a reply to:
deadeyedick
It's more a mishmash of cut and paste from various sources to make sense of something. Something ancient that has possibly been covered up by the
church when Christianity was imposed.
"If Jesus was a bike rider, The church is getting people to ride the rider and not the bike."
Water deities/triple goddess and supernatural activity are Connected to sacred sites that have existed for thousands of yrs. many of these places
contain water sources such as natural wells and springs.
The hillside were i live is a giant natural spring. Water dribbles out of the ground and down the dirt roads during summer months
On the otherside of the hill is a monastery with a sacred holy well supplied by the same source as the warden springs. This same source also feeds a
well formation in minster at the highest point. Three wells create what is known as the minster triangle and dates back to pre Druid times.
Adomnán’s biography of Columba reports that the pagan Picts believed in powers associated with deep water. In this they would be no different from
peoples throughout Britain in the first millennium AD, when many pagan holy springs were blessed and adopted by the new Christianity. Wells and
springs were associated with healing, and Pictish burial grounds were often sited next to them.
It gets deeper excuse the pun. Lol
But what is the fascination with well-heads and springs that even today urges us to toss a coin into their mystical waters in some vain hope of
receiving a blessing or piece of good luck? For a hint of the answer one must delve back into the prehistoric pagan days when springs were regarded as
being the portal between the underground world where the spirits dwelt and that of the living. It appears that our ancestors have always sought help
for cures, vengeance, repentance or improvement in fortunes by depositing votive offerings to the deities associated with water sources.
Among the earliest enthusiasts for holy wells in modern times was the Neopagan movement, for whom wells formed part of 'earth mysteries' study along
with ley lines and ancient sites; the view that the Christians had ‘stolen’ holy wells from the Pagan religions fitted in well with their
position.
The Chalice Well at Glastonbury (Somerset) is at the centre of a Neopagan- and New Age-orientated spirituality and retreat centre. Other wells,
however, are often visited on an informal basis for religious or sightseeing reasons. New forms of holy well reverence continue to emerge now and
again, notoriously the so-called Well of the Triple Goddess at Minster-in-Sheppey (Kent).
Minster Abbey stands on the site of an earlier worshipping site. The Abbey itself is built in the centre of a former Druid or pre Druid place of
worship. The site is marked by the ‘Minster Triangle’, the triangle is formed by three ancient healing wells.
To confirm this Druid connection i found a article that a henge has just been uncovers by archeologists at iwade just by the bridge that leads onto
the island.
Sometimes with creative inspiration you can contact the essences of well priestesses in the Celtic tradition in even the most neglected urban well
shaft or pipe that may be the only sign that the sacred waters still flow.
The Isle of Sheppey in Kent where Water, Sky and Earth converge is perhaps best known for the heavy industrialisation of the surrounding River Thames
or the caravan and chalet sites that provide a haven for Londoners. But local historian, author and archaeologist Brian Slade has pieced together the
story of the sacred wells of Sheppey and the ancient abbey, Monasterium Sexburgha and in doing so has come across evidence of the Druidesses who once
tended the sacred waters.
Other historians share his view that Sheppey may have been the last remote stronghold of the old Druidical rites in England.
This is pre history. These days churches, monastery and have been placed on or close to these sites drawing people away from the wells and springs and
into churches for holy water. The wells were Christianised and a saint, usually a female was appointed as guardian of the well and it's "holy"
water. The church placed itself between the people and their "living" water.
Springs and wells at the top of hills were seen as sacred for the symbolism. Earth water and sky converge. They are spirit/interdimensional doorway.
In folk/feary lore these places are where contact and experience occur. And have done around the world since the dawn of time.
In Water, Stone & Legend - Rock Art of the Klein Karoo, archaeologist Renée Rust and photographer Jan van der Poll trace the relationship of San rock
art to shamanistic rituals and to stories and legends that still circulate in the Little Karoo today.
The rock art images located in the Karoo, offer a glimpse of an artistic and spiritual world defined by rain and water sources. Today, stories of
strange beings, told as the so-called watermeid legend, provide a link to the rock art of the past.
The mountain ravines and hills of the Klein Karoo are endowed with permanent, deep water holes in what is otherwise a semi-arid region. Rock art sites
are mostly found close to these water reservoirs, where, so the elders tell us, mythical creatures - watermeide - live.
The stories told of these creatures are an expression of an ancient knowledge, probably as old as the images on the rock faces.
The /Xam, a now-extinct southern San group, told of 'strings that vibrate' that filled their landscape. These were 'thinking strings', a term used
by /Xam informants to describe being part of the landscape or physical environment. The /Xam told of the ringing of these strings in the sky, enabling
the shaman, the ritual specialist to communicate.
The significance of water and the choice of rock art imagery depicting these elements suggest a spiritual link to the landscape and the locations of
particular rock art sites. This link to landscape is an essential feature of myth and ritual. The endurance of the watermeid legend suggests that the
thinking strings are still 'alive' and conveys the significance of the places where the water maidens are 'seen' today.
"In Brittany, Germany, Ireland and Scotland a fairy path is a sacred fairy space, a route said to be walked by the fey between traditional
significant sites, such as a FAIRY FORT and a Stone Age monument. These paths are almost always a straight line directly from one place to another....
Many fairy paths run on top of established ley lines."
Places with well in the name are places that have/had wells. Same with springs. Same with leylines. Rick clay pickup up on this in his work on the
"ley"tonstone Olympic site work. When you add that logic to "ley"sdown the henge at iwade, sacred wells and springs at wardensprings it appears I
am sitting right on top of a doorway to the otherside!
I then found this
The E-line is the widest and seemingly most powerful ley we have so far found. It crosses the country, going through the Cerne Giant in Dorset and the
Devil's Punchbowl in Hindhead to pass south of Guildford and Reigate, eventually reaching the Isle of Sheppey near Leysdown
pre history(his story) heresay? This is our true inheritance/heritage. Gold that you cannot touch, but can feel.
To be cont...