“Bhreatunnach o’n Talla Dheirg
Uaisle `shliochd Albann do shloinne”

Britons from the Red Hall
the noblest race in Scotland

Good luck sifting among the grains for the kernel of truth in any quest for the origin of the Campbell Clan of Scotland. Root and branch - it is a very tangled tree. My grandmother - Ida Annie - was born Campbell and proud.

Rather than provide answers all we can really do is point the way. Unfortunately, Neil MacEwan, last of the hereditary bards and sennachies to the Campbell Chiefs died in 1650 but “never forget” is the rule of thumb. It may be wondered today what difference would there have been if the tanistry system remained in place. Who would be a member of the “derbhfine” - the inner family? What if descent was measured through the female line?

In simplest terms the Campbell Clan represents an amalgam of the Irish-Scoti and Brythonic/Pict bloodlines. The clan has always had links to the West of Scotland - particularly Strathclyde, Lennox and, of course, Argyll. Of particular significance is “Dunadh an Talla Dheirg” - the Fortress of the Red Hall located at Dùn Breatainn (Fort of the Brythons now known as Dumbarton) in the ancient kingdom of Ystrad Clud (Strathclyde).

Mention should also be made of the elusive, Epidii (now presumed to be a P-Celtic people). Several commentators have asserted that their name implies a worship of the goddess Epona (Rhiannon/Rigantona - Great Queen). The area they are presumed to have controlled later became the heartland of the kingdom of Dál Riata. At its center is Dunadd (the fort on the Add) near Kilmartin. At one time an island, it now lies inland near the River Add. This site later became a seat of the kings of Dál Riata. It is known for its unique stone carvings below the upper enclosure and is remembered in legend as the first location of Stone of Scone. On the same flat outcrop of rock is an incised boar and an inscription in the ogham script.

Many accounts of the origins of the Campbells derive from the manuscript histories compiled by the Neil MacEwan or by Alexander Colvin in the 17th century. These were used as the chief reference by Alexander Campbell in his history of the Campbells of Craignish in about 1720. This history also mentions another 17th century writer of a Campbell genealogy called Robert Duncanson of Campbeltown. Duncanson’s version was titled “Ane Accompt of the Genealogie of the Campbells”. More recently William Forbes Skene (7 June 1809– 29 August 1892) in “Celtic Scotland, a History of Ancient Alban” bases his views on three documents: the early genealogical Scottish clans known as “MS 1467“, the “Kilbride MS c.1550″ edited in “Collecteana de Rebus Albanicis” in 1847 but now lost, and the Campbell pedigree given by the 17th century Irish genealogist Duald MacFirbis (1585-1670) drawing on earlier sources.

Finally the last word in Campbell history is really that of William David Hamilton Sellar (born 1940). Sellar has published on the Lordship of the Isles and on the origins of many Highland families, including the Campbells. He has been a Member of the Ancient Monuments Board for Scotland and Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He has also served on the Council of the Scottish Genealogy Society and the Heraldry Society of Scotland. In 2008, he was appointed Lord Lyon King of Arms - head of Lyon Court with responsibility for overseeing state ceremonial in Scotland and for confirming pedigrees and claims.

Sellar’s investigation into the origins of Clan Campbell - “The Earliest Campbells - Norman, Briton or Gael?” published in Scottish Studies (1973) is the current touchstone. It is basically his lead which is followed by Alastair Campbell in his tour-de-force “A History of Clan Campbell” (2000). Sellar concludes that the original tradition of the Campbell’s derived them quite clearly from British stock. In doing so he largely reaffirms the work of Dr. Alexander MacBain (1855-1907) who wrote: “If the Campbells did not originally belong to Argyle, we must go no further than Dumbartonshire for their habitat. The old genealogies trace them back to the British … a tradition which may indicate that the Campbells originally lived on the borderland of the Strathclyde Briton and the Gael…” Also illuminating are the works of Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson (1909 - 1991) who specialised in the Brythonic languages.

It is safe to say that of all the mythology surrounding the origins of Clan Campbell the Norman strand is the one that can be viewed as a “red herring” - a political ploy rather than a serious claim to continental heritage. It is based mostly around the notion that the name Campbell derives from the French “de Campo Bello” (the beautiful plain) but most scholars believe that its more likely that the name Campbell comes from two Gaelic words “cam” (twisted) and “beul” (mouth). Besides the “p” wasn’t added until the late 15th century. Skene also repudiated the “de Campo Bello” story, saying that there was no early authority whatsoever for it.

At the time of Robert the Bruce they were already holders of land in Argyll, Clackmannanshire, Dumbartonshire and Ayrshire, and allied by marriage to the Earls of Carrick. Gille Escoib or Gilleasbaig of Menstrie is the earliest member of the Campbell family listed by contemporary sources. The name Gille Escoib is often rendered as “Archibald” or “Gillespie” in English. Gilleasbaig’s first historical appearance dates to 1263, when he appeared in a charter of King Alexander III of Scotland. Gilleasbaig was the father of Cailean Mór Caimbeul, also known as Sir Colin Campbell (knighted in 1280 and killed at the “Red Ford” in 1296) probably by marriage to the Carrick noblewoman, Afraig (Efferic). The later Earls and Dukes of Argyll all claim descent from him calling themselves “Mac Cailein Mór”, descendants of “Colin the Great”. Afraig, was a daughter of Cailean mac Dhonnchaidh, the brother of Niall, Earl of Carrick. This means that Cailean himself was the cousin of the future king, Robert I of Scotland, which explains why the Campbells were so attached to the Bruce cause during the Wars of Scottish Independence.

It is generally accepted that Gille Escoib’s grandfather or great-grandfather was Duine Mor/the Great (who himself, was either the father or grandfather of Dugald, the first Campbell to use the name). Sir Thomas Innes of Learney (1893-1971), also Lord Lyon, gives Diarmid O’Duibne as the generally accepted founder of the clan, with the heiress Eva (daughter of Paul “Insporran/an Sparain” O’Duibne) marrying the first Campbell, to whom she conferred the chiefship of the tribe and lordship of Lochawe. In the charter granted in 1369 by David II to Gillespic (Archibald) Campbell he is granted various lands “with all the liberties of the said land as freely as Duncan M’Duine, progenitor of the said Archibald Campbell did enjoy in the barony of Lochow or any other lands belonging to him” (Hist. MSS Comm: 4.477). The heraldic carving over the door of Carnasserie Castle near Kilmartin, built in the 1560s reads “Dia le ua nDhuibne” - “God be with the O’Duibne”.

That is why the Campbells - through the blood of Eva O’Duibne are known as Siol Dhiarmaid, “The Seed of Diarmid” - descended from the legendary folk hero Diarmid O’Duibne himself.

One of the most famous stories in the Fenian cycle is “The Pursuit of Diarmid and Grainne”. In this story, Grainne is overpowered by the supernatural love power of Diarmid, and forces him to elope with her by placing him under geis (magical obligation). Finn pursues them but they escape and raise a family. Eventually Finn pardons them and they return. But Finn’s forgiveness was not genuine, and at a great boar hunt he engineers the death of Diarmid, whose death, it was prophesied, would be due to such an animal. So it fell out, according to the tale. Either the boar kills Diarmid outright or he is commanded by Finn to measure its length along its spine after it has fallen. Diarmid is bare-foot and the stiff hairs of the boar’s hide penetrate and infect his foot so that he dies of poisoning.

