THE MIDKNIGHT GARDEN: Home to The Serpent Priesthood & Knights of the Red Order.

WEDNESDAY 24th SEPTEMBER  2025 – WEDNESDAY 22nd OCTOBER 2025

Traveling through six countries. England, France, Germany, Czech, Slovakia, and Poland for four weeks.

What an exciting adventure awaits us  – read below for part two!

DAY TWELVE: SUNDAY 5th OCTOBER 2025: Church of St Stanislaus. Skierniewice. Poland: This church has a direct connection to the ‘Desposyni’, the grounds on which the church lays has been the place of the entrance, among a few upon the Earth. When we arrived we were greeted with the strangest of sights, the congregation, for it was a Sunday, were scattered outside, almost awaiting to be allowed into the church. I realized that due to the church being so small, the service continued outside in the grounds, even so it still felt very much like a sign of control by both church and priest. The Church of St. Stanislaus isa historic Baroque temple built in 1720, founded by Archbishop Stanislav Szembek. It is known for its historical and cultural significance to the city and has undergone various restorations to preserve its structure and traditions. The folks and the energies there were a tad solemn, rightly or wrongly, but pleased to have been to this Sacred place. We got quite a few weird looks from folks attending, but never the less continues to take our photos of the church and grave yard, both of which did look very pretty decked out in their autumn attire.

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Time for a wander in the town and a delicous pizza to boot!

Such a pretty well-laid out town square with shops and eateries all around, looking amazing in the sunshine. We had a wonderful wood-fire sough dough pizza, then a wander around the town square with it’s pretty dancing fountains. It was Sunday and most of the shops were shut, but we managed to gather a few general groceries.

Always time for a lovely espresso and a delicious pizza – followed by a walk around this lovely area!

DAY THIRTEEN: MONDAY 6th OCTOBER: REST DAY: A lovely rest day – time to catch up on sleep before leaving Makow, Poland to journey to pastures new in the morning!

DAY FOURTEEN: TUESDAY 7th OCTOBER 2025: Memorial and Museum Auschwitz. Oświęcim. Poland: Of course over the years i have read and seen so much about this place, it did seem very surreal being there and i was unsure about what to expect. Obviously there was a Craft connection but i was still very unsure. The car park there cost the earth and the security team at the entrance were ‘jobsworths’. Apparently one needed to get tickets at the ‘other’ site which we had no reason to visit, so we could not get beyond the barriers, of both human and physical making – such is the way of the world these days – sadly all of tickets, barriers and money. The site was great for the ‘energies’ there though and Karl got some good material for his new book and some well made gifts from the shops there. I was amazed at how many coach loads were there, must have been at least fifty. Still we did what needed to be done, as in all our quest it is not about the actual physical site at all. I tried to take photos through the barbed wire that conveyed the history and feel of the past…..

Stay for two nights at Domek na Szlacheckiej. Graboszyce. Poland.

DAY FIFTEEN: WEDNESDAY 8th OCTOBER 2025: Tyniec Benedictine Abbey. Poland: The Abbey which is set high up on a huge cliff with magnificent views, is said to be the oldest Monastry in Poland, with records from 1044 CE. It is not known when exactly the Benedictine abbey was founded. King Casimir the Restorer is speculated to have re-established the Abbey in 1040 during his rebuilding of the newly established Kingdom of Poland, after a Pagan rebellion and a disastrous raid of Duke Bretislaus 1 (1039). There was some fantastic symbology at the Abbey, and Karl wrote on his  youtube page that it was great to see a Royal Mark in use at such a fine place. We stayed for coffee in the little abbey cafe, bought some lovely gifts and enjoyed the amazing views. The abbey was very beautiful inside and out, but sadly it had it’s own little ‘jobsworth’ there too, who seemed determined to stop me being near the altar and taking photos!

