Born here at Tisbury in 1569, he was popular with both Queen Elizabeth and James I, and was appointed Lord Chief Justice shortly before his death. He was Speaker of the Irish Parliament and wrote a book on Ireland which is still in print. He sat for Corfe Castle in the English Parliament.
It is his remarkable poetry that I am chiefly interested in here. His collected poems are still in print in a very costly edition. Most good Elizabethan era anthologies will include a few pieces. His poetry is easy to read and graceful in its flow. His themes are cosmic and philosophical. His most widely known masterpiece is The Orchestra. The main theme of this poem is that the entire universe, in all its related parts, is a Divine expression of Dance. Love, channelled through the Graces, is the force and Will which vitalizes this Dance.
E.M.W. Tillyard, in his classic book, The Elizabethan World Picture, concludes with a chapter on this poem. He says that The Orchestra is ''the perfect epitome of the universe seen as dance...It is poetically one of the airiest and nimblest of Elizabethan poems, hovering with accomplished skill between the fantastic and the sublime.''
Davies sees Love as the Key:
Kind nature first doth cause all things to love; Love makes them dance and in just order move.
Davies mentions the Great Year, which is 6000 years long. In Biblical figures, this period is calculated to end in the autumn of 1997. The 7th great day of Peace begins then. Here we have yet another day to get Millennial over! We can thank the old English Bishop Usher for this calculation.
Love in the twinkling of your eyelids danceth, Love danceth in your pulses and your veins...
The Life-blood of the World flows through the major leys of this planet. All Earth Magick rituals performed at sacred sites need to heed the wisdom of Davies. Love for all Creation and the Creator is what Magickians need to dedicate their efforts to. Love flows through the Great Dragon Ley-Circles and we may aid in the increase of the potency of this Love-flow. Ley lines are an absolutely useless concept unless this Truth is constantly kept at the centre of your Will. The Dance of Gaia unites with your own movements when you place Love for All Beings at the Eternal Foundation of your Work. Pertinent to the Saturn-Neptune union which is at the root of the Grail-Glaston Wand-Shaston magick, is this couplet from The Orchestra:
He oft doth lay aside his three-forked mace, And with his arms the timorous earth embrace.
In Cabala, Neptune is at the summit of the masculine energy column and is most fully its own within the sign of Sagittarius. Those familiar with the Glastonbury Zodiac will recognize that this is the zodiacal sign for King Arthur. As Arthur has returned, his Will is now active. This Reborn Arthurian Will is symbolized by the Neptune Wand of Shaston. In the old legends, Arthur never quested the Grail. Now in this New Aeon, he has returned healed from Avalon and is the Grail Master Supreme. His Will is located in Shaftesbury. Through the proper understanding of the Byzant Ritual this Divine Will of Arthur may be directed in Great Ley-Channels in a Way that gives alchemical balance and greater Life to this planet. We are entering the Aeon of Immortal Androgyny. Those who look to the past Aeons of Matriarchy or the past Aeons of Patriarchy are blind to the Living Revelation of the Present. Now is the time for Perfection and Balance. Do not put off to a future Aeon that which Divine Will is creating here in the Beauty of this Now. The Projection of Global Perfection into some distant Future is only a sign that someone is not willing to Open in the Present to the Fullness of Divine Life. There is absolutely no reason for anyone to reject this Abundance of the Now. The Way of Receiving and Using this abundance is Clearly Defined for anyone who is devoted to Communion with the Living Spirit of Truth.
In ancient Greek and Roman myth, Neptune is seen as embracing the earth as a stream flowing in a great circle. This is just what we are in tune to in this new Aeon - the Great Dragon Ley-Flows embracing this earth. On the 17th August, 1987, these Great Dragons of Neptune were made to Dance more vigorously by many people gathered at the major earth chakras and Opening Gates of the New Jerusalem around the world.
In this Glaston-Shaston Magick, the Grail-Wand formula involves a union of Creative Will (Fire-Neptune in Sagittarius) with Love (Water-Grail). In Sir John's poem, he has Neptune embrace the Earth with Love. Here he is speaking of the union of Water with Earth. The power of Love (Water) to uplift earth (matter) is here proclaimed. True Love enters the Heart of Matter. Love has mastered every other realm in the past - now Love rises to the long prophesised final overcoming of entropy and physical death by this embracing of the earth. The planetary Grail uplifts this Earth and all Life unto the Summit of Divine Will - unto the Summit of Immortal Zion.
