Secrets of King's College Chapel

(Paperback)

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Today, King's College Chapel is the iconic image of the City of Cambridge.The chapel was founded in 1446 by the mystically-inclined King Henry VI, known in his time as "the royal saint". The king gave his builders complete instructions for a magnificent chapel of cathedral dimensions, every part of which had a mystical and spiritual meaning. This "final flowering of the Great Work' was designed from the principles of sacred geometry, laid out and orientated by the ancient geomantic practice of the operative masons who built it.This book gives an historic overview of the chapel, and a summary of its construction, notable for its stunningly beautiful fan-vaulting and exceptional stained glass which still exists in its entirety. Although the chapel's original significance as a symbolic structure has been eroded over the centuries, it remains a place of wonder and reverence for countless thousands of visitors and those who watch on television the annual Christmas carol festival broadcast from there every year.

Author Bio

Nigel Pennick worked in scientific research for fifteen years in Cambridge, with periods at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium and the University of Guelph, Canada. In this time, he published twenty-nine scientific papers that described eight new species of marine algae. He lost his profession in 1985 when the institute was closed during government spending cuts and so he became a full-time writer and lecturer on history and folklore. In parallel with his scientific work at that time, he participated in folk traditions and the scene in Cambridge. In 1975 he founded the Institute of Geomantic Research, which published a journal and many occasional papers on all aspects of geomancy and earth mysteries. From the mid-1980s to the late '90s, he travelled widely and gave lectures and workshops at venues in Ireland, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the United States as well as in Great Britain. He also organized and participated in several spiritual tours of ancient sacred places in England, Wales and Ireland. During this period, he was also writing books on subjects that include the runes, mythology, geomancy, ley lines, labyrinths, Celtic art and landscapes, traditional rites and ceremonies, folk magic and histories of certain underground railways in London. He is also an artist in traditional media and stained glass and has illustrated many of his books. In 2011 he had a one-man show of his Visionary Steeples artwork at Emmanuel Church, Cambridge. Currently, he plays music with The Traditional Music of Cambridgeshire Collective and throughout the year participates in the traditional calendar customs of Cambridgeshire, in 2009 having restored the custom of parading the May Day Garland through Cambridge.