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Melkin's Prophecy V
by Steve Goodwin
On to Chapters 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Bibliography | Back to Chapters 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
o far I have attempted to make sense of this enigmatic passage by comparing it with a selection of Classical and Medieval sources. Though this has offered some similar point of reference, which corresponds with the geography of N.E Wales, the passage can also be read far more simply. That is; the first part “The Isle of Avalon”, is setting the scene with the place in question being Avalon/Afallach, located high on upper slopes of Halkyn Mountain, Flintshire. The mid-section of the passage clearly suggest that the area around Afallach was in the past a pagan burial site, which again corresponds with the landscape in question that is peppered with ‘pagan’ burial mounds. The “chanting spheres of prophecy” aspect corresponds to the ‘Perpetual Harmony’ monastic sites of Afallach, Bangor and Caradawg (A,B,C?). Whilst the mid-section looks to Afallach’s pagan past, the final line looks towards a ‘Christian’ future, or rather, a future that is dominated by those who “praise the Most High” God. This represents the God of the Jews, Christians and Muslims.In essence, the prophecy states that in the past Afallach was a ritual pagan/druidic burial site, which later became dominated by Christianity. And this pattern is mirrored in the landscape in question through what is call ‘layered development’ where an earlier religious site is claimed and built-on and re-used by the new religion.
Evidence of this practice can be found in a letter from Pope Gregory to Abbot Mellitius (dated to 601 AD) asking him to help Augustine with the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons:
“We wish you to inform him that we have been giving careful thought to affairs of the English, and have come to the conclusion that the temples of the idols among that people
should on no account be destroyed. The idols are to be destroyed, but the temples themselves are to be aspersed with holy water, alters set up in them, and relics deposited there. For if these temples are well-built, they must be purified from the worship of demons and dedicated to the service of the true God. In this way, we hope that the people,
seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may abandon their error and, flocking more
readily to their accustomed resorts, may come to know and adore the true God.” (Bede/Leo Shirley-Price; 1955; p. 92)
This practice of sweeping away the old religion and possessing the sacred and culturally sensitive sites ensured the decline of the older/native religion. For Afallach this religious evolution may have occurred over several stages: Beaker Pagan – Celtic Pagan – Celtic Christian – Anglo/Roman Catholic – Norman/Roman Catholic.
The next line of the prophecy states that: “Abbadare, mighty in saphat, noblest of pagans, has fallen on sleep with 104,000 others".
Their have been numerous attempts to connect this line to the 12th century Templar stronghold of Safad in the Holy Land. However, there is an alternative explanation. Abbadare is derived from two words; Abba and dare. Abba is an early Aramaic word meaning ‘Father’ it was retained in the Greek translations of Bible and was used to denote ‘God the Father’. Dare means Oak or ‘an Oak’ and is found in Irish as Daire and Welsh as Dar/derw. It is found in place-names in Britain and Ireland as Daresbury, Aberdare and Kildare (place of the oak)it is also cognate with the Greek word drus and the word druid.
So, Abbadare may mean Father Oak. Who or what was Father-Oak? Maximus of Tyre, writing in the 2nd century AD, states that the Celtic’s worshipped their equivalence of Zeus in the image of a high oak. Here Maximus is describing the Celtic pagan ‘father of the gods’ who is in turn venerated in the form of an oak. Here P.B Ellis, commenting from an Irish perspective, makes the case; “I would argue that The Dagda is portrayed more often than Donn or Bile as the ‘father of the gods’. And I would argue that this is also significant because The Dagda is Danu’s son by Bile. Therefore Danu still takes precedence as the primary source of life. As the sacred ‘water of Heaven’ , Danu waters the oak, which was Bile the male fertility symbol, and gave birth to The Dagda, ‘the good god’ who father the rest of the gods. What makes me link Bile with the oak? Because Bile is the Old Irish word for a sacred tree which also denotes a ‘noble warrior’. (Ellis; 1994; p.122)
Bile is the Irish form of the Latin Bel/Bellus and its Welsh form Beli . In some text Beli is known as the ‘father of the gods and man’ and husband to Danu (Irish) or Don the Welsh form of the ‘mother goddess’. Beli the fertility god was venerated throughout Celtic Europe as the god of both life and death, and survives in modern English in Beltane (old name for May 1st) and place-names such as Billingsgate ( Beli’s gate). As mentioned earlier, Beli is also found in the early Welsh genealogies as Afallach ab/ap Beli Mawr or Afallach son of Great Beli. Beli and his son Afallach are the first two names of the Powys and Gwynedd royal family tree and are portrayed as ancestor deities used to legitimise their royal claim to power.
