New book on Newgrange by Anthony Murphy

I am currently working on a new book about Ireland's most famous monument. The book, called 'Newgrange - Monument to Immortality', will be published by The Liffey Press in the autumn.

This new work explores Newgrange and its mysteries from many aspects and disciplines, including archaeology, astronomy and spirituality, and encompasses a broad-sweeping and philosophical examination of the big questions about Ireland's most famous monument. The book will contain lots of new colour photographs - none of which have been published before in any other book or on any website. These include photos from inside the passage and chamber on the winter solstice, when the sun shines into the heart of the monument.

A new blog site has been set up about the Newgrange book which can be found here.

New Knowth book by Professor George Eogan launched

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, TD, today (Wednesday 20 June, 2012), commemorated 50 years of excavations by Professor George Eogan at the great passage tomb at Knowth, Co Meath, dating back to 3,000 BC. The occasion was marked by the launch of the fifth in a series of Knowth publications by Professor Eogan - ‘The Archaeology of Knowth in the First and Second Millennium AD’.

The Knowth passage tombs, along with those at Newgrange and Dowth, form part of the Brú na Bóinne archaeological complex inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.  The Brú na Bóinne tombs, in particular Knowth, contain the largest collection of megalithic art in Western Europe. The archaeological excavations on the site have contributed significantly to the knowledge of Ireland’s earliest farmers, including burial places, rituals, ceremonies and the sophistication of their society and economies.

“It is humbling to think” the Minister said “that some 5,000 years ago, when these tombs were built of the enormity of the effort which skilled craftsmen put into creating these tombs and passage ways.  These tombs are older than Stonehenge in England and they are also older than the Pyramids in Egypt.”

Describing the world heritage site at Brú na Bóinne as the ‘jewel in the crown of our cultural heritage’, Minister Deenihan went onto say, “the wonderful carved stones, together with those at Newgrange and Dowth, constitute the largest collection of megalithic art in the world. I cannot over emphasise how important I believe it is for people to come and visit the Brú na Bóinne site and witness first-hand the magnitude of the feat which was achieved in building these mounds. It is by learning and honouring our past that we can appreciate the present”  added Minister Deenihan.

Minister Deenihan then presented Professor Eogan with a replica of the basin stone found in the tomb as a memento of his lifetime work at the site. The Minister remarked that Professor Eogan, who first discovered the passage tomb in 1968, ‘was probably the first person to see the chamber and the decorated stone basin since the 10^th Century.’

  

The Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre, operated by the Office of Public Works, is open all year round, with access to Knowth available seven days a week from April to October.

The Archaeology of Knowth in the First and Second Millennium AD, is published by the Royal Irish Academy and can be purchased via their website -  www.ria.ie.

Free summer solstice event at Beaghmore stone circles

Astronomers from the Armagh Observatory and the Irish Astronomical Association (IAA), and archaeologists from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), are joining forces on Thursday 21st June, the summer solstice (BST), for a day of fascinating and participative education and learning activities at Beaghmore Stone Circles, County Tyrone. The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year, and this year’s event follows the highly successful series of activities provided at this important Bronze-Age site last January as part of the BBC’s “Stargazing LIVE” programme.

Beaghmore Stone Circles. Photo: © Steve Emerson

Everyone is welcome to this event, which will showcase not just the astronomical alignments that are built into the site but also its puzzling archaeology and how these bits of the jigsaw fit into our understanding of the physical and historic landscape surrounding the site’s construction more than 4,000 years ago. In the morning, several schools have been invited to participate in archaeological and astronomical activities between 10:30 and 14:00.

Children and their teachers will hear how the Bronze-age people who built the stone circles and rows might have lived and how they constructed the stone circles. The children will learn how to make a stone circle and have a go at making a clay pot. They will also learn about the stars, planets and Seasons, and why the summer solstice is the longest day of the year. The astronomers participating in this morning session are supporting a new education and public outreach programme called European Universe Awareness (EU-UNAWE). This programme, which involves scientists in five European countries and South Africa, is funded through the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement 263325. It is directed mainly at young and disadvantaged children with the important aim of using the beauty and grandeur of the Universe to encourage them to have an interest in science and technology and a sense of global citizenship from the earliest age.

