We live in a world, that has been built on the foundations of Christianity. The bible is the corner stone of what we call western civilisation, and it has over many hundreds of years, influenced politics, law, and education. The whole fabric of the society we now live in, is based on Christian values, and in the last two hundred years, that has been propped up by science. I find it fascinating that if something is not supported by the church, or backed up with proven science, it is disapproved of, ridiculed and made fun of as superstition. I suppose superstitions all have their origins, and would more than likely be based in some fact, be it a small one. I have come to the understanding, that those who are unsure, or uncertain, dismiss what they do not understand, which is certainly the point of view of the establishment. Yet, to the surprise of many, there are a great deal of people who believe in what the modern world dismisses as nothing more than mere superstition.

All of my life I have encountered things which did not make sense to me, and so I questioned them. I have had a few long conversations within my past with local vicars, who to a degree did not appear happy with the questions I asked them. As a young boy I once asked a vicar how do you know, can I see the proof? To a degree his response was what science and modern society do today, I was asked to leave, rather than be spoken to in a way that would help me understand, I was bluntly told, that it was true and I should not question the power of the almighty. I suppose thinking back to my 12 years old self, I am still curious, and given the chance, I would probably ask the same question, even at my age now of 58, although through that experience, I have learned in my life to not bend to dogma and blind belief.

One area of life I became very involved with in my late teens to early thirties, was what I refer to as the faith of the Earth, more commonly acquainted to, as Pagan. In many ways over time, my spiritual beliefs have merged with spirituality, science, nature and my love of history, especially Celt tradition. Looking back at that time in my life, and knowing the pyramids and Stonehenge were both older than Christianity, it was clear to me that before the Romans came to our shores with word of the Christian god, there was a belief in something else, and I was curious as to what.

Since that time, my curiosity has led me to many books, lectures, museums and visits to sacred sites, and always with the burning desire to learn more about our time before the days of the crucifix. I am not knocking Christianity, I have no issue with any person’s personal beliefs, I will defend anyone’s right to hold a spiritual belief, as I know it gives them hope for something beyond the veil we know as death. I hope they are right; I hope they get what they are looking for and bask in the paradise of their belief, we all need to hold something close to our hearts. For me personally, and coupled with my love and adoration of the natural world, I have pondered for a great many years those natural feelings we get, when placed in certain situations.

It is reported that long ago we had many other senses, call them survival skills, or even fight or flight responses, my point being, that within us is a natural sense of something other than our normal modern sense of self, especially when we feel, we are in a sacred space. I adore churches and cathedrals, not because they are places of worship devoted to a Christian god, it is more a feeling of peace, a feeling of safety and reassurance that I get when I walk within them. There is something quite wonderful about sitting quietly in an empty country church, which is something I have done a great deal in my life. I love stained glass windows, the gothic architecture, and the smell of the old polished pews. I am not remotely Christian, and yet I find them places of comfort, a shelter from the storms and chaos of modern life, where I can sit quietly alone, and reflect on the world around me. It is something I wrote into my character of Abigail, in my book Abigail’s Summer.

I get the same sense sat in stone circles, or in sacred glades and places devoted to pagan belief. I absolutely believe in the power of a woodland to ease the soul and calm the spirit, I have felt the power of other forces sat beside a quiet river or stream, and visited places of great lakes that are deemed to be sacred, such as Bala in north Wales. I understand how in Japan, a doctor will write you a prescription for ‘Forest Bathing,’ as a means of helping relieve the life of a stressed out person, something I agree with, and have done many times alone in my youth as I dealt with harsh issues. According to Christianity and science, it is not the place, it is my inner dialogue, and yet when I encountered the sacred tree at Glastonbury in my youth, and saw all the ribbons and silks that had been tied on it, I had to question, if science and Christianity are right, why do so many other people seek out these places, and feel as I do, in their presence?

I once knew a Druid who spoke of the ‘Thin Places’ These were areas when he believed that the veil between worlds was thinner than others, and where a connection could be achieved that went beyond this world and into the next. These places are normally remote, hidden and filled with the abundant natural life of our green world. It is not unsimilar to the traditional pagan belief that on Samhain, the veil across the whole world thins, so we can commune with, and feel close to our lost ones for a short space of time. It is a belief that goes back thousands of years, and one adopted by the Romans, when they founded their belief in Christianity, so much so, that Halloween/Samhain, is referred to in their faith as ‘All hallows Eve’ a time to be close to those who have passed on, as we remember them.

