View from the Big Hills

“Unevolved man is, notoriously, a destructive creature, and is loud in asserting his "right" to be so. Have not those who can see a little further and think a little more deeply at least an equal right to defend and preserve? It is not only animals that are in question here: is the fashion for redwood fences and garden furniture really an adequate reason for thinking beings to exterminate trees of age-long growth? We do not wish to do more than touch upon this matter, for its significance must already have impressed many. Not only this or that living species is in danger; there is also that fabric of which each is a component, that web of mighty vibrations and of subtle echoes...” -          Robe and Ring, The Magical Philosophy, Denning and Phillips     It was the late 1980s just as my Charlton House Green Circle group came to the end of working through Denning and Phillips’ “Magical States of Consciousness” over th...

“Refusal to believe until proof is given is a rational position; denial of all outside of our own limited experience is absurd.”  - Annie Besant   "Men who think themselves wise believe nothing till the proof. Men who are wise believe anything till the disproof." - Hassan to Selim  James Elroy Flecker's play  "Hassan: the story of Hassan of Bagdad  and how he came to make the golden journey to Samarkand"

Like a deleted scene from Robin Williams' film, “The Dead Poets Society”, I was first introduced to the work of George William Russell at the age of 17 by an inspirational school teacher who also managed to turn me on to WB Yeats, Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard amongst others. Since that first lighting of the candle I’ve enjoyed delving back into the depths of AE’s work time and time again for inspiration, insight and illumination. George William Russell was a seer and mystic as well as gifted painter and poet. In addition to these things, he was also a vocal Irish Nationalist and prolific writer who has left a lasting legacy for the world.      Russell was born in the grey town of Lurgan (Irish “ an Lorgain”) in County Armagh, Ireland on the 10 th of April 1867. At the age of eleven his family moved southbound to Dublin. A few years later as a young man, he developed enduring friendships with W B Yeats and Art O’Murnaghan. Somewhat simi...

The first time I stumbled across Thomas Traherne was a number of years ago when I was recuperating from surgery. My partner and our children had gone off to a weekend music festival and my elderly parents were staying in my home to look after me. I was beginning to feel much better and suggested a short trip into Hereford Cathedral to take a look at the spectacular Mappa Mundi and the ancient library.    We decided to take a look around the cathedral before eating lunch in the tea room. I wandered off alone and found myself compelled towards a tiny side chapel. As I entered the chapel it was like entering the tranquility and safety of a womb. Everything became deliciously silent. My mind stilled as the sun’s light shone through the most magnificent stained glass windows I had ever seen in my life. I was quite literally dumbstruck and overwhelmed. In the space that I had entered I started sobbing with overflowing tears. I know not how long this lasted for time s...