To mark the beginning of 2010, we are pleased to be able to publish chapter 5 of Bega and the Sacred Ring. As always, the text is the original, just the illustrations and photos have been updated. There is still no definite release date for Spirit Chaser, but Bega and the Sacred Ring is due to be republished sometime this year.
"The Lady may manifest as thus:
the Earthly and the Cosmic.
On earth She is Elen of the green ways,
and in the sky Her name is Bega,
also known as Great Isis or
Mary, Queen of Heaven....."
On earth She is Elen of the green ways,
and in the sky Her name is Bega,
also known as Great Isis or
Mary, Queen of Heaven....."
The vision is as this: "The green rolling pastures of England lay before me, and the sun beats down from a cloud-speckled sky of azure blue. There is a crystalline quality to the surrounds and as I gaze into the middle distance I see a lady clad in green and white, standing radiant, shining in an aura of gold.
She is smiling, and gazing towards far distant horizons. I look around and see that I am standing in a meadow full of wild flowers, but it is not these that I notice so much as the subtlety of the faint green hue that seems to permeate the earth.
I look around once more and see that the lady has moved closer. She looks up and turns towards the far side of the meadow. I follow her gaze and see a green lane materialise before me. I look back at the lady and she looks up at the sky. I follow her gaze and see in an instant that it is night, and i am staring at a myriad of stars in a black sky. Something stirs amid this, a rippling of reality in the heavens and I see a form take shape, a transparent figure glowing in my presence, and as i watch i see it take on features, and then I see...
Standing by the chapel of St Bega in Bassenthwaite, as I look I see the lady once again. She is standing by the sacred building. She looks up and points towards the lake...It is night time, I am by the shore. Behind me stands the ancient church of Bega. In front there lies an expanse of still water.
I see dark billowing clouds scurrying across the pale orb of the full moon. The water ripples in the diffuse light. There is a boat and in an instant I am on board with two others...It is daytime again and I am still at the lake. The lady dressed in green and white is with me once more. She stands in the churchyard and simply points to the beauty of the lake. I turn to face the sacred mountain of Skiddaw and pondering upon what I have seen, take my return.
She is smiling, and gazing towards far distant horizons. I look around and see that I am standing in a meadow full of wild flowers, but it is not these that I notice so much as the subtlety of the faint green hue that seems to permeate the earth.
I look around once more and see that the lady has moved closer. She looks up and turns towards the far side of the meadow. I follow her gaze and see a green lane materialise before me. I look back at the lady and she looks up at the sky. I follow her gaze and see in an instant that it is night, and i am staring at a myriad of stars in a black sky. Something stirs amid this, a rippling of reality in the heavens and I see a form take shape, a transparent figure glowing in my presence, and as i watch i see it take on features, and then I see...
Standing by the chapel of St Bega in Bassenthwaite, as I look I see the lady once again. She is standing by the sacred building. She looks up and points towards the lake...It is night time, I am by the shore. Behind me stands the ancient church of Bega. In front there lies an expanse of still water.
I see dark billowing clouds scurrying across the pale orb of the full moon. The water ripples in the diffuse light. There is a boat and in an instant I am on board with two others...It is daytime again and I am still at the lake. The lady dressed in green and white is with me once more. She stands in the churchyard and simply points to the beauty of the lake. I turn to face the sacred mountain of Skiddaw and pondering upon what I have seen, take my return.
Above: The Lady of the Lake by Paul Atlas-Saunders-----------------------------------
Legend states that St Bega's church was sited by Lake Bassenthwaite because it is her last resting place, and what a wonderful resting place it is, for the romantic it is near perfect. As we have established, St Bega was, according to legend, of Irish descent, arriving in this country sometime during the 7th century. But there are curious aspects to her life.