Is there something to this belief in ‘Thin Places’? Science says not, it calls them superstition, and yet today, especially with the rise of Wicca, more and more people believe in these places, and the one sacred day where we can connect with those who came before us. Is science wrong, do we all have some lost gift of the past where we sensed more than we can today? It is something I cannot answer, and yet even Christianity included a version of it within their faith. What I can say is this.

I have stood at Stonehenge at dawn on the solstice, I walked around the stones at midsummer, and I have sat at Callanish and felt my surroundings, and I intend to again before I die. I personally felt a sense I have not felt in any church, or on a high street, or within my home for that matter, was it spiritual? For me, it was, would others perceive it that way? Of that I cannot answer, I can only speak for myself, and to say it had a profound effect on me. I have talked to many over the years about it, and the power of the land I felt rise up within me, was it simply the power of those stones, and the achievement of those who toiled to build them? It could be, but I do not think so. In many ways it is like that feeling you get in a crowd that someone is watching you, and so you look, and they are. We have no way of knowing why we felt that way, we just did, and it was proven to be a correct feeling, almost like it was yet another aspect of our hidden senses.

Have we lost something from our ancestors, something tied to life and death that helped them survive, and through which we have thrived as a race? Possibly, science says it is not possible, and yet I have felt it, and have no idea as to why, but I have experienced it. In many ways, these and other questions have slipped into the stories I write. In Heirs to the Kingdom, Sapphire feels the power of the stones at Callanish, so much so she makes it her home. Even Runestone remarks on the power that the land holds, and Gwendolyn uses the energy of the land around Carnac, to aid her abilities when making the swords of power. Opal sits in a sacred glade, set with a large stone table below her feet and turf, surrounded by a wide circle of trees of protection. In many ways, it is a temple built from the life of the natural world, almost a ring of life to protect her from death.

The Mabinogion which is the folklore of the Celts talks of many places that are sacred, such as rivers, lakes, and mountains, and it appears to me, that there has been a long held belief in some form of life after death, that predates Christianity, and I ponder as to if this was also where the Christian belief got it from, did they use it as it ran parallel to paganism? Like many of their festivals, is religion really a simplified rewriting of older tales, and do we all believe in the same thing but name it differently? I feel it is plausible, and is probably the one thing we all have in common, that need to explain the unknown.

Modern society hides from death, in many ways it feels like it is a subject that is hidden from sight, and one not easily spoken about. When a person dies, they are taken away by strangers and the body is taken care of in what is a relatively unknown process. In ages long gone, that was a task usually undertaken by the close families, but that is no longer a western practice. After that, in most cases all we see is a casket, be it wooden or basket, the person we know and recognise is gone never to be seen again, it feels almost like we must hide the dead and not talk about it. During the dark ages, we built stone enclosures to house the dead. In many ways I find it odd, that buildings of stone were built for those who died, whilst the living had not started to build their dwellings of stone. Bodies were placed on view, these enclosures of stone were not sealed, village and family members could enter to view the remains and say their farewells, or praise them for the achievements of their life, and promise to stay close to them in the thin places.

In the early times of man, and as reintroduced by florists during the era of Victoria, Violet became the symbol of loss, passing, and to the Celt, rebirth. The Celts believed in the circle of life, as reinforced by the circle of growing crops, every year the crops would rise again to feed them, and their spiritual beliefs followed the same model. We are born, we grow, we die, and are born again, it is no different for the Christian church. It appears as we have built up our society through Christian belief, in many ways we have stopped asking about the after life, because we have been instructed not to, and told that it will all be taken care of under the watchful eyes of our God. The Celts believed something different, they trusted in other realms, where the spirit that had departed the body, walked intact, again this is something I have stitched into the fabric of my series of books Heirs to the Kingdom. Other realms where we walk in the thin places, could these be the instances where people talk of Ghosts? Science says that is not true, but again, I ask the question, how do you know?

Does it really matter if you say soul, spirit or energy? If you think about it, all of us are saying similar things, it is actually the one thing we all have in common. Whether we realise or not, we all believe in the thin places, where we can communicate in feelings or spirit to those we love and have lost, after all, isn’t that what prayers are for? We talk to a person/spirit, who resides in the realm that our loved one have passed onto.

