This book offers a new assessment of early Christianity in south-west Britain from the fourth to the tenth centuries, a rich period which includes the transition from Roman to native British to Saxon models of church. The book will be based on evidence from archaeological excavations, early texts and recent critical scholarship and cover Wessex, Devon and Cornwall. In the south-west, Wessex provides the greatest evidence of Roman Christianity. The fifth-century Dorset villas of Frampton and Hinton St Mary, with their complex baptistery mosaics, indicate the presence of sophisticated Christian house churches. The fact that these two Roman villas are only 15 miles apart suggests a network of small Christian communities in this region. The author uses evidence from St Patrick’s fifth-century ‘Confessions’ to describe how members of a villa house church lived. Wessex was slowly Christianised: in Gloucestershire, the pagan healing sanctuary at Chedworth provides evidence of later use as a Christian baptistery; at Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, a baptistery was dug into the mosaic floor of an imposing villa, which may by then have been owned by a bishop. In Somerset a number of recently excavated sites demonstrate the transition from a pagan temple to a Christian church. Beside the pagan temple at Lamyatt, later female burials suggest, unusually, a small monastic group of women. Wells cathedral grew beside the site of a Roman villa’s funeral chapel. In Street, a large oval enclosure indicates the probable site of a ‘Celtic’ monastery. Early Christian cemeteries have been excavated at Shepton Mallet and elsewhere. Lundy Island, off the Devon coast, provides evidence of a Celtic monastery, with its inscribed stones that commemorate early monks. At Exeter, a Saxon anthology includes numerous riddles, one of which describes in detail the production of an illuminated manuscript in a south-western monastery. Oliver Padel’s meticulous documentation of Cornish place-names has demonstrated that, of all the Celtic regions, Cornwall has by far the highest number of dedications to a single, otherwise unknown individual, typically consisting of a small church and a farm by the sea. These small monastic ‘cells’ have hitherto received little attention as a model of church in early British Christianity, and the latter part of the text focuses on various aspects of this model, as lived out in coastal and in upland settlements, on islands, and in relation to larger Breton monasteries. Study of 60 Breton sites has demonstrated possible connections between larger Breton monasteries and smaller Cornish cells.

The essential text and classic study of Neo-Paganism Since its original publication, Drawing Down the Moon continues to be the only detailed history of the burgeoning but still widely misunderstood Neo- Pagan subculture. Margot Adler attended ritual gatherings and interviewed a diverse, colorful gallery of people across the United States, people who find inspiration in ancient deities, nature, myth, even science fiction. In this edition, featuring an updated resource guide of newsletters, journals, books, groups, and festivals, Margot Adler takes a fascinating and honest look at the religious experiences, beliefs, and lifestyles of modern America's Pagan groups.

Concentrating on places that are identifiable and able to be visited today, the sources drawn on range from traditional folklore to modern first-hand sighting reports. The entries give precise locations, including Ordnance Survey map references. All the different types of Little People are represented. They are mostly not the pretty winged fairies that appear in children's picture books. Real fairies can be frightening. By reading these stories and travelling to the fairy sites, the reader will gain a sense of what it is to inhabit that Otherworld of the fairies. Book jacket.

This book takes the reader on an extraordinary journey. Using his skills as a dowser, the author explores the realm of Earth mysteries -- megaliths, ley-lines, barrows, beacon hills, and other ancient features -- and puts forward some startling, but nonetheless highly plausible ideas. He reveals a view of our world that links past and present, a world that hints at a magical technology linking people and place; a world whose energies could perhaps have been harnessed in the past to improve the quality of life. It is also a plea for us to rediscover the profound connection with place that our ancestors knew, and to begin to heal a relationship with land that has been badly ravaged by the values and assumptions of the modem world. "Needles of Stone" has long and rightly been considered a classic. With the addition of new chapters, this 30th Anniversary edition allows the author to bring the work up-to-date and gives him an opportunity to reflect on what has happened since the book was first written.

Graves presents a practical introduction to dowsing with the pendulum, with an emphasis on the thinking and interpretation skills needed to gain the greatest success from the practice.

In this fabulous exploration of the Cornish Celtic Otherworld, Cheryl Straffon shares stories, myths, and legends of supernatural beings such as fairies, piskies, mermaids, witches, giants, and other strange and wonderful creatures. These expertly told stories will help you transform your perspective on the traditional integration of spiritual energies so that even the mundane world will become more magical.

Introduces British and Irish goddesses and their locations.