Rosslyn Revealed

Mind, Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: Rosslyn Revealed - A Library in Stone by Alan Butler and John Ritchie, Hardback at £19.95 

Rosslyn Chapel is a most extraordinary building but so much is known about it already: I wondered what Alan Butler and John Ritche would be able to add to my knowledge. Alan Butler is a Templar expert and an astrologer, and he joined forces with a local expert on Rosslyn, John Ritchie to explore the chapel. 

After ten years of investigation they have made some fascinating discoveries. A small five-sided ‘light box’ inset into the Eastern window was designed to let the rays from the planets Venus and Mercury shine into the church. This has mystical significance and involved the exact alignment of the building. It also indicates that the building was an astronomical observatory, such as the stone circles that abound throughout Scotland. As the researchers pored over ancient archives, they discovered that the traveller and polymath, Sir Gilbert Haye, was in Scotland at the foundation of Rosslyn. The Sinclair family could have been the Santo Claro who came here to assist Wm of Normandy in 1066, being an ancient family line and allied to the Nordic royal families. Europea and several sculptures in the Chapel might prove their amazing sea journeys. Wm Sinclair, the third Earl, built Rosslyn Chapel to honour the faith of a very early Christian sect, the Ebionites, followers of John the Baptist. It is likely that the Sinclair family, the Cistercians and the Knights Templar were also dedicated to this Judeo-Christian sect that might have connections with the Champagne area of France. The first and second temples in Jerusalem were dedicated also at the September equinox - as was Rosslyn Chapel. Was the Chapel created for the Arthurian story of Gawain and the Green Knight? At the Last Supper, Jesus broke bread and drank wine. Was the death of Jesus far older stories of the Corn God, of Osiris, Mithras and Dionysus? 

Bernard of Clairvaux, from Troyes, founded the Knights Templar to include an honouring of John the Baptist. Troyes was an exceptional town, rich due to its Champagne Fairs, sheep rearing, networking with other major towns, Chretien the Grail poet, and the Templars. 

In the fifteenth century when the church was dedicated, Catholicism was undergoing a renaissance and was both lenient and liberal. There was however, the threat of another Inquisition of the type that persecuted the Templars to extinction. Rosslyn was built with covert symbolism to reflect the legend of St Matthew - that he planted his staff in the ground of Myrna and a Garden of Eden blossomed throughout the countryside. The Kabala, popular throughout many countries in Europe, is honoured in Rosslyn and within Freemasonry. There is a chapter on the Shekinah, woven within the fabric of this collegiate Chapel; oaths and ceremonies were undertaken here, and the secret brotherhood of Freemasonry was founded. Was it to protect the Ebionite faith and to demonstrate the magnificent arts and crafts of the stonemason? 

The Shekinah, as the Holy Spirit and a connection with Baphomet is explained, the cloning of Dolly the sheep and the double helix. Was a special planetary alignment taking place at the formation of Solomon’s Temple that connects with the date of the foundation stone laid at Rosslyn Chapel on 21st Sept 1456? Were John or Jesus born on such a conjunction?  

Yes, so much new material in this book to enjoy! Beautifully written too!
Also by Alan Butler
Sheep: http://mbsmagazin.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/sheep-by-alan-butler.html#.VJAyXNKsUbg

The Virgin and the Pentacle : http://wendystokesuk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/virgin-and-pentacle-alan-butler.html

The Goddess, the Grail and the Lodge : http://mbsmagazin.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/goddess-grail-and-lodge.html
and co-authored: Rosslyn Revisited : http://mbsmagazin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/rosslyn-chapel-book-review.html#.VI9JutKsUbg


Reviewer: Wendy Stokes https://wendystokes.co.uk