Caliban's Redemption

The Theatre of Genius: Examining the Life and Work of Elchin Efendiyev

2011-12-31T04:01:00.000-08:00

A Talk by David Parry sponsored by The European Azerbaijan Society and delivered at Pushkin House, London, on 21st November 2011

1. Thanking Mr. Julian Gallant.
2. Equally thanking The European Azerbaijan Society as sponsors for this talk.
3. Opening comments on Gruntlers and Elchin’s work.
Perhaps Gruntlers is best described as an experimental arts group holding regular events across London. Each month we celebrate poetry, drama, music and film with an internationalist flavour. We are committed to the promotion of groundbreaking symbolist performance as a means to attract new audiences to radical High Arts. Gruntlers also embrace the mind-opening aesthetics of Traditionalist consciousness. New talents are encouraged and established talents showcased. Our belief is in Beauty, Truth and Freedom.

4. Introduction:
There is nothing more serious than fun. According to Friedrich Schiller play, in all of its manifestations, is as vital to a full expression of the human spirit, as are reason and sense. Perhaps this is why theatricals across the world live in various states of agitation. They seem to struggle with a form of consciousness both afflicted and perfecting in order to empower their humanity. There are occasionally unfortunate repercussions to this deeply metaphysical process, however. Some humourless performers, for example, effect a dour attitude towards their audiences in the mistaken belief that they have discovered the “virtue” of sobriety. Others, having sensed the absurdity behind this (usually Christian) mask, simply become offensive in the hope of distancing themselves from their neighbour’s merriment. There are even those who disassemble their mirth to uphold a dramatic gravitas towards the general public. Yet, none of these religious weaklings will ever really achieve true strength, since such gifts are only found through joy. Once this perspective is achieved, our muscular English irony becomes observably akin to sturdy French pasquinade and wiry Azerbaijani satire. Suggesting, in creative terms, that each of these poetic traditions embraced the grim realities of – specific - human inadequacies, as well as their comedic consequences. Every indiscretion, shedding a revealing light on the possibilities of personal Meaning. Facts well known to both wandering troubadours in ages past, as well as unveiled Ashik singers, to this day.

5. Judging Covers:
Existential reflections of this kind also show us limitations within the Academy itself. A realisation first made by the exponents of DADA in the last Century, when these revolutionaries sliced into the substance of revered cultural structures. Indeed, as mental terrorists, they delighted in reminding us Europeans that the greatest insights our world can offer occur outside the confines of a Common Room. This is why DADA placed comedic routines on the same level as Roman vomitoria and advanced mathematics, while admitting the latter lacked in genuine burlesque. Sarcasm aside, such views joked at the expense of a rampant hubris increasingly embodied by present day patricians. A merchant caste proving on a yearly basis their bewildering belief that they, in themselves, form living social tapestries with implicit value. To the extent that ironic confession has now become a mode of self-justification for the educated West. Perhaps this is why DADAISM, from its exquisite inception as a counter-cultural movement in Switzerland, around 1916, proved so difficult to categorise. After all, our European middle classes continually legitimise their reflexive self-assessments by frequenting venues involved in the production of Art. No matter how uncomfortable the habitat. Posturings like these, of course, merely propelled exponents of DADA to reject prevailing aesthetic standards more rapidly. Usual responses, on their part, ranging from open ridicule towards our modern technologically obsessed society to a deliberate cultivation of the ridiculous. Hence, DADAISM held tiny, but influential, political demonstrations, musical gatherings and theatrical performances to promote its deconstructive activities. At the same time publishing a plethora of small-scale, hyper-lucid, literary journals. In other words, direct multi-media attacks on what they felt to be a redundant Classicism. As Hans Arp noted: “revolted by the slaughter of World War 1, we devoted ourselves, in Zurich, to the Fine Arts. Well far away, there was artillery thunder, we sang, painted, glued together and wrote poems to our hearts content”. What is more, DADA’s critique of so-called spiritual development in the West held the hidden message that deeper modalities of experience can only be obscured for a short while longer. Evidentially, most Baby-Boomers haven’t written the one (theoretical) book within them, and even the worst vulgarian in their ranks knows that random satisfactions, abetted by disordered desires, simply blaspheme the name of Art. At the end of the day, creativity is neither undertaken as an optional element of a pilgrimage into the Absolute, nor as the War Cry of a tepid few, who have already shown their inability to take decisive action when the occasion demanded.

There was, nonetheless, one visible chink in the armour of these robust researchers. Adepts of DADA tended to assume that natural allies could never to be found amongst the socially niched. A prejudice, probably originating from an inherited European sense of class position. Kurt Schwitters, as an obvious case, was rejected from certain Brotherhoods because he had a “bourgeois face”. However, as the saying goes, one should “never judge a book by its cover” - and in the case of Elchin this proves to be consummately true. Neither public persona nor chosen profession narrate his entire story and Elchin’s literary corpus proves, beyond doubt, that rebels come in all sizes; from innumerable social backgrounds, with differing sartorial tastes and in various psycho-physical shapes. In which case, it is a real honour to find a previously unsuspected colleague, not to mention an intriguing new friend, in the person of Professor Elchin Ilyas Oglu Efendiyev; a writer little known in English speaking countries, although a talented and prolific author of global stature. Of course, the reason for this shocking omission is to be found in the sphere of recent international politics, whereby the “Iron Curtain” drawn between the Soviet sphere and Western powers proved to be an almost impenetrable block to cutting edge artistic exchange.

6. Vocational paths:
As the author of “Shakespeare” (a comedy in ten scenes both serious and tragic) to be staged at The Horse Hospital this coming December, Gruntlers Theatre has the privilege of introducing Elchin to the London Stage. Thus, a few biographical facts may help to set the scene, as well as familiarise British raconteurs, with his prodigious literary outpourings. Elchin was born on May 13th 1943 in Baku, the Capital City of Azerbaijan, into the family of Ilyas Efendiyev, an author of immense literary renown. From early childhood, therefore, Elchin junior found himself immersed in a world of books. Local folklore, with its strangely symbolic and extremely suggestive tale telling clearly becoming an integral part of his intellectual formation; along with the masterpieces of World Literature. By the age of 16 he had published his first story in the “Azerbaijani Youth Magazine”. Unsurprisingly then, Elchin easily completed his secondary education in 1960 and went on to study at Baku State University. Once there, rumour has it that he took to his studies with a gusto and graduated with a degree in philology in 1965. This period pointing to Elchin’s personal interest in the scientific side of language production. A fascination fully vindicated in 1968, when Elchin completed his post-graduate studies at the Nizami Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, with the writing of a gigantic 500-page dissertation. Having said that, biographical milestones of this sort only frame the story of such a remarkable writer.

As Elchin matured, a steady stream of novels, stories and critical essays began to flow from his pen, leading scholars and pundits alike to agree that Elchin’s oeuvre was highly significant as a contribution to the entire field of contemporary Azerbaijani literature. Astonishingly, the decades have witnessed the composition of more or less a 100 books; the majority of which have been translated into a huge number of languages including: Mandarin, German, English, Turkish, Spanish, Bulgarian, French, Persian, Polish, Georgian, Serbian, Uzbek, Lithuanian, Kazakh and Tajik. Indeed, Elchin’s works have sold about 5 million copies World Wide. One of the attractions being that Elchin’s unsettling type of storytelling captivated his readers attention through its innovative sense of Realism, coupled with avant-garde sensibilities, imaginative courage and a strikingly elative quality. In this respect, Elchin towered above his contemporaries and embodied many of the revolutionary aims of the 60’s generation; albeit often unrecognised at the time. In terms of Elchin’s theatre work, the playwright has constantly demonstrated his ability to delight audiences across large parts of the globe; in huge amount because of an experimental form of stagecraft known as “Elchin Theatre”. A subtle methodology, blending both recognisable national traits with a broader sense of the human condition.

7. Comedic Cavaliers:
Unswervingly then, in a similar way to our Viking, Cavalier and DADA ancestors, Elchin’s theatre proclaims a healthy absence of absence. Along with them, he appears to feel a compulsion to burn down lazy assumptions and pull apart bloated, pre-conceived, certainties. The strength of his characters shouting at each audience member that the rainbow flames licking such ruins will light the darkness into a Golden Sunrise. Unquestionably, his skills as a playwright have equally allowed the topography of plot to speak with the tongue of Wrestlers, Theologians and Heraldic Notaries. Maybe specifically when it comes to any analysis concerning the lascivious lives and contradictory careers of “authority figures”. On the level of fellow theatrical, it is clear to see that Elchin repudiates these tedious Roundhead tyrants because of their tacit inability to comprehend uniquely existing Subjects. For Elchin, they ride roughshod over the uncommon. Furthermore, he presents this loose group of petty thugs as slaves to a reification of the material; their constant proclamation, he implies, nothing more than a defiant allegiance to allegedly “objective” truths. To their own contrary, people who merely pave the way into dysfunctional perspectives. Lessons first taught by Henrik Ibsen in his building of meticulous and minimalist stage divisions: between emergent barriers; between the sphere of material objects (as described by the various geometries) and an infinitely transcendent human interiority expressed through relationships; between inanimate things and a necessary essence. Undeniably therefore Elchin Theatre takes Ibsenian recommendations as a means by which dramaturgical procedures may start unfolding, or begin designing, the very meaning of Meaning.

A stance like this is more than comfortable on the English boards, since dissenting poetry is as old as this nation. Far from being a Postmodern phenomenon, theatrical dissent began with the enactment of oral poetry in pre-literate periods. Nearly by definition, these performances were bequeathed through the spoken word from player to player and constructed using devices such as repetition, alliteration, rhyme and kennings to facilitate recall. In a sense, the player "composed" the performance from memory, using the version he had learned as a kind of mental template; a technique allowing actors to add their own interpretation to the material and a method still used by directors like Mike Leigh to develop a script.

What happens to European ideas like these when they leave the inherited, as well as practical parameters, of our territories has never ceased to concern me; primarily because libertarian themes give rise to political tendencies similar to narcotic dependence. Indisputably, revolutionary freedoms, deprived of context, become far too strong for unprepared pallets. Put in other phrases, in-built checks and ethical balances are loudly missing. This is mainly why I have started to recognise that the political quibbles of playwrights such as James David Rudkin and Peter Shaffer cannot be understood outside the context of Anglo-Saxon Individualism, and that their literary insights can only make complete sense within the world of Nordic letters. How else may we interpret these lines in Rudkin’s play “Penda’s Fen” when the central character Stephen says to his classmates:
"No, no ... I am nothing pure ... my race is mixed, my sex is mixed, I am woman and man, light with darkness, nothing pure ... I am mud and flame".
So stated, these thoughts are strongly reminiscent of the character Slash 13, in Elchin’s “Shakespeare” when this other misfit says:
“Once again, it’s impossible because it’s impossible. Get out of this straightjacket of absolutism! .. Why don’t you liberate your thinking, your hopes, imagination and fantasies? Why do you build this rigid mould and squash your dreams into it, turning them into nothing? Why construct this meaningless boarder between (possible) and (impossible), condemning yourselves to eternal suffering? Can’t you live without suffering and sorrow? Why? What’s the reason?”
If we Englishmen, thenceforth, are looking for previously unsuspected cousins of theatrical Soul, we have found them in the land of lyrical fire.

8. Concluding Comments
Like most poets and players, William Shakespeare, the man, seems to have preferred speaking through his characters. Unnerving perhaps to contemporary audiences, this is, nevertheless, one of the explanations as to why he chose the melancholy Jaques in his play As You Like It to mouth the immortal words: “All the world’s a stage” 2/7: an opinion which should never be taken on a surface level. Theatre, when all said and done, is a qualitative and creative kind of calculation. To write and perform poetry, or explained differently, to examine our aesthetic faculty from the inside, is measure-taking in the strictest sense of the phrase, but with potentially unending parameters. It is that joyful science by which a performer first intuits the dimensions of personal self-worth and eventually recognises the shared humanity of all those in his or her audience. Ever mindful as they are that to some extent we are all players of varying degree. This is why, for Schiller, play provided such a solid foundation for our understanding of the Beautiful, True and Good. Fun, he continually mused, literally mediates between conflicting impulses in human nature and raises our consciousness to unexpected glories. A noble thought. Without this elative tenet to Schiller’s argument, moreover, the truly magical potencies of performance as an active literary Form run the risk of being hopelessly confused, or reduced to undemanding entertainment. And there’s the rub! Our forthcoming DADA interpretation of Elchin’s “Shakespeare” is not only a way to introduce an ingenious Azeri playwright to British audiences, but also a missile fired against entire industries determined to sacrifice poetry to ideological redundancy; a substantive sin blurring metaphysical categories and eventually denuding our imaginative powers.

