"Ancient Mysteries Revealed" in Malta by your seminar leader, Philip Gardiner.

Valletta, capital of Malta and home to the mystic Knights of John

Malta is a wonderful place for the story of the serpent, Medieval Masonic and "Secret and sacred" art and myth. Well known for its claim of St.Paul and the story of him overcoming the poison of the serpent which is not true, but an allegory of a much deeper secret as we shall discover. In truth Malta encompasses much of the mystery surrounding the Grail because it drew upon the Knights of the whole of Europe and they in turn laid down their beliefs, open or esoteric, in stone. This wonderful island will reveal to us the truth behind the Holy Grail and all those mysteries which surround it.

We find that the symbolic representation of the upright spear of St.George (dedicated to the Garter) was said by a Walter Mapes in a story relating from around 720 AD, to be the Spear of Longinus that struck Christ's side the same spear or lance, which is called the "bloody spear." In the same text, Mapes states that the Templars of the story said to be successors of the Round Table became the Knights of Malta.

In an ancient temple called Hal Saflieni, found on Malta, archaeologists have discovered some remarkable artefacts, which amazingly give yet more credence to our story of the serpent cult.

Malta is an island of extremes, with dusty, rocky and barren landscapes contrasting intently with rich Catholic cathedrals and a milieu European influence. This invasive influence of foreign cultures into the very history of Malta is not just a 16^th century add-on from the famous Knights of St. John, it is much more. It seems that Malta has been a very important place in the Mediterranean for a very long time. Over 5,000 years ago there were temples and burial chambers being erected on Malta, which matched the likes of Stonehenge and Avebury in England. But what were these people worshipping? And where did they come from?

A Mother Goddess figure made of clay and found at the Hypogeum

Well answering the second question seems on the face of it fairly simple. Archaeologists believe that these early settlers came from Sicily and other islands off the southern Italian coast. Pottery shards, bead and jewellery, foodstuffs and general waste, all go some way to proving the influence of these offshore settlers. However, with the discovery of several large skulls, these early migrations are no longer being seen to be the only influence, which took effect upon the Maltese culture. But can we find anything interesting in the beliefs of the Maltese from this early period?

It seems by all accounts that the Maltese were firm believers in early fertility cults centred around the existence of several hundred discoveries of large bodied "mother goddess" figurines, such as the "sleeping lady" or "Sleeping Mother".

These Mother Goddess figures are to be found around the world in very similar situations and under similar beliefs they are also almost always associated with healing and fertility, as well as serpent worship.

In most people the Goddess is said to be asleep manifesting only a fraction of her energy in our bodies. When we awaken her, our 'vital force' flows through energy centers called "chakras" from the base of the spine up to the crown of the head and mystical enlightenment occurs.

So we have a culture not dissimilar to those of southern and even northern Europe of the same period and as we were to find on our own visit to Malta, we have a culture linked so strongly to the worship of the serpent that it lasted for thousands of years even up until today. We found this isolated issue of serpent related worship on Malta quite amazing.

Simply, the Maltese strongly and without question believe that St. Paul was shipwrecked in Malta (at a place now called St. Paul's Bay) and stayed there for at least three months (some say three years.) Most startling is the story that Paul was bitten by a snake, which he then tossed into the flames and suffered no ill-effect, going on to heal many Maltese and ridding the island of snakes in a story reminiscent of the St. Patrick tale of Ireland. The fact remains however that there is no evidence at all that St. Paul visited the island, let alone was shipwrecked there. Indeed there is no mention of it in any record until the late thirteenth century when it became politically expedient to do so.

And yet, all over the island, from Valletta to Medina there are images of a phoenix-like serpent rising from the flames (not dying in them) in memory of the miracles of St. Paul.

Mnajdra Temples

Even on the 5,000 year-old temples found at Hagar Qim, Mnadjra and Ggantia there are links to the ancient worship of the serpent. At Ggantia there is a definite image of a snake carved into the very rock.

At Hagar Qim, archaeologists found a unique altar stone depicting the Asherah Tree rising like the Kabbalistic "Tree of Life" from a plant pot (although they have no idea why . . . but we do it is symbolic of the human spinal column.)

There are serpent oracle holes all over the temples reminiscent of Delphi's pythoness and various others around the world. Without doubt, Malta has been influence heavily by serpent worship. So, why would a few large skulls be of interest?

In fact they probably would not have even come to our interest had not the authorities suddenly tried to deny their existence a denial believed by some to be for racist purposes.

The skulls in question were apparently still to be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Valletta right up until 1985, and so we first emailed the authorities in question to try and discover the reason for their removal and what actual evidence surrounds these "large heads." There was not even the courtesy of a reply and so we journeyed two and a half hours by plane to the arid and sunny island of Malta, as autumn was taking the warmth away from England and replacing it with a warm blanket of golden leaves.

After settling into the hotel we made straight for the bustling streets of cosmopolitan Valletta, Malta's amazing capital. A short walk in from the euphemistically titled bus station we found the Archaeological Museum and enquired of the "official" who sat reading the Maltese newspaper.

"No skulls," no evidence, they were never on show and they had no idea what people like us wanted them for anyway was all the response we could muster. No matter how hard we tried we just could not get any other response. It seems that a News story run in Italy a short time before, had destroyed any hopes of anybody else covering the story and so we moved on to other serpent linked sights in Malta.

