NOTE: This has been transcribed from a pamphlet which appeared in 1992. As far as I'm aware, only a few hundred copies were ever printed. I had heard about this pamphlet for many years, and finally tracked down a copy through a second-hand book dealer in the USA. Having read it, I felt it deserved a wider audience than it initially received, and as it was printed in very small numbers with no stated copyright, I decided to make it available online. Since then, I have been contacted by someone claiming to have been one of the co-authors (from the AgA), who states that "It is possible that at some time in the future, my co-author and I will make ourselves known as the authors under personal names, and ask the British Library to enter them on their record for the pamphlet. Indeed I hope this happens before too many years have passed. But currently we have no plans to do so."

The text is reproduced in its entirety, with all illustrations included. I have made some minor corrections as regards spelling and punctuation, etc. There is a lot of seemingly arbitrary capitalisation (or lack thereof) in the original, which I have attempted to "correct", but I acknowledge the possibitity that some of this may have been intentional and intended to contain subtle layers of meaning. For that reason, I have made available a scanned version of the original pamphlet here as a PDF, so anyone sufficiently interested can decide for themself.

The hyperlinks were added to provide instant reference for anyone interested in any of the plethora of historical characters, institutions, events, etc. referred to in the text. These are largely Wikipedia pages, so the content thereof must be regarded with the appropriate caution.

I do not necessarily endorse or "believe" the content of the pamphlet. I maintain an open mind about astrological matters, am not particularly impressed by the ill-informed remarks about Newton and Einstein's work on space, time, mass and distance, and accept that there may very well be factual inaccuracies in the historical sections. The LPA (now defunct?) certainly appears to have had a sense of humour, even perhaps a playful prankster-like quality akin to Robert Anton Wilson's "guerilla ontology". What interests me most about the text are the sections concerning Winchester College and St. Catherine's Hill, particularly given the events that occured on Twyford Down around the time of the lunar eclipse in December, 1992. Certain members of the Dongas Tribe, resident on the Down at that time, have spoken to me extensively about the events of that time, and surrounding circumstances. I hope to eventually re-interview some of these people and include transcripts as part of a wider web-based project. I also recall seeing LPA Newsletters from around the same time (which presumably appeared after this pamphlet was published) which referred to the M3 Motorway cutting and strange circumstances leading to the destruction of Twyford Down. If anyone reading this has copies of any such documents (or any insights into these curious affairs), please contact me.

It is with the greatest of pleasure that the London Psychogeographical Association joins forces with the Archaeogeodetic Association on the occasion of the Great Conjunction to research the environs of St. Catherine's Hill, Winchester.

Through creating an identity of time and space, even though temporary and localised, it will be possible to gain a clearer understanding of events presaged by the Great Conjunction. 1992 has seen both a flourishing of activity from the LPA, and the most welcome formation of the AgA in September.

But far from feeling smug we feel that the press of events is responsible for any dynamism, and that our feeble attempts are insufficient. It is with this in view that we have decided to issue propaganda from the very moment of the realisation of the project. Thus the preparation of the propaganda is not cluttered with any post facto orientation and reporting, but, on the contrary, it serves to fix the event in space and time.

The Great Conjunction, as we have termed it, is a cyclical event. The previous two occasions it was accompanied by quite startling mundane events. However before describing such correspondences, a few remarks about the gyration of the planets are in order. These are based on an analysis of the years since 3,000 BC. The cycles tend to a regularity but not a uniformity. There is a tendency for the planets Venus, Uranus and Neptune to gather every 171 years. However the Moon does not always combine with them. Thus, for the last 10 conjunctions, 6 have occurred at approximate 342 year cycles (double cycles), 2 at 513 year cycles (triple cycles), 1 at a single cycle and 1 at a 855 year cycle (quintuple cycle). It is interesting to note that Mercury decided to put in an appearance in both 231 BCE and in 1648.
 

Those of you familiar with Archbishop Ussher, the seventeenth century Ghibelline historian, may recall that he estimated that the world began on a Sunday in October 4,004 BCE. After having deducted 2120 from this figure we get 1884 years, which is equivalent to 11 cycles of 171 years with 3 over. Thus there might easily be a Great Conjunction around the time that the great axis of the Earth's orbit coincided with the equinoxes, uniting the true and mean equinoxes (see the Rev. Hales' New Analysis of Chronology and Geography, Prophecy of 1830). However we are at present unable to comment on this. Our calculations, and the astronomical graphic have been made using the Voyager Interactive Desktop Planetarium. Excellent though this programme is, it has a shortcoming in that it only goes back to 3,000 BC. In order to remedy this weakness in our text, we invite correspondence on previous conjunctions, particularly if one coincides with 4,004 BC. We hope that our door-mat resounds to the sound of letters plopping through the letter box enlightening us on such matters.

Our curiosity is particularly aroused in that Ussher reached his conclusions on the basis of mathematical work done by the ex-Gresham College professor, John Greaves who had journeyed to Africa and Constantinople, to measure the Pyramids and buy up Arabic manuscripts. (The untimely death of the Greek patriarch presented him gaining access to the library at Mount Athos). Greaves published his tract dealing with the Solar Year in 1648. We find it hard to conclude that such a noted astronomer could have failed to have been aware of the current Great Conjunction.

We wonder how he saw the conjunction in relation to the subsequent execution of King Charles I. We also wonder if he was aware of the previous Great Conjunction at the time of the suppression of the Templars. Friday 13th of October was the actual day when Phillip IV of France's secret orders to arrest the Templar Knights was put into effect. However, it was 22^nd November 1307 that Pope Clement V issued the bull Pastoralis praeeminentiae. It was this bull which ordered all Christian rulers to arrest the Templars in their country and seize their property.

