Friday 15 December 2023

The Legendary Crystal Skulls

Native American, Mayan, Aztec and many other indigenous cultures tell us of the legendary 13 crystal skulls that are believed to be scattered throughout the world and possess important information for humankind. It is prophesied that when the 13 skulls are reunited, this significant event will mark a transformational turning point for humankind. But it will only happen if the human race is developed enough to receive this information.

Most crystal skulls that have been found are carved from whole quartz crystals and are either clear, smoky, or colorful in appearance. The skulls vary in size, shape, and refinement with technique and are thought to originate from ancient Mesoamerican cultures.

Indigenous Spiritual Points of View

Pueblo Spiritual Advisor Patricio Dominguez: “The crystal skulls are complete depositories of knowledge and each skull contains a particular specialist area of information - like a living library [each skull is like one volume in a set of encyclopedias]. And the people who will in the future be able to 'read' the crystal skulls will only be able to extract all the knowledge from the skulls once they are all assembled together...
Of course, the knowledge that is going to come out from the skulls is quite unimaginable to our current minds. But that it is definitely going to come out at a certain time is already foregone. It has been prophesied. But whether we humans then use that knowledge for good or for our own destruction is really down to our preparations."
13th generation Quiche Maya spiritual leader Grand Elder Don Alejandro Cirilo Oxlaj Perez, head of the National Council of Maya Elders: "The prophecy says now is the time of the awakening. This is your job now, to awaken. The Vale of the Nine Hells is past and the Time of Warning has now arrived. It is time to prepare for the Age of the Thirteen Heavens. The time of 12 Baktun and 13 Ahau is fast approaching, and they shall be here among you to defend Mother Earth. The prophecy says, 'Let the dawn come. Let all the people and all the creatures have peace, let all things live happily', for the love must not only be between humans, but between all living things.”

The Mitchell-Hedges Skull

One of the better known crystal skull mysteries involves the Mitchell-Hedges skull, discovered in 1924. Frederick Mitchell-Hedges claimed his daughter, Anne, found the skull in Mayan city of Lubaantun but critics allege that it was planted there by Mitchell-Hedges. This heavy and perfectly carved natural quartz skull is anatomically correct and looks like it wascreated with modern-day tools but there is no evidence to support this. To date, nobody has been able to prove that the Mitchell-Hedges skull is a fake.

No matter how, the process was clearly sophisticated, even by more modern standards of creation, and its conception is a mystery, since quartz has the tendency to shatter. Said to have psychic amplifier abilities and can transmit information through the quartz crystal, it is unknown where the Mitchell-Hedges skull quartz came from, although it is similar to Californian quartz. Determining its origins is made even more difficult because quartz does not age and is formed in various geologic settings.

The skull is said to do many things: induce trances, cause some people to go insane in its presence, emit strange smells and mysterious sounds manifest images of the past and future and even create a fire if the light is just right. It was likely used for healing and has supposedly cured people of deadly diseases.

Knowledge is also said to be imparted from the Mitchell-Hedges skull through channeling. Some channelers say that inter-dimensional beings created the skull. It has also been claimed that the skull was not made by anyone's hands, but channelled into being by thought alone, which makes it a thought-form. Others claim that the skull tells us explore the oceans because evidence of a previous culture is there and that the feeling of separation that humans suffer is the source of all problems in our world. It also claims we are our messing with our world through radiation and atoms and that this is causing all the weather, climate and axis issues.

Another theory about the Mitchell-Hedges skull is that it might have been rescued before the destruction of Atlantis or that it hails from extraterrestrials, who may have had much more sophisticated tools. Either that, or the extraterrestrials showed the Aztec people how to carve this amazing skull. It’s hard to say if this could be true, but it is interesting to think about the skull’s mysteries.

Faked Crystal Skulls?

It is possible that many of the crystal skulls found in the world were faked. During the 1800s, the public was very interested in acquiring pieces from ancient cultures, so it is possible that many of these items were made to meet that need and sell to whomever wished to own them. Unfortunately, crystal skulls have never been found at an officially documented archaeological site but that could be because archaeologists had not yet begun to use more scientific methods at that time. It would be difficult to replicate the Mitchell-Hedges skull even with today's tools, but the others could be fakes. Whether you believe in the crystal skulls or not, that's up to you.

References

https://www.crystalskulls.com/mitchell-hedges-crystal-skull.html

Judith Joyce. 2010. The Weiser Field Guide to the Paranormal: Abductions, Apparitions, ESP, Synchronicity, and More Unexplained Phenomena from Other Realms.

Chris Morton and Ceri Louise Thomas. 2012. The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/crystal-skulls

https://www.crystalskulls.com/13-crystal-skulls.html

Images: Canva

Warnings to the Curious: East Anglia’s Three Cursed Crowns

3 cursed crowns est anglia
Montague Rhodes James (Wikipedia Commons)

BBC Christmas Ghost Stories

During the 1970s, UK national broadcaster BBC One would broadcast the special Ghost Story for Christmas Series during the holiday season; usually one of M.R James’ chilling tales, but also Dickens (The Signalman) and Le Fanu (Schalcken the Painter). The tradition was revived in 2005 with sporadic stories, thence becoming a more regular event under the aegis of writer/director/actor Mark Gatiss (Sherlock/The League of Gentlemen/Dracula). BBC Two’s 2023 Christmas offering is an adaptation of Arthur Conan-Doyle’s ‘Egyptomania’ horror tale, Lot No 249.