Traditional Toasts

2011-11-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

London can offer few pleasures greater than a church crawl. Following a fortifying glass of Port in a nearby pub, both the art and architecture of untold centuries are gifted to native and tourist alike. Indeed, most of the historically significant churches are found to be within easy walking distance of the centre; while the City’s lesser-known ecclesiastical treasures are often secreted in the dingy alleys surrounding it. Equally, wisdom awaits a seasoned church crawler in the nascent form of local folklore. To this day, rumours decanted around the weather-vane roofed on the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall, claim it was actually erected by James the Second in 1688, so that he could tell at a glance whether the wind was blowing “Protestant or Popish”. As a practising Roman Catholic, James knew that many of his own people were praying for a favourable breeze to bring the Protestant Prince (William of Orange), into a Devonshire Harbour and end his reign as Monarch. Of course, there are but few contemporary church crawlers’ who can honestly savour the activities of our Folk Soul through the medium of such talismanic devices.

It goes without saying that legend, the clash of dynasties and a natural struggle for indigenous faith also fermented in other lands. Put analogously, even at the London Book Fair 2011, in Olympia this April, such recognisable battles seemed to be silently raging. Certainly, the presence of Russian Orthodox clergy gathered to announce the launch of Patriarch Kirill’s thought provoking book - Freedom and Responsibility: A Search for Harmony, Personal Rights and Human Dignity - appeared more like the salutation of a Church militantly recapturing its traditional grounds, than an enfeebled call to a largely pointless ecumenism. As such, it was cheering to observe this refreshing revival of inherited custom in these clearly incongruous surroundings.

Upon taking my seat, therefore, as a guest of the organisers, I felt comfortable in the knowledge that Radical Traditionalism stood firm against the so-called “liberal” elite. Directly contrasting, as this philosophy does, life affirming spiritual values against a heavily mechanised and openly inhuman urban conformity. The latter disguising toxic social views in the guise of communal progress. Obviously then, as a useful epithet for a variety of allied cultural groups, Radical Traditionalism demands a healthy veneration of our ancestors and the earth, along with a respect for small-scale, native, political organisations. As activists, its supporters personify a positive parochial diversity, whereby the full Company of life is honoured. Perhaps it is only this revolutionary sense of Tradition, which can deliver us, nowadays, from the insidious poisons of global monoculture.

With these thoughts in mind, I listened to the stirring, and suitably brief, words of the Anglican Bishop (Richard Chartres) of London, as well as Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk as they joined forces to extol the virtues in this first-ever English language volume of documents by His Holiness. However, following the welcome receipt of my complimentary edition, and quickly skim reading the dust jacket, confusion began to set in. It was not the inspiring notion of an ethical “multi-polarity” - alluded to in the Publishers blurb - that unsettled my sense of occasion. Neither was it the delightful fact that this official soiree was held amid disconcertingly narrow tables endlessly replenished by very pleasant wines. Rather, it was the complete lack of engagement by non-Orthdox participants, which aroused my literary suspicions.

Returning home, I rushed to read the book so as to decipher these bewildering reactions. A first scan simply reminded me that other places had suffered the consequent burdens of Empire. An additional, and more careful perusal, brought me back to ethnic base, whereby the remembrance that we are related (albeit distantly) as kith to the Russians was brought manifestly home - with strikingly familial features, some have contended, in both the best of possible terms and the worst. Yet, on the level of theological discourse, each chapter of Patriarch Kirill’s text revealed a cluster of religious concerns only partially experienced by the West. Truly, Patriarch Kirill reflects upon issues recently debated by Pope Benedict himself, including notions of homosexuality and the dangers of totalitarianism. Nevertheless, it is difficult to resist interpreting the Patriarchs’ grip on ethnic dispute and social disintegration as anything other than stronger; coupled as it is with piercing analysis and a refreshing political realism. Perhaps the tacit problem with this event was that the text in question appeared too far ahead of its theological time for slumbering European congregations.

This is not to say that there are no flaws in his book. The concept of Liberalism, for example, tends to be genuinely confused with a pragmatic American sense of “anything goes;” instead of a healthy British “hands on” approach to economic structure and social organisation. Also despite Orthodox disputation to the contrary, Liberal authors have a variety of views on the relationship between Church and State; particularly in Nordic Countries. On top of this, the Patriarch seems unaware that discordant pastoral Courts have already deviated in their decisions, slowing, thereby, any commonality of Christian opinion. Arguments surrounding the Ordination of women priests act as a case in point; even though it is actually the installation of female Bishops which will disassemble two thousand years of Catholicity on a symbolic as well as a morphological level.

Be that as it may, the launch of this book heartened an otherwise materialistic and largely fruitless meeting of the business classes, in their shamelessly profiteering from the ingenious labours of other people. In which case, we need to raise a glass of champagne in celebration of a revived and increasingly empowered Christian Orthodoxy as it takes its rightful place on the world stage.

Images of Mount Athos in English Literature

2011-08-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

Images of Mount Athos in English Literature

A Talk Delivered to World Public Forum, "Dialogue of Civilizations" in Salzburg (Austria) July 2011

It is easy to forget that the British are an Island people. Yet, bounded as we are by sapphire and icy Atlantic seas, we ourselves remain ever mindful of this fact. Equally, it is often convenient to put aside the evidence that our “septred Isle”, to quote Shakespeare, is openly analogous to other, similar, lands. Indeed, Japan instantly springs to mind for the purposes of comparison, on both a literary and artistic level. We are, after all, two small, proud, nations at the edge of a mighty continent, whereon most of the major cultural and scientific advances take place; innovations, which slowly trickle to our mutually emerald shores. The Renaissance, of course, provides us moderns with an obvious example of monumental developments proceeding at their own pace in English society during the Tudor period. However, once such progressions find root in Island soil, the necessary genius of geographical restriction transmutes these materials into something quite unique. This may be why Japan looks with fear as well as admiration at China, as do the British at the Continent of Europe. If we are, therefore, truly gathered here today in this stunning city of Salzburg to explore the influence of Holy Mount Athos on wider aspects of European cultural life, then neither clerical nor academic opinions will suffice to fully investigate this extraordinary spiritual phenomenon.

Confessedly, in ages past, the perceived exoticism of mainland society was a perennial cause for moral concern; perhaps particularly among the British. Innate puritanical tendencies (deemed vital to island survival), understood more ancient and sophisticated cultures either as decadent, or in terms of faraway fairytale. And Byzantium was a place in point. It was a long way away from the North in every sense of the phrase, and known for its elaborate customs. Moreover, its bejeweled spirituality was held with a deep suspicion. It could not be condemned as pagan, but neither was it seen as honestly Christian. Hence, with a modality usually bewildering to non-islanders, even its glittering sanctuaries of prayer were viewed as threatening; wellsprings of potential glamour, full of dangerous, or archaic, ideas. A reflection shared by British travel writers such as Dr. John Covel (1638-1722), and the actual source of irony penned by Edward Lear (1812-88) regarding monastic life on Mount Athos itself. Undeniably, a letter to Lady Waldegreen records the satirist’s remark, “so I am looking forward to escaping from the hustlefusledom and perhaps may settle down as a monk at Mount Athos eventually.” Nonetheless, this is “nonsense”. Lear, himself, could only see superstition coupled with a sever form of evasion from worldly responsibilities within its monastic institutions.

Exceptions to these prejudicial pronouncements are, however, to be found amongst British visionary and Romantic Poets. As the Second Great Tradition, English Literature frequently thirsted towards the Metaphysical and the Sacred in a manner reminiscent of ancient First Tradition Greek philosophers. Unequivocally, the demanding disciplines of an Aristotelian lifestyle devoted to qualitative consciousness, coupled with the complex and rigorous religious practices of the holy men, became a focus of inspiration - as well as an unsettling reminder of the Numinous - to many writers. For Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86), Mount Athos was the embodiment of an immortal witness to fleeting human affairs. As he writes in his The Apologie for Poetrie; “Under Mount Athos in 492 BC, so Xerxes cut a canal through its isthmus”. With these telling and evocative lines, this Elizabethan gallant enchants his readers with a sense of historical significance, while alluding to uncomfortable inhuman realities beyond Court politics. During the same period, Edmund Spenser (1552-99), famed author of The Faerie Queene, wrote an eclogue drawn almost entirely from Virgil, which describes Mount Athos in terms of disturbing conundrum. Overtly, this other Elizabethan gallant almost chants the lines, “Nor how Mount Athos through exceeding might/ was digged down” in order to draw attention to its enigmatic nature. A theme Dr. Johnson (1709-84) elaborated in the renowned Samuel Johnson Collection when reminding his own readership that, although sometimes obscure, Spenser’s translation of the Virgilian Culex remains an evocation of neglected lore.

Most surprisingly, a few centuries later it was Lord Byron (1788-1824), who succumbed to the presence of the Holy Mountain. Anecdotal testimony still holds that, although never setting foot on its slopes - and probably only having seen the mountain from a distance - this leading Romantic felt moved to compose his fragmentary poem, The Monk of Athos. As we may read in this strangely pious and somewhat uncharacteristic work:

Beside the confines of the Aegean Main,
Where northward Macedonia bounds the flood,
And views opposed the Asiatic plain,
Where once the pride of lofty Ilium stood,
Like the great Father of the giant brood,
With lowering port majestic Athos stands,
Crowned with the verdure of eternal wood,
As yet unspoiled by sacrilegious hands,
And throws his mighty shade o’er seas and distant lands.
And deep embosomed in his shady groves
Full many a convent rears its glittering spire,
Mid scenes where Heavenly Contemplation loves
To kindle in her soul her hallowed fire,
Where air and sea with rocks and woods conspire
To breathe a sweet religious calm around,
Weaning the thoughts from every low desire,
And the wild waves that break with murmuring sound
Along the rocky shore proclaim it holy ground.
Sequestered shades where Piety has given
A quiet refuge from each earthly care,
Whence the rapt spirit may ascend to Heaven!
Oh, ye condemned the ills of life to bear!
As with advancing age your woes increase,
What bliss amidst these solitudes to share
The happy foretaste of eternal Peace,
Till Heaven in mercy bids your pain and sorrows cease.

Curiously, Byron is on the verge of adopting a view sub species aeternitatis in these lines. Beyond argument, it is additionally one of his many (frequently overlooked) attempts to describe Sublime feeling within his corpus. It may be wise to remind ourselves at this juncture that Edmund Burke (1729-92), defined the Sublime in terms of delight mixed with terror or pain, and produced by an “infinite object”. In other words, it is an aesthetic value closely akin, and perhaps leading to, the Beatific Vision; whereby a glimpse of the Noumenon is vouchsafed to the favoured. Nevertheless, it is reasonably certain that Byron was not seriously tempted to retreat to Mount Athos and take up a life of religious contemplation.

In more recent years, British writers visiting the Holy Mountain included figures such as Frederick William Hasluck (1878-1920), an archaeologist of note who worked at the British School in Athens. For his part, Hasluck published a book on Mount Athos and its monasteries within which he confronted his own preconceived repugnance of monasticism in general, along with “Greek” monasticism as non-productive and socially “parasitic” in particular. Curiously, it was a quarrel with one of the Brothers that defused this potentially explosive situation and deconstructed his rancor towards the sanctity of these cloisters. Undoubtedly, the existential encounter of actually meeting a member of the Community led to a wider recognition of spiritual authenticity.

Perhaps the most neoteric visitor to the Blessed Mount in the last few years was the impulsive and rather restless Critic Peter Levi (1931-2000). At one stage, he had been a Jesuit priest himself, having received theological training at Heythrop College in London. Beside this, he is known as Bruce Chatwin’s (1940-89), companion to Afghanistan in the 1970’s, when Chatwin was searching for traces of Greek culture in this sadly overlooked region. At the risk of digression, maybe I should mention Chatwin himself is said to have made arrangements for his own Baptism on Holy Mount Athos just prior to his untimely passing. Be that as it may, as a Professor of poetry, biographer, and gadfly about Oxford, Levi treasured his stay amongst the holy men of Athos. In fact, he eventually stated that monks across the world attract fewer suspicions these days than in the past, due to the fact that conflicting Church passions had cooled. Somewhat contrarily, his evocative book The Frontiers of Paradise: A Study of Monks and Monasteries, demonstrated an unabated enthusiasm for the monastic life, which stands previous British apprehensions on their head. Levi even chides Henry VIII over the dissolution of the Monasteries and remarks upon the intellectual and cultural contributions to our society made by men called to continual prayer through realized vocation.

