In a recent email to myself popular writer Graham Hancock described a piece of my work submitted to his guest page as not only “very good,” but even “genius in places” and another piece he described as "excellent. Beautifully written and observed and most thought-provoking."  This support comes from surely one of the most widely read of the non-fictional Ancient Mysteries writers, Graham’s book sales to date being well over five million with a number of TV documentaries under his belt. To have my work described as beautifully written by a writer of such a status, and one familiar with the field in which I write, seems to me to be one of the highest accolades I could have as writer who is yet to have a book published. He wrote this in reference to a lengthy piece by myself which he has now placed on his guest writer page on his popular website, where it can be read. The piece he descrived as containing moments of genius is entitled White Island on the Ocean : Seven Landscape Mysteries of Bronze Age Britain, a Unified Theory. Christopher E Street, author of Earthstars (1990) and Earthstars The Visionary Landscape (2000) and The Quest for the Holy Ale also liked this theory, writing: ‘The relationship between some of Britain’s monuments and their Egyptian counterparts is astonishing and undisputable. The geometric evidence on the landscape is irrefutable as are the Egyptian connections. The implications may seem unbelievable but the evidence presented appears very well researched and honest….This work presents a very serious and important piece of research which may lead to a greater understanding of our megalithic heritage. More importantly, William’s ‘Think Like an Egyptian’ approach makes the belief system behind this discovery easy to grasp and as relevant today as it was centuries ago.’ The geometrician Dr. Nick Kollerstrom called it "visionary".

This was not the first piece by myself to go onto Graham’s guest writer page. Another piece dated January 28 2008 is entitled Yima and His Bull : Gemini and Taurus in the Lascaux Caves, and Graham described this, with similar enthusiasm, as “excellent, perhaps even revolutionary”. Graham has himself written about the topic of the piece, namely Upper Palaeolithic European cave art. The popular Ancient Mysteries writer Adrian Gilbert (co-author of the best-selling Orion Mystery) emailed me after reading this piece on Graham’s site to say “A very interesting and indeed plausible theory for the Lascaux paintings”, and Mary Settegast, the author of the acclaimed Plato, Prehistorian wrote of it: “What a delightful theory!” Adriano Forgioni, the editor of the popular Italian Ancient Mysteries magazine and maker of documentaries shown on European television contacted me out of the blue after having read the article on Graham’s site asking me if he could place it in his magazine translated into Italian, to which I agreed. 

On 16 April 2008 Graham posted to his site my piece The Balance of the Two Lands : Ancient Egypt’s Division According to the Ratio of Triangular Equilibrium, which he described positively as “an excellent and very persuasive article”. This article covered topics which had been covered in a previous article by myself published in the archaeological journal Northern Earth. Again Adriano Forgioni asked me if he could place a version translated into Italian into his magazine HERA, to which I again agreed, and Adriano also accepted my suggestion that an Italian version of my article about the star-map in Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne be placed in the magazine.

The aforementioned Northern Earth also published in Summer 2008 in English an article by me on this subject of Titian’s painting, entitled The Dionysian Procession : Secret Imprint on the Summer Stars. The editor of this journal, John Billingsley, subsequently contacted me to tell me that he had received a note from the popular Ancient Mysteries writer John Michell (a “giant in this field” according to Graham Hancock, being author of various books including The View Over Atlantis, City of Revelation and New Light on the Ancient Mystery of Glastonbury) in which unsolicited note to the editor Mr Michell had expressed how much he liked my article. Another article by myself describing this same theory has recently been placed on the scholarly mailing list of the ANISTORITON journal of History, Archaeology and the History of Art after being approved by Professor Demetris Loizos, the chief editor. A longer version of the theory is outlined on my website and Dr. Patrick Hunt of Stanford University, who has himself written about this same Titian painting, described my theory as 'tremendously curious', and 'absorbing', adding also that ‘it may well be correct’ and saying that he could ‘attest to some of the painterly connections and myth and mysteries’ as being plausible, and adding that ‘in any case, it's fascinating.’ He wrote this after reading my article online: A Wedding in the Stars : The Comprehensive Constellation Map that is Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne. Dr. Hunt put me in touch with Dr. Nick Kanas, author of Star Maps : History, Artistry and Cartography, since the theory in question has a connection with such matters. In summary of the dialogue with Dr. Kanas so far, he agrees that the match up with the constellations is good, and that it fits with ideas in circulation at the time, such as the reversed (“external”) constellation chart of Albert Durer, who moved in the same Venice and Mantua/Ferrara connected circles as Titian and Mario Equicola and had himself produced engravings of bacchanals. The writer/researcher Phillip Coppens wrote of this Titian theory "I have read your article and I think the content is absolutely fascinating."

