Off your head.

[Mick Harper]

An interesting thread this month on the Mysteries Forum over on the Megalithic Portal, called Folklore Around Ancient Sites.
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Forum&file=viewtopic&topic=5688&forum=4

[Boreades]

The tin in Tintagel refers to tin and t'agel refers to the angel...

Sorry Mick.

Tintagel (tint-a-gel) means: It isn't a colloid in which the disperse phase has combined with the dispersion medium to produce a semisolid material.

Tint = It isn't = Excellent!

Which reminds me of a story... I was on a bus going past Tintern Abbey, and a couple of old dears with good Birmingham accents were yakking away in front of me. They'd been blithering on about this and that, until one of them said, "Oh, look at at that old Abbey! Oh, I wish I could remember what the Abbey was called!". Trying to be polite, I lent forward and said "Tintern Abbey". She look round at me, and in an afronted tone of voice said "Tis"!

How did Tintern Abbey get its name?

[Boreades]

All of this "life after decapitation" stuff... brings to mind the very Megalithic practice of coppicing.

Maybe.
Let's put it another way.
You have the limping, wounding, killing through the ankle, knee thigh heel etc. Achilles, Fisher King, Jesus and Arthur in some variants.
Then you have decapitation through beheading.
The Dionysian/Dennis Green man cult is the latter.

Yes, all the Green Man stuff is all clearly about natural cycles of death and rebirth. Heroes have to die so they can be reborn (like so much in nature). So Green Men are much loved by our Druid cousins. In my part of Wiltshire, there's plenty of Green Man references. The ancient path from Avebury over Marlborough Downs (where The Wessex Ridgeway crosses the Ridgeway Trail) is still called the Green Street.

Some Local Clergy and Christians in times past were not tuned-into the depth of meaning of the Green Man and life cycles. See the pulling-down of stones at Avebury. Unlike Dr Rowan Williams, previous Archbishop of Canterbury who is also an ordained Druid. Likewise my children's Baptism Vicar who is happily married to the Chaplain of the United Grand Lodge of England. (Oh what a name dropper I am)

[Mick Harper]

I once had a drink with that Boreades bloke.

[spiral]

I prefer simpler explanations. The tin in Tintagel refers to tin and t'agel refers to the angel as in St Michael and All Angels. Tintagel will feature briefly in my Bracknell/Wokingham/Glastonbury talk on the grounds
................

I like simple solutions.

Trevena.

"Tre"s occur everywhere in Cornwall, it's also older, it's much more likely a Cornish type of name, Vena looks like Venus.

The number of "Pol"s pools in Cornwall placenames is telling me something as well.

[Mick Harper]

I am burningly interested in Venus Pools -- which are tidal rockpools big enough for lots of people to swim in -- and especially Cornish ones. I keep getting reports of one near Padstow. Can anyone confirm this and please send in examples of any others you know about anywhere in the world.

[Chad]

I like simple solutions.

Trevena.

Three Venuses?

[Boreades]

I am burningly interested in Venus Pools -- which are tidal rockpools big enough for lots of people to swim in -- and especially Cornish ones. I keep getting reports of one near Padstow. Can anyone confirm this and please send in examples of any others you know about anywhere in the world.

There are some good ones in Devon as well.

http://www.countryfile.com/countryside/ ... -rockpools

http://explorethecoast.org/pageresource ... kpools.pdf

[Chad]

Trevena = Venus tree

An old name for Achilles’ favourite herb, yarrow… used since Megalithic times as an anti-inflammatory and coagulant to stem blood flow... and in love potions.

http://www.gardensablaze.com/HerbYarrowMag.htm

[Mick Harper]

There are some good ones in Devon as well.

Let us take these in order. It is not clear whether Wembury is a true Megalithic Venus Pool, as defined within the Act, it kinda looks like one but doesn't look like one:



However, two things are in its favour. It's right next to Burgh Island (and its Mermaid Venus Pool) and it seems to be right next to the Great Mewstone which, as this picture shows, also lines up with a feature on the horizon:



So prolly this is all part of the Megalithic geography of Plymouth Sound.