On a personal level, the intricate ritual of Orthodox Christianity has always been a source of elation for me. Already implicit in the re-enactments of Sacred story: the liturgical adornments of eucharistic vestment, portable lights, incense, icons and choral chants, are the aesthetic structures that allow participation in the transcendently Beautiful. In addition, the pains of our world seem to be subsumed in these ornamented metaphors. Mistakes, they sadly say, colour the contours of our lives. Many a man, they testify, bitterly regrets the time he had seen “red”, while intoxicated in a Tavern. Equally, these analogies admit, the “blues” of domestic vacuity often haunt long-term relationships through a dangerously numbing drudgery. Such metalinguistic opulence, consequently, asserts that our misdemeanours invariably lead to moments of Faith as well as Heroism. In a manner reminiscent of a diamond-encrusted Byzantine alter piece, there is the prismatic suggestion that human life can be understood from three radically contrasting angles. As a scientific problem needing to be solved; an act of abstract Creation; or a dazzling Mystery within which the truly courageous choose to battle. Focusing intelligently appears to be our single choice. Thereupon, it may be British playwrights who offer more insightful comment on the dialogue of civilizations than English clergymen. This is because performers are aware that Truth, Compassion and Beauty are never captured by a system of ideas and that textual rigor simply cannot present the only significant method by which the spiritually enlightened can express their pilgrimage into higher states of Being.

Having claimed that, I will leave the last authorial comment of my literary ramble to a soldier. Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) is known to have celebrated his twenty-first birthday on Blessed Mount Athos with the Russian monks. Indeed, from an early age he admired the fact that these holy men lived a Spartan life of prayer, practically unchanged for a thousand years. Moreover, Sir Patrick, or Paddy (as he is universally known), respected their determination to embrace the challenging conditions of this Greek peninsula as one of their principle teachers in the religious life. Like them, he too seems to have perceived Holy Athos as a teacher. And there we have it! British writers have viewed the Mount as a danger to piety; a pleasant place to visit while travelling through Greece, an escape from the grinding demands of the world, a witness to human folly, a treasure-trove of ageless lore and even a lens through which we can glimpse Eternity. But it takes a military man to grasp the essence of the issue. The impact of Mount Athos on the world of British Letters is discernible in its ageless lesson of vigorous endurance. It is a symbol of unchanging, but Radical Tradition. It is, coequally, a clarion call reminding us of the cultural treasures our disparate (even though ultimately united) peoples have gifted to history. Lastly it is, as Paddy reminds us, one of the principle spiritual tutors of a continuous European identity.

Occult Theatre

2011-04-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

A Talk Delivered at “The Moot with No Name” on 20th April 2011 concerning
1. Greet the audience.
2. Thank the organizers.
3. Introduction.
From deepest antiquity, Theatre has been associated with both sacred mysteries and magical ritual. This is not to say that all of these carefully rehearsed activities are synonymous (even though the aesthetic sense is genuinely elative and not simply an amusing faculty), but to assert their, often reflexive, relationship. One of the evidences of this dramaturgical claim is to be found in the nature of the intended audience. Religious enactments, after all, form part of Worship. They aim to achieve Communion with higher levels of Being. In which case, performers seek audience-participation with Being in and of itself. Occult experiments, on the other hand are designed to empower their practitioners. They are undertaken to realize psycho-physical objectives internally, as well as externally surrounding, the person of the esoteric engineer. This evening, therefore, I will not be discussing the wiltingly beautiful Eleusian celebrations of Ancient Greece, nor will I be exploring the almost technocratic obsessions of the Cabalists, or even the surprising endurance of village Folk Theatre. Instead, I will be examining the role of Silence and Revelation as dramaturgical devices in North European Theatre, in order to uncover the genuinely hidden power gifted by any journey into the human self.

4. Semantic Frameworks
Context is everything. To commence our deliberations, we need to find the semantic frame built around these seemingly well understood lexical items. Most scholars would agree that the common coinage of “Revelation” is to be found in the New Testament. Once this is conceded, it becomes clear that words such as “Reveal” and “Revelation” cannot have been used in the everyday sense of the verb “ to disclose”. (1) Indeed, anyone reading Biblical texts is suddenly confronted by the presence of inherited and complex theological vocabulary. Certainly, the semantic-fields of New Testament lexicography tell us that this word item must be interpreted as entirely eschatological. (2) When speaking of “revelation” (apocalypsis), Christian writers are talking about a final unveiling of Divine Intention at the end of this age (parousia). The implication, however, is not that revelation only takes place as a concluding scene in the surprisingly brief drama of Salvation, but that it will be an actual series of supernatural events rooted in a future mystery. After all, overtly religious words such as “revelation” need to be understood in an atmosphere of spiritual “encounter”; a creative process easily lending itself to exploration within a theatrical environment. Obviously, it has long been held by Personalist thinkers that if theological discourse started from the position of unfolding Being (instead of the bland and largely mundane re-articulation of historical happenings), it quickly becomes possible to narrate the process of “revelation” in a variety of cultural settings; as well as through a variety of social media. (3)

Similarly, the concept of “Silence” within inherited mystical metatext equally exposes us to sophisticated, theological, paradigms. Neither understood as refusal to speak, or the absence of sound, nor a failure to communicate, moments of silence were held to be expressions of qualitative endeavor. Indeed, during the seventh century in the Eastern Church, it was well known that St. Maximus the Confessor (580-662) talked about a “mystical silence of inspired experience”(4). By this, he appears to be drawing on the Dessert Traditions, whereby the Fathers described three types of Silence: of words, of desires and of thoughts. Stunningly, they are making Persoanalist claims, which include the idea that “enlightened recollection” is intimately bonded to pure perception. Like their far more ancient Buddhist counterparts, these holy men look towards levels of perfection beyond quantitative adjectives and strangely suggestive metaphors. They stood firm in their experience that quietude, stillness, not to mention our uniquely reverberating individuality, is to be discovered in the circuitous articulations of Silence. In other words, the lack of audible, or indeed subjective sound, never ever quashes higher order communication.

5. Miracles in Action
It goes without saying that Revelation, as well as Silence, have always proved fruitful theatrical devices in staged attempts to recreate human interaction with the metaphysical. Moreover, these superficially basic techniques often formed part of the burial rites of our Vikings ancestors. According to Professor Neil Price of the University of Aberdeen, in saying that the Vikings had “no defined religion”, we moderns tend to miss the ways their spirituality found expression. (5) Silent, yet intensely elative reflection, along with an epiphanous relationship with the living forces of Fire and Ice, all formed part of the Viking lifestyle. As a matter of fact, these warriors acted out their basic beliefs and abstract intuitions at the graveside of fallen comrades. In the case of a vanquished Hero, especially elaborate rites of passage seem to have been performed by the entire community. Eventually, Price continues, these Scenarios became a form of village Theatre, easily predating the Sagas and may have contained within them the very origins of Norse Mythology as a genre. With the passage of time, Rune Bards sang of powerful Giants, valiant Princes and Heavenly Intelligence’s within the complex web of the Wyrd, while mothers and farmers talked of Fairies, Trolls and Wizards. From those Pagan days to these, it seems as if ritual found expression before either Myth, or Folktale, fully formulated.

Traditional English Miracle plays, as another example, arose from chanted responses and simple religious pageantry. (6) Scripted “revelations” being re-enacted through the stressed delivery of spoken words; silence and stagecraft remaining uneasy, although on occasion essential, bedfellows. Symbolic characters, such as Judgement, or Mercy, talked on stage with a self-realizing efficacy; as the Hebrew Prophets themselves are said to have done outside of the auditorium. The dramaturgical assertion, therefore, seems to have been that the “revelatory” Word was made much more potent to untutored folk through the medium of dramatized engagement. Perhaps this is why the time and place of each performance became a matter of careful calculation. For the Craft Guilds of the fourteenth century (as in the Bible itself), “revelation” formed part of a spiritually instructive sequence, whereby the world found both order and redemption; again and again. In this way, entertainment was put in the service of Christian ideas and a new theatre developed directly from religious ritual; rather the prayerful reflection. It was not, of course, denied that similar types of theatre had existed in ancient Heathen days, merely that laymen would find this form of instruction particularly felicitous when participating in the Mass. With this liturgical claim in mind, it is merely a matter of research to locate records affirming the recitation of Miracle dramas across medieval Europe.

Yet, contemporary Europeans need to recall that these aids to a Christian experience of “revelation” became progressively opulent, despite the reservations of some ecclesiastical critics. Arising from manifestly humble origins in Anglo-Norman French, for example, The Harrowing of Hell had its place as the earliest documented performance piece in England, towards the end of the thirteenth century. (7) However, when Historians of Drama trace the steps of it’s dramatization they find that this show swiftly evolved through tableau and responsorial psalm into a much more complex performance, perhaps particularly in Northern Europe. Moreover, the emergence of movable stages and identifiable scenarios delighted audiences from the fourteenth century onwards. Eventually, the comic byplay, the narration of an off stage moral observer and the recognition that life, even in matters of worship, can occasionally be light-hearted, all assisted theatrical managers (as well as aspiring playwrights), to take their rightful social positions during the extraordinary social developments of the sixteenth century. Of course, the actual authorship of these carefully constructed Mystery plays is still as much a matter of debate in academic circles as is the precise design and theological purpose of these dramas.

6. Occult Drama
When focussing on overtly Occult Theatre, however, it is useful to dust off the records of nineteenth century Europe. Unsurprisingly, the subculture of specifically Occult ideologies and the sphere of experimental Performance interacted as an almost essential artistic response to the cultural zeitgeist of that time. In the provinces, Puppet Theatre, village tent entertainment’s and Pantomime remained equally influenced by the villainy of Punch and the traditional sparkle of a Fairy Godmothers wings. But the research of Orientalists, allied to the brazen literary outrages of explorers such as Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890), allowed for the introduction of innovative and exotic themes in the Capitol. Indeed, during the period of the so-called Occult Revival in Symbolist Theatre, openly Hermetic, Arabic Sufi and Chinese Buddhist imagery emerged on stage. This led certain conservative Critics to denounce such styles of theatrical Production as little more than a series of flirtations with Evil. With hindsight, it is difficult to see the wickedness behind Flying Carpets and golden Geneii, or the lavish re-constructions of Egyptian civic ceremony, but, unarguably, audiences did sense a threat to the political conditioning of their period. Of course, once viewed from this seditious perspective, Symbolist playwrights like August Strindberg (1849-1912) and Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949) may be seen as dangerous, subversive rebels, in their attempts to dramatize the effects of invisible forces on everyday life. In a slightly later age, at least according to Dr. Edmund B. Lingam’s essay “Contemporary Forms of Occult Theatre”, it clearly explains the professional resistance encountered by a young Peter Brook, when he consulted Aleister Crowley (1874-1947) on the conjuring scenes in Brook’s revolutionary Production of Christopher Marlowe’s (1564-1693) masterpiece, Dr. Faustus. (8)

7. Personalist Perspectives
Yet, from a Personalist perspective there is an existential interiority as well as a humanizing objectivity to all things in Being and, by refraction, on the stage. Simple retellings of legend stir ethnic recollections within our Folk-Soul, while serious drama awakens our sense of elation into an experience of the Beautiful. Amongst the giants of philosophy, it is Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) who finds this fact overwhelmingly pertinent. In a stream of breathtakingly intelligent books, he argues that elation stems from the “play impulse”, which establishes the ground of aesthetic sensibilities in humans. It is an impulse allowing morality and feeling to coexist. As a dramatist and poet, Schiller also maps the “formal impulse” along with the “material impulse” as the struts of a bridge built between effective living and the necessities of nature. He reasons that play is free and spontaneous; combining as it does with conscience to project the ideal of perfection. In none of these cases, Schiller argues, is our human construction of events the sole factor. Put otherwise, he is contending that Being constantly shines through appearance. As a far from obvious Personalist, Schiller posits play as a proof of the macrocosmic design radiating within microcosmic form. (9) In order to illustrate this point, he discusses the notion of tragedy. Initially, Schiller interprets tragedy as a display of suffering, intended to arouse pity in observers. He ends up by concluding, however, that tragedy is “moral resistance against suffering”; a position leading him to place poets as the providers to philosophy of First Principles and never vice versa.

