The Da Vinci Code

[Kev]

Possibly the most eagerly anticipated movie of the year, Tom Hanks plays Robert Langford in the big screen version of Dan Brown’s best-selling book.

I'm gonna try and catch it this weekend, although I have not read the book.

[matt]

I'm gonna try and catch it this weekend, although I have not read the book.
Me neither Kev, I was put off by all the hype. I'll try and get to see it this weekend too.

I read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, probably one of the best books I've read in ages. All about an ancient cult that comes back into existence and begins murdering Catholic priests in Rome. Robert Langdon gets called in to sort it out. Genius book and only about three quid in Asda I noticed!!

[FKoE]

Da Vinci code has recieved some really bad reviews from the Cannes audience.

If you fancy a read, get the two 'Holy Blood Holy Grail' books rather than Dan Browns novel. But then again, BS smells the same no matter who wrote it eh? :D

[Scousemouse]

I was toying with the idea of telling you what the 'code' was' but then you'll probably guess it about three quarters of the way through! Save your three quid, buy a Ludlum book instead.

Amazes me how religious organisations rise to the bait every time, to give these books or films the oxygen of publicity!

[matt]

I went to see it last night and was really impressed. I liked the way there was some sinister characters all the way through to keep you guessing.

I can't see what the religious fuss was all about though.
At the end of the day, The DaVinci Code is a book and the Bible is a book. Neither of them has any concrete evidence, it all comes down to a person's individual belief.
Whether you choose to believe that the events in the Bible are real, or that the existence of the DaVinci code is real is up to you.

[Kev]

Thanks Matt, I may go and see it this weekend. We were suppose to go last week but decided to go shopping instead.

[matt]

You'd really like it. Apparantly they're making Angels and Demons also by Dan Brown into a film too!

Also saw the trailer for Casino Royale, the new Bond film and Superman too. They both looked boss!! :celb (23):

[Kev]

Still have not seen the film yet - just as well, I've just began listening to the complete audio version of the book, all 109 chapters. I'm at number 6 at the moment :eek:

[Kev]

I spent most of my holiday listening to this audio book and am upto chapter 33 and its facinating, the secrets and info. I'm not sure whats real and wots not.

The info about Phi, the golden ratio is an eye opener!!

[FKoE]

Ah its a big pile of cow poo :) facts! me bum!!

Its a good fiction, based around some fact, but its not a new gospel..

I'd say read 'Holy Blood Holy Grail', and the first book.

It suggests the bloodline of Jesus survived ... which in effect means that the English Royals are related to Jesus, and so were half a dozen USA presidents :shock: , including Bush :eek:

Theres also theories that Jesus visted Cornwall as a boy with his Uncle Joseph of Arimathea as he was a Tin merchant, who supposedly traded with the Cornish Tin Miners. He also allegedly planted his staff upon Glastonbury Tor. And legend has it that Mary mother of Jesus founded the first church there too....

But take it all with a pinch of salt ;)

[sweetpatooti]

I read "Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" back in the 70s. It has since been debunked and discredited by historians (which the authors were not). However, it did get me interested in the Knights Templar and other history and from then on I have gone on to study at degree level - so not a complete waste of time.

The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, as Dan Brown has pointed out - it's a good ripping yarn but no more than that and if it promotes folk to read on further, more factual books on history, the better for it. Just my opinion - I'll get me coat.......

[FKoE]

Hey pootie,I watched a documentary the other night about an otherwise hidden an forgotten ' underground Templar shell cathedral' in Margate... seems to be a new tourist attraction ...

[Kev]

So the Mona Lisa? Man or a woman?

[FKoE]

So the Mona Lisa? Man or a woman?


Erm, she looks you Kev .. so he must be a woman :D

[Kev]

Fook off, I look like Dale Winton

http://www.hoolak.com/kevwinton.gif

[FKoE]

Sod off!! no yer don't ... your a Clint Eastwood (don't mess with me punk) kinda feller ... ;)

[Kev]

Sod off!! no yer don't ... your a Clint Eastwood (don't mess with me punk) kinda feller ... ;)

Clint Eastwood lol

[FKoE]

Clint Eastwood lol
If you grew a moustache.........I'd mistake you for that 'Magnum' feller :D

[sweetpatooti]

POOTIE??????? I likes it!!!

[FKoE]

:D :Colorz_Grey_PDT_16:

[FKoE]

Scotland's Whirling Goddess or the Holy Grail?
DAVID MCDOWELL

STARING into the terrifying thunderous tumult of the Corryvreckan whirlpool, it's easy to see why its sheer primal energy has fascinated people for centuries.

