On Myths and Legends of Africa: Part 2

In the first of this series, “On Myths and Legends of Africa: Part 1” Moyra concluded that all cultures have myths that speak to other cultures, because they address a universal need: to make sense of life and death. Now she continues…
Take Africa, for example. The African continent is huge and contains many different cultures. [...]

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On Myths and Legends of Africa: Part 1

In this series of articles, storyteller and bard Moyra Caldecott reflects on the perennial meaning and importance of myths and legends.
To me a MYTH is a seminal, original story, using symbolic images, with the aim of stirring up thought about the great mysteries of life. “Where do we come from?” “Who are we?” “Where are [...]

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Lost in Translation: a poem by Moyra Caldecott

From thought to speech so much is lost in translation. More so now that I am old. I reach for words to illuminate the landscape of my mind, but [...]

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Portrait of Moyra Caldecott by Anthea Toorchen

Painting of Moyra Caldecott by Anthea Toorchen

This picture was painted on the occasion of the publication of  The Winged Man about King Bladud in the summer of 1992.  The novel was set in Bath, and so the artist (who painted it in her London studio) set Moyra against a background of the Roman Baths.

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The Past is Present

Moyra wrote this article a while ago…
We stand in a garden at dawn and are moved by a feeling we cannot put into words. If we cared to unravel the feeling we would find that we were being influenced by a great many things beside the actual physical nature of what we are experiencing. In [...]

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Oliver Caldecott 1925-1989

Adapted from a Memoir by Moyra Caldecott

Moyra Caldecott and family warmly invite you to an exhibition to celebrate the life and art of Oliver Caldecott in the 20th year since his death.  It runs from 6-18 April 2009, and there will be a TEA PARTY to mark the last day of the exhibition [...]

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Three Celtic Tales

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Three Celtic Tales is a compilation of three traditional Welsh folk tales, drawn from the Mabinogion and retold by Moyra Caldecott.
The Twins of the Tylwyth Teg is based on a well known story in Welsh folklore about a herd boy who marries a faery from under the lake. Before her father will allow her to [...]

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The Breathless Pause

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Moyra Caldecott has been writing poetry for many years, and has had many poems published in magazines and anthologies. She has frequently read her poems at venues in London and the West Country. She was a member of the Dulwich Group in the 1960s and 70s, and in 2005 she was made an honorary Bard [...]

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Adventures by Leaf Light and other stories

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Eighteen beautiful, insightful, moral, magical stories for children with Imagination — and their parents. Many have never been published before, and will be a treat for all fans of Moyra Caldecott.

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Multi-dimensional Life

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In more than thirty published books, some of them continuously in print for thirty years, the novelist Moyra Caldecott has transported her readers through ancient history and into other worlds. Her writing is a manifestation of her lifelong quest for meaning and wisdom. Now, for the first time, she reveals the many levels of her [...]

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The Eye of Callanish

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The Eye of Callanish is set at the beginning of the twelfth century on the Island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland. It tells the story of a young girl, Mairi, who is persecuted for being in league with the Devil. She believes that she is able to communicate [...]

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Weapons of the Wolfhound

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The Weapons of the Wolfhound was Moyra’s first published book. It was written for teenagers, and was so popular that a sequel was commissioned by the publisher, called The Eye of Calanish.
The Weapons of the Wolfhound contrasts the two major influences on a boy just entering his teens. Neil lives on a farm on the [...]

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Mythical Journeys, Legendary Quests

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The Spiritual Search – Traditional Stories from World Mythology
From the blurb:
“One of the most persistent themes in myth and legend from the world’s many cultures is that of the story of the journey the quest. In this beautifully illustrated book, noted writer on the topic, Moyra Caldecott, shows the connection between the sacred, mythic journeys [...]

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Myths of the Sacred Tree

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From the blurb:
“Essential to life on earth since the beginning of time, trees hold a special place in our collective consciousness: rooted in the earth, reaching skyward, nourished by the elements, and enlivened by the sap running through their veins, they provide a living metaphor for what it means to be human. Trees have figured [...]

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Women in Celtic Myth

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“The truth about living in the universe is elusive, exciting, and mysterious and it is in the pursuit of that mystery that we find all that is worth having, including ourselves.” (from the Introduction)
“In Celtic myth, the mixture of wise spiritual teaching and dramatic imagery creates new, potent, and disturbing visions. This selection of eleven [...]

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Crystal Legends

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Crystals and gemstones have been a source of fascination since Neolithic times; they endure when the bones of those they have adorned have turned to dust. Such was the profundity of crystal lore that ancient peoples incorporated crystals and gemstones as dynamic and potent symbols in their legends and myths.
In Crystal Legends Moyra Caldecott approaches [...]