Using these delightful and poignant rubrics, it is easy to see how play may be experienced as both idle fun, on the one hand, or as a seriously challenging endeavor on the other. Once agreed upon, these rubrics equally reveal that there is no greater tragic poet than Henrik Ibsen. (1828-1906) He stands shoulder to shoulder with Shakespeare (1564-1616) and Jean Paul Satre (1905-1980) as a Master of his craft, as well as a man with uncompromisingly clear eyes for social trauma. Nevertheless, it is telling that Ibsen’s allegedly Modernist plays abound with talk of Trolls, the icy ferocity of nature and the lingering legacy of Viking heroism. At every turn of the plot in his disturbingly provocative play The Master Builder, unsettling powers are seen to be at work in the lives of his characters; principalities referred to by the language of Norwegian folklore. Additionally, in his verse drama Brand, audiences are presented with an unsparing vision of a Christian priest driven by his soul-numbing faith to risk the deaths of his wife and child, in order to prove his Bible based convictions. Actions, of course, witnessed by a chorus of spirits. In the case of Satre, it goes without saying that his best known play in the English speaking sphere, In Camera, is actually set in the afterlife, where his lost and broken characters rake over each others inadequacies forever. Inherited genre restrictions are not the real literary issue in these plays, but the perennial appeal of revealed Being. As humans, we need to articulate this Absolute through the figures of Fairies when young and as stifling moments of elative significance when we become adults. Undoubtedly, in this process of articulation, Theatre remains the premier medium of such a playful and yet deadly serious confrontation, since nowhere else may Silence as well as Revelation be applied with this aesthetic effect.

8. Conclusion
Overtly, Occult Theatre is a cultural mirror reflecting the truly magical. It is an artifice by which audiences observe a little of their own spiritual worth as individuals, or their lack of honest, humane, values as a social grouping. In recent decades, Productions such as the genuinely subversive Shockheaded Peter have sought to revive something of this staged encounter with Being to theatre goers of all ages, through Fairy tale mixed with existential realities; an surprisingly traditional admixture. However, the importance of this specific type of Production is found neither in acts of quasi-religious mimickery, albeit instructive, nor in the ultimately trivial accomplishments of mere social empowerment. The enduring necessity of Occult Theatre is discovered in its detailed uncovering of human selfhood, on a psychological, political and fundamentally spiritual level. Whether or not this narration takes the form of insights into criminal irresponsibility, the observation that our world is peopled with powerful and inhuman forces, or the iconic life and wisdom of a moral giant, they gift us with a usually obscure and largely hidden knowledge of ourselves.

Selected Endnotes
1. Alan Richardson, (ed), A Dictionary of Christian Theology (London, 1969).
2. ibid.
3. Personalism is a philosophical position taking the concept of “person” as ultimate.
4. Aaron Taylor, Logismoi (Blog Archive, Feb 2009).
5. Neil Price, Passing into Poetry: Viking Funerals and the Origin of Norse Mythology (The Inaugural Lectures 2008).
6. Nicolas Barker, The Cambridge Guide to English Literature (London 1982).
7. ibid.
8. Edmund B. Lingan, Beyond the Occult Revival: Contemporary Forms of Occult Theatre, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art (Volume 28, Number 3, September 2006).
9. Schiller is not usually seen as a Personalist, but a close reading of his work reveals a number of compelling reasons for this reinterpretation.

British Fringe Theatre as Folk Laboratory

2010-11-25T04:16:00.000-08:00

A Talk Delivered by David Parry to the Scientific-Practical Theatre Conference in Azerbaijan on 9-10 November 2010

· Thanking the organisers

· Greeting other delegates

· Describing “Gruntlers” arts group

Introduction:

British Theatre may be divided into two broad categories: large scale commercial productions that are designed to have widespread popular appeal, and small scale “art” centred productions aimed at specifically targeted audiences. In this talk, I intend to concentrate on the place and purpose of so-called “Fringe Drama” as an essential part of the world theatre process. It is, after all, highly lucrative in it’s own right, socially challenging and unrepentantly innovative as a dramaturgical form. With these thoughts in mind, I will outline three key areas of recent British fringe experience: folk theatre as community based cultural memory; the origins of modern fringe in spiritual radicalism; contemporary intellectual experimentalism and the problems of diversity.

Thesis:

Arguably, the most accomplished level achieved by British theatrical creativity is to be found in Miracle and Mystery Plays performed during the Middle Ages. This is for three reasons, which need to be considered together. Firstly, these productions were extremely successful combinations of art – poetry, drama, costume, instrumental music, dance, song – and as such embodied community attempts to embrace cohesive social symbols. Secondly, they took their subject matter from Myth; best understood as stylised imagistic narrative illuminating human experience at depth, in openly universalist terms. Indeed, the unique property of sacred story telling is that such performances express existential insight into the human condition for every man, woman and child, at all times. Also, these insights, no matter how terse or compact, proved inexhaustible in every age. Thirdly, each occasion for the performance had religious significance. Actually, they were staged by the Craft Guilds in order to display both their skills, as well as their status, on culturally significant occasions. Over time, therefore, traditions such as these became crystalized folk memory, preserving the struggles, along with the aspirations of a specific community through changing interpretation and redirected emphasis. Perhaps that is why Mystery Plays remain an important seasonal element of Fringe production to this day.

With the emergence of spiritual radicalism, wherein individual narrative began to replace collective performance, the notion of community Theatre gradually came into question. Theatre, it was argued, should be in a particular place where Plays were performed, and that while tangential issues, such as cultural education, outreach and social engagement were undeniably important, they should not be at the expense of this fundamental principle. In a similar vein, pundits continued, theatres must be administered in order for actors to perform, although it was stressed by these very same commentators that actors do not perform for the upkeep of Theatres. By the 1800’s, recognised critics had become correct, when complaining that funds were too often spent on paying down deficits, on better management, on marketing, and on vaguely ironic projects seeking to make Theatre more accessible. Yet, they seem to have felt the very purpose of theatre was found purely in self-expression as catharsis, coupled with the repeated enactment of social psychodrama. Clearly, Fringe as a distinct theatrical endeavour starts to splinter from these allegedly normative processes during this period, since it proclaimed the necessity of preserving performance as a multi-levelled dramatic engagement with an audience; an engagement which cannot be limited to the simplistic demands of entertainment.

Modern Fringe has inherited this mercurial stance from the great dramaturges of that time. It is experimentalist to the core. It even acts as a creative counter-balance to West End and Broadway productions. Moreover, contemporary Fringe embraces the cultural realities of an ethnically diverse Theatre scene. However, this adaptability has proved a curse as well as a blessing. On one hand, British Fringe is undergoing an atavistic renewal by going back to its localising origins. On the other hand, the near disintegration of a single, coherent symbolic narrative has simply managed to bewilder modern audiences by forcing them to choose between overly esoteric productions, or technically sophisticated trivia. In this sense, British Fringe Theatre has truly emerged as a folk laboratory.

Conclusion:

Clearly, fringe represents a lively alternative to the dreary consumer oriented drama programmes offered by Companies afraid to take artistic risks, or stretch the mind sets of their potential audiences. Moreover, our experience has taught us that people who pay to see a performance fully appreciate quality over spectacle, and usually resent the condescending attitudes of well-known impresarios. Our proof is found in the fact that fringe productions often become hits via word-of-mouth recommendation, as well as in evidence, which demonstrates that audiences repeatedly return to our performances.

Forthcoming Lectures and Talks

2010-06-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Apart from the Ibsen lecture, which is to be delivered to the Moot-With-No-Name on July 28th, the times and dates of my other talks are still to be finalised.

1. Cavalier Poets
The Art of Embracing Joy

David Parry is widely regarded as one of the most significant neo-pagan voices in contemporary literature. He is the Founder of “Gruntlers” Arts Group, an international circle of performers who celebrate Beauty, Freedom and Truth through the media of visionary verse, revolutionary film-making, openly political drama and experimental music. His recent adaptation of M.F. Akhundov’s Comedy The Botanist Monsieur Jordan And The Sorcerer-Dervish Mastali Shah was hailed by both the BBC as well as Trend News Agency as a triumph. Certainly, in this talk, Parry intends to contextualise the art of joy, while exploring the wise and often humorous legacy of those roistering English gallants who searched for the significance of bliss.
Cavalier poetry, according to Parry, is not simply a broad description of 17th Century Royalist verse, but a lifestyle and distinctive spirituality; characterised by the cultivation of highly sophisticated states of qualitative consciousness. Indeed, by their dedication to short and direct poetry, Parry claims that this school of writers opposed the overly complex imagery and metaphysical abstruseness of their Roundhead rivals, in order to reveal the meaning behind their motto “Carpe Diem’, usually translated as “seize the day”. Unarguably, a call to literary arms for men such as Ben Jonson, Robert Herrick and Thomas Carew.
Spend an evening with David Parry as his signature wit and unrepentantly contrarian approach to orthodox literary theory celebrates the work of some truly remarkable English poets. At the same time, journey along with his suspicion that it is becoming ever more necessary to recover our long established sense of frivolity. After all, according to Parry, once we share in the Cavalier ideal that life is a mystery within which every man, woman and child participates, we too will realise that this world is far too enjoyable to be simply classified as a philosophical problem in need of resolution.

2. Henrik Ibsen and the Nordic Tradition

Universally hailed as a "godfather" to modern drama, as well as the founder of Modernist theatre, Ibsen scandalised his audiences by actively besieging Victorian attitudes to both family and social propriety. However, in this talk, Parry will argue that there are even deeper and more disquieting levels to Ibsen's penetrating insight into European spiritual paralysis. After all, in Plays such as "Ghosts" and "The Master Builder" theatregoers were confronted by the conflict between openly Heathen notions of freedom and the cultural hypocrisy of stagnant religious institutions, desperate to suppress any form of self-realisation. During the course of this evenings deliberations, therefore, Parry will contextualise Ibsen's text and stagecraft in order to reveal the Playwrites rightful position within the tradition of Nordic Letters.

3. Thor Heyerdahl, Heathenism, and the Forgotten History of Azerbaijan

Taking elements from Parry’s forthcoming book on contemporary Heathenism, “Anarchy in Green”, this lecture will revisit the groundbreaking work of Heyerdahl as both explorer and radical historian. Starting with Heyerdahl’s pioneering “Kon-Tiki” expedition, it is Parry’s intention to rapidly move to Heyerdahl’s fascination with early rock carvings at Gobustan (about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of the centre of Baku) in order to explore claims that surprisingly similar carvings may be found across Scandinavia. Following this, Parry will examine Norse Folk tradition as a way to unfold Heyerdahl’s argument contending that Caucasian tribal migrations can be traced back to Azerbaijan as their focal point and not Northern Europe as ideologically blinked medieval scholars asserted. Indeed, Parry’s aim in this talk is to celebrate the icy origin of Viking valour, while revealing its indebtedness to the “Land of Fire”.

4. Russian Romantics and the Heathen Revival

Examining the literary legacy of gifted authors such as Lermentov, Pushkin and Tyutchev does little to uncover the radicalising influence on North European spirituality. Yet by articulating the metaphysical discontents of their time, these authors drew attention to military insecurity, industrial slavery and the narcotising effects of popular entertainment. In this lecture, therefore, Parry will explore the unsuspected cultural impact of these Slavonic Romantics on their European readerships as well as the part they played in awakening the Nordic Folk Spirit.