It would be a suitable point here to register the great importance that John Greaves plays in the development of archaeogeodetics. He is not merely remembered for his work in measuring the Pyramids, but also for his careful analysis of Roman weights and measures. It also seems likely that he actually wrote Of Cubits, which has wrongly been attributed to Sir Isaac Newton. In the 1739 edition of a Greavesian Miscellany, he is merely credited with having translated it from Latin. However as Newton was 15 when Greaves died, we find this unlikely. (Our publishers have agreed to republish this text with a critical introduction.)

We would also point out that although not directly involved with the founding of the Royal Society, he was certainly active amongst the circle from which it emerged. Not only was he the Gresham professor of astronomy but he took over as Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, a move followed later by Christopher Wren. Of course it was not until December 5^th, 1660 after one of Wren's Gresham astronomy lectures that the thirty nine worthies heard that the newly restored King had approved their organisation.

When Parliament regained power in Oxford, it wasn't long before Greaves was kicked out of Merton College, where he was Deputy Warden. He was accused of giving the King the College plate and sacking pro-parliamentarians. However he made sure that Dr. Seth Ward succeeded him as Savilian Professor. He approached Seth in a pub, and told him that he was going to put his name forward. Seth felt he might not be allowed to take the position as he had refused to take the Covenant. Later Seth was to be prominent not merely as professor of astronomy at Oxford, but ultimately as the Bishop of Salisbury. He was prominent in the setting up of the Royal Society, even from the formative days in Wadham College, before it was an official organisation.

 

We feel that our cursory references to the Templar arrests and the execution of King Charles I should give food for thought for any mundane astrologers. Another date which springs to mind is 455 when Rome was vandalised. Without dismissing the importance of this event, we would however like to draw attention to the more intimate event which took place in Venta Belgarum, as Winchester was then known. Vortigern regained the throne after his son had died. His sons had been involved in a vigorous campaign against the Saxons. It was Vortigern's reluctance to fight which had lead to his son, Vortimer, usurping the throne previously. Vortigern's return to power was accompanied by measures to placate the Saxons. This involved giving up 300 Romano-Brits to be slaughtered in a mass human sacrifice at Stonehenge. This occurred in 456, and in consequence, Venta Belgarum was left unscathed.
 

Two days before the predicted perihelion, the Moon will pass through the shadow of the Earth and we shall have a total Lunar eclipse in Taurus. This will last from 11:07 to 12:22 on the night of 9^th December. Truly the Moon is having an exceptionally exciting time this month.

Feeling that we have exhausted our repertoire of astronomical information, we shall move on, for fear of making fools of ourselves. We call on those with deeper knowledge to correct any errors and expand upon our themes, either in correspondence or via some published medium. We wish now to turn our attention to the location. After all, as Newton said, time by itself is the product of mass and distance.

[Stop Press – The fire at Windsor Castle, burning out the Queen's private chapel and St. George's Hall comes as no surprise. To what extent this relates to the conjunction is unclear. We would point out that the Coats of Arms of each and every member of The Order of the Garter came crashing down from the roof of St. George's Hall – and that the comet did approach the sun in 1348, the year that Edward III founded this organisation...]

Upon discovering that this conjunction was about to occur, it was decided to visit St. Catherine's Hill. A previous conjunction, that of Jupiter and Venus had been celebrated by the LPA with a trip to Roisia's Cave. When the Archaeogeodetic Association proposed to visit St. Catherine's Hill, the decision was intuitive. A certain amount of research had already been carried out as regards William Rufus. However, we had not looked into the line which connects St. Catherine's Hill with the spot where stood the tree which deflected that fatal arrow that did for William Rufus on August 2^nd 1100. This we have called the Rufus Line. In fact we came across it when we used Voyager to see at what bearing the conjunction set on 27^th November. Having established this basic alignment, we looked deeper into the Rufus line.
 

Even using latitude and longitude is subject to error. The AgA is currently investigating the ramifications of the mid-riff bulge which the Earth experiences thanks to the rotation of the Earth. Newton was the first modern mathematician to try and get to grips with this. Newton came up with an ellipticity of the Earth of 1/230, whereas nowadays it is usually seen as 1/298.247167247 (Geodetic Reference System, 1967). Of course, the Australian National Spheroid (1966) is slightly smaller (1/298.25) but this gives a variation of eight inches in the Semi Axis minor.

Experiments conducted by the French Academy in 1735 revealed that the distance covered by 1^o varied by about 900 metres between near the equator in Peru and at about 66^o Latitude in Lapland. This was a variation of just less than 1%. We must admit that we have not completed our studies to see to what extent this affects such alignments as the Rufus Line. We have been unable to check our degree of accuracy, but we feel it is much better than drawing straight lines on flat maps.

The Rufus line crosses the Isle of Portland, through Victoria Square, Easton. We must admit that we were a little sad that it did not go through the Rufus Castle, about half a mile southeast of Victoria Square. There is also a church which used to be linked to Winchester Cathedral at this site. But it does lead up to the northeastern cliff range, going through the Grove Borstal. There was a stone circle on this site before the present building was put up. The line then crosses Weymouth Bay to St. Oswald's Bay, part way between Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove. (For those interested in alignments, there is The Alignment erected by Christine Fox in the Tout Sculpture Park, at the top of Portland Heights. Erected in 1983, this consists of a series of steps snaking through the old quarry finally reaching the cliff top where a row of stones align directly with both the famous giant of Cerne Abbas and St. George's Church on Portland Island.)
 

