View from the Big Hills

Going through my London Group archive papers this weekend, I came across a simple guide to drawing your own Tree of Life. This was first published in 1975. I remember following a similar set of instructions while I was working through the Outer Court programme in the 1980s, although this was by then metric!  In these strange times of COVID-19, self-isolation and quarantine, readers may enjoy experimenting with their own drawing skills. Here are the instructions:-   Materials:             Sheet of paper. Pencil (preferably 4H) . Ruler. Compasses.   Stage 1:                   Draw a vertical base line AD, say 8 inches long.   Stage 2:                 Mark the centre point B.   Stage 3:          ...

  “ Beloved, gaze in thine own heart, The holy tree is growing there; From joy the holy branches start, And all the trembling flowers they bear. The changing colours of its fruit Have dowered the stars with merry light; The surety of its hidden root Has planted quiet in the night......” From The Two Trees by William Butler Yeats NB . The picture is of the well-known Dryad tree in Lesnes Abbey Woods, South-east London, and a favourite of many DRAGON members.

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...