Now Edinburgh folklorist Stuart McHardy has suggested a startling new theory - that the awe-inspiring natural vortex between the islands of Scarba and Jura in Argyll and Bute was the true origin of the Holy Grail.

At its wildest, some say the whirlpool forms a spectacular swirling cauldron 300 feet wide and 100 feet deep. The cause is hidden beneath the waves – a giant rock pinnacle rising from the depths to within 95 feet of the surface. Water on the seabed is forced upwards when it hits the submerged rock, causing huge waves. The noise can keep the neighbours awake up to 20 miles away.

McHardy believes that the Corryvreckan was, for pre-Christian Picts, a "Mother Goddess" - the Mother of All Fertility Symbols.

"These ancient pagan tribes saw the whirlpool as a giant cauldron - or Grail - of rebirth," he says. "They believed it was the womb of all creation and could even awaken dead warriors. It was literally their Holy Grail."

In his new book On the Trail of the Holy Grail, McHardy writes that incoming Christian monks tried to erase all trace of this ancient way of thinking. They rewrote what they saw as dangerous pagan beliefs, downplaying the regenerative power of femininity, promoting the idea of a single, male God and disguised the religious significance of the whirlpool.

The final blow to the Old Religion is thought to have come from the legendary warrior Arthur, the hammer of the Picts.

Historian of the Clan Arthur, Hugh McArthur, believes a 10th century Welsh poem contains cryptic clues that reveal the Corryvreckan's central role in early stories about the Holy Grail. Preiddeu Annwnf (The Spoils of Annwn) describes how King Arthur and three boatloads of warriors sail to the Welsh Otherworld to steal a magical "cauldron of inspiration". Arthur's boats pass through the "gates of Hell" to Caer Sidi (the Fortress of the Fairies) but only seven of his force survive.

McArthur writes: "It is this successful but costly raid on the most unassailable fortress in Britain that made Arthur the living legend that he is today. Arthur overcame the challenge, he sailed over the dragon (whirlpool) to Hell's gate, assailed the mountain, slaughtered the pagans and returned triumphant with the hallowed pagan treasures, leaving an ancient religion reeling from a fatal blow."

The "fairies", McArthur suggests, were probably nothing more than the small, painted Pictish warriors who were early settlers on Scarba. In Welsh, "d" sounds "th", making Sidi similar to the Scottish Gaelic sìth (fairies). Intriguingly, maps do show a Blàr nan Sìth (Battlefield of the Fairies) on Scarba's north-east coast.

Even more interestingly, Admiralty charts show that just to the east of the whirlpool the seabed drops away sharply, descending to a narrow pit nearly 700 feet deep. Locals have long known this as "Hell's gate". Horror tales abound of sailors being swept away, sucked under and then forced down into the murky depths by the fast flowing undersea currents.

The eighth-century Welsh monk Nennius, in The History of the Britons, wrote that King Arthur's eighth battle took place at castello Guinnion where the hero carried the image of the Virgin Mary on his shield. Scholars have long been unable to agree on a real-life location for Guinnion, but it could be from an Old Welsh word meaning holy ones. Castello Guinnion would then translate as fortress of the holy ones.

Certainly, if the Picts had sacred treasures to protect, it would have made sense to secure them in the safest spot they could find. The whirlpool provides a formidable natural defence. Perhaps the most sacred site of the Old Religion was a temple for priests or priestesses, protected by the Whirling Goddess?

Three hundred yards north of the Corryvreckan is Camas nam Bàirneach, a small bay. A few caves nestle in the cliffs high above. This tiny patch of white sand provides the only landing spot on the rugged south-west coast. At the base of the cliff, on a narrow ledge is an abandoned settlement: five square or rectangular buildings obscured by overgrown heather. With no land nearby for growing crops or raising animals, it could not have been a permanent settlement and was probably a seasonal site for people hunting birds, long an important part of islanders' diets.

Stuart McHardy thinks he has discovered the true purpose of this place:

"In the distant past this may have been the site of a temple supplied by boat. Only an in-depth archaeological excavation would reveal the truth, and I'm looking into the possibility of that being done. Perhaps we can find out more about how our far-off ancestors saw their world and hopefully learn from them."

If McHardy's theory is correct, the Holy Grail grew from a truly ancient physical source located in Scotland – a source as dynamic and awesome today as it was in prehistory when humans first encountered it. Centuries of myth-making transformed the Grail into a mystical chalice signifying many things – fertility, enlightenment, religious understanding, but always a quest in which the search is as important as the result.

* If you enjoyed reading this, you may want to read:
The Corryvreckan whirlpool

The Scotsman (http://heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=1242172006)