The thing that caught our attention was that it crosses another line, the St. George line at right angles. The St. George line comes down from the round tower at Windsor Castle, (Grid Ref: 7700,9700) through Magna Carta Island in Runnymede (Grid Ref: 7285,0000), through Chertsey Abbey (Grid Ref: 6695,0024) to St. George's Hill, Weybridge (Grid Ref: 6225,0800).

It was on this last hill on April 1^st, 1649 that Gerrard Winstanley and the Diggers began digging as a symbolic assumption of the common ownership of land. In Walton parish church it had been declared that Sabbath, tithes, ministers, magistrates and the Bible were all abolished. A general invitation was issued inviting people to join the community. This was the most radical movement of the English Revolution whereby the poor and landless asserted themselves in abolishing private property. Gerrard Winstanley wrote The New Law of Freedom, putting forward ideas of communism. This movement was crushed by Easter 1650, by the Commonwealth. The hill got its name from the fact that St. George's Chapel could be seen from the top (in the days before trees were planted). A trip was made to St. George's Hill on April 23^rd 1992. The alignment had been noticed in preparing for this trip.
 

There has been quite a lot of speculation about the death of William Rufus, the son and heir of William the Conqueror. We feel the best way to introduce this subject is to start with an extensive quote from a letter which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine of August 10^th, 1789. The author, John Milner was a noted antiquarian, who subsequently became the Catholic Bishop of Castabala.

August 10^th

Mr. Urban,

Observing your predilection for topographical subjects, I send you some account of a spot which has lately attracted the notice of royalty, but which, though distinguished by the lamentable catastrophe of an English monarch in the last year of the eleventh century, and other remarkable circumstances, has never yet sufficiently engaged the attention of Antiquaries. I shall begin with transcribing the inscription¹ on what is called, in the New Forest, Rufus's stone which is a triangular column about five feet high and crowned with a ball. On the first side: "Here stood the oak tree on which an arrow, shot by Sir Walter Tyrrel at a stag, glanced and struck King William II, surnamed Rufus, in the breast, of which he instantly died, on the 2d day of August, anno 1100. This spot was visited by King George and Queen Charlotte, June 27 1789."

On the second side:

"King William II, surnamed Rufus, being slain, as is before related, was laid in a cart belonging to one Purkess, and drawn from hence to Winchester, and buried in the cathedral church of that city."

On the third side:

"That where an event so memorable had happened might not hereafter [be] unknown, this stone was set up by John Lord Delawar, who had seen the tree growing in this place anno 1745. This stone was repaired by John Richard, Earl of Delawar, anno 1789"

The place where this column stands is now called Canterton, though the historians of the last century uniformly write it Chorlingham. It is a delightful valley, where the charms of the Forest appear to be concentrated, but which suffer a considerable alloy from the incredible number of flies and other insects that swarm under the spreading oaks and beeches.

At the distance of a bow shot from the column is the cottage of Purkess, a petty farmer, the lineal descendant of the person mentioned in the inscription, who conveyed the royal corpse to the city in his coal cart. There are others of the same family in the parish, who still follow the occupation of their celebrated ancestor, that of charcoal-making. I have learned from one Richard Pierce, an old man of above the age of fourscore, now an inhabitant of this city, that he remembers his maternal grandfather, who was a Purkess, having in his possession the identical axletree, made of yew, which belonged to the aforesaid cart, but which, in a fit of anger, on its falling accidently upon is toes, he reduced to a bag of charcoal. At the distance of half a mile from Canterton, on the high road to Ringwood, is Stony Cross, the name of which indicates it to have once been a place of devotion, but where no devotion now prevails, except what is paid to the memory of the unfortunate Norman by a club of jovial foresters, who meet at the pleasant Inn there situated, under the denomination of Rufus's Knights. At the like disance, forming a triangle with the above mentioned spots, is Castle Malwood, a place which I have suspected might derive its present name from the accidents which befell the conqueror's family in its vicinity. Here stood the antient royal mansion, the vestiges of which still remain, though now it is reduced to the thatched lodge of a keeper. This mansion is ignorantly stated in some of the public prints, to have been at Lyndhurst.

All the above mentioned places stand in the parish of Minsted, concerning which a vulgar error prevails, that it derived its name from the king's crying out, in the language of the times, myne stede, myne sted, i.e., my horse, my horse. It is true the king was at that time on foot, and standing with his face to the west, and his hand placed over his eyes, to preserve them from the beams of the sun, which was then setting, when he cried out to Tyrrel to dispatch the deer which he had slightly wounded; but that accurate historian, William of Malmesbury, assures us that he never spoke from the time he shot, but that after breaking off part of the arrow that stuck in his body, he instantly fell flat on his face, thereby forcing the remainder of it deeper into his breast. The circumstances mentioned here, of the dying monarch's endeavours to pull out the fatal arrow that struck him, points out the meaning of a celebrated passage in Pope, which I apprehend, is by many not accurately understood:

"Lo! Rufus, tugging at the deadly dart,

Bleeds in the forest like a wounded hart."

But to return to Minsted; what places the opinion I have stated beyond all doubt is that it is called Myndestede, from which the present name is an evident contraction, in Domesday Book, composed by the conqueror 15 years before the catastrophe of his son.

