Erica is 'called' three times - in her three different aspects of womanhood and she wears three colours.

The Maiden - virgin
The Maiden is associated with the colours white, light pink and light yellow. She symbolizes youth and anticipation of life, the season of spring. The Maiden is associated with purity and nature.

Mater - womanhood
The colour associated with the Mother is red, the colour of menstrual blood and the life force.

Matriarch
The colours associated with the Crone are black, dark purple and grey.

The connection with May and Maia is not hard to find.

Chapter 7 in this tale of Pagan goings-on has now been uploaded.

Erica experiences visions and for the second time is 'called'. She travels to join the Beltane Fire Ceremony - to the Altar on the Hill. As the spirit of Icera, she encounters Wyllow and the Hendasfolk and dances around the Beltane fires.

Meanwhile, three thousand miles to the west, Christopher Credus looks through his telescope at the Seven Sisters.

Interested to know whether anyone picks up on any parallels between the stars in the sky, and the pagan gods - the giant Orion - Taurus the Horned Beast - and the Seven Sisters?

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Does anyone just want to say hi? Despite all these visitors I'm getting a bit lonely talking to myself about the novel. :)

Anyone interested in following up the relationship between Cerne - Cernunnos - Herne - Hercules - and the mythology and cosmology of Orion and Taurus may like to look at this web page -

http://myhome.shinbiro.com/~kbyon/earth/giant.htm

Wer-Eald (OE), Wer – Man, Eald - the Old, the World. The male deity. His ancient image was of a Green Man. His astronomical sign is Taurus the Bull, His colours are the tones of earth: pale yellow gold, russet, brown, green, to black, and He wears the Horns of Power, which represent the Horns of the Moon.

Cerne, Cernunnos/Herne: The Horned God of the woodlands, consort of the Great Mother, master of the wild hunt, and guardian of the Otherworld's gates.

Andrew , that's great .. I hope others will find it as fascinating

E...

Ellie - That the two nipples were inclined off the horizontal is to my view quite a convincing factor in supporting the belief that the Cerne Giant figure is based on Orion.

As to whether the chalk figure itself is ancient there is some dispute. However, it cannot be denied that the hill itself has been the centre for the celebration of the pagan worship of May for thousands of years, as evidenced by the Trendle.

A )

Yes there is some dispute about the figure being an 18th century folly.. etc but all these places are used .. layer upon layer.. and the hill so spectacular that it must have been a revered site for eons..

Yes Orion...an incredibly important constellation.. in so many cultures..it makes sense yes..

Ellie

http://www.percepp.demon.co.uk/giants2.htm

This site also shows a correspondence between hill figures and star constellations.

F. Graham Millar from Halifax, Centre, RASC (Royal Astronomical Society of Canada) has written some excellent articles on why many of our myths are derived from the stars.

For instance, this is one we site

http://www.lexiline.com/lexiline/lexi21.htm

This would certailnly be one explanation for the commonality between mythologoies from all over the world at different time peiods.

Can you imagine the scene? Thousands of years ago when small groups were gathered around their camp fires and the shaman story-tellers looked up to the heavens for inspiration and saw the patterns in the stars? - and so began the myths we have inherited today.

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sorry for typo - meant to say - For instance, this is one web site

Chapter 8 - The Meditation is now uploaded.

It contains a number symbolic references - one of which is the double helix. I would be interested if anyone picks up on the smybolism of the entwined snakes of the Kundalini, the Caduceus - Hermes' staff , and DNA.

Hope you enjoy!


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http://www.writewords.org.uk/archive/2572.asp

The star myths - yes, I can see them starting like that. But what of astrology? My gut feeling is that it's an exact science from another age (and I feel that there have been ages destroyed by cataclysms that we know nothing of) that's survived only in part. Wasn't there a survey some years ago by two eminent scientists to disprove astrology with statistics? They looked at the star signs and their characteristics combined with the professions/occupations of the subjects, and decided that statisically there must be something in it.

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And yes, I did pick up the multi-layeredness of the story. Quite fascinating in itself.

Nell - thanks for responding

As suggested by the opening paragraph of Chapter 8 of IS - what people 'believe' to be true is more significant to the individual than what is scientifically proven - and what we believe to be 'true' makes up an important part of the fabric of reality.

Michel Gauquelin identified a phenomemon called 'the Mars Effect', which suggested that there was a link between Mars and the birth of sportsmen and Gunter Sachs film-maker, (and companion of Bridget Bardot) wrote a book called 'The Astrology File', which attempted to show statistical proof.

Personally, I remain unconvinced by the scientific proof of astrology - however many millions remain convinced without proof.

Chapter 9 - The Sermon

Hmmm not a very exciting prospect I guess, going to church, especially for an atheist and pagan like Erica - and on her birthday too. But at least she gets something out of the experience - and a little more is revealed of the lady in white - and what could that shooting star signify in the stained glass?

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http://www.writewords.org.uk/archive/2655.asp

'Unsure of the commercial possibilities for a book of this nature', to quote an agent.
- Do others agree? What does she mean? Any views?

Aha! got it! Interesting we both have a 'Vicky' as a lead in our stories. I've not read more than the synopsis yet, am treating myself over Christmas. Wonder where the anangram leads? Back in a couple of days after a read.
Elen

Ok Elen - hope you manage to get through to the end of Chapter 9, which is about a third of the way through. It was the Cernunnos link on your web site that made me think there might be some similarities between this and your writing.