20+ Years
Publishing career spanning authorship, research, editing, translation and independent publishing since 2004.
More Than Two Decades in Publishing
Helena B. Scott’s publishing career spans more than two decades and 18 works, encompassing authorship, academic research, collaborative publications, editing and professional translation, including earlier works published under another name.
Since her first publication in 2004, she has written her own books, edited and collaborated on a number of works, and produced published translations both of her own writing and of the work of other authors in her capacity as an accredited translator. Her experience extends to publishing itself: Helena has also run her own publishing business, publishing and supporting the work of other authors. Her first book, a work on falconry published in the UK in 2004, received the British Print and Design Award for Best Digital Book of the Year.
Her long-standing involvement in the literary profession is further reflected in her professional affiliations. Helena is a member of the Irish Writers Union and the Irish Writers Centre, from which she holds certification as a professional writer. She was also a member of the Society of Authors, which she joined in 2006 while living in London, UK.
Her most recent book, Loftus: The Hall of Dreams (2018), became a No. 1 Amazon bestseller in Secret Societies & Freemasonry, Occultism, and Haunted & Unexplained Travel, and was also featured among Amazon’s Hot New Releases following publication. The book attracted significant press attention, with coverage including The Irish Times, Irish Independent and The Sunday Times, alongside regional publications including The Munster Express and New Ross Standard. It has also continued to receive excellent reader reviews, including on Goodreads.
Most recently, Helena contributed Chapter 19, “Templar Ireland,” to the forthcoming book The Templar Agenda by Kathleen Anne Ball, PhD, due for release in October 2026. The chapter distils research begun in 2016, first developed publicly through her work on the quiet arrival of the Templars in Ireland, Loftus: The Hall of Dreams, related interviews and her later MA dissertation, and provides a concise overview of her larger book-in-progress, Templar Ireland. She is also completing her forthcoming book on the Black Madonnas and the Dark Mother, while developing several other works in progress.
The Library brings together selected published works, contributions, forthcoming books and works in progress — offering a glimpse not only of what has already been published, but of the research and ideas currently taking shape.
Publishing Record · At a Glance
18 Works
Books, collaborative publications, translations, chapters and other published contributions across English and Spanish.
No. 1 Bestseller
Loftus: The Hall of Dreams reached No. 1 on Amazon in multiple specialist categories.
Research to Publication
Primary-source research, fieldwork, public history and digital scholarship carried into books, chapters, essays and resources.
Publishing · Rights · Research · Commissioned Work
For publishers, museums, heritage bodies, universities, media, cultural organisations and research partners seeking original writing, book or chapter contributions, specialist research, permissions, talks or collaborative projects.
Book Contribution · Chapter 19
The Templar Agenda
Author: Kathleen Anne Ball, PhD — Contributing Author: Helena B. Scott, MA
"Templar Ireland" — Helena B. Scott
Helena B. Scott contributes Chapter 19 — "Templar Ireland" — to The Templar Agenda by Kathleen Anne Ball, PhD. The chapter distils Helena's sustained research into the Knights Templar in Ireland, begun in 2016 when she first publicly discussed their quiet arrival in Ireland and later developed through Loftus: The Hall of Dreams, public interviews, her MA in Public History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Limerick, ongoing primary-source research and original fieldwork.
"Templar Ireland" places the Irish dimension of the Templar story within the broader scholarly and historical framework of the wider volume, bringing Helena's particular combination of archival research, material culture analysis and landscape archaeology to the question of how the Templars understood, shaped and inhabited the Irish territories under their control. It is a concise published overview of Helena's larger book-in-progress, Templar Ireland.
The chapter also draws on Helena's original field research at Kilbarry Knights Templar Graveyard, once part of the Kilbarry Templar preceptory, one of the more substantial Templar properties in medieval Ireland. During that research, Helena identified previously unrecorded archaeological material and formally reported her findings to Ireland's National Monuments Service. The National Monuments Service has since confirmed Helena's findings and entered them into the official archaeological record, with Helena recorded as identifier and reporter.
Author: Kathleen Anne Ball, PhD · Contributing Author: Helena B. Scott, MA
Chapter 19: "Templar Ireland" · Forthcoming October 2026
The Templar Agenda · Kathleen Anne Ball, PhD · Forthcoming October 2026
Templar Academy Research Edition · Special Event Gift · 13 October 2026
The Orange of the Temple
Hidden in Plain Sight
Helena B. Scott, MA · Templar Academy · Research Edition
The Oath. The Orange. The Taste of the East.
A small object. A fleeting gesture. An image almost too ordinary to notice. The Orange of the Temple begins with a visual breadcrumb familiar to viewers of Kingdom of Heaven: Godfrey of Bouillon offering Balian a literal taste of the East. From that deceptively simple moment, Helena follows the orange into the medieval world around the Temple and asks what else may have been hidden in plain sight.