What about the element air? Davies hears the music of the spheres and calls it:
...dancing's only life, The ear's sole happiness, the air's best speech, Lodestone of fellowship, charming rod of strife, ...when the air doth dance her finest measure, Then art thou born, the god's and men's sweet pleasure.
What is the finest measure of the air? The air element is the mind. Excalibur is the supreme emblem of creative Mind. The finest measure of Creative Mind is the ability to transform each and every situation of Life into a greater union with the Fullness of Divine Will. Be an Alchemist of Thought. Regard each and every thought as the Christ Child. You are Mary - conceive every Christ Thought immaculately... Let every Thought be a perfect mating between you and the Divine... Such thoughts are Immortal and have an ability to make their own way throughout the Universe without any loss of intent, without any descent into the sin-realm of entropy... Davies states that Neptune's
... great crystal eye is always cast Up to the moon, and on her fixed fast; And as she danceth in her...sphere, So danceth he about the centre here. Again, Sir John is precise in his use of Cabalistic and Magickal knowledge. Gabriel is the Archangel of the Moon. The Moon is Yesod, the cabalistic sphere of Perfect Birth where one's highest Ideals and Dreams for this Earth may be immaculately brought into manifestation by uniting perfect form with Immortal Energy. Neptune is the Magus of Love united with Creative Will. Such a Magus should always keep a constant gaze upon the Magick Portal of Perfect Immortal Birth. This is the Secret of Christianity and is the Key to the birthing of the New Jerusalem. Behold, I make All things New! With this Immaculate Love we create endless Millenniums of Immortal Bliss!
Davies states that there are seven sacred movements of dance: Four ways, up and down, and circle round. From these seven the multiplicity of Life is Spawned...
The Three Graces are the channels that are used by Love to set the Creative Dance into Motions of harmony. Along with Flora, who I described in the Stourhead section, the Graces attend Venus, the Goddess of Love. The Three Graces initiate seekers into the awareness and use of the Divine Gifts of the Body and Mind. They also teach us to develop a constant state of Gratitude for the receiving of these Gifts. When we are constantly thankful, then the Harmony of Dance is Perfect. When we break our focus on receiving all phenomena with gratitude, then the Dance becomes less Graceful and we stumble and trip over each other. In society, Davies sees this Dance of Concord established when the Heart of every being is honoured:
The richest jewel in all the heavenly treasure, That ever yet unto the earth was shown, Is Perfect Concord, the only perfect pleasure... For many hearts it doth compound in one...
When the Divine True Will for Love and Greater Life is honoured within all beings then the Jewel of Concord becomes the central axis for the Dance of Global Peace and Perfection. Every Will is Unique. When this Divine Uniqueness is allowed to be freely expressed with Love from the Heart, then the Miracle appears - the sum of all this uniqueness Dances in perfect Harmony. Master thy True Will and, in the language of Davies, you shall become ''stellified'' or become a star and assume your perfect position in the Great Dance of the Heavens upon Earth. As a Voice for the Heart of Glaston-Shaston, the Eagle honours the individual hearts of every being on the planet. The Shaftesbury Eagle brings the Word and Way of ''perfect pleasure'' from the treasure-house of the Divine. The jewels of the Divine flood the earth when the Wand of Shaston is raised in Invocation. Let the raising of this Byzant be accomplished by many individuals! And may our Invocations be Perpetual so that the Waters of the Holy Grail nourish and liberate forever and ever! Now this Magick begins to Work at Shaftesbury - let every day and every year which follows be holy and ripe for the Invocations of Immortal Life, Light, Love, and Liberty at Shaston and throughout the Universe! Oh Let It Be! Oh Let It Be!
When we behold the Divine incarnate within all we experience, then our senses become ''lodestars of love.'' All our senses become the highest altars of the Divine where the Communion of Love may be freely given and received. Dedicate the totality of your Touch with all Creation to the absolute service of Divine Will. Do this, and the full Grace of the Grail fills to overflowing your Body Temple forever and ever... Immortal Communion is only received upon the Altar of Perfect and Consecrated Touch. May the Grail Radiance emanating from your Body Temple Resurrect all Life unto its Destiny of Infinite Joy here upon this Immortal Planet! The Sacred Earth-Gates of the New Jerusalem are now and forever Open!