Everyone knows, that the train of incidents which befell the conqueror's family in this forest, was considered by the nation as the punishment of his injustice and impiety in making it. These accidents were, first the death of his grandson Henry, the child of his eldest son, Robert, who killed himself by riding against a tree in the New Forest, 2dly, the fate of his second son, Richard who was gored to death by a stag he was pursuing, and thus became "at once the chacer and at once the prey," and lastly, the lamentable end of the third son, Rufus, as above described. With respect to the last-mentioned, it was remarked that he fell on the site of a church his father had demonlished; that he had certain forewarnings of his approaching fate, and, in consequence of them, that he actually stayed within till he had heated himself at dinner with a more than ordinary quantity of wine, and that he actually gave Tyrrelhe arrow with which he was shot, telling him, at the same time, he knew how to make good use of it. But what was considered the most pregnant proof of a divine interpolation in the fate of the unhappy Rufus (you will observe, Mr. Urban, I am not answerable to the existence of the facts, but only of the rumours,) was, what was reported concerning that very oak tree mentioned in the inscription, from which the arrow glanced, namely, that it put forth leaves every Christmas day early in the morning, which leaves withered at the rising of the sun. Gibhain in his edition of Camden mentions this as a fact, and adds, that Charles the Second ordered the tree to be surrounded with pales.

Many old persons who had seen the tree in question, and amongst the rest, the Octogenarian abovementioned, vouch for the truth of the abovementioned report; and add, that a kind of fair used to be kept on Christmas day in the neighbourhood. Being worn down almost to a stump, it was at length privately burnt by one William House, out of mere wantonness. This circumstance, however, was not known till after his death, otherwise, it was thought, he would hardly have been left to die in peace, so highly did the foresters prize this tree, or rather the profits it yielded them by the crowds it drew to see it. Perhaps it has been with a view of indemnifying themselves, and of keeping up so profitable a trade, that the inhabitants have endeavoured to transfer this extraordinary quality to another oak tree which grows at a place called Cadnam, at the distance of two miles from the former. I have been at great pains to investigate this as well as the preceding matters, on the spot, and where-ever else information is to be had, however, all I can learn is, that it has many champions as well as many opposers.

Those who pretend to be best informed say, that the present oak was raised from an acorn of the antient tree, and the spot where it stands is the same where the bleeding body of Rufus was overturned into a deep slough as Purkess was conveying it to Winchester, in conformity with what we read in Matthew Paris.

¹ These inscriptions, except what has been added to two of them this year, may be seen in the new edition of Camden's Britannia I. 131 Editor

Margaret Murray in her book, The Divine King in England (1954) puts forward the idea that William Rufus's death was a ritual execution, part of a series going back to Saxon days and running up to the seventeenth century. We feel that this passage, along with other material we are presenting, supports this view. To the best of our knowledge, this letter was unknown to her and indeed to Hugh Ross Williamson, who followed up her ideas.
 

Other explanations have also been offered, such as a simple murder by Henry I, in league with the De Clare family who Walter Tyrrel had married into. The day of Henry's coronation, Walter Tyrrel's wife's grandfather, already Chancellor, was appointed Bishop of Winchester. Other speculation has emerged suggesting that Henry murdered his brother so that he could marry Edith, who became his Queen Matilda on 11^th November, 1100. However this speculation ends up reinforcing Murray's thesis. Edith was descended from Edmund Ironside, an earlier Saxon King. Her mother was Queen Margaret of Scotland later canonised as Saint Margaret. She was staying with her aunt, Christina, Abbess of Wilton. Murray's theory of ritual king sacrifice has a parallel with Queen-priestesses. Christina encouraged Edith to wear a veil, as if she had taken nun's vows. She herself hated the veil, and her father would throw it on the ground and stamp upon it whenever he saw her wearing it. She was made to wear it when Rufus visited her in 1093.

Her eventual marriage to Henry I was not of her particular choice. Her family persuaded her into it to avoid a war. We would suggest that William Rufus's sacrifice was necessary before the hereditary Queen-priestess would accept a Norman marriage. Perhaps she had entertained notions of a marriage which would have opened up the possibility of a Saxon restoration. Her marriage to Henry ensured unity against any possibility of Robert, Duke of Normandy, disputing Henry's crown. After the death of Henry's son William with the sinking of the White Ship, it is significant that the crown continued through Matilda's daughter, Matilda, to Henry FitzEmpresss, or Henry II of England. Margaret Murray sees the murder of Thomas à Becket at the altar of Canterbury Cathedral as another case of ritual murder, here of a substitute for the monarch.

In Robert Graves works on mythology (The White Goddess, The Greek Myths), he discusses the role of ritual king murder in the conquest of matrilineal societies by patriarchal cults. He gives an account of Llew Llaw Giffes, a Celtic hero linked to Gwydion the Belgic name for Odin. Llew dies a ritual death in a story that involves an oak tree, a stag, and being shot by a dart. These common themes are underlined when Llew is identified with Lugh, whose feast of Lughnasadh is Lugh-mass or Lammas i.e. August 1^st. Here also the face of Lugh appears in the west, too dazzling to be gazed at. Gwydion tracks down the slaughtered hero by following some pigs who start to eat the decaying flesh falling from the tree. Graves identifies Llew/Lugh also with Hercules who is eaten after a ritual slaughter. The head and genitals are saved for oracular purposes. Rufus was known to swear an oath by Lucca, a possible variant of Lugh.