In the long term, EU-UNAWE will help to produce the next generation of engineers and scientists and raise awareness that we are all part of a much larger global and space-based European community. Universe Awareness (UNAWE) was founded five years ago and is already active in more than 40 countries comprising a network of almost 500 astronomers, teachers and educators worldwide. Later in the day, from 16:00 to 20:00 this free event is open to adults and families. Here, they will have the opportunity to participate in astro-archaeological tours at 17:00 and 19:00, led by NIEA archaeologist Claire Foley and astronomer Mark Bailey, Director of Armagh Observatory. Weather permitting, visitors will also have a chance, courtesy of members of the Irish Astronomical Association, to obtain a safe view of the Sun through special astronomical telescopes and, under the supervision of NIEA archaeologists, to participate in a real research survey into the surrounding peat bog to see if further stones can be identified by “bog probing”.

 The Beaghmore Stone Circle complex, County Tyrone, is located roughly halfway between Cookstown and Omagh, close to An Creagán and approximately an hour’s drive from either Armagh or Belfast. It is one of the most important stone-circle sites on the island of Ireland and discovered less than a hundred years ago during peat cutting in the 1940s and 1950s. There are three pairs of open stone circles and a single in-filled one built of quite low stones, and each circle is associated with a double alignment or “stone row” pointing roughly in the direction of midsummer sunrise or midwinter sunset. The combination of circles and alignments at Beaghmore is matched at other sites in Northern Ireland, and many, but by no means all, appear to have been designed as pointers to parts of the horizon that saw the rising or setting of the Sun or Moon.

Total lunar eclipse no-show at Baltray: video

A total lunar eclipse rising out of the Irish Sea in the same position as Winter Solstice sunrise proved a tempting target for photographers and astronomers on June 15th 2011. However, typical Irish cloudy weather spoiled the show and the event was obscured. This did not deter those present from getting some nice photographs though.

Some scenes from the High Man Documentary

The High Man documentary is a half-hour film which was filmed over three days using borrowed equipment with no budget as a pilot for a possible bigger project. Music was composed by David Swan Montgomery, who was inspired by the story of the High Man, a giant warrior figure made up of roads in Ireland which has significant esoteric links with the ancient myths, monuments and placenames of the area in which it is located. The High Man was discovered by Richard Moore and Anthony Murphy and is documented in their popular book, 'Island of the Setting Sun - In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers'.

The film provides the briefest overview of the High Man and the underlying myths and monuments. It is our hope to make a much bigger film, perhaps for television or for DVD distribution, and we are currently seeking funds to make this happen.

http://www.mythicalireland.com

http://www.thehighman.com

Let beautiful words flow and let us be stirred greatly to strive for better things

I INVOKE THE SPIRIT OF AMERGIN . . . LET BEAUTIFUL WORDS FLOW AND LET US BE STIRRED GREATLY TO STRIVE FOR BETTER THINGS

I implore that we may regain the land of Erin,
We who have come over the lofty waves,
This land whose mountains are great and extensive,
Whose streams are clear and numerous,
Whose woods abound with various fruit,
Its rivers and waterfalls are large and beautiful,
Its lakes are broad and widely spread,
It abounds with fountains on elevated grounds!

Amergin, leader, poet and figurehead of the Milesians, who came to Ireland, according to myth, in the Bronze Age

TWO BOOKS

When I wrote ‘Island of the Setting Sun’ in 2006, I felt as if I had made an extraordinary trip through time, and that I had connected with a very ancient and profound wisdom. It stirred me so much that I felt as if I was weaving magic with every word that I wrote. On a spiritual and esoteric level, I had retreated into the dark chamber of Newgrange, I had seen a wonderful, brilliant light, I had reconnected with my ancestors, I had conversed with the gods, and I had emerged a changed man. I would like to share that magic with you in two new literary adventures.

I am telling you this in the hope that I can encourage someone to aid me in the publication of these works. I believe that both will have a particular resonance with people in these times of change and uncertainty. I believe that we all need to experience that solstice moment, that bright flash of divine and cosmic brilliance in the dark belly of the earth mound. We all need to re-emerge from the darkness, and reconnect with the deepest and most ancient things.

