BEACHY HEAD THE NEGATION OF THE SOLAR.

by Troy Southgate

LIKE an indomitable testimony to the tragedy of man’s self-destructive nature, the chalk headland of Beachy Head in East Sussex has long been viewed as a gruesome

epitaph for those wishing to dispense with life itself. Beachy Head has acquired near-cult status in modern times and was used for the cover of an Industrial album released by Throbbing Gristle and for the final scene in the film Quadrophenia, but today the

Samaritans charity has even set up a special cliff-top telephone in the hope that potential suicides will be deterred from taking the 530-foot plunge onto the rocks below. But what is it about the area that, in many cases, still causes large numbers of people to

travel great distances in order to end it all so dramatically? The obvious answer is that the huge descent will guarantee a swift death with little or no chance of survival. But if this is the case, then why is it that more suicides don’t simply throw themselves off high

city buildings? What is it about the Eastbourne area that they find so inextricably magnetic?

I use the word ‘magnetic’, not as a convenient metaphor, but simply because this is the way it actually works. Indeed, running directly through the centre of Beachy Head is an ancient ley line. Often known as ‘dragon lines’, these link together various geographical

sites of interest and function as a kind of magical energy grid. It was Alfred Watkin’s The Old Straight Track (1921) which brought ley lines to the attention of the public for

the first time, although they have also been discussed in the fictional works of Alan Garner (see The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath ). Two German researchers, Wilhelm Teudt and Josef Heinsch, demonstrated at the famous Externsteine rock formation close to the Teutoburger Wald in Lower Saxony, that these holy lines – or ‘Heilige Linien’ – were indeed coursing through the natural geography of Northern

Europe like sacred markers to our primordial spiritual heritage. But whilst the purveyors of the burgeoning New Age movement are keen to ‘prove’ that ley lines have some kind of internationalist dimension, the significantly more astute John Michell notes that “leys and megalithic alignments are generally confined to a limited area, reflecting the local rather than national organisation of Neolithic farming societies.” (from At the Centre of

the World: Polar Symbolism discovered in Celtic, Norse & Other Ritualised Landscapes, Thames & Hudson, 1994, p.109].

The ley line that runs through Beachy Head is the Andraste. This begins at the North Downs in the Basingstoke area and carries on southwards across Old Winchester Hill and Petersfield before arriving in East Sussex. Once it gets to the South Downs, the

Andraste goes down into the beautiful Cuck Valley and along the meandering Cuckmere river before arriving at Beachy Head itself. Two millennia ago, of course,

most of southern England was covered by the Andraste Wald forest. Andraste is a fertility goddess usually associated with the hare and the name of the Andraste Wald

still endures today in the modern Sussex place-names ‘Ashdown’ and ‘Weald’. In fact the famous warrior queen, Boudicca, invoked Andraste in her struggle against the

Roman occupiers back in the First Century: "Let us, therefore, go against (the Romans), trusting boldly to good fortune. Let us show them that they are hares and foxes trying to rule over dogs and wolves." When she had finished speaking, she employed a species of

divination, letting a hare escape from the fold of her dress; and since it ran on what they considered the auspicious side, the whole multitude shouted with pleasure, and

Buduica, raising her hand toward heaven, said: "I thank thee, Andraste, and call upon thee as woman speaking to woman" [Dio Cassius, Roman History ].

It’s rather curious that Andraste is connected with the pursuit of hares and foxes, because when people feel desperate enough to want to end their lives they are inevitably running away from something. One can imagine the burden of life snapping at the heels

of a potential suicide all the way down to Beachy Head, before the tragic figure is rudely discarded like a biological waste product from the proverbial bowels of our land. But as I aim to show here, the ley line itself – based, as it is, on the cult of a goddess – represents a spiritual inversion that still assails the beleaguered psyche of our folk. It is

precisely this negative ‘Earth’ energy that we need to counteract in order to create a sense of balance and perspective.

The Italian philosopher, Julius Evola (1898-1974), wrote a brilliant work centred on the divisiveness and discord that underpins the contemporary age. But his Revolt Against

the Modern World (Inner Traditions, 1995] deals not only with the chaos of the present, it also concentrates on the Golden Age of Tradition. Evola contrasts the Heroic and Solar qualities of our original Hyperborean existence with those of the Lunar and

Uranian age in which we currently find ourselves. The cycle of decadence and a gradual decline of race and caste saw the Hyperboreans leaving their ancestral lands in the wake

of the Polar shift and travelling to parts of America and southern Eurasia. These conquering races were the last pure Aryans and founded both the civilisations of the Incas and Mayans, as well as that of Ancient Egypt. Since then, however, the rise of Southern races and civilisations has resulted in a degeneration of the original stock. Evola tells us that these civilisations were based on the cult of the Mother (Divine

Woman) and influenced by earthly, telluric forces that revolve around the symbolism of water and serpents. This degeneration was the beginning of the Silver Age and the Aryans became mixed with the Negroid, Lemurian elements who worshipped the

yellow moon (Lunar); itself a pale inversion of the golden sun (Solar). The Southerly races essentially have primordial chthonic roots, completely at odds with our own

masculine–based Tradition.

Another Italian writer, Camille Paglia, has pointed out the vast differences that exist between the Solar and Lunar aspects (see Sexual Personae: Art & Decadence From

Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson , Yale University Press, 1990). As far as Paglia is concerned, the Solar is the expression of the male Apollonian who gives shape to the

formlessness of the earth. The Apollonian principle can be found in the direction of the male ejaculation or during the process of urinating, both of which arc upwards, towards

the heavens. Meanwhile, the feminine or Dionysian principle can be seen in the way that women give birth or urinate close to the ground. The Apollonian represents the

straight lines of geometry and architecture, whilst the Dionysian is all about the nature-based curvaceousness and voluptuousness of the female form. In Ancient Greece (Hellas) this was symbolised by the struggle between Apollo and the Python. The

gradual encroachment of the Cthonic is exactly why maternalistic societies came about and why our present society has been indelibly stamped with the mark of effeminacy. Evola includes the demise of the warrior-king and the coming of democracy as chief

factors in the attempt to make the virile, heroic male something of the past.

