*
…The Clan of the Raven has withdrawn to the hills, to a high place in the sacred lands, nearer the centre.
Their fires are dead, their hearths are cold, the hilltop silent under the moon.
Others come.
Others not known to the Gods
Others who would abuse the knowledge and the power of this sacred place
…Their campfires burn beyond the far hill, a day’s sight from here, they herald both an ending and a beginning.
Within the walls of this highest place, where they have lived in peace, lie deep secrets.
Envy has brought the others.
They do not know as we know.
They are not ready to read the heart of the Land…
*
…The Clan withdrew, beyond sight.
The walls and palisade are stacked with oil-drenched wood.
The bowl shattered into a thousand shards.
The blade is broken.
The sacred flame extinguished.
Only the crackling blaze before them remains…
*
…The Lady of the Rowan Crown smiles encouragement and nods her head.
The girl-child, seeded with knowledge and Knowing gasps in smoky grief.
The Guardian passes her the flaming brand.
Blinded by tears, yet she smiles at those who stand beyond the flames, the two and the arc of those who remain with them, ghosts already in the twilit darkness.
She turns, supported by the Guardian and thrusts the brand into the tinder.
The flames crackle and leap, high, into the night sky…
*
Extract from, The Heart of Albion.
***
Heart of Albion – Stuart France & Sue Vincent
France & Vincent 
Beautiful and harrowing.
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Thanks, Audrey.
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It is interesting that in this tale, the words, “knowledge,” and “Knowing” show the Knowing capitalized, for it is indeed the word that is important here. Knowledge is achieved from observation and from listening, things we do with our senses, that may indeed not be perfect, as we learn sometime in life when we need glasses or perhaps hearing aids, and quite often, from the ego. There is a saying from Rockman telling Oblio, a little boy who is born without a pointed head like all the others in the town depicted in the film, “The Point.” “We see what we want to see, and hear what we want to hear.” It is the way most of us learn things. But Knowing is something more in the supernatural realm of things as is this story; it comes from faith in things unseen and perceived in the compass of the heart and a special place in the mind unbridled by the thing we call knowledge.
There is so much more in this ancient retelling of a time and a place in history. So much symbolism, and so much to Know. Thank you most kindly.
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Knowledge can be acquired by choice; you can change it by addition, reason and consideration. Knowing, in this sense, simply ‘is’. It comes unbidden and often unexpectedly. Faith is almost the wrong word to use in this context, though I am not sure we actually have a more accurate one. It is a certainty of heart and mind… even if you could never prove it to logic’s satisfaction 😉 x
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I LOVE this, Sue. Thank you kindly. I do know what you are saying, and I understand about the word Faith. I could not think of a different one, but I know things in the way you are speaking. There have been so many things in my life that I cannot provide proof for, but they did indeed happen exactly as you described it.
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Sometimes, you just don’t need words 😉
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Reblogged this on Stuart France.
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Very intriguing as always, Sue.
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