"She is not any common Earth,
Water or Wood or Air,
But Merlin's Isle of Gramarye
Where you and I will fare."
___ Rudyard Kipling, "Puck's Song"
Merlin trains King Arthur to be a worthy king, but long before Arthur passes to Avalon, Merlin retires from his role as prophet and adviser to a tower that has seventy doors and windows. From which he can see the whole realm and maintain his guardianship. It is for this reason that the name Clas Myrddin (KLAS MER'thyn) was given to the island of Britain, for it falls under his watchful protection.
Many countries have a secret, hidden, or poetic name that describes the true nature of the land in a deep, mythic way. When wearing this name, the country becomes a realm that somehow lies beyond its geographical location and given name, leading us into a hinterland that can be crossed only in dreams and visions, perceived only in stories and legends. Something in our hearts speaks to us of the mythic reality of Merlin's Isle, a place that yet abides.
Beneath the history of every country there is a gramarye - a secret magical teaching - to be learned: the lore, the stories, the enchantments that only the land can teach us. It is so in Merlin's Isle. There the gramarye is written non in the common elements but in their subtle counterparts, which are perceivable at dawn and twilight, at the between times when color and light merge into sound and distance. Within the folded hills, by the singing streams, deep in the secret hollows, Merlin keeps his school; and there, under his intimate tutelage, we can read the book of nature and of story and know our land's gramarye.
"What are the rudiments of your own land's gramarye ? Which figures in story and legend are associated with the keeping of your country's secret wisdom and power?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
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