Conferences, tours, lectures, films/documentaries, seminars, and publications are an important part of the outreach of Ancient Quest, as are travel and intercultural dialogue. This includes collaborative ventures such as tours (Chartres, Egypt, Britain, North America, Greece).
Based in Oxford, England, Dr Ralls is the Founder-Director of Ancient Quest. She is a member of the British Association for the Study of Religion, The Gatekeeper Pilgrimage Trust (UK), Rilko (UK), the American Academy of Religion, and is an Interfaith teacher, minister and spiritual counsellor (UK). [For more info, see Biography] As Postdoctoral Fellow, she has also been Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley, lectured at Edinburgh and Oxford, and served as Deputy Curator to the Rosslyn Chapel Museum art exhibition (1995-2001), and recently completed a specialist Medieval and Renaissance art history course at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London.
 She is also Guest Lecturer / Guide for tours, workshops, retreats, and journeys to historical/sacred sites; e.g. 2002 Journey to Chartres Cathedral/Paris; 2003 Celtic tour of Scotland & Ireland; 2004 Tour to Durham, York and Rosslyn Chapel; 2006 Tour to Woodlands and Lakes; 2008 "Tour to Paris / Laon / Chartres"; 2009 Tour to Glastonbury, Wells, Avebury, and Stonehenge, etc. From ancient god/goddess sites, stone circles, lakes and hills, to High Gothic and Renaissance sites, forthcoming tour(s) and workshops in various places for 2012-4 with meditation, labyrinth, music, and other special events on them are being planned (see News).
History comes alive through visual, digital, or musical ways, too; local/regional communities, places and people - you! - are often a key part of this. The 'Vision' for your project(s), tours, and workshops is important. Dr Ralls has been consultant to various leading TV documentary/ media/film projects (History Channel, Discovery, USA/ UK/ Europe; see Media and consultancy.) To contact Karen to mutually explore an idea you may have for her to do an illustrated talk for your conference or org., tour, workshop/retreat, conference, film/media project, fundraising idea; a charity or company event, or music production (flute, Celtic harp), etc, pls contact at enquiries @ ancientquest. com
Karen obtained her PhD from the University of Edinburgh (see Biography) and now lives and works in Oxford, England, travelling for research, and on to talks, workshops, events, etc., to meet and share with all of you! Let's keep the Dream alive…
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Karen's book -- The Knights Templar Encyclopedia -- (Career Press, NJ) is now available… the product of years of detailed research, this is an essential guide to the People, Places, Events and Symbols of the Order of the Temple (1119-1312). Scholarly, yet accessible, this key reference work is in convenient A-to-Z format - an important addition to any library. Includes 5 appendices, extensive Bibliography, a special 'Recommended Reading' section, a list of major European Templar sites, Grand Masters, chronology, photos and more. Explore the fascinating world of the medieval Templars.
"The The Knights Templar Encyclopedia offers both general readers and specialists alike a remarkable source work on the famous medieval military Order. Scholarly and authoritative, Dr. Ralls' treasury…is highly recommended". ---Professor Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, University of Exeter (UK).
It is now available for orders from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk (click title for further details and direct links) |
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Karen's book, The Templars and the Grail,
is now on its 6th printing and available from
amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
(click title
for details and a link)
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"Fascinating! Karen Ralls steers a middle course
between dry scholarship and extravagant speculation, with real insights into
the Templar and Grail traditions..."
-David Lorimer, Director, Scientific
and Medical Network |
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"...Here is the book about the Knights Templar
we have been waiting for... Now, in one readable book, the kind you can't lay
down, Karen Ralls gives us the basic known facts about Templar history, and
also deals with the colorful speculations in a fair, open-minded, yet
responsible way. If you're looking for the one indispensable book about the
Knights Templar, this is it."
-Robert
Ellwood, Professor of Religion Emeritus, University of Southern
California |
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"...a Templar tour de force... Karen
Ralls's meticulously researched book is a significant addition both to the
history and myths surrounding the Templars and to the highly esoteric
literature of the Grail. In this work, Dr. Ralls has created an important
bridge between these two extraordinary and long-lived
themes."
-John Matthews, author |
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"In the Grail romances the question is asked,
"Whom does the Grail serve?" In the case of this work, the Grail serves the
reader of Dr. Karen Ralls' 'The Templars and the Grail'... a book that is full
of factual history and yet explores the many speculations... a book as richly
decorated and elegantly crafted as the many stone carvings that adorn Rosslyn
Chapel herself."
-Stephen Dafoe,
publisher, Templar History Magazine |
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"In presenting a practical history of the
Templars interwoven with the secrets of the Age of Chivalry, this book is a
'must' for those interested in the Western
Mysteries."
-Robert Brydon, FSA Scot.,
Templar historian and owner of The Brydon
Collection
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"...This book takes us on a fascinating journey through
the mystery and magic of Scotland's past. Along the way, the authors describe
the people, places and traditions associated with Scotland's legends and
history....the Declaration of Arbroath, the Stone of Destiny, the 'missing
library' of Iona, Arthurian traditions, the Holy Grail, the Picts, the
Druids..Celtic saints...Robert the Bruce...Rosslyn Chapel...the Knights
Templar, and much more..."
