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A Final Stop and More Templars

After the experience at Mikulov, we headed back to Brno taking a short detour to a town named Čejkovice. I wanted to take a quick look to see if there was anything there worth spending time on later. Čejkovice was the second Templar establishment in the Czech Republic after Prague and the first in Moravia when they arrived in the 1230’s here. Just as in the case of Jamolice, the town’s coat of arms recalls their presence.     Unfortunately, not much is recorded regarding the presence of the commanderie – only a mention in 1248 in a document issued by the Lord of Břeclav apparently. The history of the town is summarized as follows by the website of the Chateau – more of which shortly! Following the dissolution of

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Feeling it at Holy Hill

By the time we reached the car from Templštejn, it was already early afternoon and after a quick stop for a late lunch, it was pretty much already dark. So we headed towards Mikulov on the border with Austria where in the morning the plan was to climb up Holy Hill. Mikulov is a beautiful town at the southern end of the Pavlov Hills and in the wine growing region (Palava is probably my favorite Czech wine). The town was founded sometime in the 12th Century and is today dominated by a fine Chateau at the center of the town standing on a rocky hill called Zameckÿ vrch. It was originally a Romanesque castle that was rebuilt in Gothic form and then as a Renaissance chateau and is now a

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Mother Earth is the Boss and Don’t You Forget it!

Sometimes I have to say what is on my mind and this is one of those times. Increasingly, we live in an era where the media is biased and it seems most people just read headlines to get their news. Despite the massive complexities of almost any topic you’d care to mention from inoculation to climate change, everyone feels as if they should hold an opinion and believes their opinion to be right. Debate has degraded to insult slinging in many parts of social media and indeed, the media in general. In my humble opinion, we are seeing the decline of humanity right now and its saddening to see when we had come so far in recent decades. One area that increasingly concerns me is environmentalism. For me, looking after

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Discovering Templštejn

A prior trip to discover Templštejn ended with the realization that I had somehow taken a wrong direction – at least for a car – yet the end of that journey was a beautiful gorge in the Jihlava valley – well worth seeing. As we left Řeznovice, I determined to try a different route – one that took us into the village of Jamolice. Jamolice was where the original Templar commanderie was set up in Moravia according to the history books and the small village still proudly carries the memory of that in its coat of arms.     Jamolice is a small village that essentially hugs the sides of the road passing through it. Once inside the village, we saw a sign pointing ahead to Templštejn but we drove

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The Mysterious Řeznovice Church of St. Peter and St. Paul

This weekend, I was able to visit several sites around Brno. The first was the church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Řeznovice that I had noticed passing by on a recce trip to the Templstejn area in the Jihlava valley south of Brno. I stopped at the church because it simply doesn’t look like a Czech church. Pulling up to the church this time, I was again struck by how different the church is to the average church in the region. Excitedly, I rushed up to the door only to be disappointed by the fact it was locked. Oh well, at least I could look around the outside of it I thought when a woman’s head popped around the back of the church and said “Je to otevrene”

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Living Under the Castle

Right now, I am renting a nice apartment just outside of the city center literally on the side of the hill that is topped by Spilberk Castle. The Castle is set atop its own grounds and I often walk alone or with my daughter’s dog around the castle in meditation. Despite trying to research this geological and topographical feature, I have found little beyond the standard blurb about the Castle. The castle was founded around the mid-13th century on a low (290 m), but relatively steep rocky hill, towering just above the historic city center (about 220 m). His master builder, Czech King Přemysl Otakar II, was generously conceived not only as a solid support of the ruling power, but also as a dignified seat of the rulers of Moravia. The

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Reading the Land

The weather is beautiful – OK, it’s freezing but it’s beautiful. I’m chomping at the bit to go out and do some exploring – as Sue (Vincent) always says – I want to go out and play! However, my 12-year old daughter is engaged in learning new methods to solve Rubix cubes and isn’t at all thrilled about the idea of tromping around the Czech countryside looking for energies, wells and stones…. I seem to remember feeling much the same back in the day when I was that age a few centuries ago and my Dad was trying to get me to go find the ‘old roman road’ or similar. My Dad was an explorer of the land. He knew the Wolds and broader area like the back of his

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Wait! Did Someone Actually Purchase a Copy of my new Poetry Book?

When I put out poetry books, I don’t actually expect to sell any. I think I have sold around 10 copies total since 2007 when my first poetry was published of the 6 or so collections I have put out! No, I publish and then buy a few author copies to give away as gifts…. Today, I checked my sales on Amazon for the last few days and to my utter amazement, I have sold 2 – yes TWO kindle copies of my most recent collection. What on earth is happening???? I have yet to order my paperbacks – thought I would wait until after the holidays you see…. Anyway, the volume – Reflections on Life – is available in paperback and Kindle formats……  

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Rainbows and Rosa Coeli

What to do on Boxing Day? Take a trip to Dolní Kounice to see the Convent ruins of Rosa Coeli and feel the energies there? Yes! It wouldn’t be open I knew but we could still take a peek so off we went to the Jihlava valley south of Brno to visit the Rosa Ceoli Convent.     It was a beautiful but very cold day when we arrived. The Convent was closed and won’t be open it seems until April which was not unexpected but a tad disappointing. The Convent ruins are remarkably intact and you can pretty much walk around the outside of it – which is what we did – detecting some energies in one direction that will be investigated further another day. The convent stands under

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Looking for Templars by Brno

Another term I had never entered into Google along with my location was ‘Templar’. Imagine my surprise and delight to find yet again that the Templars had been located very close to Brno! Apparently, the Templars entered Bohemia in 1231 during the reign of King Wenceslas 1 (Yes – the one who looked out on the feast of Stephen!) first establishing ‘Jerusalem’ in Prague.  Later, by 1248, they had established themselves in Moravia at Čekovice near Brno and by 1250 at Jamolice also near to Brno. How did I never know this? At the earliest opportunity, I was off to visit one of the sites – I chose Jamolice as it happens and the ruins of the Templar Castle – Templstejn. Unfortunately, I didn’t have too much time and was

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