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Disclaimer

This set of web pages is a place to put information about mysticism and religious speculation about Sinclair history and genealogy. Opinions from many different people are represented here, and I do not confirm, deny, attest, or refute any of them, except where I explicitly say so. —jsq

Article 18.— Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion: this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom either alone or in company with others in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19.— Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
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The White Lady

See the The White Lady of Roslin Castle and the The White Lady of Rosslyn Chapel.
From: Steve A. <mjperry@gte.net>
Date: Friday, May 07, 1999 11:36 AM

Dear Laurel,

I appreciate your interest. The book, White Ladies and Black Virgins, is not yet complete. I must warn you that the White Lady of Rosslyn is just one of many white lady figures discussed, though I was delighted to discover that Rosslyn has such a tradition as I am interested in it as well. My name is Stephen D. Anderson and I will let you know when the book is available. My primary training is in psychology (in which I have a Master's degree). Unfortunately, there are no internet sites that I can find at this time exclusively on the white lady apparition (though there are several Marian apparition sites, which I believe is the same phenomenon). Below is a brief description of the book. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

Thanks again for your kind words.
Sincerely,
Steve A.

The book has several points:
  1. That there are world-wide myths concerning "white ladies" that appear and behave similarly at similar places and times. This indicates that the phenomena is more than "stories" and caused by an objective event.
  2. That these "white ladies" are the product of a combination of an electromagnetic force and the internal projection of the white lady archetype in the brain of the experiencer which is part innate and part conditioned by one's culture.
  3. That over time, early man learned the places and times at which white ladies would most often appear and the rituals (mental exercises and conditioning of expectations) which would cause specially trained persons to become more sensitive to their presence. With time, they could attune themselves to the local earth-force which would enable them to use its powerful electromagnetic field to affect the bioelectromagnetic fields of humans and animals at a distance and thus cause healings, blightings and enchantment.
  4. That with the rise of patriarchal religions and wide-spread use of iron (capable of disrupting the electromagnetic fields), these white ladies were initially degraded in folklore into fairies, nursery bogies, death messengers, and spirits of air, water and trees, etc.
  5. That the worship of the white ladies as goddesses continued in secret and that some of these priestesses were themselves identified with the white ladies.
  6. That the Catholic Church, seeking to absorb the power of the white ladies in a subordinate position to their god, began the cult of the Virgin Mary, assimilated pagan spots into Christian ones, and initiated the Inquisition to discover the means of manipulation of the forces to create their own `miracles.'
  7. That the end of the Inquisition coincided with the beginning of Marian apparitions world-wide which has served to boost faith in Catholics.
  8. That certain occultists, using knowledge passed from the keepers of the white lady tradition, plus renegade priests and their own reasoning, rediscovered the secret of manipulating the forces on their own. They have since waged a war of counter-miracles designed to slowly subvert Catholics into a pure cult of the White Lady. This is typified by the conflict of Lourdes vs. La Salette.
Along the way, I show that Black Virgins are catalysts to producing visions of the White Lady by the phenomenon of the after-image, the treasure of Rennes-le-Château, that the Italian Santa Claus, Befana, is really Herodias, that the White Lady is associated with creativity, poetry and some of the great writers of the world, and much more.
Dear Laurel,

I've checked out the Clan Sinclair web-site. You're doing an excellent job. Makes me wish I had some Sinclair blood in me. The paperback you mentioned sounds interesting. Kind of like Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum? Katherine Neville has written a couple of similar books: The Magic Circle and The Eight. If you can remember the title or author, I'd like to know. Marian apparitions are appearances of the Virgin Mary such as that at Lourdes, La Salette, Knock (Ireland), Medjugorje, and Fatima. Some web-sites on them include: The Cathars are related as part of the preservation of the tradition. For instance, Cathar socias (the female perfecti) were called "les Bonnes Dames" (the good ladies) which was also a euphemistic term used for fairies, especially of the White Lady variety. Also, "Bona Socia" (good neighbor) probably is the origin of Bensozia, a name for the witches' goddess. Montsegur is likely the model for the Venusberg, where fairies held court. And there's much more I could go into. I do have Zoe Oldenburg's Massacre at Montsegur, an excellent reference work. I should have said something more like "pagan places of power" than "spots". Most major Catholic churches are built on top of pagan places of worship, simply rededicated to a Christian saint. The Virgin Mary got most of the Mother Goddess sites. As to the Inquisition, while I agree with most writers that in the end it was nothing more than persecuting those who could not defend themselves (very few of which really were practicing pagans) and used as an excuse to gather lands and wealth for the church and Inquisitors, I believe that originally it was put together to find actual practitioners of the old pagan religion (witches) and get from them information on which sites were "active" and the means to invoke the apparition. You see, as long as paganism was a `living' religion with the ability to create `miracles', it was a threat to the Church. The Catholic Church had to be able to fight paganism on the same level, in the hearts of the people, because for the most part the Church was an empty shell, reduced to mere ritual without result. They wanted `the magic' for their own use, and no witnesses to say how they got it. Of course, this is the quick-and-dirty version, I go into far more detail in the book. Notice that the first modern apparition was the 1537 appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe to Juan Diego on the hill sacred to the Aztec goddess Tonan. Events that occurred in the New World were likely easier to "hush up" if they went wrong, so was a logical testing-ground.

You are free to put any of the information I've given you so far on the web-site if you think it is appropriate. I'm trying to find out more specifically about Rosslyn's White Lady from Mark Fisken who wrote some plays that involved her. I'll let you know when I know more. And yes, you are on the list for notification when the book is out (can always use the free publicity).

Take care,
Steve A.
Last changed: 99/11/21 15:28:48 [Clan Sinclair]