do. This continues throughout life and means that females certainly live longer and are more resilient than males.

As they grow up both boys and girls pineal glands produce a constant unfaltering amount of melatonin. From about the age of two years the pineal begins to function at its optimum level and this doesn’t increase as the child grows larger. When young therefore, the child’s bloodstream is rich with melatonin, but as the child grows in size the blood volume increases and the melatonin to blood ratio drops. When the serum level reaches its lowest point, this triggers the production of oestrogen in girls and testosterone in boys, which further inhibits the production of melatonin.

The reason there were no such things as Grail Youths is simply because the males don’t produce as much melatonin as females anyway and the physical farming of the hormone would be problematical to say the least. However, even during puberty the female would produce substantially larger an amount of melatonin than the male and because of the female constitution it would have been accessible by natural and non violent means.

Although affecting the blood serum level of melatonin, the onset of puberty is the time when the physiological functions of the female permit the procurement of the hormones required. Between 12 and 17 there is a tight window of opportunity where the body hasn’t fully grown and melatonin levels are not yet at their lowest point.

Additionally as the chosen maiden was virgin, she had no experience of actual penetration and she couldn’t fully anticipate what the experience felt like. Consequently the release of melatonin inhibiting

hormones like oestrogen and adrenaline was likely to be less in an inexperienced virgin anticipating sexual penetration than it would be in a girl who fantasized about an experience she already knew and desired.

The desire level linked with the ability to visualize the act from experience was likely to stimulate the release of more oestrogen and adrenaline in the non virgin than it was in the virgin, in much the same fashion as the anticipation of the consumption, by a person, of their favorite dish, is likely to release more saliva in their mouth than in the mouth of a person to whom that dish is merely described. Adrenaline in particular is a killer, which is why vampirism, which is supposed to be the harvesting of life enhancing substances couldn’t historically:

a)  have had any sexual context and
b)  couldn’t have been non consensual,

because both sex and fear cause the adrenal gland to work overtime releasing adrenaline into the bloodstream which, in the case of the Gothic approach, would then enter the system of the dragon and effect exactly the opposite result to that which was intended, namely longevity and transcendence which, in any case had a subtle non-corporeal element which could have only been experienced with a female who entered "of her own free will" and who was prepared "to leave behind a little of the life and joy that she brought with her", (Bram Stoker, Dracula). A willingness on the part of the female to act as a sustainer within a consensual interaction released all the right hormones and corresponding energies. Faced with force, the barriers would naturally have descended and the Grail would have become a Cup of Sorrows.

The effort in training an older female to perform the same rites efficiently would not have been compensated by the return obtained from her constitution, in comparison to a younger virgin female. In such a situation it would have been like preparing a table for a silver service banquet of five courses and ending up sitting there with a beef and tomato flavored Pot Noodle. There would have been a discrepancy between effort invested and nutrition obtained, which in all species is against the natural law of the conservation of energy. This is why the Vampire’s "victim" is always depicted in Gothic Romance as being a young female virgin.

Witches, Dragons and Boggarts
In reading the following it should be remembered that the Druids, and the Scythians in general, loved putting double entendre and multiple layers of meaning within words and phrases, a linguistic practice which, in Hebrew, is mediated and facilitated by Numerology.

Flesh on Bones
In 14th century Ireland Dame Alice Kyteler was arraigned for witchcraft. Amongst a number of charges she was accused of worshipping the Devil, a witches god named Robin Artisson. As an exercise in revision and expansion we will take another look at this name and develop further on the synthesis conducted in the last series of notes. The name Robin Artisson can translate as Robin meaning bright’ or ’shining fame’ or ’red-bright’ and Artis-son, perhaps as the Artisan’s son, giving either "The red-haired Shining One" or "The Fairy King, son of the Architect" (artisan-tekton-mason-smith). An earlier rendering might have been Artisson as Mac Art.

Dealing firstly with Robin. This name, as bright or shining one, corresponds with Ahura Mazda, Lord of Light and Ormurd, which I still think relates linguistically to the Serpent of Light from Orm, the root of Worm, a dragon or serpent; and Mazdh, the Light.