(Images from Red Cliff: the John Woo movie that is the highest box-office grossing movie ever released in China).

I mentioned over dinner that I was in the process of editing some Chinese texts on military strategy.

Do you read or speak Mandarin I was asked? The thought in my head was: Is that relevant to understanding strategy? In seeking to understand complexity do not be distracted by superficiality.

Today, many people are familiar with Sun Tzu’s Art of War but it seems fewer, particularly in the West, are familiar with a contemporary text by Tian Rangju called mosty Sima Fa (The Grand Marshall’s Art of War). It is still considered to be one of the Seven Military classics of ancient China.

Some believe that Sima Rangju and Sun Tzu were relatives - descended from Chen Wan, who fled from the Chen State to Qi in 672 BC because of civil unrest in Chen. Chen Wan changed his clan name to Tian after reaching Qi, and the Tian became a prominent family in the politics of the state.

Sima Rangju lived at about the same time as Sun Tzu’s grandfather Tian Shu - during the reign of Duke Jing of Qi (547-490 BC). Tian Shu was a minister in the Qi court and Tian Rangju was a poor member of a lesser branch of the Tian clan. But both eventually distinguished themselves in battle, with the result that Tian Shu was granted a fief and a new sub-surname of Sun, while Tian Rangju was made Grand Marshall (Da Sima) of the Qi and thus became known as Sima Rangju. Sima literally means one who “controls” (si) “horses” (ma).

Qi, founded around 1046 BC was a powerful state during the Spring and Autumn Period and Period of the Warring States from around 722-221 BC. Its capital was Linzi, part of the present day city of Zibo in Shandong Province. In 221 BC, Qi was the last state of pre-Imperial China to be conquered by the State of Qin, the final obstacle which allowed the Qin Dynasty to consolidate its rule over China.

In modern times the text sometimes appears to be simple platitudes. But these are strategic manuals, designed to be committed to memory.

Here are some extracts from Sima Rangju’s guide. Remember: Benevolence is the Foundation of Victory.

1 - BENEVOLENCE

AUTHORITY AND GOVERNANCE
The foundation of good governance is benevolence and the application of righteousness. But if governance fails we must resort to authority. Authority is a product of conflict, not harmony. For this reason, if one must kill to ensure peace, then killing is permissible. If one must attack a state out of the love for the people, then attacking it is permissible. If one must stop war with war, this is permissible.

THE SIX VIRTUES OF WARFARE
In ancient times, a fleeing enemy was not pursued more than 100 paces, and retreating enemy was not followed for more than 3 days thereby showing propriety. The ancients did not exhaust the incapable and had sympathy for the wounded and sick, thereby demonstrating benevolence. They awaited the completion of the enemy’s formation before attacking, thereby showing integrity. They fought for honor and not for profit, thereby demonstrating righteousness. Moreover, they pardoned those who submitted, thereby showing courage. They knew the end and the beginning of war, thereby demonstrating wisdom. These six virtues form the code of conduct and rule of army management.

SIX PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNING
The ways by which the kings governed the feudal lords were six:
1. With territory, they provided foundation.
2. With government directives, they established boundaries.
3. With codes of conduct, they drew them closer.
4. With gifts, they pleased them.
5. With strategies, they regulated behavior.
6. With weapons, they enforced submission.

NINE MEASURES TO ENFORCE HARMONY
The kings announced nine measures to enforce harmony:
1. Those who take advantage of or encroach weaker states will have their borders reduced.
2. Those who murder the Worthy or harm the people will be deposed.
3. Those who are brutal within their state and bully weaker states will be purged.
4. Those who cause the field lie fallow and the people to scatter will be reduced.
5. Those who rely on the advantage of terrain and refuse to submit, will be invaded.
6. Those who harm or kill their kin will be punished.
7. Those who depose or slay their ruler, will be exterminated.
8. Those who oppose orders and resist the government will extinguished.
9. Those who are rebellious and lustful both within and outside their borders will be destroyed.

2 - DUTY OF THE SON OF HEAVEN
The second part of Sima Fa is structured mostly around the comparison between the rule of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties (and two specific references to the Shun) to enable it to be committed to memory.  I have re-arranged the text to show how this works:

STRENGTH AND HARMONY
When the ancients instructed the people, they would establish the relationships between noble and yeoman; the virtuous and righteous; the talented and technically skilled; and the courageous and strong - uniting their strength and developing harmony. When practice becomes habit, the people will embody the customs. This then is the pinnacle of transformation through education.

XIA (21st century BC - 16th Century BC)
- the rulers of Xia Dynasty administered oaths within the army to mentally prepare the people.
- the Xia acted in accordance with Virtue and never employed weapons.
- in the Xia Dynasty, rulers bestowed rewards in court in order to make eminent the good.
- the war chariots of the Xia Dynasty are called “Hook Chariots”, and their advantage is smooth-riding.
- the Xia Dynasty used a black flag, representing the leadership of man.
- the Xia used the sun and the moon as their insignia, to signify brightness.
- they granted rewards but did not impose punishment. This was the height of instruction.

SHANG (16th Century BC - 11th Century BC)
- the rulers of Shang Dynasty swore oaths outside the gate because they wanted the people to understand the intention before battle.
- the Shang relied on righteousness, so they first used weapons.
- in the Shang Dynasty, they carried out executions in the marketplace to warn the evil.
- chariots of the Shang Dynasty are called “Yin Chariots” and their advantage is speed.
- the Shang’s flag was white representing the righteousness of Heaven.
- the Shang used the tiger as their emblem to signify awesomeness.
- they imposed punishment but did not grant rewards. This was the height of authority.

ZHOU (11th Century BC - 256 BC)
- King Wu of Zhou Dynasty administered an oath just before the two armies clashed, in order to stimulate the will to fight.
- the Zhou relied on force, so they invented and used all kinds of weapons.
- in the Zhou Dynasty, the rulers granted rewards in court and carried out execution in the marketplace to promote virtues and terrify the masses.
- war chariots from the Zhou Dynasty are called “Yuan Rong” and their advantage is structural strength.
- the Zhou’s flag was yellow, representing the Way of the Earth.
- the Zhou insignia was the dragon, esteeming culture.
- they used both rewards and punishment, and virtue declined.

3 - STRATEGY

WITS AND COURAGE
In general, warfare is a battle of wits and combat is a matter of courage. The deployment of formations is a matter of skill. Determine what your troops want and undertake only what they are capable of.

ADVANTAGE
For warfare, one must have Heaven, material resources and excellence. Seizing the initiative; when divining by the tortoise shell signifies victory, start preparing for war in a secretive manner. This is termed as “having Heaven”. When the masses are rich and prosperous and so is the state, that is termed as “having resources”. When your forces are drilled in the relative advantages of the formations, and give their best in preparation for battle, this is termed as “having excellence”.

