S5004026

SE Brittin: Horse

Fig. 2.6 Various coins mentioned in the text

Coin and the representation oj authońty

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would be images consonant with a view of altered States of consciousness occurring somewhere in society.

Whilst the man/horse combination is the dominant therianthrope on northem European coinage, there are others. One is the Birdman found on a silver coin from northem Gaul (Sch.56), another is a małe head sprouting homs and wearing a head-dress, from a silver coin found at Petersfield (probably therefore attributable to the Southern series). This one is pardcularly reminiscent of scenes from the Gundes-trup cauldron, with individuals sitting on the ground, antlers sprouting from their heads (0’Connell and Bird 1994:93).

In Britain and Gallia-Belgica the development of the Phillipus image took a different course. Whilst horses with wings did emerge sporadically, the main devel-opment here was the abstraction of the horse image into a series of dots and curves with stars and crescents appearing in the background. In an earlier ardcle I suggested that this, too, might be related to the kinds of experiences associated with altered States of consciousness (Creighton 1995). In the early stages of trances the brain often perceives a series of images collectively called entoptics or phosphcnes; these are a collection of shapes and pattems which are scen cross-culturally. They are derived from the physical structure of the eye and the neurological structure of the brain. The subject sees starbursts, filigree pattems, and dots in front of his/her eyes. These images have been recorded under controlled conditions by Dronfield (1993 and 1995; Fig. 2.7). As the subject goes deeper into a trance, the brain starts to perceive these images as actual objects, depending upon his/her cultural experience. A bee-keeper would almost certainly perceive a series of dots floadng around him as a swarm; other minds, too, are prone to sec what they expect to see, and with experience a certain degree of control is possible over the developmcnt of a trance. Shapes such as crescents start to come together to produce almost recognisable iconic images, with occasional phosphenes and entoptics floating around in the backgrotmd. In its most advanced State, the trance becomes an experience of almost purely naturalistic iconic images, though often combined with a blinding shaft of white light, commonly described as a tunnel or Whirlpool, framed with a lattice type covering.

Many of these kinds of images potentially arise on British coin. Here, as we have seen in the NE series, horses became disjointed, breaking up into a series of dots and crescents. Surrounding virtually all the images of horses is a plethora of dots, crescents, stars and the like, framed on an intense yellow-gold shimmering background. Illustrations throughout the first part of this book will show the rangę of motifs found. These are all forms of imagery which would normally be associated with the rwo early stages of going into an altered state of consciousness.

Figurę 2.7 shows some of the rangę of motifs found on British coins, and how they fit into the developmental stages of a trance. Many of the coins display abstract images which inelude pcllets or dots, stars and other radial objects, rings and pellets in rings, crescents and zigzags. Bcaring in mind the naturę and size of the objects, the detail of the entoptic forms is hardly going to be represented, but it is the notion of disjointed animals, with lots of omaments tioating around them, which I believe is