THE MYTHOS OF THE RING
Central to the theme of Bega and her miracles is her sacred ring. As we have already discovered the ring was
presented to Bega by an angel before she left Ireland, as a sort of affirmation of the spiritual life she had chosen. If you like a ring of sacred marriage to God. But the tales tell us that it was not a finger ring, but an arm band that she received. It matters not though as this holy relic was certainly venerated and oaths were sworn upon it. But where?
The ring was kept on the altar of Bega in the ancient priory at St Bees, and it would seem that it was during the 13th century that most of the oaths were sworn upon the holy relic. The swearing of oaths upon a sacred ring is undoubtedly an ancient pagan custom, particularly associated with the Vikings.
The ring of Bega has been immortalised through perpetuation of design on what are known as Cumberland Ring Slabs (see right), a peculiar type of ancient funeral slab found mainly in Cumbria. Also we have the heraldic device of the Musgrave family, keepers of the so-called Luck of Edenhall (see appendix 5), where once again we see a ring design, or more correctly, designs.
Apart from the seeming sacredness of this holy relic, what else have we got to go on? Let us look at her name.
Bega - this quite simply translates as ring. Sancte Bega = Holy Ring!
NORTHUMBRIA
The legends also tell us that Bega spent part of her life in Northumbria, where, whilst at Hackness, she had a vision of St Hildas death, and it is even stated that Bega herself died there. It is also mentioned that when Bega crossed over to Northumbria she met up with King Oswald and St Aiden, and between them they founded Hartlepool. The chances are though that the Bega who left Cumbria is not the lady to whom we are looking at, so I merely state this as a backdrop to what follows.
BEGA AS STAR GODDESS?
Let us know turn our attention to the vision that I sited at the beginning of this chapter. What relevance has it to the Bega story?
During 1990 I discovered certain aspects to the saga which, to be quite honest, seemed ludicrous. A passage quoted from the notes of a work by John Todd called St Bega: Cult, Fact and Legend goes thus:
"We were clearly justified in saying that Bega was an Egyptian star, whether the star was presided over by Isis may require further investigation"
I was mystified and although I found it very intriguing, owing to my deep spiritual interest n the goddess Isis, I basically ignored it.
During 1991 though, I found myself thrust into a vision of Nuit, ancient Egyptian sky and star goddess of infinite space, made famous by Crowley's Book of the Law. To cut a very long story short, although I was messing around in very new territories I somehow felt that I had been there before. Gradually a new picture was formulating in my head, and I once again thought of the Bega/Isis quote and somehow knew that the time was fast approaching when I would realise a new potential in my quest for Bega.
November 2nd 1991.
The Psychic Questing conference was fast approaching and I was looking for inspiration for the lecture I was to give about Cumbria and Bega, so I decided that I would go up to Cumbria and visit the sites connected with Bega once again. this proved to be a vital point in my search for some answers. These came twofold: Firstly we received an apport of a small piece of Quartz crystal, which appeared on November 3rd in the boot of my car, whilst I was reciting an ancient hymn to Bega in her church at Bassenthwaite Lake. Secondly I discovered a text written during the 1920s by James Rendel Harris called Watendleth.
James Rendel Harris (left) was the same gentleman who had been quoted in John Todd's book as saying Bega was an Egyptian star! He was also a very interesting character, as he had written other titles also, many of which speak of his belief that the ancient Egyptians colonised Britain in ancient times.
On looking through Watendleth, I noticed a very strong Egyptian influence and realised that I had to find a copy of his St Bees article from whence the Egyptian star quotation had originated. Also on this particular excursion I felt as though I was somehow joining together parts 1 and 2 of the quest. 1989 and 1990 become one in '91, so to speak!
On arriving back in Essex I happened to mention the story of the apported crystal that had appeared in the boot of my Astra car to Dave Hunt. He laughed and told me that he had recently been studying a constellation called Bootes, which contains the important start Arcturus, from the e Greek for Bear Keeper, known as the star of Arthur. He suggested that we had a "play-on-words" situation ie: Bootes/Boot, and considering the Authurian connection with both the constellation and Bassenthwaite Lake via Tennyson's inspiration to write Morte d'Arthur whilst staying by the lake, I started to wonder what was actually going on!