There is also another factor, which needs to be brought into the story – the Trusty Servant. This is the name of the single pub in Minstead. The inn sign is a copy of a picture to be found in Winchester College. In 1778, on the occasion of the picture in college having a change of colour, George III visited Winchester College in state. This was eleven years before his visit to Minstead.

The College was set up by William of Wykeham in 1382. William of Wykeham was Bishop of Winchester, and hence ex officio Prelate of the Order of the Garter. He came from a poor background being born in Wickham a few miles southeast of Winchester. He became Bishop in 1366, and Chancellor between 1367 and 1371. He fell from favour in 1376, but was restored to his Bishopric on 21st June 1377, three days before Edward III died. By the end of July he had been pardoned by Richard II and reconciled with John of Gaunt. In 1389 he became Chancellor of England again. He also founded New College, Oxford, and there is a tradition of pupils of Winchester College going on to New College. Winchester College was the first of a new tradition of public schools. It was set up with the intention of providing an educated elite who could run the state.

However, "a temple of Apollo, the deity of learning, stood near the site of the present college" as John Milner relates in his History, Civil and Ecclesiastical and Survey of the Antiquities of Winchester, 1809. This was set up by the Romans when they were trying to suppress druidry. They wanted to supplant it with their own priesthood. They set up a series of centres in what became the Old Foundation of Bishoprics when they were Christianised. Margaret Murray points out in The Divine King in England that as they totalled thirteen, the Bishops would collectively constitute a coven.
 

"One of the stones at Twyford, by the road side has a mortice in the exact direction of the centre of gravity, and seems to have been the impost of a logan; a second which lies on the ground near Hyde Abbey, and measures 11 feet in length, seems to have been the upright of a Tolmen, whilst a flat stone close to the Blacksmiths shop in Upper Brook Street, which measures five feet in its greatest length, two and a half in breadth, and one foot and a half in thickness, was evidently a cromlech or altar stone, in which a small cavity seems to have been wrought near the middle of it, in order to retain a certain quantity of blood, for sprinkling around the altar, according to druidical ways. Two of the three pedestals on which this altar rested are seen worked into the foundations opposite. Another much larger stone than the abovementioned, which stood in this neighbourhood, and seemed to have belonged to the same druidical monument, was used as the foundation stone of the present new hospital."

Milner refers to a new temple of Apollo, and another old temple of Concord in Roman days. We would suggest that the old temple might well be a stone circle. There was a stone circle on the site of the Cathedral. In fact it seems that there might have been a complex of standing stones and stone circles as are to be found at Callanish, on the Isle of Lewis, or even the more extensive sites, such as Carnac in Brittany. We would suggest that Caer Gwent was an important site of a druidic academy which was taken over by the Roman state. Such a takeover was not simply so that Roman rites could be imposed, but also to incorporate druidic esoteric knowledge into a broader Roman network.

According to Archbishop Ussher, Lucius, a resident of Caer Gwent, became the first Christian King in the world (please note the similarity of his name to Lugh/Lucca). This would have involved the academy/temple taking aboard Christianity. Ussher and Milner disagree about Lucius's conversion. The protestant Ussher says that it was through monks from Glastonbury, independent of Rome, but from a Christian establishment set up by Joseph of Arimathea. The Roman Catholic Milner argues that Roman missionaries were responsible.

Milner says that in 498 Uther was crowned in Winchester. After seeing meteors which looked like dragons, he had two gilt ensigns made, one of which was kept in the Cathedral, the other of which was a battle standard. From this he derived his name - Pendragon i.e. Dragon Head. In 515 Winchester fell to Cerdic, a Jute leader. He claims all the monks at the Cathedral were killed, and for 120 years the Cathedral served as a temple to Thor where Cerdic was crowned in a ceremony involving being carried on a shield. Roman missionaries achieved a conversion to their viewpoint in 635 AD, and the Cathedral was reconsecrated to the Holy Trinity, St. Peter and St. Paul. (The idea that Arthur was based at Winchester is a later propaganda.) Before the Wykhamist establishment of St. Mary, there was a previous college in the 8^th and 9^th century.

We are a bit wary of Milner's approach. He wears his Christian blinkers, whereby the difference between Christian and pagan is immense. However it appears to us that the phenomenon of Christianity in Europe was connected with a transition from the formal domination of patriarchy to the real domination. Graves and Tolstoy have produced ample evidence whereby the notion of the sacrificial god hanging on the tree was a figure familiar to many Aryan people - Celts, Greeks, Teutons. However, this was to do with a ritual re-enactment of the conquering of Goddess cultures by such patriarchal people as the Aeolian and Ionian. A male military elite reconciled itself with a female theocracy, exercising a formal domination. Ritually this was expressed with the ritual sacrifice of the King who was the consort of the high priestess. The annual fertility ritual of king slaughter every year was lengthened to a seven year period. The military aristocracy were gradually able to impose substitute victims, i.e. if the king had the backing of military elite, a substitute would be found. If he fell foul of them, well, he'd had his chips.

Christianity used the imagery of the god on the tree as the previous story of Hercules relates. Also Teutonic stories give a similar account of Odin. The triumph of Christianity was that the celebration of the Eucharist took the place of king sacrifice.
 

William of Wykeham's attachment to the Virgin Mary, something which was prevalent from his youth, showed in his dedication of his college to Mary. Mary still constituted an emblem for the Goddess in the Christian pantheon. A Madonna was positioned over the Outer Gate. The college was built by William Wynford. He was also the warden of the masons at Windsor Castle. Many features first seen at Windsor Castle were then repeated at Winchester College - the Hall and Chapel end to end. Windsor Castle was the first non-monastic building to be conceived of as a regular enclosure surrounded by dwellings and offices. The stained glass window above the altar has the unmistakable symbol 'G', the Freemasons' sign for the Great Architect.