Towards the close of The Orchestra, Sir John Davies offers a mighty Invocation to Urania, the Muse of Astronomy. He clearly feels, sees, and knows the Divine at Work throughout all Creation and prays that the Immortal Grail Waters of Heaven be given to him so that he can describe the Immortal Glory and share this vision in an effective way with others. Here is a part of his Invocation:
...come, Urania, prophetess divine! Come, Muse of heaven, my burning thirst allay! Even now for want of sacred drink I tine; In heavenly moisture dip this pen of mine, And let my mouth with nectar overflow, For I must more than mortal glory show!
It is interesting that Davies regards Urania as the most potent of the nine Muses. In Cabala, the planet Uranus corresponds to the 11th sphere of Daath. The quality that is invoked from Uranian Daath is the Living Spirit of Truth. This is precisely the quality that, when constantly invoked, illuminates the Way to the Mastery of the Grail. When Jesus withdrew from his public work in Palestine at the Ascension, he promised that the Living Spirit of Truth would be available forever. Call upon the Spirit of Truth to Illuminate your Divine True Will... This Spirit of Truth, everywhere present, is that creative aspect of the Divine that is able to read your heart, and is able to create the experience of the Now that is uniquely perfect for You. Make good use of this Spirit, for it is devoted to your Greater Life & Liberty. Devote yourself to this Communion with Creative and Living Truth, and reveal your Immortal Glory! Divine Will attains its Omega State only through the Bodily Translation of the Living Form. This Immortality of the Flesh liberates Divine Will and permanently reveals its Immortal Glory...The Living Spirit of Truth creates the planetary alchemy which is the Word Now Speaking from the Shaston Eagle. Listen within your Heart. Listen...
“Nosce Teipsum”, or Know Thyself, is the second major poem for which Davies is presently best known. This is a long philosophical poem which teaches that learning and the increase of knowledge is useless unless there is an equivalent development of inner spiritual Wisdom. We are asked to turn our ''curious eye to view the beams of thine own form divine.''
Each of us has this radiant Divine Form attempting to express itself outwardly from the inner centre of our Life. As Davies recognizes, a key point of growth is reached when we learn to recognize that we actually do have this Christ within. Once the importance of this wealth within is realized, then we should turn our ''curious eye'' and explore the inner geography and dynamics of the Divine Form. The Divine Form is the most perfect and beautiful union of structure and energy and is thus the visible Image of the Omega state of your Divine True Will. The Will energizes and maintains the Immortal dimensions of your Divine Form until your entire being resonates with perfect devotion and clarity, in total fusion with this inner Word of Creative Truth.
Although the triumph of the inner Omega Form is certain, the time of Complete Victory is determined by our choices in Life. When the marriage of alchemical resonance is consummated, then the Body of Incorruptible Flesh enters the New Planetary Jerusalem, with Liberty and with Joy... As Davies describes this union of inner and outer, of material and spiritual:
Fair Soul, since, to the fairest body knit, You give such lively life, such quickening power, Such sweet celestial influence to it, As keeps it still in youth's immortal flower; As, where the sun is present all the year, And never doth retire his golden ray, Needs must the spring be everlasting there, And every season like the month of May...
The Eye of the Shaston Eagle constantly Beholds the Divine Form within You... Praise this Christ within all beings and you accelerate its coming Forth. Accept with joy and thanksgiving this Praise emanating perpetually from the Eye of the Divine. The Beauty of your Everlasting Form is honoured and Blessed at all times and in all places throughout the Universe. Open your Heart to the energy and Grace of this Truth and you shall know that you are loved and never alone.
In the New Jerusalem which is now in its physical birth, the gift of Life, the power of Creation, becomes understood so that ''All things are made New'' in a continual fashion. All too often, we have thought that creation is at the beginning of existence. We write a poem or build a house, and then think that our specific act of creation is complete. These attitudes disappear in the New Jerusalem.
The Delight of the Divine is in Constant Recreation. Recreation is delightful because it is the play of the Divine Child. When all Life and this Planet are Recreated Anew at every Instant, then it is obvious that entropy and the stagnant forces of death are abolished. In another poem, Poetical Rhapsody, Davies tunes in to this ability to be perpetually Reborn:
...this Gift is given To live in incorruption from their birth: And what is that, but to inherit Heaven, Even while they dwell upon the earth. The perfectest of all created things; The purest gold that suffers no allay; The sweetest flower that on th'earth's bosom springs; The pearl unbored, whose prize no price can pay.