By December 1991 I had managed to get hold of a copy of the Rendel Harris article St Bees. What I found was essentially this. Bega = Vega. Sancte Bega = Corona Borealis.
According to Rendel Harris the star Vega, which lies in the constellation of Lyra, is the star of Bega. To look at the marked similarity of the words one can understand why. Over hundreds of years words become corrupted, so it is quite feasible. Perhaps for Bega we should really read Vega?
He works on the hypothesis of the ancient Egyptian notion of the heavens being divided into two; the never-setting stars and the ever-setting stars. The never-setting (or circumpolar) stars lay in the domain of Set, and those that dipped below the horizon to Horus and between these two was a deadly rivalry. The boundary between these two types of star is that which just skims the northern horizon, and at this point in time this is Vega. Rendel Harris states that Vega/Begas fear of the loss of her virginity and status of mistress to Lord and God is due to the problem that both she and they will become the property of the wicked Set. Rendel Harris also states that perhaps the whole
constellation of Lyra could be a representation of Bega's ring, although both he and I would appear to agree that it is more likely that this is represented by the star pattern of Corona Borealis (the Northern Crown), whose brightest star is called Gemma; Latin for precious stone. This in turn makes me wonder what a precious stone, of sorts, was doing materialising in the boot of my car. Perhaps someone was trying to tell me something?
Rendel Harris concludes therefore that Bega and her bracelet are lost to the Devil/Set, and the only way to recover them is to call upon the aid of the stars that are both circumpolar, (those of Set) and the side of light (Horus). These are the four principle stars of the seven that make up what is commonly known as the Plough. These stars are assigned to the four sons of Horus: Mestha, Tuamutef, Qebhsenuf and Hapi. It is their job to recover the archetypes of stars that for whatever reason shouldn't be in the realm of the wicked Set.
How can we draw this into the St Bega energy, her mystic ring and the environs of Cumbria? The answer is difficult, as we can only rely on intuition and a feeling of something being correct. Drawing my own conclusions, I feel that the constellation of Corona Borealis somehow representing Bega's ring is on the right track, if only because Borealis is very near Bootes. In legend Bootes id the herdsman, leading the chariot of the gods around the sky (Ursa major/the Great Bear). It is interesting to note a further Arthurian link via the bear - Arthur was known as the Bear, therefore is not Ursa Major Arthur's chariot also?
According to Robert Graves in The Greek Myths, Bootes is also known as the bee keeper, or bee master. This is interesting as one of the roots of Bega is bee!Therefore is not Bootes perhaps the watcher or keeper of Bega, or even Bega herself? If this is the case then Borealis would become not a crown but the arm bracelet of Bootes/Bega, the positioning of these tow constellations would certainly make it appear so. At one time they were apparently considered to be one constellation anyway, with the Northern Crown being the arm ring of Bootes. Considering all of this we are back to Corona Borealis being Bega's ring.
Let us not forget the two ancient hymns to Bega, and I quote:
Also from the other hymn (see appendix 1)
THE MYTHOS OF THE RING
Central to the theme of Bega and her miracles is her sacred ring. As we have already discovered the ring was
presented to Bega by an angel before she left Ireland, as a sort of affirmation of the spiritual life she had chosen. If you like a ring of sacred marriage to God. But the tales tell us that it was not a finger ring, but an arm band that she received. It matters not though as this holy relic was certainly venerated and oaths were sworn upon it. But where?The ring was kept on the altar of Bega in the ancient priory at St Bees, and it would seem that it was during the 13th century that most of the oaths were sworn upon the holy relic. The swearing of oaths upon a sacred ring is undoubtedly an ancient pagan custom, particularly associated with the Vikings.