PREPARATION
Increasing the strength of the army and making the formations solid; making the numbers adequate and constantly training the troops; relying on many talents to manage all military affairs; perceiving the nature of things and responding to the sudden events. This is termed as “preparation for the foreseeable”.

CONTROL
Being able to be large or small or firm or weak, to change formations, and to use large numbers or small groups, with respect to the enemy’s situation. All these are termed the “control of war”. Glory, profit, shame and death are referred to as the “Four Controls”. Being tolerant or being strict are merely just ways to prevent transgressions and change intentions.

IMPOSING ORDER
The way to impose order consists of benevolence, credibility, straightforwardness, unity, righteousness, change wrought by authority and centralized authority.

4 - BATTLE

DEFENCE AND ATTACK
In battle one can endure with numerical strength but only achieve victory if morale is high; one can endure with solid defense but only achieve victory when being endangered; one can endure if the troops want to fight but only achieve victory when the fighting spirit is high; with armor one is secure; with weapons, one attains victory.

STRATEGIC VS PHYSICAL
During war, strategic attack is the best way to achieve victory. Next is physical attack. The good general must understand and decisively determine whether a strategic attack or a physical attack can achieve victory.

FORMATION
In warfare, it is not the deployment of a battle formations that is difficult, it is the point in which that the men can be ordered into a formation fast that is difficult. It is not the point in which that the men can be ordered into a formation fast that is difficult, it is the ability of the men to exercise flexibility in using formations that is difficult. It is not the knowledge of formation that is difficult, it is the appropriate implementation of the formations that is difficult.

CAMPAIGNING
In a long campaign, if you are victorious, share the achievement and praise with the troops. If you are about to re-engage in battle, make your rewards exceptionally generous and the punishment heavier. If you fail to achieve victory, accept the blame yourself. If you fight again, assume a leading position and do not repeat the tactics used last time. Whether you win or not, do not deviate from this principle for it is the “True Principle”.

5 - TACTICS

SMALL AND LARGE TACTICS
When you only have a small force focus on solid defence. When you employ a large force ensure they are well-ordered. With a small force it is advantageous to win using unorthodox methods; with a large mass, it is best to use orthodox tactics. A large army must be able to advance and stop; a small army must be able to advance and withdraw. If your large body encounters a small enemy force, surround them at a distance but leave one side open. But, if you divide your forces and attack in turn, a small force can withstand a large mass.

USING THE ELEMENTS
In warfare, keep the wind to your back, the mountains behind, heights on the right and defiles on the left. Pass through wetlands, cross over damaged roads. Select camping grounds that are configured like a turtle’s back.

PROBING AND TESTING
In warfare, employ large and small numbers to observe the enemy’s tactical variations; advance and retreat to probe the strength of their defense. Endanger them to observe their fears. Be tranquil to observe if they become lax. Mount a surprise attack to test their discipline. Strike when they are tentative. Attack when they are unprepared so they are not able to fight with full strength. Attack the well ordered formation to break down the deployment. Use their failure to attack them, preventing them from executing their strategies, forcing them to abandon or hastily change their plans; and when they are fearful, ATTACK!

I remember one day looking out of the kitchen window at the mourning doves cooing around the wooden bird feeder. In that instant, a blurred figure plunged from the clear sky above, there was a cloud of feathers, the remaining birds scattered - the attacker and its victim had vanished.

Those with little poetry in their souls tend to accept things at face value.

We live in a machine-age and tend to view our world in mechanical terms.

But when the first hunting bands of humans tracked their prey there was a much closer association with the forces and spirits of nature.

Some of the most ancient rock art shows a shamanistic symbiosis with certain animals: some to infuse the spirit of the hunter and others to honor the sacrifice of the hunted.

Long ago, we cast off our primitive selves and learned to believe that we were lords over the animals and masters of Nature.

But, at least, within one tradition, there remains a deeper link with the animal kingdom.

If you read many of the most ancient military manuals of both the east and west you will find several references to the specific nature of animals.

In Western tradition, one of the most important European martial arts guides is the “Flos Duellatorum” (Flower of Combat) begun on February 10, 1409 by Master Fiore Liberi (Flower of Freedom) - or if we insist on full names - Fiore Furlano de Civida d’Austria delli Liberi da Premariacco. He wrote his legacy after 50 years of study, several victorious duels to the death, and study under many masters of arms in Italy and Germany.

Four copies of his illuminated manuscript are currently known to exist but there are records of two others whose present whereabouts are unknown. The format is generally consistent across all copies of the manual but the illustrations vary in several key features. Debate continues as to whether these variations are errors or part of some more deliberate and elaborate cipher.

Each section begins with a Master Remedy, a character in a golden crown who demonstrates a counter technique against a basic attack. He is followed by various Scholars, wearing golden garters on their legs who portray variations on this counter. After the Scholars there is a Master Contrario, a figure wearing both a crown and a garter, who demonstrates how to counter the techniques of the Master Remedy and Scholars. Some sections feature multiple Masters Remedy or Masters Contrario, while some have only one. There are also many cases in which an image in one copy will only feature a scholar’s garter where the corresponding image in another copy also features a master’s crown.

The best known image from Flos Duellatorum is the sette spade (seven swords) diagram at the beginning of the longsword section. It is a figure of a man, divided by seven swords centered on the body, representing the poste or guard positions. The figure is surrounded by four animals: the lynx, tiger, lion and elephant each representing specific qualities of the swordsman. By pure coincidence, Lord J. and I, stopped for lunch at a pub in Washington D.C. last week which used as its logo the exact elephant with castle on its back taken from the Flos Duellatorum.

There is little comment by modern scholars on the significance of these animals but they are, in fact, Master Fiore Liberi’s personal signature. Those who have some understanding of shamanic culture know something of “totem animals” and the belief that the spirit of the animals itself allows the warrior to become that animal. For those seeking to understand the specific style of the Master in battle - study his signature animals and you will know him.

One of the direct descendants of Master Fiore Liberi was Filippo Vadi. Around 1485 he wrote a manual in cryptic rhyme called “De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi” (The Art of Fighting with Swords). Master Vadi’s totem creatures are: the bear, the dragon, the ram, and the greyhound.

Much of Vadi’s work reflects a progression from the earlier tradition but he introduces new guards: Poste di Falcone (Guard of the Falcon) and the Coda Lunga (Guard of the Long Tail).

I got great enjoyment from seeing the Poste di Falcone mentioned in the Ridley Scott’s 2005 film “Kingdom of Heaven”: a movie that is greatly superior to “Gladiator” (2000). However, the only issue is that the mention of this guard is an anachronism given that the first existing Western reference to this sword stance is from Vadi long after the period around the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 AD represented in the movie.

I am no master. I am merely a poor servant of the Great House but I also have my totem animals. If you know my writing you may know them. One is the “falcon”. It is represented in tradition by the rune - Algiz - and by the ancient amulet I wear around my neck. I am known to some as “Falcon Rising”.

Master Sun Tsu writes: “Those skilled in attack maneuver in the highest heights of the sky. Therefore they can preserve themselves and achieve complete victory”.