This Templar Academy Research Edition develops an original line of inquiry through primary sources, historical evidence, symbolism, the religious and spiritual beliefs of the period, and the wider intellectual and cultural currents that moved around the Temple and the medieval Mediterranean world. The deeper interpretation remains deliberately under wraps. The trail is there; the reader is invited to follow it.
13 October 2026 · In Remembrance
To be given as a complimentary commemorative research booklet to ticket holders at Helena's 13 October 2026 website launch event, ahead of the Templar Academy opening in November.
Film extract: Kingdom of Heaven (2005), directed by Ridley Scott. Embedded via Movieclips/YouTube for commentary and critical discussion.
Templar Academy · Inaugural-Course Exclusive · 1 November 2026
The Women of the Temple
Were Women Really Forbidden from the Knights Templar?
Inaugural-Course Exclusive1 November 2026
The Rule. The Records. The Evidence.
The familiar story is simple: women were forbidden from the Knights Templar, and the Order stood closed to the feminine by design. The Women of the Temple takes that certainty back to its sources — reading the surviving Rule closely in the original Latin and medieval French, alongside relevant Templar manuscripts and other contemporary sources, and asking what the texts actually say rather than what later tradition has claimed on their behalf.
From there, the study follows the question into the archives and the archaeological record. It also reopens another surprisingly neglected question: what did chastity and celibacy actually mean within the Templar world? Could a Templar be married? Could married people enter the brotherhood — and what do the sources reveal about husbands, wives, couples, family and children in relation to the Order? Growing out of Helena's MA dissertation research at the University of Limerick — which recovered the neglected role of women and the central place of the sacred feminine in the Order's spiritual life — the study brings archival research, material culture and landscape archaeology to bear on some of the most persistent assumptions in Templar history. The Rule and the Templars' own documents say one thing; the records may say another; and the evidence decides.
The Templars tell us everything we want to know. We just haven't been listening to them.
A Three-Part Inquiry
What the Templars' documents say. What the records reveal. What the evidence actually supports.
Inaugural Course · 1 November 2026
Exclusive inaugural-course material for students joining the Templar Academy from 1 November 2026.
Cover to be revealed
Helena B. Scott, MA · Forthcoming
Forthcoming Book · Holythorn Press · Esoteric Publishers
A new study of Black Madonnas, sacred memory and the Dark Mother
This book opens a new line of enquiry into the Black Madonna. Helena's forthcoming work grows from years of research and engagement with the Black Madonna tradition, but at its heart lies an unexpected trail of discoveries that emerged through her MA dissertation research in Public History & Cultural Heritage. Drawing together fieldwork, archival research and material culture, the book brings previously unknown Black Madonna material into the established record alongside overlooked and little-known traditions. Helena has traced these stories through historical evidence, objects, landscapes and wider networks, reconstructing histories that have never before been brought together or told in this way. The forthcoming book will reveal these discoveries and their stories for the first time, while challenging some of the familiar boundaries through which the Black Madonna has traditionally been understood.
Forthcoming from Holythorn Press · Esoteric Publishers. Title and cover will be revealed in due course.
Academic Research · University of Limerick · 2025
MA Dissertation
MA Public History & Cultural Heritage
University of Limerick · Dissertation date: 31 August 2025
Field Research · Kilbarry
Kilbarry Bullaun / Spudstone · Field Recording
Photograph: Helena’s son · Helena B. Scott Research Archive
Helena at the Norse Cross-Slab · Kilbarry
Kilbarry Knights Templar Graveyard · Dissertation fieldwork
MA Public History & Cultural Heritage · University of Limerick
From medieval Crusades to modern communities: Interpreting the history of the Knights Templar at selected heritage sites in Ireland's south-east
Helena B. Scott's 2025 MA dissertation examines how public history can interpret, preserve and reconnect communities with the Knights Templar heritage of Ireland's south-east. Combining historical research, archaeology, sacred landscape and participatory public-history practice, it challenges familiar military and institutional narratives by recovering dimensions of Templar spiritual and cultural life that have often been neglected — including the role of women, the central place of the sacred feminine, and the Order's interfaith and cross-cultural engagements.
Ireland's National Monuments Record
A tangible outcome of the dissertation was Helena's identification of previously unrecorded archaeological material at Kilbarry Knights Templar Graveyard, once part of the Kilbarry Templar preceptory. Helena formally reported her findings to Ireland's National Monuments Service, which has since confirmed her findings and entered them into the official archaeological record, with Helena recorded as identifier and reporter. This fieldwork forms an important part of the dissertation's contribution to the study and preservation of Ireland's Templar heritage.
Three archaeological features identified and reported by Helena B. Scott at Kilbarry Knights Templar Graveyard, Waterford — once part of the Kilbarry Knights Templar Preceptory and its associated lands — were confirmed by Ireland's National Monuments Service and entered into the public record with assigned record numbers, with Helena recorded as both identifier and reporter.