The ring of Bega has been immortalised through perpetuation of design on what are known as Cumberland Ring Slabs (see right), a peculiar type of ancient funeral slab found mainly in Cumbria. Also we have the heraldic device of the Musgrave family, keepers of the so-called Luck of Edenhall (see appendix 5), where once again we see a ring design, or more correctly, designs.
Apart from the seeming sacredness of this holy relic, what else have we got to go on? Let us look at her name.
Bega - this quite simply translates as ring. Sancte Bega = Holy Ring!
NORTHUMBRIA
The legends also tell us that Bega spent part of her life in Northumbria, where, whilst at Hackness, she had a vision of St Hildas death, and it is even stated that Bega herself died there. It is also mentioned that when Bega crossed over to Northumbria she met up with King Oswald and St Aiden, and between them they founded Hartlepool. The chances are though that the Bega who left Cumbria is not the lady to whom we are looking at, so I merely state this as a backdrop to what follows.
BEGA AS STAR GODDESS?
Let us know turn our attention to the vision that I sited at the beginning of this chapter. What relevance has it to the Bega story?
During 1990 I discovered certain aspects to the saga which, to be quite honest, seemed ludicrous. A passage quoted from the notes of a work by John Todd called St Bega: Cult, Fact and Legend goes thus:
"We were clearly justified in saying that Bega was an Egyptian star, whether the star was presided over by Isis may require further investigation"
I was mystified and although I found it very intriguing, owing to my deep spiritual interest n the goddess Isis, I basically ignored it.
During 1991 though, I found myself thrust into a vision of Nuit, ancient Egyptian sky and star goddess of infinite space, made famous by Crowley's Book of the Law. To cut a very long story short, although I was messing around in very new territories I somehow felt that I had been there before. Gradually a new picture was formulating in my head, and I once again thought of the Bega/Isis quote and somehow knew that the time was fast approaching when I would realise a new potential in my quest for Bega.
November 2nd 1991.
The Psychic Questing conference was fast approaching and I was looking for inspiration for the lecture I was to give about Cumbria and Bega, so I decided that I would go up to Cumbria and visit the sites connected with Bega once again. this proved to be a vital point in my search for some answers. These came twofold: Firstly we received an apport of a small piece of Quartz crystal, which appeared on November 3rd in the boot of my car, whilst I was reciting an ancient hymn to Bega in her church at Bassenthwaite Lake. Secondly I discovered a text written during the 1920s by James Rendel Harris called Watendleth.
James Rendel Harris (left) was the same gentleman who had been quoted in John Todd's book as saying Bega was an Egyptian star! He was also a very interesting character, as he had written other titles also, many of which speak of his belief that the ancient Egyptians colonised Britain in ancient times.
On looking through Watendleth, I noticed a very strong Egyptian influence and realised that I had to find a copy of his St Bees article from whence the Egyptian star quotation had originated. Also on this particular excursion I felt as though I was somehow joining together parts 1 and 2 of the quest. 1989 and 1990 become one in '91, so to speak!
On arriving back in Essex I happened to mention the story of the apported crystal that had appeared in the boot of my Astra car to Dave Hunt. He laughed and told me that he had recently been studying a constellation called Bootes, which contains the important start Arcturus, from the e Greek for Bear Keeper, known as the star of Arthur. He suggested that we had a "play-on-words" situation ie: Bootes/Boot, and considering the Authurian connection with both the constellation and Bassenthwaite Lake via Tennyson's inspiration to write Morte d'Arthur whilst staying by the lake, I started to wonder what was actually going on!
By December 1991 I had managed to get hold of a copy of the Rendel Harris article St Bees. What I found was essentially this. Bega = Vega. Sancte Bega = Corona Borealis.
According to Rendel Harris the star Vega, which lies in the constellation of Lyra, is the star of Bega. To look at the marked similarity of the words one can understand why. Over hundreds of years words become corrupted, so it is quite feasible. Perhaps for Bega we should really read Vega?