Du Mu (803-952 AD) who was a remarkable poet and also known as a “knight of unflinching honesty and extraordinary honor” wrote in his commentary on this passage of Master Sun (mirroring my own thought): “On attack, your movement is swift and your cry shattering, fast as thunder and lightning, as though coming from the sky, impossible to prepare for.”

That is the spirit of the “falcon” and that is why I have these talons instead of hands.

Disarm - Smashing Pumpkins

I used to be a little boy
So old in my shoes
And what I choose is my choice
What’s a boy supposed to do?
The killer in me is the killer in you
My love
I send this smile over to you

Disarm you with a smile
And leave you like they left me here
To wither in denial
The bitterness of one who’s left alone
Ooh, the years burn

Global hard times generally mean good times for those who claim to predict the future.

Faced with uncertainty, humans have always looked to the stars for guidance. And these days, it seems there are astrology charlatans to be found under almost every rock.

As for me, I prefer to seek comfort among other fossils: the lines in the sand that “no winds erase”.

I was born under the Sign of the Scorpion.

Here on Earth, scorpions have had a special place in mythology for a very long time. The scorpion has always been a totem creature for warriors who admired its resilient armor, its deadly sting and its tenacity despite its relatively small size. It has long  been linked with death and rebirth - a profound symbol of wisdom and initiation.

Scorpions are eight-legged archnids related to spiders and mites. Their bodies are comprised of a prosoma, mesosoma and metasoma. The prosoma (head) includes the carapace, eyes, mouth parts, pedipalps/pincers (claws) and four pairs of walking legs. Scorpions have two eyes on the top of the head, and usually two to five pairs of eyes along the front corners of the head. The tail (metasoma) has a barbed venom injector at the end, and the mesosoma is made up of six armored segments covered in a thin but very tough layer which shines fluorescent green under ultraviolet life. This fluorescent hyaline layer has been found intact in fossils that are hunderds of millions of years old.

Scorpions use their pincers (chela) to catch other small arthropods and insects. Depending on the toxicity of their venom and size of their claws, they will then either crush the prey or inject a neurotoxic venom to kill or paralyze the victim. Scorpions have two types of venom: a translucent, weaker mixture designed to stun, and an opaque, more potent brew designed to kill heavier threats.

It was on 30 November 2005, that Nature - the international weekly journal of science - published an article about the discovery of literally a 330 million year old line in the sand made by a huge sea scorpion. The evidence, found in West Lothian, Scotland - the birthplace of many of my ancestors - shows that these 6 foot long arthropods were among the first to begin the transition from water to land.

The Hibbertopterus - Scots sea scorpion - was part of the larger family of Eurypterids (from the Greek eury “broad”/pteron “wing”). In November 21, 2007 it was announced that a 390 million year old giant claw belonging to a 2.5 metre (8.2 ft) sea scorpion had been discovered in Germany near the town of Pruem - making it the largest arthropod ever found. Arthropod’s are creatures with hard external skeletons and include spiders, insects and crabs.

Today there is continuing debate among scientists as to whether the Eurypterids are directly related to modern scorpions - even though they share considerable physical similarities. The only supposed surviving relative of the giant Eurypterids is the horseshoe crab, called a living fossil and most commonly found in North America.

Horseshoe crabs possess the rare ability to regrow lost limbs and can also breathe on land for short periods of time as long as their gills remain moist. They are the original “blue bloods” with a copper-based circulatory system that turns their blood blue when exposed to oxygen. The blood of horseshoe crabs contains a coagulogen which isolates and contains bacterial infections within its circulatory system. Enzymes from horseshoe crab blood have even been used by astronauts in the International Space Station to test surfaces for unwanted bacteria and fungi.

So I guess it really is a case of scorpions in space.

But if you look further out you will find the constellation and the particular star that has always been associated with the “stinging one”. The Persians called it Kazhdum (scorpion), to the Akkadians it was Gir.tab - the Seizer, or Stinger, and the Place Where One Bows Down. According to Polynesian mythology, the curving shape of this pattern of stars represents the jawbone that Maui used to fish the North Island of New Zealand - where I was born - from the Pacific Ocean. Even today the North Island is known as Te-Ika-A-Maui (the Great Fish of Maui).

The red giant Antares - Alpha Scorpio - is known in many cultures as “the heart”. In the West its modern name is derived from Ptolemy who thought it similar to “Ares” (Mars) due to its red glow. It was known among the desert dwellers as Kalb al Akrab - the scorpion’s heart. The Romans also called it by the same name Antares Cor Scorpionis (Antares - Heart of the Scorpion).

Antares has also been known as Bilu-sha-ziri - Lord of the Seed, and Dar Luga - the King. It is one of four royal stars sometimes characterized as horses - one of the four guardian watchers.

In Chinese mythology, Antares (Ta-Ho - the Great Fire) is the “heart” of the great Azure Dragon - the Guardian of the East and the heavenly home of the Blue Emperor. In some charts Antares - and the two bright stars nearby - are labeled the Temple of Light (Ming-Tang) of the Emperor’s Palace.

In reality the constellation we call Libra never existed until recent times. Libra is really formed by the pincers of the scorpion. There is a good reason why, in mythology, these pincers are also associated with the scales of justice. Zubana in Arabic and zibanitu in Akkadian, mean both ‘weighing scale‘ and ‘scorpion‘.

The binary system they call Alpha Librae today is more correctly known as Zubenelgenubi (al-zuban-al-janubiyy) - the southern claw. The variable star Beta Librae is better known as Zubeneschamali (al-zuban-al-samaliyyah) - the northern claw.

But even further back in time these stars were known as Sarur and Sargaz - those which reap the multitude. As well as the claws of the Scorpion they represent the battle maces of Lord Ninurta - Sarur in his right hand and Sargaz in his left.

Here’s a prediction for you:
“When Sarur and Sargaz are brilliant, the onslaught will commence.”
From The reports of the magicians and astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon (1900) by Reginald Campbell Thompson.

I belong to an old club with no specific means of identifying other members.

But there is one thing that everyone who has ever been a part of this club shares in common.

They have all read - several times - one particular story.

This text is the same one that Artistotle used to inspire his young pupil Alexander. And it was Alexander the Great who took Aristotle’s own annotated copy with him for bedtime reading when he crossed the Hellespont in 334BC.

By reading this very same story today, you have an opportunity to immerse yourself in a stream of consciousness that is thousands of years old - connected to all those from antiquity to today who have been entranced by the spell of 15,693 lines of heroic hexameter written on 24 scrolls.

The story known to us as “The Iliad” was reputedly the work of a singer-poet named Homer. It was written down shortly after the invention of the alphabet. Scholars can not be sure whether Homer was one man or a combination of many voices - the result of centuries of oral story-telling based on a “formulaic” system of poetic composition. However, almost all of the academics are in agreement that The Iliad is the oldest surviving work in western literature.

You can make your own mind regarding if Homer lived, where he lived and when he was born. Such speculation is one of the oldest topics in scholarship. Some even call him the blind bard based on their interpretation of the name “Homer”. But I think these people would have a better understanding if they remembered that the Ionic verb “hómêreuô” more accurately means “to guide the blind.”