When we returned we decided that all we could do was to report the story covered by the Italian media. It seems that Vittorio Di Cesare and Adriano Forgione (Hera Magazine) from Rome had revealed that photographs of the skulls in question had been taken by two doctors (Dr. Anton Mifsud and Dr. Charles Savona) and these were now the only evidence remaining of this mysterious story; a story which had now deeply embarrassed the Maltese archaeological community who were now claiming that these skulls were just extremely ancient pre-hominids without any evidence. But what was so peculiar about these skulls that they drew attention to them? And how did this link with the serpent cult?

It seems, in books since published by the above doctors that these skulls were dolichocephalous (elongated) like similar skulls found in the Yucatan, Egypt and elsewhere. Before more evidence can be uncovered we can now only rely on the story told by Adriano Forgione whose English version of the article can be found on the Great Pyramid of Giza Research Association Website which was very apt knowing the part the Great Pyramid plays in all of this and so we will quote what is appropriate to the themes we have been addressing thus far.

We are told that these skulls were discovered amongst 7,000 skeletons unearthed from the enormous subterranean structure, the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum and right where a sacred well was dedicated to the mother goddess (world mother.) Water wells associated with the world mother were believed to lead into the Underworld. No wonder that heads and skulls were found in wells. The walls of the hypogeum are inscribed with spirals and circles. It was also here that the small statue of the sleeping goddess shown above was found, along with a relic with a snake inscription on it.

Sleeping Goddess of Malta found at the entrance to the the Hypogeum

Again, an example of the Sleeping Goddess is associated with the snake motif which tells us that the Sleeping Goddess represents the dormant serpent energy and the enlightenment experience as revealed in the quote given above. This suggests that the people whom these skulls belonged to were also associated with this enlightenment experience the knowledge of which is dealt with extensively in the Hindu and Tantric tradition.

It is believed such elongated skulls were created from birth onwards by placing planks of wood on the amiable structure of the head and wrapping bandages around thus forming peculiar shaped heads which the likes of writer, Erich von Däniken hundreds of years later would be able to claim as proof of alien visitation.

However, not all such skulls were created by man intentionally. Many such skulls are actual genetic mutations.

But one thing seems clear, like in Peru and Egypt, dolichocephalous skulls had been found on Malta dating back to the temple-building period. What is not clear is the reason.

Looking deeper into the human effects caused by this abnormality we discovered that not only would the pressure on the brain cause severe pain, it would also have amazing effects upon the very areas of the brain the glands that we believed were responsible for the shamanic, hypnagogic trance state. It seems we had found real people in history who were "natural" shaman. But, most amazingly of all, these people were linked incredibly with the worship of the snake evidence of our thesis beyond doubt.

Malta and Gozo were very important centers since pre-historic times, places where "medical cures" were conducted, oracles and ritual encounters with the priests of the goddess. There, on both the islands, existed many sanctuaries and thaumaturgic centers, where priests surrounded the healing goddess, direct expression of her divinity. It is well known that, in antiquity, the serpent was associated to the goddess and to healing capacities. The snake also belongs to the subterranean world. Therefore, a hypogeum dedicated to the goddess and the water cult was the right place for a sacerdotal group that was defined, in all the most ancient cultures, as the "serpent priests."

Perhaps the skulls found in the hypogeum and examined during our visit to Malta, belonged indeed to these priests. As mentioned before, they present an accentuated dolichocephalous, which is particularly the center of our analysis. The long head and drawn features must have given a serpent-like appearance, stretching the eyes and skin. Lacking the lower part of the exhibit, we can only speculate, but the hypothesis can't be far from reality, a reality worsened buy the fact that such deformities certainly created walking problems, forcing him . . . to slither!

The lack of the cranium's median knitting and therefore, the impossibility of the brain's consistent, radial expansion in the skullcap, did so that it developed in the occipital zone of the cerebellum, deforming the cranium that looked like a single cap from the frontal and occipital area. This must have certainly caused the man terrible agony since infancy, but probably enhanced visions that were considered as being proof of a bond with the goddess.

Also, other skulls found seemed to exhibit a natural deformity due to some genetic mutation:

Even the other skulls we examined presented strange anomalies. Some were more natural and harmonic than the cranium that mostly gained our attention, but they still presented a pronounced natural dolichocephalous and we could assume, without fear of refutation, that it is distinctive of an actual race, different to the native populations of Malta and Gozo.

If this deformity was due to genetic mutation, then one of the things that causes genetic mutation is high levels of protein as discovered in snake venom.

"Walk with me in the footsteps of the Ancient Ones on this unique journey of discovery to "Ancient Mysteries Revealed."

Philip Gardiner is married with two children and lives in the heart of Robin Hood country in England. Although he has been asked on numerous occasions to become “a member” of several institutions, Philip has strictly refused on the grounds of independence – seeing membership of certain organisations as being overtly influential on his research and understanding of the truths of mankind. Philip believes that some authors/researchers have been lead into membership of institutions or “societies” and are therefore of questionable authority. His background in the history of propaganda and the ancient and ongoing manipulation of mankind tell him that such things do indeed occur. He has however joined (upon being requested) a couple of what are known as secret societies in-order to find out what was happening inside – the conclusions of these journalistic forays appear in his books and he is no longer a member of any organisation.

Philip began his writing career with a book entitled Proof ? Does God Exist? Published in 2002 and followed this up with his best selling The Shining Ones : The World’s Most Powerful Secret Society Revealed, which launched in the UK and immediately outsold.

During the process of the launch of "Proof" Philip appeared on 46 radio programmes across the country, from Scotland to the South of England, including the James Whale show. He also had a programme produced in Scotland called Eikon, which was shown on national Scottish TV.

Philip has acted as an advisor to various other authors regarding mythology and history.