Lot No. 249 by Arthur Conan Doyle (A Tale of the Supernatural)

With the exception of The Signalman the 1970s, stories are freely available on YouTube, but that hasn’t stopped beloved British classics channel Talking Pictures reviving the idea and broadcasting the 1970s shows.

Treasure Hunters in the East Anglian Kingdom

Which brings us to the main subject of this piece. The 1972 ghost story, A Warning to the Curious, was an adaptation of the M.R. James story concerning the hidden ‘Three Cursed Crowns’ of the Kingdom of East Anglia, which if discovered, will doom the finder and foreshadow great evil befalling England. The terrible consequences for treasure hunters are depicted in the drama:

A Warning to the Curious (1972)

The Wuffingas - East Anglia’s First Ruling Dynasty

The Three Crowns of East Anglia remains the flag of the region, consisting of the red St George’s Cross of England, combined with a blue shield bearing three gold crowns - the arms of the early Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia. Medieval heralds ascribed them to the kingdom and to its first ruling dynasty, the Wuffingas (c. 599—749 AD).

The Wuffingas are also referred to as Uffingas or Wiffings and their ancient kingdom today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.

Wikimedia Commons
east anglia
The kingdom of East Anglia (Early Saxon period)
east anglia
Wikimedia Commons

Could M.R James’ Chilling Story Of the 3 Cursed Crowns Come True?

With the recent discovery of a pagan temple complex at the Wuffingas ('wolf people') dynastic capital in Rendlesham, Suffolk, will the legendary crowns be found -and what could the result be if they are? Can there be any truth in M.R James’ story - the finders cursed to a horrible death and the country doomed to invasion?

3 cursed crowns
Image courtesy of Sky News

Apparently, some Wuffinga royal regalia was taken by the Mercian kingdom as it rose to dominance - only to be followed by a relatively swift fall and displacement by the Cerdic House of Wessex.

A Deeper Dig into the Wuffinga Dynasty

The Wuffingas are best known for the Sutton Hoo Burial, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Possibly the tomb of Wuffinga King Raedwald (560-624 AD), an intriguing anomaly who apparently kept a foot in both Pagan and Christian camps, the haunted ship tumulus is shown in the 2021 motion picture The Dig:

The Dig (2021)

The Wuffingas, as the ‘wolf clan’ are also said by some to be the descendants/kin of the mythic Beowulf, a Geat from Southern Sweden. Wuffa (d. 578 AD?), the legendary king who gave his name to the dynasty, was actually not the first East Anglian monarch of the line. That was Wehha (d. 571 AD?), another semi-historical character, who according to the 13th Century ‘Anglian Collection’, was the son of Wilhelm, who was te son of Hryþ, who was the son of Hroðmund, the son of Trygil, the son of Tyttman, the son of Casere Odisson, the son of the chief god Wōden.

The name Wehha has been suggested as a shortened version of Wihstān, the father of Beowulf’s companion Wiglaf, perhaps evidence for the connection between the Wuffingas and the Swedish royal dynasty of the Scylfings.

3 cursed crowns
Wuffa of East Anglia with his Three Crown shield
Beowulf (2007)
Wikimedia Commons

First English King to be Killed by a Pagan Noble

Eorpwald (reigned from 624 AD, assassinated c. 627 or 632 AS), succeeded his father Rædwald as King of the East Angles. After becoming king, Eorpwald received Christian teachings and was baptised in 627 or 632. Soon after his conversion, he was killed by Ricberht, a pagan noble. Eorpwald was the first English king to be killed due to his adoption of Christianity (although possibly syncretically infused with heathen elements) and was venerated by the Church as a saint and martyr.

He was the inspiration for the king whose tomb supposedly contained both Christian and Phallic Infidel symbols in Angus Wilson's classic novel Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1956): ‘Gerald Middleton is a sixty-year-old self-proclaimed failure. Worse than that, he’s "a failure with a conscience." As a young man, he was involved in an archaeological dig that turned up an obscene idol in the coffin of a seventh-century bishop and scandalized a generation.’ (from Good Reads)

Wikimedia Commons

A Timely Warning to Archeologists

To the archaeologists digging in Rendlesham, a timely warning paraphrased from Doctor Zaius (Maurice Evans) in Planet of the Apes (1968), “Don't look for it. You may not like what you find.”

Planet of the Apes (1968)

To close, another Antiquarian mystery from the mind of Montague Rhodes James:

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974)

Stephen Arnell’s first novel, Roman Mystery The Great One is now available on Amazon Kindle (cover art by the Earl of Buchan).