And it should also be remembered that both The Iliad and The Odyssey form part of a 7-part “Trojan” cycle. The other five works - not attributed to Homer - are lost to modern readers but we know their titles and much of their content. The seven are: - the “Kypria” (a prequel), the “Iliad”, the “Aethiopis”, the “Little Iliad”, the “Iliou persis” (Sack of Ilium), the “Nostoi” (Returners) and the “Odyssey”.

For those scattered throughout the Earth today the Iliad is the thread the holds everything together. If it helps you can think of it as the opposite of the “One Ring” - one book to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

If you are thinking of joining our journey, please choose a translation that speaks to you. The translation I happened to be reading again this past week is by the former editor of the Penguin Classics (1944-1964) Emile Victor Rieu.

E. V. Rieu (10 February 1887 - 11 May 1972) was a classicist and scholar of St. Paul’s school and Balliol College, Oxford who was appointed Manager of Oxford University Press in Bombay in 1912. In World War I he served in India’s famous Mahratta Light Infantry. His wife Nelly, was the first to translate Babar the Elephant into English. E.V.’s son Dominic Christopher Henry Rieu (October 26 1916 - April 29 2008) was born in Bombay and studied English and Classics at Queen’s College, Oxford. As part of the West Yorkshire Regiment in 1941, he was injured at Cheren (now in Eritrea) and subsequently awarded the Military Cross. Rieu was headmaster of Simon Langton Grammar School in Canterbury (1955 - 1977) and became a member of Subud (named for Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo) an international spiritual movement that began in Indonesia in the 1920s. The basis of Subud is a spiritual exercise called the “latihan kejiwaan” representing guidance from the “Power of God”. Dominic Rieu later revised parts of his father’s translations of Homer.

When I read this translation I think about the father and son who both served in the military with distinction. You get a feel for E.V. when you read his response to some of the stuffy scholarly criticisms of the “savage humor” of Homer’s warriors. Rieu writes: “If you have just saved your own life in mortal combat by killing your enemy, it is 10 to one that any joke that may spring to your lips will be completely lacking in urbanity. Homer is more or a realist than his critics, most of whom, I dare say, had never seen a battle.”

Overall, I find the “Introduction” to E.V.’s translation - which he wrote in 1949 - to be one of the most insightful modern commentaries on the Iliad I have ever read. In essence, he talks about a specific “double-duality” (my term) which Homer brings to bear on every page: the first duality is the sombre shadow of what is past and what is yet to come. We the audience know what is fated to come - but not when and how - and this makes us more sympathetic to all those who must die before this conflict is over.

The second duality is one of “reality” and “super-reality”. What this means is that caught up in the clamor of battle we see things with immediacy and urgency but viewed from the heights of Mount Olympus the life and death of mortals is something like playing a video game.  Achilles is the leader of the Myrmidons (literally ant people) and to Zeus even the fiercest mortals on the battlefield are like swarming ants from his vantage point.

Rieu wonders out loud, how is it possible to see Achilles in a sympathetic light while reading of his murderous exploits. Even his best friend and admirer Patroclus sees him as “warping a noble nature to ignoble ends”. Rieu writes: “Yet all along the gods honour Achilles and Homer somehow makes us feel that, behind all this, true greatness lies concealed. And in the end, in the memorable scene in which Achilles gives up Hector’s corpse to his old father, we are allowed one glimpse of what the real Achilles is. I say “is”, not “might have been” because the function of tragedy is not merely to mourn the wastage of virtue and to cry over spilt milk, but to hint as some ultimate solution, to suggest that if we could only look at things with the Olympian eye of Zeus we should see that, after all, the milk we are crying about is not really spilt.” When we life view from the heights of heaven our tears and laughter are only transitory phenomena.

In recent times there have been those who have hinted at a more esoteric interpretation of the Iliad based on passages such as the detailed description in Scroll 18 of the shield made for Achilles by the smith of the Gods, Hephaestus

In a 1999 book called “Homer’s Secret Iliad: The Epic of the Night Sky Decoded” Florence and Kenneth Wood make the interesting case that Homer is singing a “Song of the Stars”. Florence Wood is the daughter of Edna Johnston Leigh who began stargazing as a young girl in McCune, Kansas. Leigh came to believe that the Iliad is actually a poetically encoded astronomical mnemonic. The lengthy “catalogue of ships” is actually a catalogue of stars and constellations. Warriors represent stars, and the outcome of battles  between one warrior and another, and the precise wounds inflicted by weapons, can be mapped onto the stars.

In particular, the direct astronomical image painted with the creation of Achilles’ shield draws the area of the night sky in which Sirius reappeared above ancient Greece in 8,700 BC.  “The shield consisted of five layers, and he decorated the face of it with a number of designs, executed with consumate skill and representing first of all, Earth, Sky and Sea, the indefatigable Sun, the Moon at full, and all the Constellations with which the heavens are crowned, the Pleiads, the Hyads, the great Orion, and the Bear, nicknamed the Wain, the only constellation which never bathes in Ocean Stream, but always wheels round in the same place and looks across as Orion the Hunter with a wary eye.”

Homer gives a detailed description of the imagery which decorates the new shield. Starting from the shield’s center and moving outward, circle layer by circle layer, the shield is laid out as follows:
1. The Earth, sky and sea, the sun, the moon and the constellations
2. “Two beautiful cities full of people”: in one a wedding and a law case are taking place; the other city is besieged by one feuding army and the shield shows an ambush and a battle.
3. A field being ploughed for the third time.
4. A king’s estate where the harvest is being reaped.
5. A vineyard with grape pickers.
6. A herd of straight-horned cattle; the lead bull has been attacked by a pair of savage lions. The herdsmen and their dogs are trying to intervene.
7. A picture of a sheep farm.
8. A dancing-floor where young men and women are dancing.
9. The great stream of Ocean.

I will finish with a short passage from the E.V. Rieu translation of Homer’s Iliad concerning the death of Hector.

…Great Hector of the flashing helmet spoke first: “My lord Achilles, I have been chased by you three times round the great city of Priam without daring to stop and let you come near. But now I am going to run away no longer. I have made up my mind to fight you man to man and kill you or be killed. But first let us make a bargain, you with your gods for witness, I with mine - no compact could have better guarantors. If Zeus allows me to endure, and I kill you, I undertake to do no outrage to your body that custom does not sanction. All I shall do, Achilles is to strip you of your splendid armour. Then I will give up your corpse to the Achaeans. Will you do the same for me?

Achilles of the nimble feet looked at him grimly and replied: “Hector, you must be mad to talk to me about a pact. Lions do not come to terms with men, nor does the wolf see eye to eye with the lamb - they are enemies to the end. It is the same with you and me. Friendship between us is impossible, and there will be no truce of any kind till one of us has fallen and glutted the stubborn god of battles with his blood. So summon any courage you may have. This is the time to show your spearmanship and daring. Not that anything is going to save you now, when Pallas Athene is waiting to fell you with my spear. This moment you are going to pay the full price for all you made me suffer when your lance mowed down my friends.”

With this Achilles poised and hurled his long-shadowed spear. But illustrious Hector was looking out and managed to avoid it. He crouched, with his eye on the weapon; and it flew over his head and stuck in the ground. But Pallas Athene snatched it up and brought it back to Achilles.

