The
Crystal Cave
opened my eyes to many things, among them was the notion that there were actual
historical antecedents for Camelot and King Arthur, subjects that I had been
fascinated by for a couple of years at that point, but which I thought were
figures of myth and legend.
Mary
Stewart wrote this book from the perspective of Merlin, she set the time in the
fifth century CE, the period of time when Roman influence was waning in the
British Isles, her books linked the rise of Arthur to a Roman dynasty.
She
wrote about the Roman Army, thereby introducing me to the Cult of Mithras, Sol
Invictus. She wrote about the Celtic people of Gallia, and she wrote about the
Druids. She wrote about their myths, peeling away the most fantastical elements
and leaving me to wonder if what was left, even the magic, if it was true.
The
figures in her stories, Uther Pendragon, Merlin, Igraine and Arthur were
presented with a kind of grittiness that made me believe in them. They were already
mythic figures in my imagination, but through her narrative they became real; I
felt connected to them.
Through
her discussion of Mithraism I came to be interested in the real history of
Christianity. I became a researcher, and I began to question everything that I
had been told was true about the origins of the Church.
I
cannot thank her enough for this.
If I
had not read Mary Stewart I may never have become a theologian, if my interest
in those things had not been peaked by her authorship, I would not be the
person I am today, and for that she is a hero of mine.
Her
books had an oversized influence on my life, though I did not read much of her
body of work beyond the Merlin Trilogy, but I read everything I could get my
hands on concerning King Arthur, including the work of Mallory, the La Morte
de Artur, and all of the variations of that text which flowed from it.
From
Mary Stewart I learned about many other things, I discovered the real presence
of Arthurian myth in European culture, how it served as a beacon of hope, providing
my ancestors with a set or mores and a code of conduct that instigated and promoter
the chivalric ideal, while at the same time becoming a vehicle for subversion,
as in the Albigensian Heresies, and other counter cultural movements
around the turn of the tenth century.
Given First - 2020.05.09
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