98. Sir Thomas Boleyn: A figure of enlightenment and unity?

I have been away for a while working on a book and the publishing industry. I thought my inner spiritual process had quietened, but no.

I had written about my inner darkness and how it was relieved by a Christ-like man shining a light coming from his heart area between his hands – 13. The Dark Night. Years later I experienced him again and he rotated 180 degrees around a semi-circle into me. I felt no different, people did not see me differently as far as I could tell, and more years passed.

This brass rubbing of Sir Thomas Boleyn (1477-1539) was taken from the Church of St. Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square, London. I had it made and sent to me because my mother’s mother was called Bullen, a name spelling used interchangeably with Boleyn, and my family said Sir Thomas Boleyn was an ancestor of ours.

His family are thought to have originated from Boulogne (another spelling) in France and a very small quantity of my DNA can be traced to that area. Sir Thomas was the father of Ann, Henry VIII’s second wife and so the grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I (King Charles III is directly descended from his other daughter, Mary).

He had a very successful diplomatic and political life through the Royal Court of England, becoming Earl of Wiltshire a Knight of the Order of the Garter and more. After the execution of Ann and his son George, he led a precarious life but died of natural causes.

Last winter after walking past it for many years I took an opportunity to look more closely¹. I was struck by his open eyes and his cupped hands held together with whiteness between them as though representing light. This is very significant for me because my Jesus-like figure’s hands were cupped the same way. The light I have come to think of as that of revelation, enlightenment, as it broke through my dark night.

Sir Thomas stands on a Griffin, a mythical creature, a combination of lion and eagle – king of the lands and of the sky or symbolically, matter and spirit. He is supported by both, and being underfoot in command of them. This in Christian connection is also a representation of Jesus Christ in the grounded human and the elevated spiritual – in control of his animal instincts as the man Jesus and in connection with God as Christ in expression through him.

I found Sir Thomas being represented as a Jesus Christ-like figure striking. Did he achieve theosis or was this an inflated representation? To rise so quickly, go so far and survive, he must have been a man of extraordinary qualities.

In July I was going through the moves in a yoga class when suddenly I had a clear sense of the Christ-like figure in me. He was about 3 feet tall, his hands around a light over his heart area superimposed over mine, and he stayed still and silent in me as my body bent and twisted. I became very emotional and thought I might have to break away from the class.

Later that night, I became aware of the figure again as he expanded to fill the space of my body. So there I was going about my life, with this man in me standing still and silent with the light between his hands radiating out of my heart area. I knew he was there and could find him easily at will.

Then again, two weeks later, in another yoga class, he broke through to my awareness, only this time, the light surprisingly expanded to engulf me. In a quiet, relaxed moment, the Shavasana (corpse pose) at the end of the class, I asked what this meant, and the word ‘unity’ came. Maybe that is what the light brings, revelation into unity. The true meaning of this is not known to me. I can surmise, but I prefer to be in not knowing as my safest way between inflating and denying myself through conjecture.

As for Sir Thomas, I found in reading about him a likeable character (many historians are critical of him) and, as the rubbing would suggest, a possible figure of enlightenment and unity. That surely would make for a successful politician and diplomat.

1. My English January had always been a miserably cold, wet and damp business seasoned with the anti-climax from the Christmas festivities. This year, I bought – The Almanac A Seasonal Guide to 2024 by Lia Leendertz, which advised me that January was a month for quiet contemplation of the year past and the one to come; I could put off the jobs and the resolutions. I settled in front of a fire and, in a way, became more connected to my inner space and outer world. Sit in a chair and do nothing if you can – I can recommend it. It transformed my January, and it is now a month I look forward to. During this time, my gaze settled on this picture.

Mackay L. Among the Wolves of Court. The Untold Story of Thomas and George Boleyn. London. Bloomsbury. 2023.

Leendertz L. The Almanac A Seasonal Guide to 2024. London. Octopus. 2023.