A Pilgrimage to the Sacred Isle Part 1
Hello, my fellow travellers of the old ways. It has been too long since I have put fingers to keyboard and updated my blog page. Although my Journey is continuing I just haven’t had the time to be able to sit down and write about it and for this I apologise.
I have been promising to write about my trip to Anglesey and share the wonders of this magical place with you all, I did add to the Facebook group as I was going along, this was only part of my journey of what I have now called “My Pilgrimage to the Sacred Isle”
The Journey Begins
This trip was a long time coming, it is a place I have always been drawn to but until recently never visited. I have been to North Wales so many times over the years, climbing and walking the wonderous Mountains of Snowdonia, bathing in the cool waters of Swallow Falls and camping in the beautiful landscape of this magical land, and although I have been close on many occasions I had never set foot on Anglesey.
As you will all know, if you follow my journey, I was destined to take up the Druid Path from a very early age, though it took me a while to realise this. The more I researched and studied my path the more I realised that I needed to visit Anglesey. This was the home of the Druids, their sacred land, their final stronghold. It was the place of their last stand as the Romans fought to remove them from existence. The only written evidence of this is by Tacitus, a Roman Historian, so probably somewhat biased, especially if you take into account that he was the Son-in-law of the Roman Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the general who led the assault. I have always thought this sounded a bit too farfetched for my liking and now I have visited the Island I believe it even less.
Anglesey – The Welsh name Ynys Môn, or the Isle of Mona, is a small island off the coast of North Wales, separated by the Menai Straits with only a bridge that joins the two together. Môn, is possibly a derivative of the Greek word monos- alone, left alone, standing alone possibly due to the fact that it is separated by sea from the main counties of North Wales as I have previously said. The English name “Anglesey” was assumed to be bestowed upon it after the battle of Llanvaes, where Egbert (a Saxon King circa 818-819) supposedly subdued Mona by proving himself victor over Merddyn and called it the Anglesey – The Isle of Angles (English). It assumed the title of Mon, mam Cymru in the 12th Century.
Well after that brief introduction lets move on. I started to study and research Anglesey about a year or so ago, my main point of research was trying to establish the details surrounding the last stand of the Druids, this proved to be a task in itself as there is very little information other than that produced by the Romans and even that was limited. What I managed to find out was that there were two attempts on the Druid island, the first, led by Suetonius Paulinus, failed due to uprisings in other parts of England, mainly the East Coast, commonly known as the Boudican Revolt and all Roman resources were pushed towards that. I think also, the only way at that time to get to Mona was by sea across the Menai Straits, this was a disadvantage to the Romans as they could be seen and so were easily noticed, they did successfully land on the Island but had to leave to deal with the revolt. Then came the second attempt, I think this also happened in the 1st Century and this left it under Roman rule until the end of the occupation of Britain in the 5th Century.
Crossing the Menai Strait, was not an easy task as had been proven before, despite its narrow width, the currents are quite dangerous. 1Tacitus says: "Suetonius Paulinus built flat-bottomed vessels to cope with the shallows, and uncertain depths of the sea. Thus the infantry crossed, while the cavalry followed by fording, or, where the water was deep, swam by the side of their horses."
As I have said before, Tacitus was a roman Historian so his accounts can be somewhat biased. The later invasion under Agricola took the natives by surprise because they had expected to see a fleet in plenty of time to gather for their defence of the island.
The landing was opposed by a mass of warriors, Druids, and women. Tacitus describes the scene: "On the shore stood the opposing army with its dense array of armed warriors, while between the ranks dashed women, in black attire like the Furies, with hair dishevelled, waving brands. All around, the Druids, lifting up their hands to heaven, and pouring forth dreadful imprecations, scared our soldiers by the unfamiliar sight, so that, as if their limbs were paralysed, they stood motionless, and exposed to wounds. “ It was very rare that Roman soldiers were described as scared to paralysis which only goes to show their reception must have been an unnatural experience even for these professional soldiers.
