Dear Don,

Mea culpa, I couldn’t help myself. You know what I’m like, being a Virgo and all… I had to look up the official etymology of ‘road’. Not, I will grant you, that ‘official’ necessarily

Winged Wayland, reconstruction of a fragment of the Leeds Cross. Image by: Alarichall CCA 4.0

means ‘correct’… or even that ‘correct’ means ‘true’… Especially when you consider how many times the linguists fall back on the old farm/hill/field belonging to ‘x’ when they don’t really have a clue what a place name means.

But even so… Not a Rod in sight… not even a hint of a Sighting Rod… which they would, undoubtedly, have needed, unless they were, as we suspect, following ancient and predetermined tracks across our land.

I know it is your bardic soul at play, juggling words like Anu’s Ball of Power, but it is odd just how often such verbal diversions yield flashes of understanding. Or, perhaps it isn’t odd at all…

I like the idea of Long Meg as a Swan Maiden… who always seem to be shapeshifters in the old tales too, flitting between human and avian form. Which would make her tattoos stars, as you say…

Continue reading at France & Vincent