https://krakow.travel/en/380-krakow-benedictine-abbey-in-tyniec

DAY SIXTEEN: THURSDAY  9th OCTOBER 2025: Orava Castle. Oravský Podzámok.  Slovakia: Today we left Poland behind and journeyed though into Slovakia, enjoying the changing scenery and beautiful buildings, which in this part of the world had a very Russian feel about them. On a personal level i did find the ‘energies’ in Poland quite ‘chaotic’, but never the less we did see some beautiful places while we were there and today it was another such fantastic visit to Orava Castle in Slovakia, which was amazing to behold! We enjoyed a drive through scenic mountains to get there and then it was a steep old walk up the big rock to get to the castle, with lots of stops on the way, but very well worth the climb! We never went right up to the very top as there were far too many steps involved but we went inside the chapel, which was where we were meant to be. Again many beautiful symbols, marks and artworks within the chapel, one painting did look like a vampire in his coffin, but yet again we arrived without tickets because one needed to buy them prior to arriving! But a very kind guide let us in for she could see we were struggling…

The heart of this castle is within it’s tower, and myth and legend say that a ‘Being’ was once laid to rest here, and there seemed to be clues and Craft knowledge all around to testify this. The area was once known as the ‘Kingdom of Hungary’, the building of the castle  started in 1241 CE, but the top of the actual cliff has been used for many a millennia. Some great and important Craft symbology was to be found here at the castle. 

The castle has been used as a film set many times, and many scenes of the 1922 film Nosferatu were filmed here, the castle representing Count Orlok’s Transylvanian castle. Also in their 2020 TV adaption of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, Mark Gatis and Steven Moffat used Orava as their Castle Dracula. The castle has famously been used as a location in many other movies and TV adaptions, which one can read about on-line. There was an exhibition that commemorates the movie side of the castle, but as that was right at the very top, it was out of our reach. I was interested in the Alchemists Workroom though, on the lower levels and i did take many photos from there, maybe for further research and maybe for poetry. Also in the lower castle, it was the chapel of St Michael that had special Craft interest on this quest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orava_Castle

https://www.oravskemuzeum.sk/en/exhibition/orava-castle/

The artifacts were stunning here with much symbolism relating to Craft and this quest.

 Afterwards we had a lovely coffee in the town below, before a great drive through Slovakia with all the stunning mountain views to feast our eyes upon, before arriving at our next digs.

DAY SEVENTEEN: FRIDAY 10th OCTOBER 2025: St Nicholas Church. Liptovský. Mikuláš. Slovakia: A lovely visit to this church and vibrant town. Built in 1248 CE on the site of a much older church. The Church of St. Nicholas in Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia, is an ancient Roman Catholic church built around 1280 in the Gothic style. It is located in the center of the city on the Main Square, and it is considered the oldest architectural masterpiece, a national cultural monument and largest early Gothic building in the area, situated in the main square. A large influx of migrants from Germany in 1299 CE, of which one said Migrant would lay the path for the discovery of the Grail. Sadly we could not get inside, but took some great photos from the outside.

We spent some quality time in the town afterwards, a lovely wander, some retail therapy and a delicious meal!

Church of St Peter of Alcantara: Liptovsky. Mikulas: As the rain set in for the rest of the day we drove a short distance to the church of St Peter, sadly again we could not get inside but managed some great photos despite the rain! This magnificent building dates back to 1473 CE. Once a major place of gatherings, it now lays strangely silent to the local people, unknowing of its real significance. It is a Baroque style Roman Catholic church and one could see it had many tales to tell and was once a monastery in the fifteenth century. 

https://www.mikulas.sk/en/visitor/monuments-of-the-town/st-peter-of-alcantara-church-in-okolicne/

DAY EIGHTEEN: SATURDAY 11th OCTOBER: We left our accommodation in Slovakia a day early due to ‘issues’ with property, some dissatisfaction and a lack of privacy. My rest day will need to wait for now…. So we traveled onwards for just one night, at a very swish property, then on to our next scheduled stop, another beautiful and very posh property for three great nights and a rest day for ‘yours truly’, so back on track. We did a bit of re-arranging in respect of sites to visit, but as in life, nothing ever turns out as expected. The thing about the quests is to be ready for the unexpected and to go just with the flow, for we are always where we are meant to be. As you know if you have followed me on the quests, we are not here to visit the actual sites (lovely as many are) but here for the secrets they hide, here for their histories untold, and here for what is hidden ‘underneath, often for many, many centuries’.

Please do get in touch if you are interested and feel that this path is for you and in the meantime we bid you a warm farewell…

Please contact me here for further details

‘moon.willow@ntlworld.com’

‘Keeper of Scrolls’ ‘Grail Guardian’

“For even the Angels will mask themselves as Demons and Demons as Angels themselves”