This being the case then the ’Architect’ on one level would, in relation, be the Ancient of Days, who was Zirvan. in Monarchic Dualism, the three principals are Zirvan - Ahura Mazda - Ahrunan or: Space/Time-Increase-Decrease, whilst Ahriman as the Serpent of the Darkness. This philosophy approximates with the original Eurasian, proto-Zoroastrian tradition from whence derive both Hinduism and Druidhism.

We also know that pre-Nicaean Christianity had been closely associated with this root and included the triad comprising God - Satan - Jesus. In the following, the witches god, Robin Artisson or Robin Hood can be appreciated as being closely related to these triads. Jesus himself was thought to correspond with Mithras and Ahura Mazda and was also the son of an artisan. Directly descended from his line we also have Bera the Architect, (Vera Mason!).

Robin Artisson is a variant of the British and Gallic Robin Hoods and appears as the witches god in Ireland, as previously stated, who is interchangeable with the Gallic basque god of the witches Janicot, who is also known in Britain as Little John. As we know Janicot is Jani-Gon or Janus-God, the two headed or dualistic deity, which indicates clearly that the witches were dualists, as were their cultic cousins, the pre-Nicaean christians.

In England we have one of at least two triads comprising of: Herne - Robin Hood - Little John, where perhaps, as I have suggested, Robin and John in following ancient tradition, were either brothers or partners in an ancient Dragon family ritual; or one person; as were Jesus and Satan, variously and cosmically speaking, in some gnostic traditions.

In traditional English folklore the father of Robin Goodfellow was Herne the Hunter. As Robin Goodfellow is identical to Puck whose father was Oberon, then it follows that Herne the Hunter and Oberon are also the same person.

In the tales concerning Robin Goodfellow he was a flesh and blood character who lived with human parents. One night he felt the call of the wild and left home to wander the Greenwood, meet his real father, Oberon, and engage in various adventures with his own kind.

One gets the impression that in some way, perhaps through unuttered longings, he was "called to the Dragon" or called to follow his true genetic nature which, prior to his departure, had been intimated to him in restless notions and strange dreams, but had been otherwise unknown.

He is like the changeling or the fairy orphan adopted by humans. In some senses the story of Jesus is the same, the humble son of the carpenter who is really the Son of God, a standard fairytale motif which is repeated to this day.

Robin’s Father
Oberon breaks down into Ober and ron. Here ’Ober’ can relate to uber meaning ’over’ or ’high’ and ’ron’ presents itself as being ’reyn’ or ’regin’. Regin relates to king, therefore Oberon means high or white king. Uber meaning vampire would render Oberon as ’vampire king’, which, in this particular instance is not beyond the bounds of possibility; as vampires, witches and fairies are all the same beings, and the following, taken from traditional sources, serves yet again to reinforce this.

In the case of Robin, the name might have presented some difficulties had it not been for the existence of intentional multiplicity. The name, coming from Robert has a root - ’Ro’ which can be found in Celtic, but also in later French and German where the meanings expand collaterally. In German the root ’Ro’ can mean either fame’, as in Ro-bert, or ’power’ as in Rod-Erick.

As Robert was originally spelt Hrodebert it would seem that the root ’Rod’ is more appropriate than ’Ro’, which would render Robin or Robert, not as bright-fame’ but as ’power-bright or ’might-right’. In Gaelic, Roderick, spelt Roderigh (Rod-Righ) means ’red-haired king’ and has variants in the Welsh - Rydderch or Rhodri, and the Irish -Rhuardhri or Rory.

Rod as red in German would be ’rot’, and ’Rod’ as ’power’ could derive as it does elsewhere, from a Martian association between ’red-blood-might’, which would give us ’strength derived from blood’, this being either the possession of a certain bloodline or the ingestion of blood, as was the practice in the royal covens.

Therefore if Hrode, as ’Rod’ or ruddy, means ’red’ or ’red-haired’, in the particular case of Robin Hood/Artisson/Goodfellow (Puck-Boucca-Bolg), then we have Robin or Robert as ’Red-Bright or the ’red-haired bright (or shining) one’ and consequently, as red was the Scythian king’s hair color and a shining one was a fairy, we would have Robin as the ’red-haired fairy-dragon-vampire-witch king’.

This is entirely appropriate to his legendary associations and cultic role, especially as we now know that he, as Robert de Vere, descended directly from Melusine des Scythes and had a father and grandfather both named Aubrey or Alberich, meaning Oberon, the high fairy king.