Notes on Heathen seasonal rituals delivered to Pagan Festivals

2010-05-30T06:56:00.000-07:00

1.Opening Prayer
2.Thanking Jeanette
3.Greeting the audience
4.Traditionally, October is the month of Spirits. It is a time of reflection: an occasion to recall both joys and sorrows; a period in which my Anglo Saxon ancestors remembered departed souls. In other words, a time of Harvest and Repose. Whatever epithets we use to signify these ancient as well as hallowed festivals, the majority of our British customs were undoubtedly born from that Pre- Christian faith. Long ago, these celebrations marked the key dates of the Communal Year; the day when planting began, or animals were herded, or when winter foods were carefully stored. As Britons, we were equally mindful of Life days such as the Spring Equinox and Death days, when we honoured the struggles of our ancestors. Indeed, it is no accident that we pay our respects to the soldiers of two World Wars around the time of All Souls Day or Halloween. This exemplifies, of course, a deep awareness on the part of the early Church that seasonal rites proved impossible to purge. They could taint or distort them, but to defy the connection between human communities and the living continuum courted disaster. An obvious irony considering that so many Christian rituals had their origin in Hebraic celebrations of the same events. Yet as Church institutions gained in political power they did their best to cut people off from their Heathen cultural heritage. A process ending up with a Puritanical suspicion of the festive calendar itself, and the increasingly dark connotations of Halloween. Yet the British are by nature Heathens. This is why we have always found it easy to enjoy the very stuff of life with our songs, our drinking culture, our folk-rituals and our dances. Perhaps this is also why we have continually felt Nature Spirits to be both Immanent as well as Transcendent in our acts of Worship. After all, these ceremonial affirmations of Identity and Meaning assisted participants to assert their place in the spirals of Creation; blessed circles where human beings discover their relationship with starlight, bone and air.
5.Repose:
Please do not misunderstand my words. I have nothing against the largely plastic trivialities surrounding modern day Halloween parties. Come Jack-o-lantern or green faced witch, we all need to adapt to changing cultural circumstances. Even Americanisation’s such as the vaguely annoying “trick or treat” games played by children on their neighbours need to be encouraged as ways to let off some communal steam. There has never been anything wrong with high spirits or those occasionally elemental activities, which indirectly prepare younger generations for the inevitable knocks they will experience in life. All I am saying is that we mustn’t forget our native British traditions. Tied as they are to the endlessly wheeling seasons. Certainly, Anglo Saxon spirit lore is still preserved in our inherited social activities. Conker fights, autumn bonfires and apple bobbing have a history that stretches back into the long nights of antiquity. On a slightly more serious note, it was whispered that particularly at this time of year the spirits foretold someone’s death through small but noticeable interruptions in domestic patterns. The cries and movements of a startled bird, flowers blooming out of season, any clock striking thirteen times or pictures suddenly falling from a wall, even the persistent appearance in ironed linen of the diamond shaped crease known as a “coffin” have all been cited as death omens. It was also an English custom to tell local Rooks of a Landowner’s death. As birds associated with Lord Odin, new landowners were advised to stand under a canopy of trees to give this sombre news to the assembled birds, while adding a promise that only he and his friends would be allowed to hunt fowl in the future. Pundits claimed that if this ceremony were to be neglected, local Rookeries would be abandoned; a sure sign of misfortune. Indeed, the lore surrounding Rooks and Ravens is surprisingly rich. If Rooks flew away from their nests for no reason, it forecast the loss of land and the downfall of a Noble Family through poverty. This traditional sympathy shared between men and other living creatures demonstrated the interconnection between all things in the Orlog.
More disturbingly, autumnal events such as the appearance of corpse candles were held to be infallible warnings of death sent by our spirit ancestors. Indeed, these corpse lights were lambent flames, which would often float over the ground between the Parish Churchyard and the home of the doomed person. This is because their path indicated the route, which the funeral procession was most likely to take. If the spirits were foretelling the death of a child, the flame would burn blue in colour; in the case of an adult, its flame would be yellow. Furthermore, the body of a deceased kinsman usually needed to be examined for the signs and portents of future fatal incidents. The older women of English villages would frequently say that if rigor mortis was unusually slow to set in, then the spirits were announcing another death in the same household before too long. Moreover, keeping a corpse in the family house through an entire Sunday, or leaving a grave open during the Suns golden midday, provoked protective spirits into giving further indications of impending death. With this in mind, the annual Armistice Evening in November - a modern survival of the ancient Odinist Einheriar or Heroes day - commemorates those brave warriors who have given their lives in the service of our nation. It is, however, a double edged act of remembrance in that our communities attempt to welcome the shades of the departed back home; an expression of our guilt as well as our gratitude. In ages past, it was said that only Great Souls found the level of individuation necessary to be received in Valhallah, whereas those who had never fought in the Holy Battles demanded by existential fact went to the gloomy realm of the faceless Goddess Hel. That is why her “piebald” character was described by the poets as both black as our fertile Earth Mother as well as unsettlingly pale in her corpse-like complexion. This may be one of the reasons why Saxon sages taught that the hard won wisdom gathered over centuries of strife showed us an ever-pregnant end to every season.
6.Harvest: Clearly, the Saxon hlaf-maesse or loaf mass ( known nowadays to some Pagans as Lammas tide), was the culmination to our British festival of first fruits, or in other words, the time when the first corn was ground and made into loaves, which were then dedicated to the spirits themselves. This ritual marked the end of the ripening season, lasting from May until October. Following this communal rite, Corn dollies were then woven. Some scholars have written that rural celebrations of Harvest Home were seen as a mixed blessing. Certainly, none of the reapers wished to be the one who cut down the last sheaf of corn and so they threw their sickles at the last stand of corn in an attempt to decide who would get this solemn duty. The sheaf was then plaited into a female form and given a place of honour at the subsequent supper. Lastly, Michaelmas marked the time when Englishmen could rest and reflect on past happenings. It was an occasion for great fairs and animal sales.
7. Heathens don’t believe in conclusions. Unlike the desert religions of Christianity, Judaism or Islam, we proclaim Process: a veritable metempsychosis of possibilities. As seekers after continuity, we embrace every level of existence in all of its complexity and dynamism. Our view is that the Gods are archetypal forces in the starry continuum; powers within which every other environmental process operates. They create the basic structures of the Cosmos. Call them, therefore, by whatever name you will, their energy is their presence. They are the spirits who govern a magical ‘Becoming” rather than a merely static ‘Being.’ They are the Divine Causes as well as the Effects of all things. To an extent, this is seen in our forefather’s attitude to fertility and sex, along with the acts of fleshly Worship they practised. As Heathens we still stress the bi-polar or experimental. The actualisation of every potential. To illustrate this point all we need to do is examine our ancestor’s attitude to the soil as a substance to nurture and venerate; it was the sentient substance of all edible things and the final resting place of all material objects.
8.Conclusion:
This is a time of abundance and celebration, not an occasion for malicious tricks or drunken violence. Across the globe, similar seasonal festivals have marked the repose of the previous cycle, along with a charged expectancy of the next. This is one of the ways we all find a sense of orientation in our lives. Certainly, in Europe, the Church has done its damnest to accentuate the ambiguous side of these celebrations and highlight the uncertainties which accompany the start of any rebirth. Adopting this plan of attack, they have steadily assaulted our gratitude to Nature Spirits by turning children’s minds to mischief and more mature outlooks to simple abandon. But, as Heathens and Pagans it is our duty to oppose these distortions to our ageless tradition and dance to the rhythms of a resurrected tune. After all, history is once again turning in our favour.

The Bard

2010-01-05T06:14:00.000-08:00

England, without Shakespeare? I'd rather stick pencils in Jeremy Clarkson's eyes.

An Interview on Yezidism

2009-11-15T05:28:00.000-08:00

Q: What is Yezidism?

A: I need to start with a confession! I am a Kurd. Also, I am proud to be Kurdish, and especially proud of Kurdish literature. It is a rich and highly complex tradition that ranks as equal to every other textual heritage on the world stage. Some of the symbols, however, hold strange and terrible secrets. They are images of a pagan past, which disappears into the mists of Pre-Islamic antiquity.

Q: Terrible Secrets?

A: Yes, these secrets are not always understood by the western nations. For example, Fared ad-din Attar’s poem called “Mantiqu-t Tair” and known in English as “The conference of the birds” (translated by S. C. Nott, a disciple of Gurdjieff), we are shown the arrogant figure of the Peacock. He is depicted as a beautiful but brazen bird that is quick to find a multiplicity of reasons for not going on a quest to meet the heavenly Simourg. As the Peacock says to the Hoopoe:

“The painter of the world” he said “to fashion me took in his hand the brush of the jinn. But although I am Gabriel among birds my lot is not to be envied. I was friendly with the serpent in the earthly paradise, and for this was ignominiously driven out. They deprived me of a position of trust, they, who trusted me, and my feet were my prison.”

His excuses, on reflection, hide a number of folk traditions, which can be traced all the way back to the Yezidis. In his book “Meetings with remarkable men”, Gurdjieff tells his readers about a strange game played in certain areas of the Caucasus by the kids in their school yards. It entails drawing a circle around a Yezidi youth and watching his or her inability to escape from its confines. Now, as usual, the devil is in the detail. After all, the Yezidis are Kurdish as well as pagan and not the heretics or devil worshippers of that region. What is more, they have folk tales, poems and artistic representations about a Peacock angel (Tawuse Melek), which tell a very different story concerning this spirit - being.

Q: How ancient?

A: Certain scholars argue that the origins of Yazidism are ultimately shrouded in Near Eastern prehistory. Although the Yazidis speak Kurdish, their faith shows strong influences from archaic Mithraism and Mesopotamian traditions. What is more, the Yazidis own name for themselves is Ezidi or Yezidi or, in some areas, Dasini (the latter, appears to be, a tribal name). Other scholars have also derived the name Yazidi from Old Iranic yazata, and say it is a derivation from Umayyad Caliph Yazid I (Yazid bin Muawiyah), revered by the Yazidis as an incarnation of the celestial figure Sultan Ezid: an opinion rejected by the Yazidis as a community. Lastly, their cultural practices are observably Kurdish, and almost all speak Kurmanjî. Thus, historical origins are really complex.

Q: Who then, is the Peacock Angel?

A: The two sacred books of the Yezidis - “Kiteba Cilwe” ("Book of Illumination”) and “Mishefa Resh” (“Black Book”), recount a creation story wherein God tests his creation. Each of the seven angels was sent to bow before Father Adam and all of them obeyed, apart from Tawuse Melek. He alone asserted the pre-eminence of the

spirit world above the material order. He alone defended the “Otherness” of the light powers. For this reason, according to the Yezidis, God rewarded him and sent him to the Earth as a prince of bright forces. As we may read:

God first created Tawuse Melek from his own illumination (Ronahi) and the other six Archangels were created later. Then God gave life to Adam from his own breath and instructed all archangels to bow to Adam. The Archangels obeyed except for Tawuse Melek. In answer to God, Tawuse Melek replied, "How can I submit to another being! I am from your illumination while Adam is made of dust." Then God praised him and made him the leader of all angels and his deputy on the Earth.

That is why the Peacock presents both Sufi and scholar with such an ambiguous plumage. Tawuse Melek is either the governor of light or a demon in disguise, depending upon the religious beliefs and ethnic identity of an author.

Q: Are ethnicity and belief interlocked?

A: Everyone is an embodiment of their culture. We are the living representatives of our traditions, music and poetry are the memory of a people. In this respect, the Yezidis are no different from anyone else. Perhaps this is the reason why so many Yezidis have died as martyrs to their faith. If this continues to happen, however, our Earth will not only loose a very peaceful and unbiased people, but an irreplaceable link to Heathenism.

Q: How can Kurdish paganism help British Heathens to evolve?

A: Kurdish spirituality is a great treasure as well as a resource in world culture. Furthermore, it offers British pagans a paradigm case for a generous hearted spirituality, which is true to the lives of the people, at the same time offering an insight into the structure of the human soul itself. After all, the symbols and images of every ethnic group tell us about its relationship to other peoples as well as the living environment. In this sense, the Kurdish community has an immense amount to teach the British about the value of grass roots paganism, while offering progressive examples of how to adapt on a daily basis in order to evolve.

Gruntlers

2009-11-11T12:09:00.000-08:00

Heathens believe in Truth, Beauty and Freedom. Perhaps, this is why we feel a political affinity with Humanists. In any case, our faith inspired "A Happening With The Gruntlers" at the Poetry Cafe last Monday evening; an event celebrating these essential values.

Sinatra

2009-08-15T05:55:00.000-07:00

If New York is truly a city which never sleeps, then everyone who lives there must have gone insane! Indeed, such deprivations can only imbalance those who come into contact with it's environmental mania.

