Arthurian Legend

 

For centuries, Adepts of the genuine Western Way have maintained a secrecy surrounding the ancient sites of the Tradition. Some of these sites are believed to be centres of the Hyberborean civilization of Albion, others are linked with the later developments of that ethos via the legends of Arthur and the inauguration of this present, Western, Aeon. All these sites still retain to varying degrees magickal energies, having been preserved by the guardianship of Adepts. These sites are not the relics of a dead civilization, but are alive (and ‘timeless’ – that is, not bound by temporal understanding and causal structure) due to the performance throughout the centuries of certain traditional rites – qv. The Black Book of Satan I & III. These rites are the maintaining of an essence, and evolve in structure as the essence itself evolves, growing towards the fulfillment of its wyrd as conscious understanding of that wyrd increases via rites and other structures.

It is important to remember that our esoteric knowledge has increased: there has not been a time when we have known more than we do now, despite the claims of the mystics that we have fallen from a golden age. However, where intellectual understanding has increased, an empathic awareness has faded due to the softness in living that a Nazarene distorted society has produced. To acquire certain magickal skills requires a certain way of living that few are prepared to undertake – hence the abundance today of pseudo-intellectual ‘occult’ organizations designed to provide a comforting alternative to the brutal realities of genuine magick.

Most of the original teachings of Albion became distorted or lost as that society declined, the Druids being regarded as representatives of aspects of this corrupted knowledge. As Albion declined, the Tradition is said to have directly survived within the culture of the ancient Greek civilization. The development of this ancient wisdom can be traced in Greek philosophy and early science, and in the dark tradition of the Kabeiroi. As this present Aeon progressed, the number of Adepts decreased but enough remained to maintain the survival of the Sinister Tradition in that area regarded as its magickal centre – Shropsire, on the Welsh/English border. These few remained unseen and unconnected to the growing occult scene that began to flourish in the latter half of the century; this scene being characterized by the qabalistic oriented works of Crowley etc, etc. In contradistinction to this, the Tradition survived via oral means, its legends and magickal techniques sparse and crude in comparison to the intellectual acrobatics contained in the doctrines of the Golden Dawn et al.

The fragments that remained of the original teachings of Albion concerned the mythos of the Dark Gods (partially accessed in a distorted form by Lovecraft), Esoteric Chant, a few rites mostly untitled, the use of crystals to enhance effects and enforce changes, the instructions on the procurement of Opfers, and the belief that wisdom can be achieved through certain ordeals and ways of living (most of these ways being dangerous and at odds with the conventions of the society of the time). All were most notably linked by an understanding of aeonic Progression what has now become known as the Sinister Dialectic of History. Other developments inherited, which made certain esoteric matters more comprehensible via abstract ideas, included alchemy (of the Septenary variety) and later still the Star Game, and the creation of the Sinister Tarot. A decision was made in the early eighties to gradually make accessible all material concerning the Tradition, in the interest of the Sinister Strategy.

So the time is right to reveal some of the secrets of the sites themselves as the attention of the esoteric world upon the Glastonbury area has served its purpose – that purpose being to preserve the genuine sites of the western Tradition. One of the most well-known – and distorted aspects of the Tradition concerns arthurian Legend: the placing of Camelot in Shropsire.

The esoteric traditions survived in an area bounded by the Stiperstones; the Long Mynd; what is now known as the Kerry Ridgeway; and the river Teme. The area of the Marches is regardedas being the ‘home’ of Merlin – he who was the lone figure of magick, who possessed insight, empathy, and knew the hidden order of things. He is believed to have been one of the last direct descendants of Albion. He was said to have lived in an area around the Camlad river – between the Stiperstones, the Clun River, Camlad and the Kerry Ridgeway. There are many local legends connected with King Arthur. For example, a battle recounted in ‘Perlesvaus’ is placed near to Red Castle and Bury Walls, near the present day hamlet of Marchamley. The area along the banks of the Camlad from near Lydham to Chirbury is regarded as the scene of many battles of the period. Of interest are the fortified areas/’castles’ near Roveries, Simon’s Castle, Roundton, Calcot etc. Gonnore – better known as Gwinivere – is regarded as being from Old Oswestry. There are other legends, but many places throughout the country also have their share of Arthurian Legends.

However, the Sinister Tradition places Camelot and Arthur firmly in Shropsire – and names a place. This and the nature of the legends – of a realism quite removed from the romantic haze of those connected to, for example Glastonbury and Tintagel – makes these Traditional claims difficult to ignore. The place named is the town that the Romans knew as Viroconium: the site of Camelot. Camelot was an essentially Romano-British settlement – and it was essentially pagan despite the stories told in the Middle Ages, these stories being Nazarene propoganda to distort the original legends.

A pagan altar used in Camelot and inherited from the Romans until quite recently stood near a Yew tree in the village of Uppington. [The tree is in the churchyard and is about 1,000 years old.] The tree also marks a site venerated in Arthurian times – this site was sacred a millenia before the Dark Ages.

After Camelot was overthrown, the remnants established themselves in a fortified enclosure within a loop of the river Severn. The sacred place of this place of this area was a mound known as the Hill of the Alders.  Later, this ‘city’ (containing the surviving Romano-British culture which had flourished in Camelot) was itself destroyed. It was later called Scrobbesbyrig – City of the Shrubs, and later still, Shrewsbury. The mound became the seat for the King of Powis. The mound lies beneath High St. and the old sacred site now has a church built upon it. Arthur is said to be buried in either the mound in Shrewsbury – beneath the church – or another place, not far from the lake of legend. The ‘lake’ from whence Excaliber came is considered to be (a) near Eyton or Severn. [At present, the place lies between Eyton and Dryton on the edge of a small coppice.]; (b) Marton Lake (now called Marton Pool) – near the Camlad river, and the modern village of Chirbury; (c) Shelve Pool between the Stiperstones and Mitchell’s fold stone circle.

As has been mentioned in other MSS, the ‘Grail’ was a crystal (“lapsit ex coeli”) of quartz according to most. It did not have a perfect geometric shape, but was similar in shape to a tetrahedron. It was guarded by several ‘keepers’ and was said to possess real magickal powers – prophecy, divination and so on. It was also said to be necessary for prosperity. Legend recounts it as being used to inaugurate the Western Aeon and thus civilization, at the time of Arthur.

As stated , the legends that have come down regarding Arthur are mostly Nazarene distortions. But the pagan spirit can still be discerned, as for example in the original description of Arthur meeting his future wife, where she is presented to him naked from the waist upward:

“…he behilde her with a gladde chere, and saugh her pappes smale and rounde as two smale appelis that were hard; and her flessh whitter than snowe, and was not to fatte ne sklender; and he conveyted her gretly in his heart…”

There is much more to this passage than a ‘pagan feel’ contained in the imagery and aura of the description. Many of the beliefs of the Albion folk and of those who came after, centred on a dark, violent goddess to whom sacrifices were made and who washed in the blood of those victims who fell in battle. Since the 10th century, she has been known by Satanists as Baphomet, and is traditionally depicted as being naked from the waist up.

 Coirie Raibhaich, Order of Nine Angles