He works on the hypothesis of the ancient Egyptian notion of the heavens being divided into two; the never-setting stars and the ever-setting stars. The never-setting (or circumpolar) stars lay in the domain of Set, and those that dipped below the horizon to Horus and between these two was a deadly rivalry. The boundary between these two types of star is that which just skims the northern horizon, and at this point in time this is Vega. Rendel Harris states that Vega/Begas fear of the loss of her virginity and status of mistress to Lord and God is due to the problem that both she and they will become the property of the wicked Set. Rendel Harris also states that perhaps the whole
constellation of Lyra could be a representation of Bega's ring, although both he and I would appear to agree that it is more likely that this is represented by the star pattern of Corona Borealis (the Northern Crown), whose brightest star is called Gemma; Latin for precious stone. This in turn makes me wonder what a precious stone, of sorts, was doing materialising in the boot of my car. Perhaps someone was trying to tell me something?Rendel Harris concludes therefore that Bega and her bracelet are lost to the Devil/Set, and the only way to recover them is to call upon the aid of the stars that are both circumpolar, (those of Set) and the side of light (Horus). These are the four principle stars of the seven that make up what is commonly known as the Plough. These stars are assigned to the four sons of Horus: Mestha, Tuamutef, Qebhsenuf and Hapi. It is their job to recover the archetypes of stars that for whatever reason shouldn't be in the realm of the wicked Set.
How can we draw this into the St Bega energy, her mystic ring and the environs of Cumbria? The answer is difficult, as we can only rely on intuition and a feeling of something being correct. Drawing my own conclusions, I feel that the constellation of Corona Borealis somehow representing Bega's ring is on the right track, if only because Borealis is very near Bootes. In legend Bootes id the herdsman, leading the chariot of the gods around the sky (Ursa major/the Great Bear). It is interesting to note a further Arthurian link via the bear - Arthur was known as the Bear, therefore is not Ursa Major Arthur's chariot also?
According to Robert Graves in The Greek Myths, Bootes is also known as the bee keeper, or bee master. This is interesting as one of the roots of Bega is bee!Therefore is not Bootes perhaps the watcher or keeper of Bega, or even Bega herself? If this is the case then Borealis would become not a crown but the arm bracelet of Bootes/Bega, the positioning of these tow constellations would certainly make it appear so. At one time they were apparently considered to be one constellation anyway, with the Northern Crown being the arm ring of Bootes. Considering all of this we are back to Corona Borealis being Bega's ring.
Let us not forget the two ancient hymns to Bega, and I quote:
Limpid planetary star,
Glow demure, crepuscular
Orbiting where Angels are...
Glow demure, crepuscular
Orbiting where Angels are...
Also from the other hymn (see appendix 1)
Draw us to yourself from your seat
In heaven where you shine without
(The aid of) torchlight...
In heaven where you shine without
(The aid of) torchlight...
BEES AS GODDESS
According to Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor in The Great Cosmic Mother, bees are the sacred cult animal of Artemis, and by virtue of this, the moon. But bees are also known as a more general symbol of the Cosmic Goddess. This may be portrayed by the fact that only female bees make honey. Although we may be erring slightly from the themes laid out here, bear with me as I explain.
We have established the root of Bega as being Beghoc, the old English word for ring, but there is another supposed root which I think is worth consideration here. This is the word bee, meaning insect that makes honey and lives in a hive! If we have the bee as a sacred image of the Cosmic Mother then I think we are getting closer to the truth. I am not suggesting that Beg is an insect, but merely part of a bigger Cosmic Sky Goddess of nature, represented by the bee, which flies around the sky collecting pollen to germinate new life upon the earth. Another aspect of our lady Bega methinks!
BEGA AS OMPHALOS
As I have already stated, Andrew Collins and I discovered the St Bees omphalos during April 1990. If we recall the matter, we remember that quite simply St Bees Head is the centre of the British Isles.