Kilbarry Knights Templar Graveyard · Waterford
Norse Cross Graveslab · Bullaun / Spudstone · Masonic Graffiti
Ireland National Monuments Record Evidence · Click an image to enlarge
Original Numbered Collector's Edition · 200 Copies
Loftus: The Hall of Dreams
Helena B. Scott, MA · Loftus Hall, Co. Wexford · 2018
Loftus: The Hall of Dreams goes behind the famous Devil in the Card story to investigate the history, folklore and enduring mysteries of Loftus Hall and the Hook Peninsula. Written through the atmospheric framework of a Gothic narrative, it brings together extensive historical and genealogical research, architecture and landscape, folklore and psychical research to examine what lies behind the legend rather than simply retelling it.
The investigation reaches into the deeper landscape surrounding the Hall: the Knights Templar presence on the Hook Peninsula, Freemasonry and the Masonic architecture and symbolism of Loftus Hall, traditions of sacred geography and ley lines, and the networks of people, places and ideas that shaped the house across centuries. Alongside conventional documentary and historical research, Helena incorporated psychical research undertaken at Loftus Hall, while portions of the work emerged through automatic writing. These different forms of investigation are woven through the Gothic narrative, bringing documented history, place, memory and anomalous experience into conversation.
The result is the most exhaustive study of Loftus Hall produced to date: a multidisciplinary investigation of the house, its families, architecture, landscape and hidden histories — including the Templar, Masonic and esoteric currents running through its story.
“A new perspective and beguiling approach to the history of the house. The intriguing story, which embraces ley lines, geomancy, and freemasonry, has many surprises and makes history come alive in a distinctive way.”
“Stunning, informative, thought-provoking… Gripping, and one-of-a-kind; this is not just another history book, it is a work of art.”
“The story itself is fascinating, intriguing and far from the usual narrative of historical research. Ms Scott manages to inject so much more into this complete and compelling history of Ireland's most haunted building.”
Collector's Limited Edition · Large-format hardback · Hand-numbered · 200 copies
304 pages · 116 photographs · 170gsm art silk paper
Author, Researcher & Book Layout: Helena B. Scott · Photography: Steve Meyler
Signed and dedicated by Helena · Out of print · Only a few copies remain
Available from Helena's personal collection
From the Archive
The Loftus Family Papers
Primary-source material consulted by Helena B. Scott during her research for Loftus: The Hall of Dreams, including the historic survey by Richard Frizell, 1771, and the Loftus family's papers, some almost 300 years old.
Photography by Steve Meyler · With thanks to the National Library of Ireland, Dublin, for permission to reproduce archival material in Loftus: The Hall of Dreams.
Selected passages · Click to enlarge
Inside the Book
Loftus Hall in image & film
Click any image to enlarge
Current Editions · Paperback & Kindle
Loftus: The Hall of Dreams
The paperback and Kindle editions present the same core text as the original Collector's Edition in a more accessible format, accompanied by a smaller selection of colour and black-and-white photographs. The paperback and Kindle editions became Amazon bestsellers, reaching No. 1 in Freemasonry & Secret Societies, Occultism, and Haunted & Unexplained Travel.
This is the most exhaustive study of Loftus Hall — Ireland's most famous haunted house — produced to date. A multidisciplinary investigation of the house, its families, architecture, landscape and hidden histories, it explores the Templar, Masonic and esoteric currents running through its story.
Selected Writing · Press · Free Research
Essays, Features & Articles
Gnosticism · Inner Knowing · Essay
Remembering in an Unreal World: A Gnostic Path Through Modern Chaos
Helena B. Scott · Substack · 9 May 2026
What can an ancient tradition of inner knowing offer a world that increasingly feels fragmented and unreal? In memory of Bishop Stephan A. Hoeller, Helena moves from the spiritual crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe into Gnostic ideas of awakening, Sophia, the divine spark and anamnesis — asking how we might recover clarity, presence and a deeper knowledge of ourselves amid modern chaos.
Read Free on Substack ↗Freemasonry · Sacred Feminine · Essay
Earth Was the First Lodge: Freemasonry, Nature and the Return of the Sacred Feminine
Helena B. Scott · Substack · 29 May 2026
What if the first temple was the living Earth? Helena follows Freemasonry beyond the lodge into landscape, ecology and the anima mundi, tracing the Craft’s symbols through nature, sacred polarity and the return of the feminine — and asking whether initiation might ultimately be a restoration of humanity’s relationship with the living world.
Read Free on Substack ↗Templar History · Symbolism · Essay
When Wood Became a Relic: The True Cross and the Medieval Imagination — and the Cross Within
Helena B. Scott · Substack · 13 September 2026
From Jerusalem and the medieval cult of the True Cross to Holy Cross Abbey in Ireland, the Knights Templar and the deeper symbolism of the cross, Helena follows the journey from sacred relic to inner map — where history, material culture, the Forsaken Feminine and Jungian ideas of transformation meet.
Read Free on Substack ↗Selected Excerpts · Programmes · Public History
Digital Publications & Resources
A small selection from Helena's digital archive — book excerpts, publication material and public-history resources. Scroll to browse, or continue to the full downloads collection.