Hector the great captain, who had not seen this move, called across to the peerless son of Peleus: “A miss for you god-like Achilles! It seems that Zeus gave you the wrong date for my death! You were too cocksure. But then you’re so glib, so clever with your tongue - trying to frighten me and drain me of my strength. Nevertheless, you will not make me run, or catch me in the back with your spear. Drive it through my breast as I charge - if you get the chance. But first you will have to dodge this one of mine. And Heaven grant that all its bronze may be buried in your flesh! This war would be an easier business for the Trojans if their greatest scourge were dead.”

With that he swung up his long-shadowed spear and cast. And sure enough he hit the centre of Achilles’ shield, but his spear rebounded from it. Hector was angry at having made so fine a throw for nothing, and he stood there discomforted, for he had no second lance. He shouted aloud to Deiphobus of the white shield, asking him for a long spear. But Deiphobus was nowhere near him; and Hector realizing what had happened, cried: “Alas! So the gods did beckon me to my death! I thought the good Deiphobus was at my side; but he is in the town, and Athene has fooled me. Death is no longer far away; he is staring me in the face and there is no escaping him. Zeus and his Archer Son must long have been resolved on this, for all their goodwill and help they gave me. So now I meet my doom. Let me at least sell my life dearly and have a not inglorious end, after some feat of arms that shall come to the ears of generations still unborn.”

Hanging down at his side, Hector had a sharp, long and weighty sword. He drew this now, braced himself, and swooped like a high-flying eagle that drops to earth through the black clouds to pounce on a tender lamb or a crouching hare. Thus Hector charged, brandishing his sharp sword.

Achilles sprang to meet him, inflamed with savage passion. He kept his front covered with his decorated shield; his glittering helmet with its four plates swayed as he moved his head and made the splendid golden plumes that Hephaestus had lavished on the crest dance round the top; and bright as the loveliest jewel in the sky, the Evening Star when he comes out at nightfall with the rest, the sharp point scintillated on the spear he balanced in his right hand, intent on killing Hector, and searching him for the likeliest place to reach his flesh.

Achilles saw that Hector’s body was completely covered by the fine bronze armour he had taken from the great Patroclus when he killed him, except for an opening at the gullet where the collar bones lead over from the shoulders to the neck, the easiest place to kill a man. As Hector charged him, Prince Achilles drove at this spot with his lance; and the point went right through the tender flesh of Hector’s neck, though the heavy bronze head did not cut his windpipe, and left him able to address his conqueror. Hector came down in the dust and the great Achilles triumphed over him…

THE PAINT BOX
“Cobalt and umber and ultramarine,
Ivory black and emerald green -
What shall I paint to give pleasure to you?”
“Paint for me somebody utterly new.”

“I have painted you dragons in crimson and white.”
“The colors were good and you painted aright.”
“I have painted the crown and a serpent in blue
And a princeling in purple.” “You painted them true.

“Now mix me a color that nobody knows,
And paint me a country where nobody goes.
And put in it people a little like you,
Watching a unicorn drinking the dew.”
Emile Victor Rieu

The David Letterman bookers were sweet and apologetic. Nick Sanders was a good idea but the timing was wrong. We couldn’t predict with total accuracy when Nick would arrive at what was essentially the end of his 1997 epic solo journey around the globe.

Nick Sanders labels himself with good reason “the most experienced extreme motorcycle adventurer in the world” and is presently on his 7th world tour. (www.nicksanders.com)

We met him in 1997 when at age 39, he set a new world record for circumnavigating the globe by motorcycle. He did it in 31 days, 21 hours on a Daytona 900, riding alone through four continents, covering 18,000 miles.

The amazing thing is, the 1997 globe run was his third. Sander’s first world record came in 1981 when he rode a cycle around the world in 138 days, covering 13,609 miles. He broke that record in 1985, doing it in 78 days. In 1993, he practiced by riding 38,000 miles around the world.

Essentially, apart from air travel and rest stops, he was on the bike non-stop and moving at high speed. The effort of staying awake, let alone staying upright in traffic with little sleep and road dust clogging your whole being - well that is no picnic.

We met Nick in Wellington as he came wearily off the interisland ferry from the South Island. He had already ridden over 200 miles from Christchurch to Picton upon landing in New Zealand after crossing Australia on his bike.

He followed our car up to our cosy, (zen minimalist, he said) aerie perched on the hills close to the city. We escorted him over the drawbridge, took him inside, sat him down and at his request L made him cup after cup of strong black tea with heapings of sugar. Nick took a brief catnap still in his leathers. His faced looked ashen and his spark seemed to be dim. We were afraid for him on the long road ahead. But we shared our warmth with him and cheered him with conversation about love, the mission, the Internet.

The road looked wet when he left. We contacted the media on the road north to Auckland to let them know Nick was heading their way, then flying out to Alaska and riding his bike down to Texas and across North America - part of the requirement to cover sufficient latitude.

We generated some reasonable press for Nick when he touched down in Alaska and tried to do our small part from New Zealand to follow him on the Net. He wrote a frequent blog on his travels and we were touched that he mentioned us in one entry. I remember him saying that I was an “man of the Internet right down to the stars on my shirt”. Thanks Nick. We’re glad you’re still focused on your journey.

If you get a chance check out his books: Fastest Man Around the World, Loneliness of the Long Distance Biker, and Journey Beyond Reason. Maybe you’ll feel like joining the 20-year plan where you get to ride around the world with him in stages.

“Even though ordeal may seem pointless, the superhuman effort required in performing the task may transform those who quest truely. Metal is forged in fire. That is the purpose of the flame.” - Cosmos.

I was baptized “Ross” but, growing up, my father always just called me “Horse”.

Not everyone is called a name for a reason. Some parents choose a name because they like the sound. But there is a power in names.

My first name is the legacy of an old tradition.

If you want to follow along just look up the old symbol of the Saxons represented on the Westphalian coat of arms - a white horse prancing on a red field. This white horse is called the “Sachsenross” (Saxon Steed).

The Sachsenross is very old motif and expression of tribal identity.

Up until the end of the 19th century the farmhouses in Lower Saxony often featured horsehead gables known as “Hengist and Hors.” In British historical legend Hengist (stallion) and Horsa (horse) are the two Saxon brothers who led the conquest of the remnants of Roman England in the 5th century AD.

Hengist and Horsa are mentioned in Bede’s “Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum”, in the “Historia Brittonum” of Nennius, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and also in the fanciful history of Geoffrey of Monmouth.

According these stories Hengist and Horsa arrived in Britain as mercenaries serving Vortigern, King of the Britons. But underneath the surface story runs a deeper and recurring current involving two twin horse brothers. This a story that repeats over and over again.

In Greek mythology it was the mating of Leda and the swan (Zeus) which produced the Dioskouri - the twins Castor and Pollux. Castor and Pollux are intimately linked with horses in art and literature. Each year on their feast day Roman knights would ride through the streets of Rome in full military splendor in their honor. They are depicted with a variety of symbols representing the concept of twins, such as the dokana (two upright pieces of wood connected by cross-beams), a pair of snakes and even two riders on a single horse. They are also often shown wearing the pilos cap of Phrygia symbolizing, it is said, the remains of the eggs from which they hatched.