But what on earth has all this got to do with Beachy Head? I believe that the Andraste ley line is a channel of negative energy that essentially helps to bring about the demise

of our people by enticing them – like an invisible siren – towards their physical and spiritual destruction. The vast majority of suicides, of course, are people who have no place in the modern world. Wodenism is a Solar tradition that rejects the maternalistic tendency. Not because it is afraid of feminine expression like the Judaic, Christian and Islamic religions, on the contrary, the important roles of goddesses such as Frigg and Freya are well-known. The problem is that the Lunar or Cthonic religions create an

imbalance between the male and female principles. Authors such as Helena Blavatsky (The Secret Doctrine ) and Miguel Serrano (<Nos: Book of the Resurrection ) have

touched upon the relevance of the Cosmic Egg, a unitary and idyllic state of being at the dawn of the universe when the masculine and feminine principles were combined and

therefore complementary to one another. The Goddess cults of the New Age movement, on the other hand, are designed to castrate the male once and for all and to sow division

between the sexes. Not merely in a political sense, through feminism, but more importantly by eroding the Primordial Tradition and bringing upon us the Kali Yuga or

Age of Iron.

We have already established that the energies of the Andraste ley line are Tellurian in nature, but what does that really mean? The word ‘Tellurian’ comes from the Latin tellus , meaning earth, and represents far more than a useful form of terminology to

describe the Southerly, Lunar and Cthonic forces. There is also such a thing as a ‘Tellurian current’ which flows underground through the sea. This takes the form of an electrical charge emanating directly from the Earth’s crust and is caused by changes in

the Earth’s magnetic field. This is why the word ‘magnet’ was not intended as a metaphor. Tellurian currents are a scientific phenomenon and are influenced by the way the magnetosphere shields the Earth from solar winds. On the one hand, of course, this could be interpreted as a positive thing, but on the other hand, the denial or suppression

of the Solar could be part of a wider cosmological strategy to facilitate the rise of the Tellurian current itself. Wind, of course, is also connected with the power of Woden. In

the world of fiction, meanwhile, Umberto Eco’s novel, Foucault’s Pendulum , also mentions this Tellurian current, with the Knights Templar striving to tap the hidden properties of these secret energy flows in order to control the destiny of the world.

We certainly need to do a lot more research into these matters, but it is interesting to note that another key ley line exists in the same area. Close to Beachy Head is the

Afriston ley line, which unites sacred sites at Alciston, Alfriston and Friston. Running from north-west to south-east along a seven-mile intersection, the Alfriston ley takes in

a range of important burial sites, including two sarsen stones at Alciston, an ancient cross-roads near the river Cuckmere, Hollow Hill (‘hallow’ = grave) at Alfriston where

150 Anglo-Saxon graves were found in 1912, the ‘Alfriston Stone’ set into a garden wall beside the local post office, and a stone pillar known locally as ‘the Cross Stone’. Another four sarsen stones can be found at nearby St. Andrew’s Church, from which a

local dowser – Colin Bloy – was able to detect eight concentric bands of flowing energy. This went down the southern aisle of the church, over the church wall and

through the ‘Cross Stone’ mentioned above. During the Medieval period, local villagers also saw four oxen sitting back to back on the nearby mound in the shape of a cross. John Michell’s View Over Atlantis [Ballantine Books, 1972] also mentions an animal mural in the church which depicts St. Catherine as a dragon. The image of the dragon,

of course, is synonymous with ley lines. The Alfriston ley continues through a long

barrow close to the village of Litlington, through Friston Forest and on to Friston church. The nearby Star Inn also has dragon iconography on its walls and there are rumours of an underground passage stretching three miles to the sea. The pub also houses a carving depicting two serpents with their tails entwined, which could be

interpreted as the symbol of Aquarius. A second carving shows two animals climbing a caduceus, which is the ancient symbol of the Greek god of healing, Asklepios. Contrast the healing nature of this symbol and the underground passage to the sea at Friston, with the immediate death and destruction at Beachy Head. According to Cornelius Agrippa, the caduceus also symbolises the transportation of Mercury “the quicksilver deity that

hovers over the straight tracks and standing stones ”. The symbolism, therefore, is decidedly Solar, and even the pub sign, with its yellow sun-star, fulfils this trend.

To conclude, I strongly believe that Beachy Head is one of the most negative points in the British Isles and that something quite cataclysmic is taking place beyond the gaze of

the ordinary masses. We have long known that an Occult war is taking place on this historic island of ours and the only way that we can counteract this process is by re-

energising the more authentic points which concord with our spiritual and psychological heritage. The Alfriston ley is perhaps our salvation in this regard and it does seem as

though this relatively unexplored centre of positive energy can provide us with an alternative to the decay and degeneration of the Andraste line. But meanwhile, it is

time to raise the banner of the Northern Sun against the Lunar-centred darkness that envelops our land.

Troy Southgate is a National-Anarchist who had been publishing articles and booklets for over twenty years. He is currently Editor of the Synthesis www.rosenoire.org

website and educates his four children at home. Troy is also a vocalist and musician with the Anglo-Dutch group, H.E.R.R., the Anglo-German group, Seelenlicht and has

provided vocals for Survival Unit (Sweden), Erich Zahn (Holland), Horologium (Poland) and Sistrenatus (Canada).