We can take this one stage further and refer to the Rendel Harrris Vega/Bega situation, where he states that quite possibly one of the reasons that Vega/Bega is referred to as Egyptian is because the ancient Egyptians came to Britain around 1500 BC. If they sailed up to Cumbria as Rendel Harris suggests then at a latitude of 34' 30", which is St Bees (omphalos), the star Vega was on the threshold of becoming circumpolar.
This could be the reason why they decided to settle, as if they went any further north, they would be in the domain of Set; as it was they
were on the frontier, but that would enable them to call upon the four sons of Horus for assistance in helping their supposed sacred star Vega! If this was the case one may wonder if they knew of the significance of the area as an omphalos, or whether it was purely because of the way the stars were positioned at the time.
It is interesting to note that 12,500 BC, Vega would have been the pole star, a much more prominent position in the heavens. All of this needs expanding upon and a lot more research is on-going at present. I merely write it up in its present form to give an outline to my reasoning that Bega maybe some sort of star goddess of Britain.
One final point worth mentioning is that of the final episode in my vision, that of the boat on the lake. Two weeks after I had received this unprompted vision I was inspired to borrow William Wordsworth's Guide to the lakes from my local library. The edition I took was a modern one, and was illustrated with some beautiful watercolours of the region. One in particular caught my attention, that of lake Bassenthwaite at night by James Bourne. It depicts the lake at night, in the sky we have a full moon amid scurrying clouds, and on the lake a boat with three passengers.
According to Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor in The Great Cosmic Mother, bees are the sacred cult animal of Artemis, and by virtue of this, the moon. But bees are also known as a more general symbol of the Cosmic Goddess. This may be portrayed by the fact that only female bees make honey. Although we may be erring slightly from the themes laid out here, bear with me as I explain.
We have established the root of Bega as being Beghoc, the old English word for ring, but there is another supposed root which I think is worth consideration here. This is the word bee, meaning insect that makes honey and lives in a hive! If we have the bee as a sacred image of the Cosmic Mother then I think we are getting closer to the truth. I am not suggesting that Beg is an insect, but merely part of a bigger Cosmic Sky Goddess of nature, represented by the bee, which flies around the sky collecting pollen to germinate new life upon the earth. Another aspect of our lady Bega methinks!
BEGA AS OMPHALOSAs I have already stated, Andrew Collins and I discovered the St Bees omphalos during April 1990. If we recall the matter, we remember that quite simply St Bees Head is the centre of the British Isles.
We can take this one stage further and refer to the Rendel Harrris Vega/Bega situation, where he states that quite possibly one of the reasons that Vega/Bega is referred to as Egyptian is because the ancient Egyptians came to Britain around 1500 BC. If they sailed up to Cumbria as Rendel Harris suggests then at a latitude of 34' 30", which is St Bees (omphalos), the star Vega was on the threshold of becoming circumpolar.
This could be the reason why they decided to settle, as if they went any further north, they would be in the domain of Set; as it was they
were on the frontier, but that would enable them to call upon the four sons of Horus for assistance in helping their supposed sacred star Vega! If this was the case one may wonder if they knew of the significance of the area as an omphalos, or whether it was purely because of the way the stars were positioned at the time.It is interesting to note that 12,500 BC, Vega would have been the pole star, a much more prominent position in the heavens. All of this needs expanding upon and a lot more research is on-going at present. I merely write it up in its present form to give an outline to my reasoning that Bega maybe some sort of star goddess of Britain.
One final point worth mentioning is that of the final episode in my vision, that of the boat on the lake. Two weeks after I had received this unprompted vision I was inspired to borrow William Wordsworth's Guide to the lakes from my local library. The edition I took was a modern one, and was illustrated with some beautiful watercolours of the region. One in particular caught my attention, that of lake Bassenthwaite at night by James Bourne. It depicts the lake at night, in the sky we have a full moon amid scurrying clouds, and on the lake a boat with three passengers.
The painting was seen psychically by the author on
25th February 1992, and led to some startling discoveries.
25th February 1992, and led to some startling discoveries.
© Alex Langstone 2010