Their Vedic origins are represented as the Ashvin brothers. In the Rigveda, these twin horsemen symbolize the shining rays of sunrise and sunset. They are called Nasatya (kind, helpful) and Dasra (enlightened giving). In the epic Mahabharata, King Pandu’s wife Madri is granted a son by each Ashvin and bears the twins Nakula and Sahadeva.

I was baptized “Ross” but, growing up, my father always just called me “Horse”.

“Like the water in a deep pool, the culture and morale of the people stagnated. Everything had the feel of the end of an era…What was the trend of the times? Nobody knew. The lights burned brightly every night, but the people were lost in the darkness. Tomorrow is tomorrow, they thought, and a directionless, helpless current flowed through their lives like a muddy stream.” - Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa.

I am mostly disappointed when I read English-language reviews of the writings of Eiji Yoshikawa. Most pass him off as nothing more than a gifted storyteller of historical drama.

But if you study his life’s work (of which only 4 are currently available in English) you begin to understand how deeply he thought about the Way of Strategy. His rise to fame began in 1914 when his “Tale of Enoshima” won first prize in a literary competition sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. My own day at Kamakura and Enoshima with my most generous host in February 2007 formed something of a tribute to his talent.

Yoshikawa’s literary output includes:
Naruto Hicho - Secret Record of Naruto
Edo Sangoku-shi - The Three Kingdoms of Edo
Miyamoto Musashi (available in English)
Shinsho Taiko ki - Paperback Life of the Taiko (available in English)
Sangoku shi - Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Minamoto Yoritomo (the first Kamakura Shogun after the Genpei War (1180-1185)
Uesugi Kenshin (the famous daimyo of Echigo province in the Sengoku period)
Kuroda Yoshitaka (a chief strategist serving Toyotomi Hideyoshi)
Taira no Masakado (son of the shogun, Masakado led a brief rebellion and was killed at the Battle of Kojima in 940AD. Interestingly his head found its way to Shibasaki, a small fishing village which later became Tokyo. The kubizuka, or grave, is located in the present day Otemachi section of Tokyo. Legend says that if the shrine is neglected Tokyo will suffer disaster.)
Shin Heike monogatari - New Tale of the Heike (available in English)
Shin Suikoden - New Tales from the Water Margin

Just a glimpse at this partial list of his lifetime’s work would be enough to intrigue those with even a superficial understanding of Japanese and Chinese history and literature.

If English-speaking readers are in any doubt, they only need to consider the fact that Yoshikawa also wrote his own interpretations of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin - considered two of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature and very important reference works for students of strategy.

His work on Mushashi stands alone not only for its story about the swordsman but for how it weaves the Dokkodo into the weft of the text. In Musashi, Yoshikawa also teaches about the path of self-realization.

The book Taiko covers another essential ingredient of the Way of Strategy - the art of statecraft. Taiko stands on one level as a story about Hideyoshi Toyotomi and the end of the warring states era in Japan - a period marked by the death of such legendary figures as Uesugi Kenshin, Takeda Shingen and Oda Nobunaga but it is also a text about the fundamental principles of statecraft.

In particular there are several references to Master Sun’s Art of War and the classic strategy game “Go” (known in China as wéiqí and baduk in Korea). I like the short philosphical explanation of the differences between Go, chess and backgammon published in Wikipedia: “Backgammon is a “human vs. fate” contest, with chance playing a strong role in determining the outcome. Chess, with rows of soldiers marching forward to capture each other, embodies the conflict of “human vs. human”. Go can be seen as embodying the quest for self-improvement - “human vs. self”.

Part of the extended reading of anyone with a deeper interest in strategic thought should include the Eight Military Classics of China as a staring point.

From the 11th century AD until the modern era, scholars listed only seven classic texts but archaeologists excavating a Han dynasty tomb in the early 1970s discovered extensive fragments of Sun Bin’s Military Methods (Sun Bin Bing Fa) - which was lost to modern readers for more than 2,000 years.

The more well-known “Seven” are:
- Jiang Ziya’s (Taigong) Liutao (Six Secret Strategic Teachings)
- The Methods of the Sima (Also known as the Sima Rangju Art of War)
- Sun-tzu’s Art of War
- Wu Qi’s Art of War
- Wei Liaozi (named after Wei Liao)
- Three Strategies of Huang Shigong (the authorship has been debated by scholars for centuries)
- Questions and Replies between T’ang T’ai-tsung and Li Wei-kung (considered a forgery by many)

The world is changing yet again. The Way remains eternal.

Once upon a time Lothian was the land of the Gododdin. Romans called these Brythonic Celts who inhabited this territory near the Hadrian and Antonine Walls, the Votadini. Their capitals included Din Eidyn (later called Edinburgh by the Angles) and Traprain Law (Haddington), and the great hill fort of Yeavering Bell. The Romans lived alongside them and traded with them. They were a strong buffer from incursions from Pictland.

The people and their kings, are referred to as the “Gwyr y Gogledd” or “Men of the North“. Cunedda, legendary founder of the Kingdom of Gwynedd, was a Gododdhin warlord who migrated south-west at this time.

Through my mother’s line I am of Lothian: the family of the “Fox”.

Lothian is named for King Loth - or more accurately Lugh (Lleu) - the Lord of Light. The earliest known Brythonic form of “Lothian” is from a 12th century Welsh poem by Hywel ap Owain referring to Lleuddiniawn, meaning, literally, the “Land of Lleu’s Fortress“ - perhaps even the Castle Adventurous.

“Y Mabinogi” (The Mabinogion) calls him Llew, meaning “lion” but the generally-accepted correct spelling of his name is Lleu, a Brythonic word meaning - as the verb lleu, “lighted“. In The Mabinogion, Lleu has a magical, virgin birth by Arianrhod - the silver circle - the Brythonic Moon-goddess. Arianrhod’s mother was Dôn (the Earth-goddess whose Gaelic equivalent is D’anu).

In “Mâth ap Mâthonwy”, Lleu is represented as a magical child who grows at twice the normal speed, and this links with another origin myth about Lothian; that it is named after a giant called Loth. In The Mabinogion, Gwydion takes the boy to Caer Arianrhod - the Milky Way - to ask Arianrhod for her recognition of him as her son.

Arthurian romances mention a legendary King Loth (or Lot) of Lothian with close family ties to Arthur himself.

From Arthur’s Seat the King prayed as the sun rose over Traprain Law and set over the ancient megalithic center of Cairnpapple Hill on March 21, the spring equinox, and September 21, the autumn equinox.

Laurence Binyon wrote the Ode of Remembrance which first appeared in The Times on September 21, 1914.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Bathed in the Eye of Light, and the sacred well of the Tree of Life - the spark was the signal for every sacred hill to blaze with glorious fire. In the “dreamtime” the path of the pattern was completed.

“And now the early leader,
The sun is ascending,
The sovereign from which emanates universal light.
In the heaven of the Isle of Prydain.”