THE FLOOD AND THE FIRE

One book is provisionally titled, “The Flood and the Fire – the beginning and the end of the world in Irish myth and prophecy”. As the title suggests, this non-fiction work examines the history of humanity and its destiny from a uniquely Irish perspective. It begins by looking at Irish myths and folklore dealing with the supposed flood of Noah, the biblical deluge which was said to have almost obliterated mankind deep in prehistory. Is there evidence, in Ireland’s stories, placenames and written records, that could support the idea of an ancient inundation? As well as looking back, the book looks forward, specifically to the idea of Armageddon or a future apocalypse, and looks at Irish prophecy and legends dealing with the “end times”. Will we be destroyed by conflagration, as the Old Testament says? Is this supported by Irish myths and prophecy? Or will we be destroyed by a great flood which will devastate our ancient isle, as predicted by an Irish saint? And who is the mysterious monk, who chose the location of one of Ireland’s largest monasteries (Mellifont), who predicted the future popes, a prediction which says the current Pope, Benedict XVI, is the second-last Pope? What is the origin of the tale of a strange island in the Atlantic which is said to appear once every seven years? Why is there an abundance of stories in Irish folklore about drowned and sunken cities? And did an ancient Irish druid foresee a nuclear explosion in a terrifying vision? The Flood and the Fire will run to about 80,000 words.

LAND OF THE EVER LIVING ONES

The other book is a novel, called “Land of the Ever Living Ones”, which is a profound and deeply stirring dialogue between a reclusive elder who lives on top of a hill, and a young boy from a nearby village, set in Iron Age Ireland. After encountering the elder on a summer afternoon, the boy becomes captivated by his apparent wisdom. Together, they explore, in moving conversation, many themes which are at the root of humanity and all its beauties and all its tragedies. From their own unique perspectives, the elder and the youngster discuss much of what is eternally mysterious to the human race - where we came from, why we are here, and where we go following death. The dialogue takes the form of simple conversation between two very different, yet two very similar, personalities. One is a wise elder who has lived in solitude on a hilltop for twenty years, choosing a lonely life over the community existence which is cherished by ordinary folk in fragile times. The other is a 12-year-old boy, who lives in a village beneath the great hill. This extraordinary boy shows wisdom and knowledge way beyond his tender years, and the two form a great bond as they journey through some of the great events and happenings of Ireland's remote past - and thus they also discuss the fate of the world and man's place in it in a profound and deeply moving dialogue. Their adventure takes them from the time of the great flood - when everyone was said to have perished in Ireland except one man called Fintan (ironically having the same first name as the young boy, whose name is also Fintan) - through the great stone monuments and wonderful and often magical stories of ancient Ireland, through into the future, of which the elder has had vivid visions during his lonely pilgrimage on the hilltop. The old man teaches the boy about the sacredness of land and nature and animals, and bestows upon him knowledge of the sun, moon and stars, and helps to unravel some of the mystery surrounding death. He discusses the otherworld, the paradise beyond the comprehension of living people, the wonderful place where people go when their earthly life is fulfilled. Gradually it dawns on the boy that he has a very unique fate in the world, and the elder is no ordinary old man. This book will explore themes which I feel will resonate on a profound level with people in today’s troubled world. It will run to about 100,000 words or so.

ABOUT ME

I am a 37-year-old newspaper editor living in Ireland. I have been writing all my life, or pretty much all of it. Ever since I could hold a pencil I was writing. As a kid I was a day dreamer, with my head in the clouds and among the stars, but always with a pen and paper or a typewriter somewhere near at hand. I started writing professionally for newspapers when I was in my teens, and have worked in publishing and journalism now full-time for 18 years. I am the author of a beautiful book about ancient Ireland, along with my good friend Richard Moore, called ‘Island of the Setting Sun – In Search of Ireland’s ancient Astronomers’. This book has been widely acclaimed, and went to second edition after the first edition sold out in a year. I believe I am more than qualified to write more beautiful books, and would dearly love to share some extraordinary literary creations with willing readers. Have a look at what some people have said about Island of the Setting Sun:

Island of the Setting Sun
....is a gentle eye-opener of a rare kind!
What an amazing adventure it is to read this precious book! – Amazon reviewer

A monument – Drogheda Independent

A beautifully written and illustrated publication – Geraldine & Matthew Stout, authors of Newgrange.