Another article by myself published by this same Northern Earth detailed a theory concerning a star-map in the Knossos Bull-Leaper Fresco, and an article on this same subject was placed onto Andis Kaulin’s Ancient World Blog, and Andis (lecturer at University of Trieste and author of Stones, Stars and Scholars and The Phaistos Disk : Hieroglyphic Greek with Euclidean Dimensions) wrote of the material on the Knossos star-map: ‘The identification of the Bull Fresco is perfect. Gemini, Perseus, Taurus…Wonderful! This was a stroke of pure genius. I agree 100%. This is fabulous. Absolutely brilliant!’ He also wrote as an intro to the piece on the site: “We are quite proud at the Ancient World Blog to announce and publish for the first time a major archaeoastronomical discovery by William Glyn-Jones: his astronomical interpretation of the famous fresco of the "Bull and the Bull-Leaping Gymnasts" at the Palace of Knossos, Crete, the largest of the Minoan Palaces, famed for its restoration by Sir Arthur Evans. We believe that this discovery by William Glyn-Jones, as followed here by other discoveries about the ancient astronomy of Knossos, will ultimately greatly increase world interest in the already highly regarded and mysterious Minoan Culture of Greece.” http://ancientworldblog.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_archive.html Subsequently it turned out that this theory is in accord with the ideas of Dr. Sandy McGillivray of the British School of Athens.

Barbara Hand-Clow, the former owner-editor of the American publishing house Bear&Co and author of the best-selling Pleiadian Agenda, has also been enthusiastic about my star-map theories, writing ‘Excellent work…brilliant and mind-clarifying…the stellar maps are the most advanced that I know of; the proofs are most exciting…very hot!’ She also wrote, regarding a theory described in an article by myself published in the American magazine Atlantis Rising: ‘the implications of the second sphinx and Cézanne are truly fascinating!’, and of the material in the chapter on the Theseus story she wrote in the acknowledgements for her recently published book Alchemy of Nine Dimensions:  ‘I am deeply grateful to William Glyn-Jones for helping me to understand about Theseus and Ariadne…. William Glyn-Jones is a mythologist with a beautiful mind and eye.’ This theory was published in an early form in the American magazine The Sedona Journal of Emergence. John Major Jenkins, acclaimed author of Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, also liked this Theseus material, writing to me in an email that the discoveries were ‘very interesting’ and that he believed it was worthy of expansion into a bigger form than a single article. Further material by myself on Theseus was published in a feature article in the leading UK mind, body, spirit magazine Kindred Spirit.  

Not all of the theories in my book (Amazement Arcadia) have yet become articles in journals or magazines. My theory on the secret of the Great Mysteries of Eleusis is not one I have yet shared with the public, but the popular Earth Mysteries writer Paul Devereux, author of such books as Symbolic Landscapes, Living Ancient Wisdom and The Sacred Place, has seen my theory and told me in an email that he thinks I may be onto something.

The quality of my work has definitely been confirmed for me by such comments from people who know the field, and so I am very confident that the book I have written, which contains all of the above theories, is worthy of publication.  My theories have not only received positive comments from other Ancient Mysteries writers, but also from some academics. As well as Professor Demetris Loizos’ approval of my Titian article for publication in the scholarly ANISTORITON, and the very encouraging support from Dr. Patrick Hunt of Stanford, my bull-leaper theory has dovetailed with the research of the archaeologist Dr Sandy MacGillivray of the British School at Athens, author of Minotaur: Sir Arthur Evans and the Archaeology of the Minoan Myth, our agreement being confirmed through conversation and correspondence, and regarding work I have done into the Athenian Cult of the Arrhephoria, Rory B.Egan of the University of Manitoba, co-author of Daimonopylai : Essays in Classics and the Classical Tradition Presented to Edmund G. Berry wrote “I have read with much interest. I do think that you are on the right track with the Arrhephoria theory,” in an email to myself.

Running through my book and tying the various discoveries and theories together is a refreshing new take on the question of why certain elements of ancient Mystery Initiations proved perennially effective over such vast tracts of time. These new insights take the Ancient Mysteries genre forward to a place of renewed interest; public curiosity in the idea that there is more to the history of culture than meets the eye could be restored after the damage caused by the widespread debunking of books such as The Da Vinci code. I have been fortunate enough to make discoveries that are amazing without being too far out beyond the consensus perspectives to be palatable.