The ’R’ in Robin or Robert was quite often replaced by an ’H’ or D’. This gives the abbreviated ’Rob’ as Hob, as in Hob Goblin - a Fairy or demon of the mines (mounds etc) and another name for Robin Goodfellow. Goblin comes from the German Kobelin, meaning a mine, cave or mound (Tepes) dwelling magician-smith (alchemist) and gives us another word - Cobalt, a metal which is silver in color, resembling the color of Odin’s cloak.

Cobalt is highly magnetic and, as Cobalt 40, it is also extremely radio-active, being used in the "Cobalt Bomb". Otherwise Cobalt is an essential part of the human and animal diet and can be found in spinach, cabbage, lettuce, watercress and liver.

Cobalt was used in making colored glass (alchemy) and was applied, as a colored glaze, to ancient Chinese porcelain. Consequently, two pigments relevant here can be obtained from it:

1)   Green, Robin’s and the fairy’s color, and
2)   Blue; with a range of hues including

a)   Ultramarine (meaning "from beyond the sea", also obtained from Lapis Lazuli),
b)   sky blue, the color of Odin’s hood (OHO: Hood Hod, rel. to Hat) in his role as Sky or Ml Father, and
c)   its darker shade Azure (the Persian ’lazward’), one of the titles of Kali as ’Kali-Azura’.

Goblins, Pixies, Sprites and Gnomes
Hob Goblin is the name of one individual, rather than pertaining to a class of sprites. In Hob Goblin or Robert the Kobelin we have:

a)   Robin - Smith of the Sidhe
b)   Robin the Magician
c)   Robin of the (eye patch and) Hood
d)   Robin the alchemist

Hereto the name Robin may also pertain to the bright flame of the smithy’s forge.

During the late 1600’s to early 1700’s, one could be hung for wearing green. It was the fairies color as we know and represented the amorality of nature which is unconscious of and beyond the stunted human, christian notions of good and evil. By wearing green, a person was intimating that they were of faerie and, by blood, above the bondage of petty christian morals, ideals and laws meaning; more or less, that they had transcended and like nature and the Cosmos itself were at one with God.

Robin Hood was an outlaw, not because he stole from the rich to give to the poor, but because firstly he was fairy and thereby a magus.

He had transcended human perceptions and restrictions and because of this, he was by birth outside all human laws of existence anyway, as were all those of the fairy race. The Cyclops’ of Greece, members of the Titanic, fairy race of "giants" were also cave or Rath dwelling miner-smiths who forged thunderbolts (we are reminded of the properties of Cobalt-60) for Zeus (the Greek counterpart of Thor)

It is generally thought that their name derived, not from "one-eyed", but from "ring eyed" (cycle-ops), related to the practice of wearing cobalt blue woad bands or rings. Painted around the eyes, Graves reminds us that the rings of the cyclops mimicked those of the sidhe of Eire.

It will be remembered that Ultramarine and Cobalt Blue were, respectively, the colors of Vishnu and his brother/counterpart Shiva (Sidha). Nevertheless, the Cyclops’ were described also as "one-eyed" and the one eyed epithet is pertinent because of the smith’s habit of wearing a patch to protect one eye from sparks.

(The fairy hood, as protective headgear, is also part of the alchemical/smithing tradition, and also pertains to the alchemists hidden knowledge, kept "under his hat").

This gave rise to the idea of the cyclops’ being one-eyed giants. This one-eyed aspect in elf lore also relates to the Irish Balor and his counterpart on one level; the Danish Odin. The names hobgoblin, sprite and gnome conjure up storybook images and memories of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and when we think of these characters we think of harmless, mischievous beings.

Although we have accused Shakespeare of perverting the true identity of the fairy, it might be advisable to take a fresh look at his motives and bear in mind his own origins. He is guilty of diminution, as are the establishment; the christian clerics and the academics, but there may be a sound motive behind his thinking.

Diminution occurs in the first instance because of threat, it’s as simple as that. To the process of the diminution of the fairy by the establishment, we can also add the same process as practiced by the people themselves and, strangely enough when you look at it, the process of the diminution of the fairy, by the fairies themselves!
 

Go Back