Nonetheless, the Romans rallied, and won a brutal victory over these people who they described as savages. Tacitus reports: "Then urged by their general's appeals and mutual encouragements not to quail before a troop of frenzied women, they bore the standards onwards, smote down all resistance, and wrapped the foe in the flames of his own brands. A force was next set over the conquered, and their groves, devoted to inhuman superstitions, were destroyed. They deemed it indeed a duty to cover their altars with the blood of captives and to consult their deities through human entrails." No sacred groves have been confirmed on Anglesey by archaeology, but late Iron Age ritual deposits have been found on the other side of Anglesey, in the small lake called Llyn Cerrig Bach.
There appears to be so many things described by Tacitus that leaves me guessing as to what actually happened. I don’t believe that all the Druids were killed off, and again this was never actually stated by him, only implications that they might have been. I agree it was a successful attack and occupation, however, there are far to many ambiguities to convince me fully. I have seen the remains of the roman villages whilst I was there so I cant deny they set up home there, but I don’t feel that it would have been an easy ride for them, I still think, my opinion, that there were some raids on the roman homesteads which made their stay on the island far from pleasant. I would believe that as I am a Druid, but deep in my heart when I was there I did feel a sense of overwhelming power from the land which leads me to believe my ancestors lived on, whether in the open or hidden from the Roman’s still practising their crafts.
The second invasion of Anglesey was undertaken by Agricola, by then the Roman Governor of Britannia, in late 77 CE. Tacitus' account of the invasion, as I have previously said, may have been over dramatized, especially because Tacitus was the husband of Agricola's daughter, and his reliability should therefore be carefully considered. However, his account is the only written record of the second invasion which again leaves me wondering why no other account of this was ever forthcoming.
Throughout all of my research into this event, I have come to the conclusion that Tacitus wrote things purely to keep his father-in-law Agricola happy. I will continue to research this as I find the whole thing incredible, I know the occupation happened of that there is no question, but it’s the finality of it all that I wonder about, its not easy to wipe out a whole culture (even for the Romans) and the fact that there were no other accounts leaves a seed of doubt in my mind. Druids were never ones to write anything down, I know that but I am sure that there were others who would have taken notes of any of these occurrences especially as they were so major in the history of the Welsh people, my ancestors.
This was all a bit heavy I guess, but my trip to Anglesey really opened my mind and it has inspired me to find out more. I might not like all the things I read but I will still read it as it is a very important part of my journey. Arriving on Anglesey I had an overwhelming sensation of coming home, which, to me only reinforces the fact that my path is the right one and my journey, although I can’t fully recall starts way before the life I am now living. I have gone through several stages in my life as you will know if you have read my previous blogs, but this is the only one that resonates within the very depths of my being.
I can understand now, not fully yet, how past visions and journeys through meditation, have lead me to where I am today and some of the things I have seen and recounted have a clearer meaning.
This just makes my beliefs stronger and my journey more important.
This concludes part one of my pilgrimage, in the next part I will share more about the places I visited and the things I had seen.
As Always I will end on a poem. This would have been the most appropriate page to share my poem about the Isle of Mona, but alas I have already shared this one so, I will share another one that I feel encapsulates what my Journey is like, its called “The River”
The River
Gently meandering
Passed rushes and reed
Flowing passed cattle
In fields where they feed
Flowing through woodland
A path unrehearsed
Filling the spaces
Where trees quench their thirst
Splashing on rocks
That beneath bridges lie
And reflecting the image
Of the birds as they fly
It cuts a new path
Round an old fallen tree
Changing directions
Which it didn’t foresee
Journeying onwards
through night and through day
not needing to rest
nor find places to stay
It flows passed the mountains
as the old Salmon plays
through deep grassy valleys
where the sheep stand and graze
it doesn’t have questions
as far as I know
not stopping to worry
not needing to slow
it knows where it’s going
and where it should be
its destiny reached
as it enters the sea
Take care my friends see you all again very soon I hope.
Blessed Be /|\