Gretna Green, a small village on the west coast of Scotland only a few hundred yards from the Lochmaben Stone. Its main claim to fame is runaway marriages, but more recently the village has been placed on the map by the exploits of their non-league football club climbing into the Scottish Premier Division. Sadly, the sweet dream ended prematurely and turned into a dark nightmare when, in Spring 2008, the administrators were called in to address the club's preposterous mountain of debt. Exaggerated press reports claimed it amounted to over £9 million. The imponderable perplexity of a club dying 3/4 of the way through a season left the Scottish Football Association in a quandary, giving the options of either finishing the league prematurely or finding extra funding to pay Gretna Football Club players. Emergency loans had to be found to pay the players' wages as Scotland's Premier League degenerated into an internationally humiliating farce. The club resigned their place in the Scottish Football League on 3 June and the "Black and Whites" were formally liquidated on 8 August - 888, the feast day of Saint Dominic.
Gretna is a town dedicated to the Union of Marriage. The 2007 season recorded over 5,500 weddings which amounted to around 19 % of all weddings held in Scotland. Contrary to popular belief there are over a dozen locations for weddings in the village, not just the Blacksmiths Shop. Almost every family in Gretna Village is somehow employed by the fast food style marriage industry; whether it be photographers, florists, caterers or hotels, as every bride knows, it takes a lot of dedication and attention to detail to have the "Perfect Day".
The runaway marriages became popular in 1753 when Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act was passed in England. This stated that; if both parties to a marriage were not at least 21, then consent to the marriage had to be given by the parents. This act did not apply in Scotland where it was possible for boys to get married at 14 and girls at 12, without parental consent. This led to many elopers fleeing England and making for the first Scottish village they came to – Gretna Green. The old Blacksmith’s workshop was built around 1712 and Gretna Hall Blacksmith's shop became, in popular folklore at least, the focal point for the marriage trade.
It is worthy of second consideration that this Blacksmith's Marriage Mecca is to be found almost at the start of our Scottish Roseline trail. The Blacksmith plays a pivotal role in the Grail Romances. When Perceval's Sword is broken into two separate and independent halves, his strength and worth are effectively void and rendered useless. If Perceval's progress is to be prolonged and he is to have any further success, the blade must be re-forged. He requests the services of the Smith to FORGE and ALCHEMISE the UNION of the TWO, MALE/FEMALE into ONE, so that his mission of finding the Grail and healing the people of their sins may continue.
The Blacksmith and his anvil have become the lasting symbols of Gretna Green Weddings. Scottish Law allowed for ‘irregular marriages,’ meaning that so long as a declaration was made in front of two witnesses, almost anybody had the authority to conduct the marriage ceremony. The local blacksmiths became known as “Anvil Priests”. As a ‘forger’ the blacksmith marries hot metal to metal over the anvil, in the same way the anvil priests forged a union between couples who had eloped in love.
“As the Blacksmith joined, with the hammer and anvil two metals(GOLD MARRIAGE RINGS) in the heat of the fire so now you two are joined, never to be separated.”
It is a common belief that white has always been the colour of a traditional wedding dress; actually the first person to wear a white dress was Mary Queen of Scots, and it became popular in 1840 when Queen Victoria was married. The official wedding portrait photograph was widely published and many brides opted for a similar dress in honour of that choice. In fact the normal attire for a wedding would have been your Sunday best or Clan Tartan.
The anvils in Gretna were red hot when the village broke all its own records on the lucky date of 7th July 2007 (7/7/7) when 78.......77 + One All important extra one made there affection pledges in presence of the Black&White Gretna home colour Smith. The loving couples exchanged there Gold rings from as far afield as the U.S, Canada, Austria and Italy. St Valentine’s Day, 14th February 2007, only managed a respectable 44 ceremonies.
The Gretna Marriage 777 Date of impending Omen destiny leads us to the signs of the End of a Age and Revelations 21;7-9 Which tells us about our dishonourable fate after Judgemeant, the lying sinners whom do not wish to repent, "Place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the secound Death". .......One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues (777)came and said to me, "Come I will show you the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb.
Seven is seen as a number sent from heaven with:
Seven colours in a rainbow, Seven names in the Bible for the Ark of the Covenant, Seven great wonders of the Ancient world, The Book of Revelation is divided into seven cycles of events, the seven branching lamp holder of the Menorah, casts it's shadowy light on the opening pages of the Revelations, symbolical narration that interlinks the worlds 7 principal religions and churches, they in turn are helped and guided by the 7 prominent Sophia Angels that converge and assemble ALL into ONE main stem(lamp stand) before THE THRONE IN HEAVEN
It took seven years to build King Solomon’s Temple, 7 is regarded as a sacred number in Masonic symbology, There are 7 chakras that are located in the human body, when on the spiritual pathway the energy chakras are activated to climb the divine ladder commonly know as Jacob’s Ladder, in Buddhism it is referred to as Sanskrit which means wheel. When Mary Magdalene exorcised the seven demons many people perceived this act as her own transformation and spiritual ascension on her own journey through the seven chakras, so the daughter of “Sion” was fully conscious of her consequential role and opening her own covenant with God and communication with the holy spirit.
Coats of Arms of Clan Campbell
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