In the book Han’s Cottage, I write of a temple that is inhabited by the Nairn. It is an ancient place, something that was there long before they were, a place no one knows who built it. It is a series of stones circles with altars, a stone obelisk and a large stone table. The imagery for the story I based on Ilam in Yorkshire, a place known as the Druids Temple, although in truth, it was built in 1820 as a folly for an eccentric lord, who paid a Druid to live there as a hermit. It has a strange history and some strange tales, rituals have been carried out there, some by pagans, and there is even rumour of satanic rituals in the past. The stones used are ancient, you can tell by the lichens that grow on them, as Emily points out when she visits the Nairn temple in Han’s Cottage. People who have visited there, talk of a powerful feeling in the air, almost as if they are being watched, I pose the question, are these people feeling one of these thin places?

There is no science that would back up the theory of ‘Thin Places’ and yet millions believe in them. There are sacred sites all over the world where people visit on a regular basis, and leave offerings, or place rocks to show they have visited. There are quite few trees that have ribbons adored to them by the hundreds, all placed by people who believed there was more, something other worldly, another realm or a heaven like place. This is not new stuff, it has been around for thousands of years, and the belief in these places is as strong now as it has always been, and yet there is no rationale theory to prove their belief is real, just like the vicar who asked me to leave, he too struggled to give me something tangible to strengthen his case.

Recently I sat and watched the impressive pageantry that surrounded the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. There is no denying it was a spectacle of impressive tribute to the queen, but as I watched, something else occurred to me. I was fascinated as I watched the procession from Balmoral, then London and the lying in state, and finally the actual funeral, because what caught my attention the most, was the people. We hide death, it is an unspoken subject, usually rebuked with dismissive remarks, such as ‘Time heals all wounds.’ It is almost as if we fear it as a society, and do not want to be exposed to it, just in case it is catching. The Queens funeral saw an outpouring of grief, and it felt almost as if people felt a need to travel such distance to be close to the coffin, almost as if they were confronting death for the first time in their lives. They all walked silently past her coffin as she lay in state, almost with child like fascination, and I have to ask, did they have questions like I did that they wanted answering, which science to date has refused to show us the answers?

In Han’s Cottage, I have looked at all of this, and placed a staunch believer with a sceptic who believes in science, and I have pitted their beliefs against each other, and then presented them both with an explanation of what an afterlife could be. Shelly refers to it as energy and backs it up with the theories of physics to make it more palatable by Emily who is a scientist, but the truth be told, neither of them is prepared for what they discover, and that in a way is my point.

I do not fear death, and I honestly believe that neither should society, and yet it feels to me like as a collective we hide it and avoid it. I know a few people who will fall apart at the mere mention of it, and that has always fascinated me, because if I am honest, it is the one thing we can all do equally. There is no immortality, it is good for fantasy novels, but ultimately all of us will reach our end and pass on to something else, of which we do not know what. I feel it is that fear of the unknown that frightens people, maybe that too is a sense from our past. When we walk in a strange land, we are nervous because we do not know the terrain, so why not be equally as nervous in a different state or realm?

I truly believe that those who fear death, stop living, because they become so preoccupied with that final moment, they tie up their time in worry and negativity, and without realising, they lose their joy of life, which to me, is a precious and glorious gift, and one that should be embraced and sampled. It is not something we should so freely throw away as we become eaten up and disjointed over a problem we cannot solve, because no matter how you live, ultimately, we will all share the same fate.

We all believe in something, and it is that belief that gives us comfort, as to who is right and who is wrong, I think that is a pointless conversation, because ultimately, we will take our own private and personal belief with us.

Maybe that is a good thing, because then we will finally do have an answer, that will leave those we leave behind us with their own beliefs, which will give them comfort to guide them in their loss, and remembrance of us.

Han’s Cottage, has taken quite some time to write, and it is a mixture of theories and fantasy, but it does ask questions and pose answers which are open to the interpretation of the reader. It is a wonderful story if you simply want to escape, or a trail of possibilities for you to follow with your own beliefs. For me, it is my tribute to a remarkable person, who I had many conversations with about these very subjects, and like her, the story has a wonderful heart, and I hope you would feel you would like to read it.

As with all the books I write, if you enjoy it, do not be quiet about it. Authors needs talkers, so tell people, share your enjoyment, and look me up on social media and like, share, and comment on the posts I put up, so I can let others know if my books are enjoyed and loved. My thanks as always to those who support my writing, by reading, it is so deeply appreciated.

Heirs to the Kingdom, The Curio Chronicles, Rise of the Raven and Han’s Cottage by Robin John Morgan, are all available in print and digital formats, from all online book suppliers for purchase or download.