William of Wykeham was Prelate to the Order of the Garter, in his role as Bishop of Winchester. Likewise the Dean of Windsor is automatically the Register. Murray discusses the Garter's role as a double coven, consisting of two groups of twelve, originally consisting of Edward III and a team of twelve, and the Black Prince with a team of twelve. Murray discusses the role of the garter as a magical emblem of the Old Religion and the episode at the ball where the King picks up the dropped garter and says "Honi soit qui mal y pense" - Evil to those who think bad of it - the motto of the Order of the Garter. Murray maintains that this "Royal Coven" took over the right to choose the substitute victim. Perhaps we should add that the number thirteen was significant in the Old Religion in that it related to the 13 lunar months of the year. In such a calendar 13 x 28 = 364, leaving one day spare, the solstice, for the fertility ritual.

However she makes no mention of the group of thirteen involved in running the College. Milner is anxious to explain this away (p.133). "The Warden and Ten priests, who were the perpetual fellows, represented the college of the apostles, Judas Iscariot of course not being represented: that the head master and the second master with 70 scholars denote the 72 disciples." In a footnote, he says that Wykeham followed the Vulgate Bible rather than the Greek, which gave the number of disciples as 70.

Winchester College is riddled with the sort of ritualism which P.J. Rich characterises in his book Chains of Empire (1991). He argues how ritual can lead to a community of thought. His analysis of public schools links them with Freemasonry and London and colonial clubs to produce a network of fraternal organisation through which the British Empire was ruled.

As regards Winchester, the picture of the Trusty Servant, fits in with such ritualism. Beside the picture there is an explanation:

A Trusty Servant's Portrait would you see. This Emblematic Figure well Survey: The Porker's Snout not Nice in diet shews The Padlock Shut, no Secrets He'll disclose. Patient the Ass his Masters wrath will hear Swiftness in Errand, the Stagg's Feet declare Loaded his Left Hand art to Labour saith The Vest his Neatness: Open hand his Faith Girst with his sword His Shield upon his Arm Himself & Master He'll protect from Harm.

If that thou wylte thy master please
Thou must have three propertees
Fyrst must thou have an asses eares
With an hertes feet in all degrees
An Hogges snout

Alexander Barclay was beneficed in Hampshire about then. A similar figure is described by Gilbertus Cognatus in De Officio Famulorum (Paris, 1535) and John James Hofman in Lexicon Universelle (1538). Arkon Daraul relates a story in Secret Societies: Yesterday and Today (London, 1983) that Henry II, Count of Champagne, a grandson of Eleanor of Aquitaine, was travelling through Ismaili (Assassin) territory. He was invited into the castle at Alamut. At a signal two sentinels threw themselves off the cliff top to be dashed to their death on the rocks below. The Assassin chief offered to have them all do the same. Henry said that no Christian prince could presume to look for such obedience from his subjects. As he left, the chief said meaningfully, "By means of these trusty servants, I get rid of the enemies of our society."

The college has many customs called Notions. One such is the way the drains in Chamber Court are known as "hell", whereas the gutters are called "good intentions". In 1550 a place in the college was called Tempe, the name of a spot in Greece where a shrine to Daphne was converted to that of Apollo. Bicycles are called Bogles (Bogwheels), and there are many other such conceits.

Einstein took the trouble to visit the College in 1931. Noticing the commemorative marbles in the First Chamber, which is used as a dressing room, this savant remarked, "The spirit of the departed passes into the trousers of the living". This was the man who came up with the formula that time by itself is a product of mass and distance by itself.

One tradition set up in the mists of time is 'Hills'. This is not mentioned in the statutes and its origin is obscure. There used to be a procession up to St. Catherine's Hill three times a week. Now it is twice a year, the only time the school meets as a unified body. Winchester football was first played here. The land belonged to the church. It was only in 1930, that the Old Wykehamists Masonic Lodge bought the land and gave it to the College.
 

ST. CATHERINE'S HILL


This map comes from the special issue of the

The hill lies to the southeast of Winchester and just north of Twyford (4840,2765). You have to cross the busy London-Southampton Road to get to it from the town. It is 328 feet high, and as you walk to the summit from the town, the slope is sometimes as much as 1 in 3, in some places. The top of the hill levels off with a ditch ringing it. The hill is mentioned in The Ley Guide by Paul Devereux and Ian Thompson (London, 1979). They place it on the 'Winchester Ley', which goes from Tidbury Ring, through the remains of a long barrow, St. Bartholomew's Church in King Alfred Place, Winchester, through Hyde Gate and the Cathedral to the Hill and down to a tumulus in Twyford. The line appears to clip the Warden's Lodge in the College, perhaps the corner of the library where the oldest extant copy of Malory's Morte D'Arthur was found in the nineteen thirties.

In the Summer 1992 issue of the RILKO Journal (Research Into Lost Knowledge Organisation), Bob Trubshaw speculates on the site of the Omphalos, "the mystical middle of England". The word derives from navel, and Robert Graves links it with a kind of ceramic stove where laurel and other stimulants were burnt. The original was at Delphi, associated with the oracle. Being at the centre of the world, it was hoped that contact with the world beyond would be easier. Trubshaw reckons that St. Catherine is associated with the Omphalos as she represents an axis around which the world - her wheel - can spin.
 