Throughout all of Sir John Davies' poetry, there is this constant effort being made to behold and to establish this Perfection and Beauty of the Divine throughout all aspects of Life. Davies realizes that this is no easy task - but it is the only Work, it is the Great Work, that is worth doing. In this New Aeon, this Great Work becomes the Highest Play of the Immortal Child, abundant with Delight and Grace... Here and Now, how do we begin to become Masters of Perpetual and Immortal Recreation? How may we make use of this Grand Ideal now?
Fill every thought, word and action with Abundant, radiant Life. Be an alchemist of thought: Dedicate your every thought to the service of Divine Creative Love. Your thought is your Child - enflame all your thought-children with Abundant Life, Joy, and Thanksgiving...Pray that you be shown the Way to impregnate each thought with a Will and an Ability to recreate itself so as to be the Highest Blessing to everything that thought touches. Be an alchemist of Word: With breath and focus of Will, accumulate the radiant Prana of Immortal Life Divine within your throat chakra before you speak. Progressively refine what you speak so that, with compassion and humour, your Words may contribute to the Liberty and Greater Love of all Beings. If you are resourceful, these principles can be adapted to any situation. Become an alchemist of Action: Be aware of what activities you are putting your energies into. Choose an action that could be improved upon, call upon the Living Spirit of Truth to spotlight those Divine Qualities within your Self that can be used to make the change you want, and most importantly, Act!
The Kingdom of Heaven is within you and is also being created here on Earth. You have a unique contribution to make to this Co-creation of the New Jerusalem. Discover your Gift, dedicate it to Life ever greater in Love and Liberty, and bring it Forth!
For the time being, I will move on from Sir John Davies. He wrote much that is worthy of investigation. May we be Blessed with his ability to see the Divine at work within all Creation. Raise the Byzant-wand of Shaston and begin the Dance of the Eagle... The Ceremony of New Birth blends earth, life, myth, magick and Love into One Creative Universe. Oh Let it be a Joy to Dance with thee forever within this Liberated Universe!
This practice leads us to the Restoration of the Round Table of Arthur in this New Aeon. The rituals of Communion are destined to change. We are all able to be the Priests and Priestesses of the New Aeon Communion of Everlasting Life. You have the ability to charge the Communion with Immortal Christed Life, and to give this Blessing to your local Vicar! To deny this truth enchains and limits Christ. Understand this...
Liberty, equality, fraternity - the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution occurs during the initiating year of the Shaston Eagle, 1989. Lord Arundell of Wardour Castle gave refuge to Carthusian monks from the convent of Bourbon in Normandy, here in the Donhead St. Mary area. The tomb of one of these monks, Anthelm Guillemot, is within the church. They fled France because of the Revolution. The ideals of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity are goals to be attained only within the culture of the New Jerusalem.
The Celtic area of France in Brittany was destined to be magickally awakened to a higher level during July of 1989. Each of the major planetary earth chakras or centres has a potential orb of several hundred miles. Glaston-Shaston is at the centre of the heart chakra. Brittany is within the earth-magick dynamics of the fully open World Heart. The Coming of Arthur's Eagle to Shaftesbury and the liberation of Merlin from the forest of Broceliande in Brittany, both events beginning in 1989, are directly connected with each other and are essential aspects in the opening and expansion of planetary Heart energies. That which took refuge 200 years ago within the sleeping heart of the Eagle, now returns awakened to France...
This concludes our survey of the Domain of the Shaftesbury Eagle. There is a great spiritual and magickal wealth within this area. Draw upon the strength of the earth-heart and honour the Creative Inspirations and positive Works that have emerged, from those who have lived and loved within this orb of Shaston. May you be inspired to add to this ancient richness... What is the Shaston Eagle? Is it fulfilment of ancient Divine Will and Prophecy? Shape and intelligence emanating from the sentient Earth? A light cast upon a portion of the earth? A dream, an ideal? This Shaftesbury Vision calls upon You for its fulfilment and manifestation. What is your highest Ideal for all Life on the Planet? Use the Eagle of Shaston to Create on earth this deepest Ideal. Understand the principles of Calling the Eagle, and put them into practice.
Now let us enter the town of Shaftesbury and become further acquainted with the history and spiritual powers which are at the core of this Prophecy. The Eagle, the Byzant, the Master of the Cauldron... May the Heart of Shaston speak to each of us...