of Egypt.
BRT:5:6 They moaned pitifully, like oxen awaiting the slaughter, and their children were murdered before their eyes. They were raised up by throngs on the wrists, their feet pressing on thorns or on heated plates, or over small fires. Many were thrown into prisons to die of hunger, thirst and cold. BRT:5:7 In the days when the Druthin looked darkly on the enlightened ones, the Hammer of God said to the king, "It is in the nature of people placed such as we to fear those who wield the weapons, but we have One who is more to be feared than you, and He is One to whom I look up. I stand
in awe of The Great One who is strong enough to overlook your present power, but who will surely call you to account in the life to come." The king said, "Where is your temple?" The reply was, "A true servant of God has no need of a temple built of wood and stone."
BRT:5:8 It was to tell of such things that the Anointed One came, to awake sleeping men drunk with the heavy droughts of sensuality and lewdness. He came to open the eyes of men to their carnal degradation, which corrupts their spiritual natures. He came to open their eyes to their divine
destiny and to show them the hidden sparks of divinity captive and suffering
in the carnal natures of apathetic men.
BRT:5:9 There are those who prefer the dregs of darkness to the living power of light, which flows from Jesus, Son of Dewi, Sap of the Trees, Sweetness of the Fruits and Perfume of the flowers, Bread of Heaven and Shepherd of Souls. He is the River of Sweet Waters arising at the Spring of
Truth.
BRT:5:10 I am an unworthy one in the telling of these tales. Great Inspirer, give me a ray of inspiration to raise my voice, as it were, from the mystic cauldron, sister vessel to the ice-clear chalice. I will lay the dowry of the mystic maid at the feet of the discriminating ones. The smoothness of my lay flows from the bubbling brew from out of the great cauldron. I am one of God's inspired and not numbered among mere poets yapping at the heels of
high-browed bards.
BRT:5:11 I am not one aspiring to the noble chair, whose words must be proved by privilege and truth. Where are the grave, high-browed druids of the past and the wonder-making bards? Those who thrive today cannot rise to the
sky heights of song, even though their melody-making wings ache with fluttering. They are like the food pot placidly bubbling over the red greying
coals.
BRT:5:12 O Comforter of the comely tribes, welcome me into the lush dominions of field and forest. O Champion of the thrusting sharp spear, hear my petition thrown out into the three-circled expanses of power. Let us feast
at the overflowing cauldrons of peace and let us, your people, sleep in the downy, heather-scented beds of tranquillity. Protect the holy sanctuary of the blue-gowned bards where valour is honoured and chastity cherished. The
raging assailants, protectors of slothful ways, labourers of concealed mysteries, surround us. We call on the guardian bulwark of celestial power to
become the smasher of shields.
BRT:5:13 How straightly comfortable a scribe am I, who reconciles the mystic daughter with the lowly mother! Who places the crystal-clear chalice beside the blood-filled golden cup! Who combines the divine circle with the eternal cross and the sorrowful son with the triumphant fighting father!
BRT:5:14 In the beginning, only the Absolute existed in the firmament, called Nuvrie by the Britons and Kewgant by the Welsh of the west. The Spirit of Life spread outwards from the hub to form Gwinvidon, the region of light and the circle of spirituality. This opened out to Anton, which is the circle of germinal existence, at the inner edge of which was the circle of corporeality. This spread out to Abred, which is the material plane and the
circle of trial, testing and tribulation. It is a place of experiment and experience for gaining knowledge, wisdom and spirituality. Below this is Anoon, the sea of souls. Here is the lake of unspecialised soul stuff, which is forged and fashioned in Abred and perfected in Gwinvidon. In Abred was the Garden of Karahemish, through which flowed the river Nara. Here dwelt Keili and Kithwin. Here were born Derwiddon, the first of the Druthin, Gwinidendon who composed the first song, and Tydain who was the first
bard.
BRT:5:15 It is said that there were two classes of druids: the Dryones who were masters of medicine and divination, and the Druthin who were superior and gifted with twinsight and magic. The first had their seat at Abri, while the Druthin had their seat at Innisavalon, the island of indestructible
apples.
BRT:5:16 The druids believed in the One Supreme Being, but also held that there was a body of lesser Beings. They believed in a fairyland of Nature Spirits, which manifested to mortals. All happenings were motivated by an interplay of unseen rays from The Source. Therefore, the running of a hare, flight of birds, fall of leaves, patterns in sand, the sound of waters, were
meaningful.
BRT:5:17 Their seven deadly sins were: hypocrisy, theft, cowardice, fornication, gluttony, indolence and extortion. Above all precepts were the three manly qualities: honour, courage and manliness, and the three womanly
qualities of decency, decorum and chastity. There were female temple attendants, but no female druids. The druids who taught were called Nemids. There were Waiths who knew the secrets of Nature, and these would not eat birds. Once every three years there was a firewalking.
BRT:5:18 Under the great night reflector, only four animals appear as ghosts: the dog, cat, horse and hare. The ghosts of these could be forewarners of the crack of doom. Will-o-the-wisps haunt the marshlands, but few are enlivened by ansis. Nick-o-the-nights haunt the stony places and fells.
BRT:5:19 Joseph Idewin and his brave band came to flowering Britain three years after the death of Jesus. He converted Gladys, sister of Caradew, who married a Roman, and her sister Aigra who was the wife of Salog, lord of Karsalog. After landing, he and his band passed through an avenue of oaks and standing stones. They first built huts over against the holy vineyard where the fruits were bitter. BRT:5:20 After all the saints had gone to their rest, the first church and its surroundings became a wild place, a refuge for wild creatures. Then, as the land remained holy, saints came from Gaul, who restored it, and one was Fairgas the Briton, who had served at this place as a youth. Idewin was buried in a shirt of fine linen, which he had worn when burying Jesus, and which was stained with three spots of blood on the chest. He was buried by the two-forked cross. The saints had lived in twelve huts around a never
diminishing well at the foot of the holy hill. BRT:5:21 Joseph Idewin was related to Avalek, whose kingdom bordered that of Arviragus, through Anna the Unfaithful. He converted Claudia Rufina,