In my PhD thesis I exposed what I take to be a mythology that underpins much of the philosophy of Plato, and in subsequent work I have explored the same mythology, or parallel mythologies, in other traditions. This is the mythology of autochthony, the idea that primeval man was born from the soil. In Biblical myth, of course, we find Adam shaped from the clay, but it is an idea found throughout the world - it is the root idea of ab-origin-ality. Moreover, autochthony underpins the doctrine of royalty; if you trace any royal line you will, eventually, depart from history and move into myth, and the myth will invariably concern the primeval autochthons, the seed race of all people. The autochthons are the Golden Race of which Hesiod and the Greek poets sing. Royalty and nobility are nothing other than the prolongation of autochthony. There is a very specific mythology concerning this and it is very widely dispersed, although it is largely forgotten, hidden and misunderstood in modern times.
Now I am very happy to have uncovered the autochthonous elements in my own ancestry and, along the way, that of the Scottish nobility and, by extension, the British royal line. It is a Scottish version of exactly the same mythology we find elsewhere. It concerns the McAlpines, and it goes like this:
The founder of the line is King Alpin, King of Dalriada. He is the progenitor, although he is essentially mythological and so it is his son, Kenneth son of Alpin (Kenneth McAlpine), who is counted as the first King of Scots. (This is where myth moves into history.) Alpin, it is said, was killed in battle and was decapitated. In all subsequent references and depictions he is shown as a severed head. The motto and war cry of King Kenneth - and all McAlpines afterwards, is 'Remember the death of Alpin!' ( Gaelic = Cuimhnich Bàs Ailpein) and in heraldry Alpin is shown as a severed head. The symbolism of this is plain, and it is the same symbolism found elsewhere, for example in the cultus of John the Baptist, in Templarism and in Freemasonry: a severed head signifies a seed.
From this seed comes a seven-branched tree. These are the seven great Clans of the Highlands which, indeed, are known as the Seed of Alpin or (from the Gaelic) the Siol Alpin. The seven clans are: Clan Grant, Clan McGregor, Clan MacAulay, Clan Macfie, Clan Mackinnon, Clan MacNab and Clan MacQuarrie. All of these clans constitute a single great family in the tradition of the Siol Alpin. Here is the usual way of drawing the family tree:
You will notice, though, that there is no "Clan McAlpine" as such. This is because the McAlpines are the seed of the other clans and not a clan in themselves. The McAlpines are the root: the seven clans are the branches. Or, to put it another way, the McAlpines are the eighth clan, implicit in the seven. This is a very common symbolism too. See, for example, Henry Corbin's account of the "Eighth Clime". In symbolic systems of seven, the eighth is the centre and the seed.
Today, this seems like a strange anomaly and is no longer understood. Accordingly, the McAlpines of the world (or mainly the USA) are trying to constitute a new clan and seeking recognition by the Lord Lyon in Scotland (who has legal control of such things.) You can find this endeavor at the following website:
They note that, strangely, "no McAlpine chiefly arms, of which a crest would be part, have ever been recorded in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland by the Court of the Lord Lyon." Moreover, there is no clan chief and never has been. That is, although all the clans are descended from Alpin, the direct line is not itself a clan, has no chief, no arms, no crest and no independent heraldry. (A "clan", by the way, is defined as "a community of nobles.") It seems to modern people that the McAlpines have been left out, but that is because we no longer understand their unique status as root and seed. For this reason the campaign to turn the McAlpines into another branch of the tree seems misconceived to me. The McAlpines are not one branch among the others: they are the root and seed and this is why they do not have and have never had the insignia of a clan. This also means they are landless. They are thus exactly like the Levites among the tribes of Israel.
Their status as autochthons is preserved in an important and revealing Gaelic saying:
Here (below) is the official tartan of the McAlpines, but like all tartans it is an entirely modern artefact going back no earlier than the industrial revolution.
- Harper McAlpine Black
Today, this seems like a strange anomaly and is no longer understood. Accordingly, the McAlpines of the world (or mainly the USA) are trying to constitute a new clan and seeking recognition by the Lord Lyon in Scotland (who has legal control of such things.) You can find this endeavor at the following website:
They note that, strangely, "no McAlpine chiefly arms, of which a crest would be part, have ever been recorded in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland by the Court of the Lord Lyon." Moreover, there is no clan chief and never has been. That is, although all the clans are descended from Alpin, the direct line is not itself a clan, has no chief, no arms, no crest and no independent heraldry. (A "clan", by the way, is defined as "a community of nobles.") It seems to modern people that the McAlpines have been left out, but that is because we no longer understand their unique status as root and seed. For this reason the campaign to turn the McAlpines into another branch of the tree seems misconceived to me. The McAlpines are not one branch among the others: they are the root and seed and this is why they do not have and have never had the insignia of a clan. This also means they are landless. They are thus exactly like the Levites among the tribes of Israel.