So sung the bard Aneirin in “Y Gododdin” around 600 AD. “Y Gododdin” is a poem about the deeds of the warriors of Gododdin who died fighting the Angles of Deira and Bernicia (Northumbria).

In the South, near the joining of the Glen and Till Rivers was the great hill now called Yeavering Bell. Perched 1,180 feet high, its broad double peaked crest - emerging in violent eruption 350 million years ago - dominates the ancient crossroads and the north Cheviot foothills.

Later King Edwin of Northumbria, acknowledged Overlord made his center - Ad Gefrin - at the foot of the Bell and took the Celtic Christian religion as his own. When the king fell as a warrior in battle they took his body and secreted it within Sherwood Forest at the place now called Edwinstowe. Legend says Robin Hood and Maid Marian were married there in St. Mary’s Church.

The first rays of the dawn’s light brushed the glistening snow with rose petals of light. Kneeling naked in the warmth of the onsen (hot spring), I bowed my head; opened my heart; and prayed.

My hosts, awash with beer, sake and karaoke from the night before were still sleeping soundly. I had been awake all night working on their behalf and decided to refresh myself with a dawn ritual. The onsen took me back to my childhood in Rotorua, New Zealand - a tourist town also famous for its hot thermal pools.

When I was a little boy, when my grandfather visited us, we would go to the foot baths in Kuirau Park. We would place our towels on the seat, take off shoes and socks, roll up our trousers and dangle our feet in the hot water. On frosty mornings - it would warm your whole body. We would stay and inhale the pungent sulphurous steam until our feet turned into wrinkled pink prunes. Growing up I spent a lot of time in thermal pools, especially after battle on the rugby field soaking my bruised limbs.

The day before I had taken the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Echigo-Yuzawa (Niigata), and from there a 45 minute bus ride to the Belnatio Hotel - a beautiful mountain retreat in winter but also, I was told, in spring and summer. The area had recently experienced the highest snowfalls on record - in some places surpassing 4 metres (more than 13 feet). Niigata is famous also for the quality of its rice and sake. I enjoyed both there among the company of strangers.

The setting reminded me of the beautiful geisha Komako in Snow Country (Yukiguni) the first novel of nobel prize winning author, Yasunari Kawabata (1899 - 1972). The spirit is similar to the feeling Virgil evokes in “The Aeneid“, where Aeneas weeps upon seeing a mural in a Carthaginian temple depicting the Trojan War. Aeneas says: “sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt” (these are tears for events and mortal things touch the soul). This is our equivalent to the Japanese term “mono no aware” - the sadness at life’s transience.

Breakfast was at Dining Room: Cosmos. (I smiled quietly to myself).

Later, that afternoon, I travelled back to Tokyo and quickly changed for dinner at the Keidanren Kaikan - the hub of the Japanese industry. K.Y. - who had arranged the visit to Niigata - picked me up personally from the Hotel to take me to the dinner meeting. I remain deeply thankful for all his great many kindnesses to myself and L over the years. The memory of him is now entwined with that of my grandfather, Ted (Edwin).

(This is an image by photographer Gregory Colbert from the “Ashes and Snow” exhibition which appeared at Odaiba see http://www.ashesandsnow.org)

The Búri are relegated to a minor footnote in the greater history of the Goths. Thanks to Tacitus, they are linked by association with the Suebi and the Marcomanni. Some claim they travelled with the Suebi to what is now Northern Portugal.

But the Búri were once acknowledged as the essence of “Goth“. The term “gut” or “gutt” for “child” some believe is linked to Gut(-on)/Goth suggestive of a link also to buri (Gothic baur “born”)/ Old Icelandic “burr” Old English “byre” - son.

Búri was the first god in Norse mythology. He was the father of Borr and grandfather of Odin. He was formed by the cow Audhumla licking the salty ice of Ginnungagap. There is only one written source of this myth - Icelander Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda from around 1200 AD.

“She licked the ice-blocks, which were salty; and the first day that she licked the blocks, there came forth from the blocks in the evening a man’s hair; the second day, a man’s head; the third day the whole man was there. He is named Búri: he was fair of feature, great and mighty. He begat a son called Borr.” - Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur’s 1916 translation.

From the mixture of the glacial stream of frothing, yeasty venom of Niflheim and the burning sparks of fire from Muspellsheim, came forth the first two creatures: Ymir (the Roarer) or Orgelmir (Seething Clay), father of giants, and the great mother cow Audhumla (the Nourisher). From her four udders flowed four streams of milk and gave nourishment to Ymir. Audhumla, in turn, sought out nourishment and licked the salty ice rime. As she licked the ice with her rough tongue, a form of a being appeared - Búri. Búri’s son, Borr, fathered the gods Odin, Vili, and Ve, who together destroyed Ymir and from his body fashioned the heavens and the earth. This divine triad was entrusted with the mission of giving order to the Universe.

Once upon a time…there was a man of Visigoth descent they called Wilfred the Hairy who earned the title Count of Urgell, or Cerdanya, Barcelona, Girona, Besalú, and Ausona in what came to be Catalonia.

The Hairy One has become an important figure for Catalonian independence as the founder of the House of Barcelona. His direct descendants ruled until the death of Martin I of Aragón in 1410 and the Pact of Caspe in 1412. One of the legends that has arisen around his person is that of the creation of the coat of arms from which the Catalan flag (the Senyera) emerged - four red bars on a golden field.

After being wounded in battle the Frankish king Charles the Bald rewarded his bravery by giving him a coat of arms. The king slid Wilfred’s blood-stained fingers over the Count’s copper shield. Later St. George was adopted as the patron saint of the Catalans following divine intervention in the 985 seige and recapture of Barcelona.

If we step backwards in time from Wilfred, some say he was the son for Sunifred I (Sunyer) who was himself the son of Bello (Borellus Ausonos), Count of Carcassonne who was reputedly of mixed Visigoth and Arab ancestry. There are some who say Borellus was the son of Guillaume I de Rases and Susu Bint Uthman de Cordoba. Certainly Borrell was a name applied to more than one of the family: his son Borrell I Count of Barcelona from 897 to 911, Borrell II, Count of Barcelona 947 to 992 and Ramon Borrell (972-1017). Of Guillaume I de Razes little is known - perhaps the direct descendant of dynastic link between Bera II, Count of Razes and Gislica sister of Wamba - King of the Visigoths in Hispania from 672 to 680.

There are varioius legends associated with King Wamba. In essence they involve identifying Wamba as the true “royal heir” when he thrust a stick or sword into the ground which took root. The legend of the stick thrust into the ground is also associated with the town of Guimarães in the district of Braga in northern-western Portugal. There, because Wamba never withdrew the stick afterwards, it is said it grew into an olive tree. Though the tree is now gone, the site is marked either by the monastery of Nossa Senhora da Oliveira (Our Lady of the Olive) or the Largo da Oliveria town square, each named for the legendary tree.

Interestingly the Buri are clamied as ancestors by the Portuguese municipality of Terras de Bouro, also in the district of Braga. Historians agree this is pure fabrication.

Rex ejus cris si recta facis; si autem, non facis, non cris.”
“You shall be king so long as you do right; but if you do not do right, you shall no longer be king.” - The Visigothic Code (Forum judicum)