The site was the subject of an archaeological dig in 1928-9, which showed that the hill fort was occupied from 500 BC till about 100 BC. From the finds, it points to the inhabitants being of Halstatt culture, whereas the new Belgic invasion of 100 BC gave rise to La Tène culture in the area. In The White Goddess Robert Graves suggests that the Belgic invasion cut Britain off from its traditional links with Egypt. Asger Jorn puts the matter differently:

"René Huygues shows, in his work Art and Man, that it is with the development of metallurgy, after the agrarian epoch, that the division between the two styles of Hallstatt and La Tène is produced, which is none other than the division between geometric and situlogic thought. Through the Dorians, geometric thought was implanted in Greece, giving birth to rationalist thought. The contrary tendency would up in Ireland and Scandinavia.

Walter Lietzman notes, in his book Anschauliche Topology: "In art, for example, in the age of the Vikings, knotwork was used as ornamentation with pleasure. I have before me a photo of the knot gardens of Shakespeare at Stratford, in which the arrangements of flowers in the form of knots is shown...What does Shakespeare see in these knots? I'm not able to say. Perhaps it's a matter of some error or more a deliberate confusion with the theme of the labyrinth. The question is raised twice with him: In A Midsummer Night's Dream (act II, scene 1), and in The Tempest (Act III, scene 3)."

There is no possible mistake. James Joyce in Finnegans Wake, by pronouncing the absurd phrase "No strum, no drang", had overcome the ancient conflict between classicism and romanticism and opened a ski-slope towards the reconciliation of passion and logic. What is needed today is a thought, a philosophy and an art which conforms to what is projected by topology, but this is only realisable on condition that this branch of modern science is returned to its original course: that of "the situa analysis" or situlogy. Hans Findeisen, in his Shamanentum indicated that the origins of shamanism, which still survivies amongst the Lapps, are to be found in the cave paintings of the ice age, and it is enough that the ornamentation which characterises the Lapp presence is simple knotwork. The knowledge of secret topologies has always been indicated by the presence of signs of knots, strings, knotwork, mazes etc. And in a curious way since antiquity the weavers have transmitted a revolutionary teaching in forms which are more or less bizarre, mystifying and detourned. A history too well known to have been studied seriously. The perversion in that should be noticed rather than the reverse.

The relation that the writings of Max Brod established between Kafka and the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe is as profound as the relationship between Shakespeare and Hamlet: and their presence at Prague which, since the time of La Tène, radiated topological thought, is as natural as the astonishing results that Kepler could extract from the calculations of Brahe, by adapting them to the methods of geometry and classical mathematics, which was impossible for Tycho Brahe himself. This shows once more that topology remains the source of geometry, and that topology remains the source of geometry, and that the contrary process is impossible. This indicates the impossibility of explaining the philosophy of Kierkegaard as a consequence of the philosophy of Hegel. The influence of Scandinavian thought in European culture is incoherent and without permanent results, like a true thought of the absurd. That there has always been a Scandinavian philosophical tradition, which sturctures the tendency of Ole Roemer, H.C. Oersted, Carl von Linne etc., completely distinct from English pragmatism, German idealism and French rationalism is a fact which can only be astonishing in that it has always been kept secret.
 

The Scandinavians themselves ignoring the base logic of this profound and hidden coherence, it is as much ignored by other. I have the greatest mistrust of all the ideas of the benefits of learning. However, with the actual situation in Europe, it seems to me that an ignorance of this subject presents a danger. Thus I consider the fact that Swedenborg and Novalis had been mine engineers is more important than the chance postulates of such as Jaspers by which the label of mad schizophrenics can be stuck on their backs. This is not because this is a fact which could be established in a scientific manner, but because it is a basic skill of topological thought, like that of weavers, and this fact could lead us to the precious observations for founding a situlogy.

But all this is only presented as a possible technique subordinated to the work of the S.I., the allies and enemies of which can easily be seen. The situationists reject with the greatest hostility the proposal arising in Le Matin des Magiciens, the book of Bergier and Pauwels, which asks for help in setting up a proposed institute to research occult techniques; and the formation of a controlling secret society reserved for those today who are in a position to manipulate the various conditions of their contemporaries. We would not in any case collaborate with such a project, and we have no desire to help it financially."

Open Creation and its Enemies
Situationiste Internationale No. 5, December 1960

The above text touches on themes which have been cropping up throughout this booklet. As we move on to the subject of mazes, it is as if Jorn had our expedition in mind. This text, like many other of his texts, including his special report to the S.I. - his Critique de l'Economie Politique (1960), have yet to appear in English translation. Our publishers have agreed to put out a translation of Open Creation shortly.
 

The maze is known as 'Labyrinth' according to the Winchester College notions. College boys are meant to follow it from the middle out, whereas people from the town tend to follow it in. There is a legend that it was cut by a boy left behind during the school holidays. He was chained to the Domum tree for some unspecified offence. He pined away, dieing the day before his chums returned to school. There was in fact a solitary scholar "in commons" from 28^th September 1543, until January 1544, apparently because of some epidemic. However it is also worth noting that John Leche, a Winchester scholar proposed to set up a school in Saffron Walden. After his death, this was taken up by his sister, who had school rules drawn up by John Twychener, the then Headmaster of Winchester, and Richard Cox, that of Eton. Saffron Walden itself has a very fine maze of a similar structure.
 