Their status as autochthons is preserved in an important and revealing Gaelic saying:
Cnuic `is uillt `is Ailpeinich
The hills and the streams and the McAlpines.
As the contemporary McAlpines explain this on their website: "[it] signifies the origin of the MacAlpines was contemporary with the origin of the hills and streams, that is, the earth." There you have it! Nothing could be clearer. What it means is, the other clans are all descended from the seed of Alpin (Siol Alpin) but Alpin himself has no forefathers - he is born from (or with) the earth. This is why the McAlpines do not own land. They are the land. Their blood is the essence of the soil. No other clan can make such a claim. All other clans are derivative. (Among the Greeks, this was the boast of the Athenian nobility, of which Plato was a member, descended from the seed progenitor Erichtheus who was himself a child of the Earth.) This is, as I say, a myth of aboriginality. Only the McAlpines are truly aboriginal. Theirs is the "golden" or the royal blood. Of course, the present English monarch, Elizabeth II claims her share of this blood through King Kenneth, first King of the Scots.
(Let me also add here that the formula "the hills and the streams" I take to have a symbolic, and metaphysical, significance, meaning "above and below". Exactly this motif appears in other autochthony myths in parallel traditions throughout the world, mutatus mutandis.)
This is the secret of the McAlpines. It is preserved in the motto: The hills and the streams and the McAlpines. When we understand that the McAlpines - mythologically - are the autochthons then many mysteries are resolved. It explains why Kenneth and not Alpin is the first king. It explains the symbolism of the severed head and the McAlpine War Cry. It explains why the McAlpine clan is "missing". It explains why they have no heraldry. It explains why they have no land. It explains why royal and noble bloodlines start with Alpin. It explains the special status of the McAlpines in Scottish ancestry. The hills and the streams and the McAlpines.
It is pertinent to realise in all of this that myth is more telling than history. Of course the McAlpines were not native to the Scottish land - the Dalriada kings came from Ireland. This fact makes the claim of autochthony all the more potent and important. (You find this in all autochthony traditions. It is precisely migrants who say 'We've always been here!')
A further dimension to this same mythology (which I don't have time to explore here but which is exceedingly fertile) concerns the famed Stone of Destiny, or the Stone of Scone or, as the English would have it, the Coronation Stone. This, it is said, is the stone upon which the Scottish Kings were throned - and is the stone upon which Elizabeth II was crowned at her coronation in 1953. It is said to be, by mythological assimilation, the stone of Jacob, described in the book of Genesis 28:10, the root of Jacob's ladder, the pillow upon which Jacob dreamed. In the Scottish tradition it is said to have been the coronation stone of the Dalriada kings. Symbolically, therefore, it represents the earth itself, and so is an emblem of the autochthony that confers the authority of royalty.
This is the secret of the McAlpines. It is preserved in the motto: The hills and the streams and the McAlpines. When we understand that the McAlpines - mythologically - are the autochthons then many mysteries are resolved. It explains why Kenneth and not Alpin is the first king. It explains the symbolism of the severed head and the McAlpine War Cry. It explains why the McAlpine clan is "missing". It explains why they have no heraldry. It explains why they have no land. It explains why royal and noble bloodlines start with Alpin. It explains the special status of the McAlpines in Scottish ancestry. The hills and the streams and the McAlpines.
It is pertinent to realise in all of this that myth is more telling than history. Of course the McAlpines were not native to the Scottish land - the Dalriada kings came from Ireland. This fact makes the claim of autochthony all the more potent and important. (You find this in all autochthony traditions. It is precisely migrants who say 'We've always been here!')
A further dimension to this same mythology (which I don't have time to explore here but which is exceedingly fertile) concerns the famed Stone of Destiny, or the Stone of Scone or, as the English would have it, the Coronation Stone. This, it is said, is the stone upon which the Scottish Kings were throned - and is the stone upon which Elizabeth II was crowned at her coronation in 1953. It is said to be, by mythological assimilation, the stone of Jacob, described in the book of Genesis 28:10, the root of Jacob's ladder, the pillow upon which Jacob dreamed. In the Scottish tradition it is said to have been the coronation stone of the Dalriada kings. Symbolically, therefore, it represents the earth itself, and so is an emblem of the autochthony that confers the authority of royalty.
* * *
Here (below) is the official tartan of the McAlpines, but like all tartans it is an entirely modern artefact going back no earlier than the industrial revolution.
- Harper McAlpine Black
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