Carnival in Malta
When I arrived in Valletta, Malta I was greeted by one of the best Carnival celebrations I’ve seen. They couldn’t bring the floats out for Carnival during the Traditional weekend because of high winds, so they asked for special dispensation from the Church to do Carnival the following week – during Lent. The Church was “evasive” (see […]
The Maltese Artist
The noted Maltese artist Joseph Barbara was commissioned by a British client, more than 30 years ago, to create a painting inspired by themes from The Eight. Subsequently he has created other works portraying my books, which are great fun and highly symbolic. Recently, during Carnivale, I visited Malta while doing research for my new […]
The Pardon at St Anne la Palud
I was invited to attend the Pardon at St. Anne la Palud in France where St. Anne, the Virgin Mary’s mother, is patron saint of Brittany. Gauguin joined many famous Breton artists in painting this beautiful tribute. At St. Anne la Palud this year a visiting bishop of Notre Dame in Paris joins the thousands […]
Pre-Roman Sacred Spring
While traveling through Brittany I visited this beautiful pre-Roman Sacred Spring.
Menhirs and Dolmens of Brittany
After my arrival at le Chateau in Brittany, France… I soon found these fantastic menhirs, nearby to the Chateau, in Carnac. (Menhir – from the Brittonic languages – ‘maen’ or ‘men’ meaning stone and ‘hir’ or ‘hîr’ meaning long) And then journeyed to Lagatyar, north of Carnac, for even ‘longer’ stones and a small dolmen. […]
How I Became a Basque Celtic Sorceress
How I Became a Basque Celtic Sorceress: Protectress of the Sacred Forest of Oma, Spain I was attending a private retreat at a Basque farm, following a conference of the World Congress of Music Therapy in Vittoria-Gasteiz, in northern Spain. The scientists at our retreat were sitting outside on the farmhouse porch, giving talks on […]
The Caves of Cappadocia and Mural of St. George
Over the years, I was invited to Turkey many times, to lecture and to visit with the Sufis in Konya. On one trip, in the dead of winter, I hired a driver and went to Cappadocia. There are many caves that were hollowed out of the soft pumice, and provided the residences of early Christians, […]
My Visit to Mont St Michel & Chartres
Mont St Michel & Chartres Mont St. Michel One of the questions on the Graduate Record Exam before I got into grad school was: “The author of Mont Saint Michel & Chartres was also the author of what other book?” Answer: The Education of Henry Adams! Having read Henry Adams’ autobiography (written modestly in third […]
French Book Tour and Palm Sunday Mass at Notre Dame
Cathedral of Notre Dame (Photo: Katherine Neville) I went to Paris for my French book tour, and over that weekend, I tried to go to Notre Dame on my birthday. But instead, I ended up going to a wonderful restaurant on the Left Bank and some art supply stores. The next day happened to be […]
Moscow, Monks, Murder, Mayhem, the Mafia
Katherine in Red Square, Moscow, Russia Just after editing The Magic Circle, I made a quick trip to Moscow where 850th birthday celebrations were still underway. The city was festooned with posters of St George, their patron saint. I felt this was an omen, because though St George does not appear as a character in […]
The Horse Of Carthage
Some say that the name Carthage was the punic word for New City, which would seem an apt title, as it was the new city founded by queen Dido of Phoenician Tyre. However, Robert Graves tells us there was once an incarnation of the universal and ancient Great Goddess, whose name was also Car, and […]
Mount Ida Part One: Visiting Troy
A big chunk of the research for The Magic Circle is related to what today is modern Turkey, a land where, in ancient times, so many major literary and historical events took place. Katherine beneath the ‘new’ Trojan Horse: Troy, Turkey Turkey was the home of King Gordius, whose Gordian knot was later cut by […]
Tunisian Centaurs of Aphrodite
Karl Pribram and I were invited to attend the first Centaur inaugural ceremonies, and subsequent congresses in Knoxville, Tennessee—fittingly held each year on April 1st, a date that is traditionally associated in Greece with the birth of Chiron, perhaps the world’s most famous centaur, as teacher to Herakles and Asklepios. My own schedule, to-date, has […]