Another piece of mythology attached to mazes is the Trip to Jerusalem whereby the maze comes to stand for pilgrimage, a journey to the centre of the world in a process of self-discovery and revitalisation, which at the same time is a real journey of discovery around the world. Thus the motto As above, so below, can also be rendered by matching internal events with external events, in a manner which modern-day individualism attempts to deny. In the medieval Christian view, Jerusalem was the centre of the world, the navel or Omphalos. It was here that mankind was closest to God. It was here that Mohammed made his trip to Heaven (having flown there by magic from Mecca.)

The prevalence of spiral and maze patterns across every culture in the world, back to the most ancient times, and yet still recurring in modern forms, shows them to be of immense symbolic importance. As many of the European forms have been carefully looked at and discussed, we would like to look at the megalithic culture of the New Hebrides, in the southwest Pacific. J. Layard did much of the field work (See Stone Men of Malekula, Vao, 1942) but we are quoting from a synopsis of this in The Gate of Horn by G.R. Levy (London, 1946). Here an initial period of settlement took place with a matrilineal culture. Dolmens were erected, connected both with the Cave of the Dead and the Table of Sacrifice. As in the west, the dolmens are a link to an Earth spirit - the Guardian Ghost - who dwells in the cave entrance to the other world. She will devour the dead unless propitiated by initiation or sacrifice. On Vao she is called Le-hev-hev. The first syllable forms a prefix used in every woman's name among the small islands. There is a subsequent mythology based around monoliths developed by a patrilineal culture. Here avenues and stone circles erected around trees are the central monuments. Towers are also erected, representing height and associated with the male deity Taghar.
 

"The newly dead man is believed to arrive before the entrance to a cave on the seashore, where he encounters the dreaded Guardian Ghost. In front of the cave-mouth is a design called 'The Path', traced upon the sand by Le-Hev-Hev. At this approach she obliterates half the design, which the dead man must complete or be devoured. 'The Path' has, of course, been trodden in ceremonial dances during all his adult life, and the knowledge of the whole pattern proves him to be an initiate of Maki. After completing the design, he must tread its maze to the threshold of the cave, where he may now offer the tusked boar which was sacrificed in the mortuary rites performed after his burial. At this point the people of Vao believe that Taghar prevails with the guardian to accept the surrogate in place of the dead man, who is thus free to join his departed kinsman and friends gathered in the cave depths." (p.156)

From the sacrifice of the boar to Le-Hev-Hev, Taghar stages a rebirth, and the sacrificed boar is elevated. Finally as the boar is identified with the initiate, as a substitute sacrifice, the titles of the boar return to the initiate.

Despite the frustration at only hearing a one-sided account of the experience of a male initiate in this account, it highlights some of the themes of this booklet. Human sacrifice is known on Vao, but was rare. But we see here a pattern whereby the original formal domination of patriarchy is achieved through human sacrifice, which is afterwards mitigated to substitute sacrifice. However, then the initiate who thus avoided death is reborn and emancipated from the mother goddess, in the fraternal relations of a patriarchal religion. This is echoed in higher education in the West. The word 'matriculate' is rooted in 'matrix', the word for womb. Matriculation becomes implantment in the surrogate womb of an institution of male bonding. Alma Mater thus becomes the substitute mother. Melville MacNaghten, an Old Etonian and former head of Scotland Yard is quoted by P.J. Rich: Public schools "are among the fairest things in England; they draw from their sons a devotion that is deeper, more lasting than any other love." J.M. Barrie echoes and parodies this when Captain Hook exclaims "Floreat Etona" as he is eaten by a crocodile.

The initiatory pathways can be constructed by a line, as in the maze or indeed Celtic knotwork and Islamic patterning. Dance and music are often important to induce altered states of consciousness. Elements of objective knowledge are also embedded in these states of consciousness - i.e. it is not simply mystical, in the sense that mysticism has become an unutterable pre-requisite of the current construction of science. Thus the astronomical information decoded in ancient structures such as Stonehenge reveals how ancient society used sophisticated observation and analysis, indicating an interior life every bit as complex as modern society.

In The Decadence of the Shamans, Alan Cohen develops a materialist analysis of shamanism, whereby the supercession of present day civilisation involves the restoration of the immense 'spiritual' wealth of primitive societies. We hope that this text has related these questions in a more direct way to some of the institutions which shape and mold the British state, thus clearing the way for a more concrete analysis and activity.

Further Reading:
The White Goddess by Robert Graves is an excellent account of Celtic mythology and beliefs, while The Celtic Empire by Peter Berresford Ellis gives a more historical account. Nikolai Tolstoy's Quest for Merlin gives a good historical account of Merlin and discusses threefold ritual death. Margaret Murray's books, The Witch Cult in Europe, The God of the Witches and The Divine King in England are all unfortunately out of print.
As regards mazes, Sig Lonegren's Labyrinths: Ancient and Modern Uses is, well, amazing. There is also Caerdroia (Jeff Saward, 53 Thundersley Grove, Thundersley, Benfleet, Essex SS7 3EB), a magazine which deals particularly with them. The Quest for the Omphalos is available for £1.50 from Bob Trubshaw, 2 Cross Hill, Wymeswold, Loughborough, LE12 6UJ.
The Situationist Anthology (edited by Ken Knabb) gives a rather one-sided view of the Situationists - but is still very good. The Assault on Culture by Stewart Home, helps redress matters in favour of Jorn. Both are available from AK Distribution, 3 Balmoral Place, Stirling, Scotland, FK8 2RD. The Decadence of Shamans, by Alan Cohen, is available from us, Unpopular Books, Box 15, 138 Kingsland High Road, London E8 2NS