History

The church of St Mary and St John has come about after its founders long spiritual journey, and brings together the many threads of spirituality from both modern and ancient times. We derive our knowledge from many sources including genetic memory, spiritual enlightenment, various texts, cultures and religions. This includes the Minoans, the Celts, the Picts, the Scythians, the Thracians, the Cathars, the Essenes and the Johannines.

As a Spiritual Princess Tia L Douglass chartered The Church of St Mary & St John, along with the assistance of Rt Rev Graham Suddick.

Minoans
 

Around 1700 BC, a sophisticated culture flourished in Crete: the Minoans. The Minoans produced a civilization oriented around trade and bureaucracy with little or no evidence of a military state. They built perhaps the single most efficient bureaucracy in antiquity. This unique culture lasted only a few centuries, before they were invaded by war-like tribes.

The Minoan religion was polytheistic and matriarchal, the gods were all female, not a single male god has been identified until later periods. All religions began as matriarchal religions, even the Hebrew religion (where Yahweh is frequently referred to as physically female), but adopted patriarchal models in later incarnations.

Celts
 

Around 750 BC to 12 BC, the Celts dominated central and northern Europe. There were many tribes of Celts. The Celts lived across most of Europe during the Iron Age. Several hundred years before Julius Caesar, they occupied many parts of central and western Europe, especially what are now Austria, Switzerland, southern France and Spain. Over several years, in wave after wave, they spread outwards, taking over France and Belgium, and crossing to Britain.

The Celts believed in many gods and goddesses. Many gods had no names, but lived in springs, woods and other places. Offerings to the gods were thrown into lakes, rivers and left by springs and wells. The Celtic Priests and Priestesses were the link between the supernatural world and the ordinary human one. They were able to predict what would happen in the future by interpreting nature. They knew how to read and write, and they certainly had a good grasp of mathematics. They knew something of medicine and law, and they could trace the stars and the planets.
 

Picts
 

The earliest surviving mention of the Picts dates from 297AD. In a poem praising the Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus, the orator Eumenius wrote that the Britons were already accustomed to the semi-naked 'Picti and Hiberni (Irish) as their enemies'. The word Pict means "painted people" and probably referred to the Pictish custom of either tattooing their bodies or embellishing themselves with "warpaint". However, their Irish term, Cruithni, meaning "the people of the designs", seems to parallel the Roman name so it may be that Picti was an adaptation of the name they called themselves.

The Picts religious traditions revolved around the seasons and nature - the elements, the cycle of the seasons and the inevitable cycles of - birth, life and death. They were matriarchal as the women were seen to be more in tune with nature and had learnt skills of herbalism, aromatherapy and dream analysis.
 

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