-The Watkins
Review, London, Autumn/Winter 2002, Issue No. 4 |
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"Anyone who likes to turn over questions and
then take the opportunity to visit the many charismatic places mentioned will
be entertained by this book. Without resorting to colourful conjecture and wild
surmising, it nevertheless adds its own voice to the enduring, and probably
unsolvable, mysteries of Scotland's Celtic
heritage."
-Barbara Fraser, Historic Scotland magazine, Winter 2002/03
(the
official magazine of the government department responsible for Scotland's built
heritage) |
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"...in The Quest for the Celtic Key....their
sources are well documented at the end of each chapter and the result is an
enthralling and informative journey through time which deserves a place on
every Scottish bookshelf. Most importantly, the result of bringing together our
history, folklore and legends, gives us, I believe, a unique and valuable
insight into the nation we are
today"
-Margaret Graeme, Scots
magazine, February 2003, Vol. 158, No. 2 |
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"The reader who travels with Karen Ralls and Ian Robertson...will find a travelogue which enriches the histories and mythologies so beautifully told, with many newly wrought connections to places, buildings, stones and other remains which may still be viewed in the landscape and historic monuments of modern Scotland...""
-Rev. Dr. Michael Northcott, Faculty of Divinity, University of Edinburgh |
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Media commentary on Music and the Celtic Otherworld (2000): |
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"This is a fascinating study of an important and neglected theme in Celtic literature and religion. Meticulously researched and sensitively written, it highlights the importance attached to music in both pre-Christian and early Christian Ireland and Scotland and its particular association with the Otherworld".
-Dr. Ian Bradley, St. Andrews University, back cover of book |
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"....an authoritative and accessible book on the spiritual dimension of music."
-The Scotsman, Mar.2000 |
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"a fascinating topic that Ralls-MacLeod (Celtic and Religious Studies, University of Edinburgh) succeeds in introducing through various source texts... this study provides a solid introduction to an interdisciplinary topic that will be of interest to scholars of Celtic culture and folklore as well as medieval Irish music. Recommended..."
Teresa M. Neff, Boston University
-Library Journal (USA), May 2000 |
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"this book really is a
must." |
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"carefully and skillfully highlights the spiritual dimension of music from both a Christian and pre Christian perspective ... the bibliography at the end of the book is substantial."
-Dalriada magazine, May 2000 |
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"The influence of music in the Celtic world is paramount... Dr Ralls methodically explores the tradition...
"There are many interesting side-lights... and the bibliography ensures that the reader has access to an extensive source"
- RILKO Journal, Spring 2000 |
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And, of Indigenous Religious Musics (2001), co-edited with Dr.Graham Harvey, Professor James Cox of Edinburgh University said in a review in the Journal of Contemporary Religion (vol. 17:1, 2002): |
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"This book marks a welcome and innovative addition to a growing list of publications on indigenous religions.....a genuinely multi-disciplinary study....a creative supplement to the book is a CD...which contains five examples of indigenous music." |
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 Research areas of Interest
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 In-depth historical research on medieval topics such as the the Grail, symbolism, the Knights Templar, Gothic cathedrals, Richard the Lionheart, Courts of Love, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Cathars, the Inquisition, witchcraft trials, the roots of Rosicrucianism, medieval Kabbala, medieval Guilds, Chivalry, Troubadours, Arthurian romances, Heraldry, Rosslyn Chapel, medieval pageants, the Crusades, pilgrimage, Knights Hospitaller, the Black Virgin and Madonna, Music, Gnosticism and the Renaissance Hermetic revival for further details see seminars).
Aspects of these derive from the philosophical traditions of the
ancient world, introducing cross-cultural themes of comparative mythology and
awareness of symbolism and archetypes.
 Celtic topics include King Arthur, the Holy Grail, Merlin, the sidhe (fairy)
tradition, the Celtic Otherworld, Iona, the Stone of Destiny, the bards, Green
Man, Celtic gods and goddesses, Robin Hood, the Picts
and the Druids (for example, see Music & the Celtic Otherworld - synopsis).
 Christian subjects include the Celtic church, the Culdees, the Transfiguration, St. John
the Baptist, 'the Word', angels, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Knights Templar, saints, the Book of Kells, Dead Sea Scrolls,
Nazarenes, the Gospel of John and St. Columba of Iona (for example see
Articles: The Celtic Church).
 Transpersonal psychology topics
include consciousness research, Jungian theory, archetypes, comparative
mythology, transcendence, dreams, shamanism, intuition, creativity, science and
spirituality, and so on (for examples see Workshops).
 Also:
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places of pilgrimage, e.g., Templar sites, Jerusalem,
Rosslyn Chapel, Iona, Turkey, Crete, ancient Celtic sites, Bourges,
Santiago de Compostela, Egypt, India, Malta;
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people, e.g., Wolfram von Eschenbach, St. Bernard of
Clairvaux, Roger Bacon, Thomas Jefferson, Joseph of Arimathea, Rumi;
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issues, e.g., the rise and fall of the Knights
Templar, the founding of the Royal Society, the Holy Grail, the importance of
religious experience.
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"Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers...."
- Alfred Lord Tennyson |
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Welcome
* What historical places are near you?