If we return to Ellis’ (1994) statement we find that Don/Danu, the fertility mother goddess, who is symbolised as the sacred ‘waters of Heaven’ waters the oak. The oak is the male fertility symbol known as Beli/Bile. As a result of this symbolic fertility rite the divine son is born who is also the ‘father of the gods’, a title also used by his father. This is due to the fact that they are two aspects [(old) Bran and (new) Beli] of the same god, in its Roman form it equates to Jupiter (new) and Saturn (old) and in its Greek form equates to Zeus (new) and Cronos (old). They symbolised the old and new god, the old and the new king, and also 2 Mabons the sons and husbands of the Great Mother Goddess.
This Celtic creation myth is echoed in many other faiths across the world, in the poetry of Ovid (34 BC-AD 17) we find that the first humans are dropped from the sacred tree by Jupiter and given acorn to sustain them. Similar elements can be observed in the Adam and Eve creation myth with the tree, the ‘forbidden fruit’ and where Eve is the first and only woman. Again there are elements of a mother goddess creation myth that has been distorted to fit a patriarchal religious movement. Other references to sacred trees of both life and knowledge occur within Hindu and Buddhist scriptures as abodes of the divine.
So far we have gleaned that Abbadare is Beli the father and Don is the mother of Afallach/Aballac. Also that Afallach can be read as a title, son of Beli, or as a place-name, place of apples or Isle of apples. This view is verified by etymology, classical and early medieval texts, Welsh genealogies and most importantly the landscape of N.E Wales where, within a couple of miles from Afallach, there is an ancient burial site attributed to a ‘Beli’.
The line continues “mighty in saphat”. As mentioned above the word saphat has been linked with the Templar fortress of Safad in the ‘Holy land’. This suggestion does not fit the line of inquiry offered by the above theories so far, however, there is an interesting local Templar tradition that will be covered later. A far simpler explanation is that saphat is a cropped form of the word ‘Josaphat’ or ‘Jehosaphat’. In the Old Testament ‘Josaphat’ is the name of the Biblical king and is also place where God is to judge the Jews, Christians and the Muslims on the final day. The valley of Josaphat has been equated to a site outside Jerusalem, however, this is a tradition that can be traced to the 4th century when eminent early Christians tried to identify biblical sites. I equate saphat with the word judgement, as any biblical dictionary points out that Josaphat/Jehosaphat is the Latinised form of the Hebrew for ‘Gods Judgement’; (Jo)saphat and (Jeho)saphat. Therefore, as the phase Josaphat is used further on in the prophecy to denote ‘Gods final Judgement’ in this context the prophecy’s author (Melkin ?) uses saphat with the implied meaning being ‘judgement’. This explanation also fits in the context of the line; ‘potens in saphat’ (latin), potens translates as mighty or powerful, so we have the line; ‘mighty/powerful in judgement’.
Before we move on there is need for a slight diversion which will help to fill in some gaps in the story. As stated earlier, the man who distorted the early Welsh tales for his noble patrons and was later rewarded by being elevated to bishop of the region where the tales originated was Geoffrey of Monmouth. Geoffrey’s great work, ’The History of the Kings of Britain’ (c.1136), fixed the view of the mythical Avalon for the centuries to come. As Geoffrey was a key figure in the myth making process his text has been studied by many eminent scholars. Close scrutiny of the texts reveal Geoffrey’s width of reading and the models used to structure his History and this was Chronicles and Kings of the Old Testament. Geoffrey’s reward was to be consecrated as a priest and then a bishop within 8 days and invested in a newly created bishopric of north-east Wales using the title Bishop of St. Asaph.
Later historians and the diocese have reinforced the idea that Asaph is the same person as Asa, one of the local Celtic saints who is connected with many wells and churches around north-east Wales. As with many Celtic saints, their names where drawn from the Old Testament. In this case the biblical figure was King Asa of Judah (913-873 BC) who’s name translates as ‘Mytle’(medicinal plant) or ‘Healer’, his name is also found in the genealogy found at the beginning of Matthews Gospel as a descendant of Jesus in the line of David. It is of interest that in David Randall’s book The Search for Old Wirral the name Wirral is said to derive from (O.E) wir meaning myrtle and heal meaning corner or angle. Also he adds that before this, the Britons called the region Kilgwry/Cilgwri.
On to part VI
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