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The Green Lady and the King of Shadows

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Drawing on folklore, myth and legend, Moyra Caldecott tells the story of the struggle between good and evil, St. Collen and the mighty Gwyn ap Nudd, a confrontation involving the Earth Goddess and, ultimately, the highest powers in the universe.
From the Introduction:
I believe that myths and legends, while appearing to be pure fabrication hallowed by [...]

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The Waters of Sul

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It is 72 AD, and most of Britain is under Roman domination. At Aquae Sulis, a place of pilgrimage and healing, hot waters gush ceaselessly from the earth. Since ancient times the waters have been associated with the supernatural, and are under the protection of the Celtic Goddess Sul. The Romans have renamed her Sulis [...]

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Tutankhamun and the Daughter of Ra

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Tutankhamun and the Daughter of Ra is part of the ‘Egyptian’ sequence, which also includes Akhenaten: Son of the Sun and Hatshepsut: Daughter of Amun. Chronologically, Hatshepsut: Daughter of Ra is the last book of the sequence.
From the blurb on the Arrow edition:
Ankhesenamun has never been safe in all her short life – not even [...]

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Hatshepsut: Daughter of Amun

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Ancient Egypt 3500 years ago – a land ruled by the all-powerful female king, Hatshepsut. Ambitious, ruthless and worldly: a woman who established Amun as the chief god of Egypt, bestowing his Priesthood with unprecedented riches and power.
But how secure is Hatshepsut’s power against the claims of the man whose throne she has usurped? And [...]

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Akhenaten: Son of the Sun

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I tell you this three millennia
after these events took place.
Mark them well.
They did not end with my death,
and they will not end with yours.
In ancient Egypt during the magnificent eighteenth dynasty the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his queen, the strong and beautiful Nefertiti, are engaged in a dramatic battle against the wealthy, corrupt and dangerously powerful [...]

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Etheldreda

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The story of Etheldreda, Princess of East Anglia, Queen of Northumbria, Saint of Ely : Born AD 630, Died AD 679.
From the blurb:
“Etheldreda, Princess of East Anglia, Queen of Northumbria and Abbess of Ely, was a remarkable woman who lived in restless, violent times not unlike our own, when old beliefs were dying and new [...]

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The Tower and the Emerald

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Set in a legendary Britain of long ago, The Tower and the Emerald is an epic fantasy of good and evil, magic and mystery.
Viviane is a beautiful Celtic princess who stands at the heart of the novel’s conflict between the powers of Light and Darkness. And she unwittingly unravels the spell that binds the spirit [...]

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Child of the Dark Star

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A gripping story of one man’s fight to free his mind from the conditioning of a restrictive and powerful system.
A science fantasy novel set on an alien planet where the astrologers have created an oppressive caste system, and mysterious hidden rulers act through a malevolent crystal skull.
“There was a planet once called Earth. Its people, [...]

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The Silver Vortex

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A sequel to the hugely successful “Guardians of the Tall Stones” series.
From beyond time and space they come to walk the earth once more – the guardians of the tall stones, the Lords of the Sun…
Deva is the beautiful and headstrong daughter of the High Priest of the greatest of the mighty stone circles. She [...]

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The Lily and the Bull

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The Lily And the Bull is a compelling re-creation of life in Minoan Crete – a world of magic and mystery, ritual and superstition, where past and present intersect, the forces of good and evil clash, and everyday life is charged with the supernatural…
Ierii, the daughter of the chief gardener at the palace, is in [...]

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Living memories that inspire the mythical writer

“Living memories that inspire the mythical writer”, an article by Susie Weldon from the Western Daily Press, 16th February 1998 (reprinted with permission).
Moyra Caldecott is fascinated by myth and religion, archaeology and history.
But whereas other authors rely only on research and imagination to recreate a period, Moyra calls upon actual memories to do so.
Bizarre as [...]

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A biographical sketch

Written in the mid-nineties by Moyra…

Born in 1927 in Pretoria, South Africa.
Started academic career by obtaining degrees in English Literature and Philosophy.
Briefly lectured in English Literature at university level.
Married in 1951.
Raised three children and had a most interesting and stimulating life as the wife of Oliver Caldecott in London from 1951 to 1989. (Oliver was [...]

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An Interview with Venue Magazine

These are answers to some interview questions posed in 1997 by Venue, the local listings magazine, based in Bath and Bristol, UK. The magazine later carried a feature on Moyra Caldecott and her new book Aquae Sulis (later republished as The Waters of Sul)
The novel Aquae Sulis uses the name of the town of Bath [...]

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Guardians of the Tall Stones

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Guardians of the Tall Stones was originally published as three separate novels:  The Tall Stones, The Temple of the Sun and Shadow on the Stones.
The Tall Stones
(first published in Great Britain by Rex Collings Ltd, 1977)
This book has been called “one of the great esoteric novels of the 20th century”, and has been continuously in [...]

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