Her nephew had always said that if anybody were to fall in, they could never get themselves out, but Olivia did it.  It was quite extraordinary.  She was shaken obviously, and the family certainly gave her brandy and hot drinks and helped her up to a hot bath and bed when she finally appeared in their quarters. But Olivia says now that amongst her family, local friends and neighbours, it has turned out to be the most 'popular', if you can call it that, of all her exploits over the years, and the story has been told and retold with amazement.  They just cannot imagine how she did it.  Can you? She says actually that even she doesn't know quite how she did it, but as she 'clung on', she says that the Goddess Statue gazed down with 'stone-cold eyes', reminding her in those immortal words of the Liturgy, that "We are with you, but cannot help you."   

She says: "I gather the message is that the Inner Sun helps you to help yourself ..." 

She naturally did not want to worry you about all this, and indeed she has totally recovered and is in terrific form and full of life as ever.  However, as the story has been spreading like wildfire and she will be travelling to the U.S. before too long, she felt it would be good to let you know all about it.  And, as her niece said to me when first she told me, "You'll never believe what Olivia said when she had got out and came in to us ... (Honestly in my heart, for an instant before she told me, I knew what it would be!!!)  "I had always been told that you cannot be a true Druid, unless you have been initiated by total immersion in a well!!!"

Much love,

Minette

Olivia has assured several FOI members that pulling herself out of the well was an act of sheer will. She said that she just managed to catch hold along the edge of the opening as she fell in, and that she found a slight foothold, with one foot on a piece of stone that jutted out about one inch.

Olivia writes: "I hung there for what seemed eternity - about half an hour. I realized that I either had to pull myself out or accept that I was going to die - let go of the rim and allow myself to drown. I didn't wish to die just then, so I gathered all my will - and managed to pull myself out. It took all I had.

Everything I used to find engrossing of an earthly nature ceased to interest in those moments, save for one. Here was Choice. I could choose Death or I could take a greater but more dangerous step. I could choose Life! It is all very interesting on the Other Side and even happy - but in this world, I still have things to do. The idea of death was thrown off by the idea of living.

Oisin, back from the Land of Youth, viewed the world with melancholy and despair. He lost the joy of life and could not embrace the brightness of the sun. I had received the Inner Sun of Isis in the summer of 2000. Only by being personally happy and tranquil can one ever help ones self or anyone else. Well being can only be attained through serenity.”

Photos provided by FOI co-founder Rt. Rev. Olivia Robertson for inclusion on the Circle of Isis website. Photos are copyrighted and used by permission. Original art "Isis of the Inner Sun" by Olivia Robertson. The drawing and excerpt from a letter (in italics above) are reproduced on the Circle of Isis website with permission from Olivia Robertson.