A fascinating insight into Ireland’s ancient burial sites – Irish Independent

CONTACT

I am looking for willing partners in bringing these books to the market, whether it be through print, or digitally, or (preferably) both. I have three chapters of each book completed and can supply a synopsis and a chapter plan for both. I have a number of websites, the most successful of which, www.mythicalireland.com, continues to attract 1,500 visitors EVERY DAY and would be an ideal marketing and promotional vehicle for both books. Plus I have extensive media contacts who could help me with reviews and articles about these books. If you’re interested in helping me to publish these exciting new works, I can be contacted by email at mythicalireland@eircom.net or by phone on 00353 (0)89 4392417. I look forward to hearing from you and to the beginning of a great adventure.

The High Man and the seventh angel of Revelation Chapter 10

I've just been on the phone to Richard for an hour and 20 minutes. We had one of those very deep and winding conversations in which we opened up various avenues of research and discussion. We are both fascinated by apparent connections between the High Man and biblical passages. In particular, we are focusing right now on Revelation Chapter 10, and the seventh angel. I will here try to give you a summary of our thoughts on the synchronicity of the High Man and Revelation stories. (Note: I am using the KJV bible here, but we are not strictly limited to any particular version right now).

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven - mighty being big, and from heaven might relate to the mighty Orion constellation - in Irish myth this could be Amergin, the gigantic sword-wielding champion, or Cúchulainn, the "huge, high hero, vast as a Fomorian giant".

clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow were on his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: the Tuatha Dé Danann came from the sky from a cloud; Lugh (Orion) had a rainbow about his shoulders; Lugh was described as having the countenance of the sun and indeed Orion appears to "carry" the sun in his upraised arm as the sun crosses the Milky Way / sky river.

And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, - Amergin/Orion appears to place one foot on the shore of the river Eridanus. In Irish myth Amergin planted one foot on the shore of the Boyne when he chanted his famous poem. Cúchulainn fights best in shallow ford water.

And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, - this is like a description of Orion, one foot in the water, one on the earth, with one arm upraised, as if to catch the sun.

And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: - a principal premise of the High Man story is that a significant cosmic moment will mark the end of this world and the beginning of the next, at which time according to folklore all the Tuatha Dé Danann and Garrett's sleeping army will come thronging from the sidhe/mounds to fight against evil to bring Ireland to glory in the final battle. Central to this event is the spectacle of Orion holding the sun in his upraised arm - at which time the sun will also be in the middle of the Milky Way/sky river - on the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. This significant cosmic event is happening in the current epoch. This year, and for a number of years, the Summer Solstice sun will be in Orion's hand. This happens for a relatively short period of time (maybe 50 years of summer solstices) in a total timescale of 26,000 years which it takes the sun's solstice position to make one entire track around the zodiac. The imagery is stark. The giant god-like, man-like, warrior-like constellation Orion grabs the sun when it is at its strongest point at summer solstice. But it happens for a brief period of solstices once in a 26,000-year cycle. At this point the cycle of time is seen to end, and a new cycle begins. This is the longest cycle - precession - "there should be time no longer".

On June 21st this year, imagine you are looking at the sun high up in the sky in the middle of the day. Imagine there was suddenly a total eclipse of the sun, and you could see the background stars as if it were dark. At that moment, you would see that the sun is sitting in the upraised hand of Orion, in the middle of the Milky Way / cosmic river. What more significant cosmic symbolism could we envisage to mark the end of a great cycle of time, and the beginning of a new one? (Reference also the many stories in Irish myth about cattle (moon/planets) crossing a river, of the woman at the ford, of the great battles in ford water).

More thoughts as they develop. For those unfamiliar with the High Man theory, the single best place to learn what it's all about is in our book 'Island of the Setting Sun - In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers'. Chapter 12, the concluding chapter (12 zodiac signs, coincidence? concluding chapter, coincidence?) is all about The High Man. It's a very esoteric exploration of a deep cosmic idea which envisages this singular heavenly occurrence as a sign that the huge cycle of time (precession) is reaching an end/beginning. And perhaps humanity is coming to an end/beginning also . . .