Reading

2009-03-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

Mersoteric will be hosting an evening of poetry on the 30th of March and I will be reading from my new book "The Grammar of Witchcraft".

The Black Magicians of Monsanto

2009-01-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

Far too many British Spiritualists are concerned with topics as trivial as the so-called “Randi Gamble.” Indeed, following the work of Carl Gustav Jung and Roberto Assagioli, it is almost beyond me that our religious ministers waist so much of their valuable time addressing the clod-like assertions of a clearly career based scepticism, when spirits are now openly at war around us. Certainly, some members of the younger generation have sensed that a call-to-arms has been sounded. They seem to perceive dark, destructive forces remaining dangerously unchallenged in our society and quite justifiably are starting to accuse their more mature neighbours of a bewildering spiritual narcolepsy. Many of them even feel that these devious shades are threatening the fecund environment; gathering a hellish, technocratic, momentum, against our Mother the Earth. All of which makes it truly astonishing that - as a movement - we have done so little to support their spiritual concerns. Perhaps especially so, once we recall how few other Churches uphold the sanctity of Life, on every level, as intrinsically worthy of respect.

In fairness, a number of factors hide these mighty battles from general view. Most notably the fact that their outward form is usually disguised by pious political hyperbole and marketing misinformation. Moreover, militant commerce has an uncanny way of silencing spiritual reflection, along with the moral implications of industrial procedures. Yet in this sense, contemporary Youth is again proving far ahead of their strangely disconnected elders, since they remain alert to the observation that nothing is religiously neutral an age where complex agricultural techniques, coupled to ethical complacency, are effectively manufacturing a brand new branch of the Black Arts. Arguably then, from the legendary Dr. Faustus, to the fictional Victor Frankenstein, the same charge against modernity has echoed across the centuries. A warning voiced in Rabelais’ famous saying that “science without a conscience is the ruin of the soul”. This explains why some commentators can’t help feeling the ingenious Pythagorian himself would have been shocked at the depths to which people sink when science becomes a slave to corporate business ventures. Also, this may be why Monsanto’s representations to the media always seem to have a Faustian atmosphere about them. Time and again, the smell of sulphur chokes their official pronouncements. It is, therefore, unwise to ignore these historic meditations as “simply” subjective, while such a company openly wages a campaign to genetically modify our very food with apparently minimal public consent.

Sadly, vulnerable Third World countries appear to be the ecological “No Mans Land” between sustainable progress and almost demonic, global, manipulation; an example being easily discerned when considering Monsanto’s “Terminator” technology. Asking, of course, why any descent minded company would patent the genetic engineering of otherwise healthy plants to produce sterile seeds is unsettling enough. But the projection that this plan, if implemented, would reduce African and Indian farmers to a kind of credit dependency (whereby they are obliged to buy replacement seeds every year, rather than use existing stocks), is undeniably sinister. Clearly, those that unclean spirits would destroy, first they make servile. In addition to this death dealing research, pundits have pointed out that future environmental effects of genetically modified crops are, at present, unknown. Apart from steadily increasing evidence, which demonstrates that processes of cross pollination can actually spread herbicidal tolerance to wild plants in a manner similar to a virus. Long term, this means that instead of reducing the amount of chemicals applied in farming, some producers are becoming locked like junkies into chemical slavery, just to defend their perfectly natural crops. What else can be said, except that the striking hubris underlying these commercial decisions is staggering; a sin the spirits are ominously threatening to punish in this life.

Partly, the problem is caused by a global free-for-all to maximise profits for irresponsible shareholders, at the expense of Fertility and Freedom.. These transparently wicked designs are further linked to a weakening of our British borders as obvious defences against corporate insanity. Perhaps surprisingly, nationalist politics have proved to hold more substance than merely old-fashioned xenophobia, despite the calculated slanders mouthed by politicians associated with multinational business executives. Accompanied as these improprieties always are by a crippling lack of religious perspective concerning the environment from their side. In which case we, as practising spiritualists, need to be more mindful of forests and foliage as our ancestors in a way similar to those who have already passed into Spirit. We know, after all, our friends and family are now at one with the vast continuum. Furthermore, it can be said that our loved ones have joined with these archetypal energies in the sacred process of unending creation. Free of charge! Thus,only one question remains; will our Community awake to the challenge of defending Life, or continue to be side tracked by unadulterated trivia?

Ignore Africa This Christmas

2008-12-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

I respect the peoples of the dark continent and my heart grieves when famine, warfare, as well as pestilence, are reported from those mighty nations. At the end of the day, however, they are not my people and until we North Europeans put our own houses in order, none of our concern.

Is Anybody There?

2008-11-17T12:05:00.000-08:00

British spiritualists often perceive themselves as custodians to strange and terrible truths. We have, rather unsettlingly, both seen and heard the intrusions of Spirit into our churches and prayer circles. We have communicated with the Glorious Dead. At times, we have even touched the mysterious realms of Higher Consciousness, as it unfolds in our hearts with the living light of knowledge and the vital sounds of salvation. It should therefore, come as a surprise that our assemblies are usually half-empty, while our credibility as witnesses to the Marvellous seems to shrink with each passing year.

Perhaps this is why it is time to stop blaming opponents for our problems and to start examining ourselves. Certainly, in my recent visits to various congregations across London, I have been greeted with demonstrations of personal arrogance by church leaders, a complete lack of humility (let alone sensitivity) on the part of mediums, and rather uncomfortable atmospheres coloured by gossipy infighting, when the service was concluded. It goes without saying, that these are not the outward signs associated with unfolding soul gifts and also partly explains why The Atheist of Oxford doesn’t need to look far to find a “cultural” shambles in some sections of our Movement. Indeed, getting the living into our places of worship appears to be more of an issue than opening our doors to the departed.

Yet there’s the rub. What do we spiritualists revere as Sacred? Clearly, some claim to represent true Christian Tradition; a noble and thought provoking assertion. On the other hand, there are those who argue that they adhere to the universal principles behind every Great Faith. This, in itself, is a highly abstract and demanding contention, stretching back through Victorian Theosophy into the medieval profundities of Neo-Platonism. Additionally, there are those in psychical societies who actively appear to be flirting with a type of experimental activity our forebears would have called necromancy: a repugnant pursuit still retaining its unpleasantness. All of which indicates, however, our Movements manifold search to find an appropriate position within the family of ancestral spirits; a tribal genealogy extending from Great, Great, Grandparents to forest flowers, lake land hills, and the Nature Spirits themselves. Even so, the vast majority of the aforementioned ideologues don’t seem to have journeyed far enough into Self to achieve a meaningful dialogue with Transcendent Being.

Having said that, allies and guides sometimes emerge from unexpected quarters and indirect support may be encountered from the so-called New-Age-Counter-Culture in all of its manifestations. Notably, the self-confessed pagan writer, Professor Camille Paglia describes (in a strikingly lucid essay entitled “No Law In The Arena”), her view of God as a disembodied Creative Force powerfully at work within the Cosmos. She does this, moreover, in a manner that any contemporary Spiritualist would instantly recognise, since we have presented this luminous gospel to the general public for over a century. Possibly, I should further point to followers of Radical Traditionalism as our kith. Through practising the ancient rites of our Britannic kinsmen, they have made it apparent that the recovery of received ethical values, not to mention our unique participation in the modalities of Northern-European-Becoming, can only be recovered by a renewed respect for rural, albeit occasionally abstract, customs.
In which case, disciplines such as silent meditation and hearth ritual become obvious vehicles for spiritualist witness. Clearly, in the house church I am privileged to lead, we have found that these forms of worship quickly lead to a discovery of inner-light as well as the cultivation of creative states of consciousness. Observably, our methods are extremely similar to those of Shinto in Japan, because they focus on the Immanence of Spirit. Householders, for example, tend to establish a reflective peace through husbanding their native surroundings, while healers magnify their abilities by exploring vital organic processes in their own bodies. Significantly, such gentle ceremonies need few theoretical commitments on the part of a practitioner, because a mind open to their efficacy is the only stipulation. On top of that, an atmosphere of ceremonial order transforms the lives of those who strive for a genuine sense of enlightened resolve. Similarly, our aims are nationalistic and our service is, primarily, to our own people. At the end of the day, all of our churches should be full to the British brim with those truly seeking Spirit. Remembering our sense of witness is the key. But to realise this goal a few home truths need to be faced along the way, like recalling that our Movement does indeed have a universalist appeal, although on a local level it always celebrates uniqueness. We also need to take pride in our labours as bridge-builders between different states of consciousness. These are the twin reasons I am personally looking forward to our renewed prophetic status within society. After all, those who have passed over, as well as the Nature Spirits, are pleading with us to focus on pictures bigger than community leadership or personal tattle, and we alone are correctly positioned to hear their messages.

Heathen Values

2008-09-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

Honour, not success, is the principle virtue in the life of a man: a European ethical value dangerously lacking in our Post-Christian society and the cause of so many moral, as well as financial problems.

For Oswald Spengler

2008-09-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

Neither Christian mildew, nor manic Imams or a tax deductible Zionism can redeem our social spheres from perdition. Only schools, armed with Heathen Insights into natural glories can raise the Earth to Spiritual Wisdom.

I, Odinist ?

2008-02-03T08:19:00.000-08:00

It remains a mystery to me, in the classic sense, that so few of my readers have uncovered the thread of Eddic mysticism running (as prominently as it does), through all my work. In which case, I openly confess to my gradual conversion, and embrace Odinism as the obvious next step in British Spiritualism.

Signs of Spirit

2007-09-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

There is a transcendent principle both in nature and above nature. It is encountered within every work of art, most music, literature, and all the great religions. On occasion, it even surfaces in the sciences when visionary theories pierce the structure of creation, allowing our human intellects to delve more deeply into the world’s material processes. This spiritual consciousness, however, primarily takes ecological shapes and environmental forms: it sings in the symphonies of the dawn chorus; it enlightens its own splendour in the glories of a golden sunset. If therefore, as some saints have said, these are the lavish signs of a Divine Soul crucified on the cross of materiality, then we must assume that such an immense sacrifice is leading to a shared, cosmic, perfection. Only this would explain the endless moments of uplifting regeneration in a belittlingly beautiful universe.

This also partly explains why indigenous British customs often appear analogous to a spiritual habitat rather than a mere political mechanism. In a sense, they comprise a synthetic genius, raising us to previously unexpected heights. Certainly, our inherited and temperate values can neither be cropped or culled, nor can they be cleared away like unwanted bracken. After all, British folk-feelings have emerged from lush native soils, laboured over by our stubborn ancestors, who cultivated these lands for centuries untold; ancestors who themselves pollinated fertile traditions with good humour, while husbanding our inherited, verdant, resources. Yet it was the poets among them who defiantly channelled the disembodied moods of this “folk-spirit” into the verbal icons and passionate chants illuminating national sentiment.

The social necessity of this sacred service was of course, always a matter of turbulent political dispute. Among early Anglo-Saxon settlers for example, controversy surrounded the fact that there were few sacrosanct master poets, but a plenitude of roving minstrels - despite the enduring inspiration of the Eddas and Old Norse scholarship. As they acclimatised, English poetic lore became heavily embellished at third hand by Welsh, Irish and Gallic Bards, through the Norman Romances - cultural events helping to contextualise the fact that there has never been an intuitive respect for the title of poet in England. Adding further insult to injury, English poets as a body (since that time), have tended to feel apologetic regarding their vocation and more usually than not have described their calling as “writer” or “teacher” instead of wordsmith. Nevertheless, great poets did arise out of humble English stock. Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400), William Shakespeare (1564-1610), and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), are second to none in world literature, possibly because the mediumistic origins of English poetry were never entirely forgotten.

Having said that, with so few master poets the demands of our tribal psyche became increasingly obscure, even though a collective sense of its activities continued to haunt society. Hardly anyone, including the “official” clergy, spoke authoritatively on these elevated matters or attempted to guide general debate; a silence which almost deafened English cultural life. Moreover, on those occasions when the transcendent principle did blaze through our affairs, these epiphanic moments seemed akin to pagan outbursts instead of perennial signs within a tradition already exhibiting an uncanny continuity. Somewhat predictably, religious puritans became increasingly wary of the English festal calendar, causing a paralysing religious dichotomy in our seasonal customs. As such, this seizure proved to be a period of poetic opportunity for the extraordinary William Blake (1757-1832), who, as a poet-medium, spent his life trying to use this schism to restore the ancestral practises of his profession.

