So how far back did this unique tradition go? In the late fourth century BC, the Greek writer Polybius says that the women accompanied their husbands into battle.
Some of the automatic writings of Gaynor indicated that this tradition of feminine equality in the Celtic realms came about because of Gwevaraugh.
We have already discussed the Knights Templar and the Gunpowder Plot. Beyond this, further speculation is outside our briefing. On the Order of Meonia which existed in the latter part of the last century we can make little comment. We were able to learn something of Mary Heath and Thomas Reade, but more than this has not been possible.
Automatic writings have also referred to those who were involved but no further historical information has come to light. Nowhere have we found any records of the existence of this secret society. Neither have we found any direct connection between Thomas Reade and Mary Heath. All we can say for certain is that they existed and were living at the same time, as was the gentleman connected with the Wolverhampton school. The people mentioned lived where we were told, and a mock Egyptian temple built in 1865 still stands in the grounds of Biddulph Grange. Unfortunately, the temple does not constitute proof of the existence of a mystical order. Throughout the country there are many reproductions of ancient temples adorning the grounds of stately houses. Chinese, Classical, Gothic and other styles of architecture were a popular theme in the ornamentation of landscape gardening in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Perhaps, in the future, more light will be thrown on this peculiar history, but for the time being we shall avoid further speculation.
Appendix Notes
The Prehistory of Europe, Patricia Phillips, Penguin Books, 1981
View Over Atlantis, John Michell. Abacus, 1973
Rings of Stone, Aubrey Burl and Edward Piper, Pages 80-83, Frances Lincoln Pub. 1979.
ESP: Beyond Time and Distance, T. C. Lethbridge, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1965.
See also: The Essential T. C. Lethbridge, Tom Graves and Janet Hoult, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980.
Needles of Stone, Tom Graves, Granada, 1980
The Flying Saucer Vision, John Michell, Abacus, 1974
Chronology of World History, G. S. P. Freeman Greville, Rex Collings, 1974
See: Jewels of the Pharaohs, Cyril Aldred, Thames and Hudson, 1971
Egyptian Jewellery, Hamlyn, 1969
Megalithic Period: Suggested Reading
Megaliths and their Mysteries, Alastair Service and Jean Bradberry, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979
The Stone Circles of the British Isles, Aubrey Burl, Yale University Press, 1976
Circles and Standing Stones, Evan Hadingham, Heinemann, 1975.
The Avebury Cycle, Michael Davis, Thames and Hudson, 1977
Akhenaten: Suggested Reading
Oedipus and Akhenaten, Immanuel Velikovsky, Sidgwick and Jackson, 1960
Amarna, City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, Julia Samson, Avis and Phillips, 1972
Akhenaten and Nefertiti, Cyril Aldred, Viking Press, 1973
Ikhnaton: Legend and History, Frederick John Giles, Hutchinson, 1972.
The Celts: Suggested Reading
The Celtic Realms, Myles Dillon & Nora Chadwick, Sphere, 1973
Celtic Britain, Lloyd Laing, Granada, 1981
The Celts, Nora Chadwick, Penguin, 1970
Iron Age Communities in Britain, Barry Cunliffe, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974
The Celtic World, Barry Cunliffe, The Bodley Head, 1979