Born and bred an inspired Londoner, Blake grew up the second son of a reasonably prosperous hosier. As a child of the upper working classes he was largely self-educated; an achievement at which only the uneducated continue to scoff. Yet from his earliest years he had a voracious appetite for learning and like the ancient balladeers studied philosophy as well as the arts. Among his many gifts can be counted painting, engraving and according to local Lambeth legend the composition of melodies. This may be why some critics have claimed that for want of a colleague, Blake was forced to become an entire Bardic college on his own. Clearly these pundits are correct in that his astounding textual range extended from the Lyric, to the Dramatic, Epic and Prophetic. Indeed, his avowed intention was to remind readers in every possible way that they were actually in a state of deep psychic somnambulance; a condition related to mental slavery. This contention became apparent in his poetic essay All Religions Are One, in which Blake roars that only a poet is capable of discerning Eternal Truths: “that the poet genius is the true man and that the body or outward form of man is derived from Poet Genius”. As a medium Blake hoped to unsettle his readers into wakefulness.

All of which is strangely reminiscent of the contemporary English poet Nigel Humphreys. Admittedly, Humphreys does not illuminate his work with ceaselessly shifting allegories, neither does he populate his verses with symbolic figures in order to create a “personal” mythos. Traditional textual strategies that disciples of British symbolism incautiously insist upon when examining deeply spiritual laments. Humphreys artistry is, nevertheless, strikingly similar to Blake’s in Songs of Experience, where regret, injustice, physical impermanence and the alarming intrusions of Spirit are detailed in depth. Another, less obvious, similarity is found in the fact that Humphreys also appears to adopt the role of social commentator and cultural observer, whose medicinal task is to diagnose our ethnic ills; a poetic role possibly embraced with relish despite precautionary caveats surrounding his recent work.

Put unreservedly, Humphreys first collection The Hawks Mewl (Arbor Vitae Press 2007), demands our attention. Within its possessed pages, the cold hands of northern European souls are easily discernable as they weave their bleak designs into our English sensibilities. There is an endless fascination with doom, decay, unexpected nobility and incomplete emotional closure. Humphreys even openly discusses “ectoplasm” and “apparitions”, whether metaphorical or actual, amid the unnerving atmosphere of “virtuous” paganism – a concept echoing Dante’s (1265-1321), personal religious turmoil. In the final analysis though, it is a form of spiritism that informs this text as the poet struggles with his own sense of blunted existence, made manifest in the frustrating imagery of shells and the alliteration suggested by directionless spirals. In place of well-defined themes, tacitly pointing towards an elusive higher consciousness, Humphreys delights in an unlimited literary semiosis conjured by sights and sounds into archetypal scenarios. By this, he fulfils his received vocation in giving voice to British Being, while disturbing complacent existential assumptions. Like Blake in his heyday, Humphreys has sensed a sudden and unexpected opening in the doors of English perception, exceedingly propitious to transcendent visions.
At the end of the day, it is something of a truism that only those countries privileged to enjoy material stability may actually develop a balanced spiritual life, unaccompanied by an ignorant and poisonous “Manichean” hyperbole. It is further pertinent to observe that the Second Great Tradition of English literature still encourages the activities of poet-mediums, even though their contributions to national morality are uncomprehendingly overlooked. What critics must not do, however, is deliberately disregard the beauty and profundity of their verses, because without these qualitative insights we are made vulnerable as an island as well as weakened as a people.

Monadology

2007-08-25T06:42:00.000-07:00

A Divine Monad may take so many forms I need to ask:
Who is the man on the Holy Cross that I have followed since I was a youth?
What is His true northern name?
When did He start to call his people out of hiding?
Where were they scattered?Why did He choose me to minister to this “new” spiritual family?

Islamic Amnesiacs

2007-08-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

Certain modern Islamists seem to have forgotten the existential facts of life in their desperate search for an ideal form of justice that simply cannot belong to this Earth. They have forgotten the numinous ecstasies of Sufi poetry; they have forgotten the negative analyses as well as the cynical wit of the philosophers. They appear to have forgotten (in their unacknowledged agnosticism), that since there is only One True God, there is only One Great Religion – already found in innumerable spiritualities throughout human history and across the entire globe. Maybe, as Spiritualists, we need to remind them not to place their faith in this sphere, but put it firmly in the Greater World beyond.

Kierkegaard's Question

2007-06-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

The father of Christian existentialism, Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855), consciously lived his entire life guided by the Spirit: so much so, that he became obsessed with one specific question - what was the difference between those who teach Divine Law and Christ Jesus. In other words, why would Zodiac (upon seeing Master Jesus in the Temples' Outer Court), feel that all of his questions had been answered ? An issue still requiring clarification in our dialogue as Spiritualists with traditional Judaism and modern Islam.

One of the ways Kierkegaard attempted to define this vital distinction was to contrast the career of the Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates with the ministry of Jesus in Nazareth. After all, Socrates was inspired by mysterious voices, led a virtuous life and had the penetrating vision of a truly gifted thinker. Yet Kierkegaard concluded that even these immense moral and intellectual qualities as a teacher were not enough to set him apart from other earthly sages. As a man, Socrates may indeed be exemplary, but he remained a recognisable figure. This insight further allowed Kierkegaard to grasp the fact that empirical questions require empirical answers, whereas existential questions demanded a living, breathing, solution. In which case, a teacher very different in kind from Socrates would be needed to reveal the Kingdom of Meaning. On this level, nothing less than a Saviour would be sufficient.

To explore these issues Biblically, it is interesting to recall the confrontation recorded in the Gospels between Pontius Pilate and Master Jesus. Certainly, for all his political experience, the Roman Procurator simply didn't comprehend the man in front of him. This, for spiritualists, continues to speak volumes because it demonstrates that the Revelation of saving-truth cannot be just another philosophical argument or point of information. It is the moment at which a human being embraces Essence in order to touch the Eternal. Therefore, even Pilates apparently rhetorical enquiry "What is truth?" merely reinforces the already unbridgeable divide between them.

The governor was deaf to anything Jesus had to say, but more significantly, blind to who Jesus was: God as man; the vehicle of Christ-consciousness responding to the human condition; a vanquished hero taking fear and frustration as His Cross. In this tragic encounter, worldly Roman wiles defeat themselves.

Ironically, Kierkegaard's question has been answered by the Spiritualist community more effectively than by the mainstream churches. Like him, we courageously contrast calculation to Scripture, and witness the works of Spirit on a weekly basis in our small, vibrant, assemblies. Perhaps this is why in the battle between ideas we stand firm on Zodiac's messages as a veritable testimony to the Way, and the Life Everlasting.

Channelling Tomorrow

2007-04-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

All arguments are provisional. Perhaps that is why there has never really been a scientific theory, which has stood the test of time. It may also partly explain the often bewildering personal ambiguities surrounding those figures representing each school of thought. In “modern” Spiritualism, for example, the Fox sisters are usually cited as the ancestors of our tradition (1842), even though some commentators vigorously claim it was actually Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), who fathered the movement. Yet a cursory glance at the beliefs as well as the practices of Spiritualism – as a coherent ideology – quickly revels a religious system of global proportions as old as the human race itself. Therefore, it is a striking, albeit unsettling fact, that temporary frames of reference tend to determine our rules of judgement.

This is equally true of those opinions said to oppose Spiritualisms theological position. Indeed, until recently existentialism was held up by series of secularised scholars as a bulwark against any notion entailing higher states of Being. By stating they were following the (surprisingly reductive) assertions of Nietzsche, these writers created an impression that theirs was the only possible way to discuss human spirituality – thereby deliberately ignoring the equally important religious existentialism of Kierkegaard. Indeed, as a member of The Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association, it usually saddens me to reflect that we have not fully engaged with the sophisticated and rich theological resources available to us. Certainly, as a Christian family we have a surprising number of prominent friends, as it is far from uncommon to find authors such as Saint Augustine as well as Pascal listed as existentialist thinkers who described profound transcendent experiences.

Existentialism is then, best understood as a certain type of intellectual exploration, tending to focus on the human situation itself. Moreover, most writers inspired by this vantage point have gone on to contend that western thinking has become deeply defective due to it’s increasing insistence that knowledge must be based on physical objects alone. For a true existentialist, this approach will never be able to grasp the unique spiritual nature of human beings and remains blinded to the immense differences between human and non-human Being; a view which gave birth to a twentieth century academic rebellion in Italy (curiously, also known as Christian Existentialism), that sought to examine people as much more than the sum of their parts,

Presumably, channelling is a case in point. Everyone seems to Channel. Suddenly thinking of an old friend before “accidentally” meeting her on a street corner, or spontaneously singing a memorable song only to hear it played on the radio moments later, are all examples of this very human aptitude. Yet the difference between these suggestive daily events and those exhibiting spiritual qualities is ultimately one of degree. For a busy English housewife this ability may be a question of mild intuitive feedback, whereas for a Sufi poet this disturbing process allows prophetic spirits to expose inconvenient truths. On top of this, inherited customs with no direct moral significance such as New Years Eve, may allow entire societies to channell glimpses of their own future and foretell the probable consequences of actions still to be undertaken. Such predictions are of course, both subjective and falsifiable, consequently raising higher metaphysical issues in their wake. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why some channellers have opened themselves enough to touch the glittering continuum itself, subsequently writing that they discovered a changing, dynamic and ever-living universe with an inherent forward thrust towards the full actualisation of the every potential from which it is composed. They almost seem to be describing dazzling creative acts in terms of a continuous birth process by powers and principalities above all human interference.

Now it is always wise to be cautious concerning the euphoric details accompanying these depictions. After all, outward expressions of such purely receptive insights are bound to use special figurative and symbolic terms, which no doubt imply far more than appears to be said at first hearing, but are still, nonetheless, semantically problematic. This is due to the fact that ordinary words are made for mundane occasions and cannot convey the extraordinary facts of Spiritualism. What is more these symbols refer to levels of consciousness that are more complex than the everyday empirical world, going far beyond the physical limits of recognisable, material, conditions.

In stretching so high, yet simultaneously embracing the dislocation of human beings here below, our movement (considered as an entirety), is unique. This is because spiritualist churches meet existential questions head-on. They are Sacred arenas of raw human need, where the bereaved, the marginalized, the misfortunate and the uneducated can congregate, freely express themselves and openly enquire into the meaning of their lives without fear of censure or social disapproval. Unlike more culturally established religious assemblies, where every member has a perceived - and tacitly understood - place in the social pecking order, spiritualists are drawn together by their pain and curiosity. We have an innate religious bond built on unadulterated spiritual experiences and honest vulnerability.
At the end of the day, spiritualism claims there is a higher order of Being, and by so arguing states that our lives may be understood in two distinct ways: either as a scientific problem requiring a solution, or as a mystery within which we choose to participate. In other words, human rules of judgement are based on a materialistic, apparently clear but radically impoverished view of existence … or on a transcendent, less explicable - although fundamentally meaningful - interaction with all of creation. Surely there is no better way to state our theological position than this, and equally no more courageous way to face the future.

Listening to Ismail Kadare

2006-12-07T13:16:00.001-08:00

The almost unbearable significance of contemporary spiritualism often finds relief in twenty first century literature. Indeed, during the last couple of years the best poetry and prose have consciously touched the supernal in order to gift otherwise oppressive political regimes with a healing contextual balm. It was therefore a delight when the Albanian author Ismail Kadare recently spoke so openly concerning these complex textual uncertainties. Rather like Erasmus arguing in praise of human folly, Kadare's November interview at the French Institute allowed him to attack militant literary reductionism as a marketing deception. No doubt, Kadare conceded, it was possible to lie concerning his inscrutable inspiration, but this would simply waist everyone's time. After all, poets themselves didn't really understand the process; they just needed to sing. Kadare's disarming candour may, however, offer us an insight into his mystery. It may even partly reveal the symbols as well as the injuries moulding his personal laments.

Let me elaborate this comment. As a master of international letters, Kadare continues to weave historic events around disenfranchised characters. He seems obsessed by the dialectical position occupied by allegedly liberated men. The obvious vacuity of rekindled vendettas, the alarming distortion of social freedoms along with the tragic strategy adopted by Albanian youth in retreating from transcendent possibilities- are all set against a guarded optimism borne of ethnic survival. This indirectly suggests that Kadare (the novelist), senses a sterility within imposed literary customs which sooner or later become their own antithesis. For him, culture appears analogous to a natural habitat wherein human beings are both nurtured and restricted, yet outside of which they wither. By extension, a foreign literary habitat cannot develop conditions necessary for a previously established group to truly thrive. Kadare's confession to suffering from this problem has always risked ridicule, or a dangerous vulnerability. Moreover, to challenge his countrymen to wrestle with these issues demands a sensativity on their part that can either inadvertently offend or invoke national rejection. What else can be said, Kadare may reside in France, but I heard the voice of an Albanian soul singing with pride that evening.

Ancestral Graves

2006-08-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

Spiritualism is part of my being, like air and laughter. I suspect, however, its practice and perfection is only found in the context of worship. Indeed, without the necessary checks and balances offered by a "church" family, the work of ever a gifted Medium or resourceful Healer falls into mere entertainment or prurient paranoia. In a sense, it becomes one more medicinal ideology listed on the sterile agenda of a dull, depressing finitude. Once conceded of contemporary Spiritualism, it becomes clear that this was also the experience of early Christians; a curious fact almost mentioned in passing by the author Robert Graves.
Anyone reading the historical reconstructions of our Spiritualist ancestors in his novel King Jesus, must be immediately struck by their immense contribution to the Faith. From its very inception, it seems the "Jesus Movement" included seers and sensitives as prominent community members. This is hardly surprising when we recall Christians in the First Century A.D. witnessed unprecedented spiritual gifts. The dead rose, tongues were spoken and thousands converts to the higher Law of Love by a single sermon. In which case, the Apostle Paul was certainly speaking to women as well as men when explaining the ontological differences between a natural body (Soma Pseukikon) and the spiritual body (Soma Pneumatikon) as a way to keep consciousness above material issues. As Pagan commentators often pointed out, previous perceptions of "God's People" straining to survive under cruel and tyrannous political regimes were suddenly challenged. This was accompanied by an uprush of hope as converts were reborn with a moral determination to weather the humanitarian storms raging around them. Moreover, the enlightened awareness Christians discovered became a luminous shield, allowing them to live compassionate lives in violent and oppressive times.
Individual "Jesus people" further caught public attention by courageously grasping the key they had been given to the mysteries of the Pleroma. After all, they knew their community extended beyond the limits of this world into the Starry Heavens. This was one of the reasons why Christians openly experimented with radical social notions and alternative life-styles. Inherited religious customs as well as personal honour (based on power, wealth and position) were loudly criticised, as the blind recovered their sight and the lame walked again. In addition, perceived differences between ethnic groups faded, as people were encouraged to free themselves from archaic cultural restraints. Authority was therefore shared by all, as each encouraged the other to act prayerfully in what became diverse Spiritualist families pursuing God's Kingdom.
To participate in an act of worship in either ancient or modern times is to approach the realities of the Monad. This is the case in any epoch or dispensation, irrespective of age, race or gender. The origins of Christian Spiritualist worship, however, remains particularly fascinating due to deliberately suppressed origins and forgotten facts. This is why the poetic insight and historical methodology of an author such as Robert Graves continue to disturb readers. In many ways he may be an unlikely inspiration, but the evidential bones he unearthed speak volumes.

Big Brother

2006-05-28T10:42:00.001-07:00

During the halcyon days of Fleet Street, a vociferous minority of old hacks moaned that the printed page was a notoriously inadequate means by which to spread gossip. Sadly, this opinion seems to be confirmed rather than confounded by the modern media. Instead of clarifying human communication, both satellite and cable have become instruments that blunt the average attention span. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why contemporary commentators are noticeably lost for words when confronted with the gladiatorial delights of so-called reality T.V. After all, the contradictory rumours, which surrounded a potentially bewildering array of housemates for this season's multi-ringed Big Brother circus, concretised themselves in yet another predictably outrageous gathering. In the end, depressingly antagonistic personalities such as Sezer and Lea were selected to compete, mirroring their recent celebrity counterparts. We only need to recall that a year or so ago Professor Greer as well as the visibly ageing super model (ominously known as Caprice), were similarly eager to hold court in their more fashionable arena. Their was even talk in the Tabloids that New Age pundit David Icke was due to appear, but radical feminism compounded by global conspiracy theory may have caused even channel fours belligerent producers to physically balk.
Having said that, the circuitous plots of the patriarchy count as poor entertainment compared to the dark machinations schemed by Icke's sinister "Brotherhood". Icke's thesis argues that certain politically influential people are actually the servants of evil; a claim few fair-minded journalists would deny. However, based on the flimsiest of evidence, such as occult slander and hypnotic regression, he then proceeds to name the members of this crimson hierarchy. As if this were not libellous enough, he further testifies to the effect that these individuals are also courting corrupt extra-terrestrials who aim to dominate the Earth. His summation menacingly concludes that this is a significant stratagem in Lucifer's eternal struggle with the Angels themselves. A case in point is detailed in Icke's fascinating book The Greatest Secret. Here we may read about the head keeper's wife at Burnham Beeches in Buckinghamshire (near to Chequers), who noticed a group of robed figures carrying flaming torches into the woods one terrifying midnight. Unlike the majority of people, this robust British matron didn't hide beneath her quilt, or call the police, but followed them to their sabbathical destination. Eventually, she found herself camouflaged in wintry thickets while these cowled demoniacs chanted Satanic hymns into the darkness. To her astonishment, and indeed to everybody else's, the leader of this forbidden ritual turned out to be the RT. Hon Edward Heath, Conservative Member of Parliament and Prime Minister. Now, the majority of Icke's readers presumably must be struck by several rather obvious reactions to this news. First, it is hard to imagine Mr. Heath getting out of bed for anything less than Port and Stilton so late in the evening. Secondly, if Mr. Heath was personally involved with this world wide sulphurous Brotherhood, it is odd that the American establishment disliked him quite so vigorously. Yet gossip seems to have few limits and urban legends are often much more engaging at dinner than actual social events.
Casual readers shouldn't misinterpret the direction of my comments. I recently heard David Icke speak at the Brixton Academy and was suitably impressed. In many ways he was a man on fire with the Spirit, in a similar way to certain saintly free-thinkers from the recent political past. Instead, my problem is with the commodification of dissent and it's reduction to bitchy repartee in the perennially popular tower of tattle. Perhaps as certain critics have claimed this process is analogous to riding behind a successful Roman generals chariot and reminding him that he is still mortal. On the other hand, perhaps not. Either way, in our increasingly blinkered age even the hungry ghost of Samuel Pepys may soon start to complain that levelling trivia has gone too far.

Pagans

2006-04-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hippies are the children of Jean Jacques Rousseau. I have often thought that as a counter-cultural "current", they may be traced back way before the sixties through the early days of the New Thought Movement, to certain anxiety-related Romantic reactions against the excesses of the Enlightenment. They were obsessed with issues surrounding higher states of consciousness, organic food and a free sexuality. Their movement was, therefore, destructive, as it stretched above the "merely" rational before its appointed cultural time. With this in mind, there is a distinct danger that Channel Fours recent documentary series Pagans (written and presented by Richard Rudgley) will be identified as a critique of modern social fashion instead of a potential revolution in contemporary spirituality.
From the opening credits, Rudgley sidesteps accepted notions of received history to show his audience that influences from the ancient pagan world never really diminished. He explains how the endless experimentation of early Alchemists actually did pull mineral swords from stones and explores the Astro-Theology of tribal magicians in their seasonal calculations. In homage to their ecological wisdom, one episode even shows him wearing a mysterious golden hat, which seems to have been worn by one of these wizards as a sign of authority over natural processes.
Any theology that rests on reason rather than revelation is, of course, a form of natural religion. In other words, a type of esoteric astronomy, which searches the stars to find the effects and purposes of an otherwise unknowable first cause. Theologically insightful scholars would probably claim that the foundation of all intellectual religions, ancient as well as modern, have this same source. They are also likely to contend that the symbolic scriptures of sophisticated cultures were inspired by the geometrical movements of these heavenly giants. Arguably, even the Revelation of St. John the Divine confirms this opinion. After all, the strange personages populating his Apocalypse are discernable in any celestial atlas; a position demonstrated by the antipodean Speculative Freemason, Henry Melville, whose fascinating book Veritas (1874), details the entire sarcedotal system of stellar bodies and their suggested alignments with occult "inner constellations" mentioned in Medieval Hermetic manuscripts.
Rudgley contextualises these theories, suggesting that the principles behind this psycho-organic totality were laid down by prehistoric pagan astrologers. He adds that later initiates were rarely given access to their fundamental findings, although every now and again astrological records offered tantalising hints concerning the nature of the cosmos. This is especially curious when we recall that some modern researchers say only specific planets and stars were important to our forefathers, who appear to have regarded the universe as a gigantic living organism; a vast sustaining placenta through which the Divine Self-concept incarnated. It would further imply that human beings are not simply constituent parts of the universe, but rather the final summarising product of evolution.
These are complex concepts, which Rudgley expounds with considerable Saviour Faire. As a born communicator, he sees no necessary divide between scholarship and informed public opinion, provided the expert in question is in command of his or her field. He easily meets this criterion himself, due to an impeccable academic background, coupled with an obvious fascination with the material. Indeed, one of his skills as a presenter is to break down abstract theoretical propositions and then describe the exposed fragments with a consummate professional enthusiasm- a talent not always shared by those he interviewed.
This became increasingly evident when watching the second program in the series. Without much assistance, Rudgley guides his viewers through the legacy of Arthurian legend; a topic which unexpectedly caught my attention due to its exegesis of the relation between poetry and physical violence. As a poet myself fascinated with the perennial truths of destruction, conflict and the grotesque, I found this episode gripping. From the outset, he details the development of folk tales around tribal warriors, who constantly perfected formidable martial skills to defend their kith and kin. Enlarging his theme, Rudgley then maps their world of highly codified chivalry, where young male muscle and bone was energetically tested by each of these "knights" against the other for the sheer joy of it. Fascinatingly, such openly erotised rutting rarely degenerated into a free-for-all, because their personal honour prevented them from sinking into a brutish battery. Differences were, nevertheless, inevitable and had to be settled without repression or lasting scars, which is why their ritualised wrestling was never expressed thoughtlessly just for the sake of temporary cathartic relief, but channeled artfully; an aesthetic blend that flowered into martial Epics as well as military Sagas.
In the final analysis, Rudgley's documentary series is a provocative and extraordinarily rich philosophical assertion. Ironically, however, its very opulence may give rise to a variety of conflicting interpretations. His work could easily be seen as a reflexive academic comment, a personal vision, or even a religious prophecy trapped in the distorting lens of cultural relativism. Rudgley, however, intends these programs to be about the present, not the past. His understated ideological challenge to so-called western religious orthodoxy is found in a tacit defence of humanity's need to participate abstractedly with the environmental realities underlying all metaphysical superstructures, which is why Rudgley seems to feel that "Christian civilisation" is both totalitarian in its ethical imperatives and consciously unreflective about its origins. A challenge demanding considerable reflection.

Caliban's Redemption

2006-03-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

by David Parry

ISBN 186992875X, £9.99 paperback

'The exploration of such states of consciousness is not without its psychological dangers and Parry's poetry traverses inner worlds reminiscent of those of Lautreámont, Bataille and the demonologist Collin de Plancy' - Richard Rudgeley in The London Magazine
In this collection of occult poems Parry’s alter-ego Caliban muses on sexuality, seclusion and Shakespeare. Moreover, by trying to capture the dark dwarf’s metaphysical lyrics moment by moment, the author slowly confronts himself as a willing prisoner on the magical island of violence and desire. After all, Caliban would claim that neither Browning nor Nietzsche had fully grasped the ethics of redemption which can only be found in unadulterated selfhood.

Miranda
I love you holy virgin,
with the soul that you have moulded,
lovely as a rosebud,
to the silver moon unfolded.
I love you holy virgin.

I love you Queen of Heaven,
with the body you have fashioned,
twisted in your service,
by sacred sighs of divine passion.

I love you Queen of Heaven.
I love you aged mother,
with the mind that you have hardened,
deep as dark obsidian,
reflecting black thoughts yet unpardoned.

I love you aged mother.
I love you,
I praise you,
I abase myself before you,
and with golden songs adore you,
my holy whore of heaven.