SMALL PRESS REVIEW
Paul Newman
Looks at Resurgence and The Cauldron
Since the advent of desktop publishing, hundreds of small magazines have sprung up reflecting the incredible social diversity of modern Britain. There are magazines devoted to feminism, political reform, UFOs, crop circles, poetry, short stories and translations. For the first in a series of articles dealing with this fascinating phenomenon, our resident literary gadabout, takes a look at a periodical based in Wales and devoted to modern paganism.
Once the word ‘pagan’ had vaguely pejorative overtones. Christian missionaries used to denounce our Celtic forbears for bowing down to painted idols or laying sacrifices on blood-spattered altars. But this has all changed, and the word has undergone a complete turnabout. It is now associated with goddess-power and a caring ‘green’ attitude towards the earth and its changing seasons. In fact, many modern pagans are vegetarian and dote on their pet familiars as much as on the bats and field mice of their native outdoors.
The Cauldron describes itself as an "independent, non-profit making, privately published journal of the Old Religion, Witchcraft, Paganism, Earth Mysteries and Folklore published quarterly since 1976" and appearing in February, May, August and November.
It hails from darkest Wales and correspondents are advised not to put the magazine’s name on the envelope or scrawl pentagrams across the same – presumably such measures may incite the wrath of the local chapel-goers. But despite such advice, The Cauldron is a scholarly attractively produced magazine on recycled paper and usually bearing a horned god motif on the cover.
The contents of the issue I am surveying make interesting – if not exactly chatty - reading. Many are cast in that discursive, reflective style that stems from poring over too many academic tomes. The opening-shot is an article by Danny Sullivan entitled Ley Lines: Dead and Buried. This is a calculated broadside against the idea that straight lines running across the landscape and joining ancient sites (churches, standing stones, holy wells, encampments) mark nodes of ‘energy’ or ‘power’. No, they are not that but the "remains of spirit lines, medieval corpse ways and church road alignments and hundreds of chance alignments." For those who haven’t got a clue what a spirit line or a corpse way is, the first is the route taken over the landscape by the tribal wizard or shaman when he flies out of his body in a trance state; the second is the path down which a corpse was borne prior to burial.
The second main article The Making of a Witches Working Site begins by lamenting the crass decision of the Highways Department to run a by-pass alongside the spot where the coven once congregated to perform its seasonal rituals. "What made this place so special was that it had a small brook running through it, with its own little waterfall and a few stepping stones to get you over the water, which meant that we were able to locate our circle on the edge of one of the banks. This also meant, of course, that we were able to cross water to reach the site, and while we worked we did so to the sound of the waterfall, which was just loud enough for people to submerge themselves into it as an aid to freeing the spirit from the body." Happily an alternative rural site, with yet another cascade nearby, was found where incantations and spell-making might re-commence!
A third article by Alby Stone is solemn and studious, heavily drenched in mythic gravy, dealing with pagan Germanic creations myths and the significance of the Norse tripartite of gods: Odin, god of magic, inspiration and cosmic order; Thor, god of war and vengeance; Freyr, god of fertility and sexuality.
Of more topical concern is Ritual Abuse Update centring on the anthropologist, Professor Fontaine’s, examination of satanic child abuse over the last ten years. This report was greeted with deafening silence by the media who had been previously fanning the flames of sensation and mass hysteria. In Fontaine’s view, high unemployment, social deprivation, class-war, recession, plus a plague of movies and videos dealing with satanic and alien visitants, created an atmosphere in which scapegoating and notions of conspiracies of black magicians could flourish. Children talking about Batman masks might easily confuse gullible social workers whose antennae were ever-alert for the Devil and all his works.
The Sacred Hare in Cornwall has a fascinating story concerning the British queen Boadicea and her use of the animal in forecasting the future – "When she had harangued her soldiers to spirit them against the Romans, she opened her bosom and let go a hare, which she had there concealed, that the augurs might thence proceed to divine. The frighted animal made such twistings and windings in her course, as according to the then rules of judging, prognosticated happy success. The joyful multitude made loud huzzas; Boadicea seized the opportunity, approved their ardour, led them straight to their enemies and gained victory."
Finally there are the short clips of Ancient News. One deals with the tussle between the Austrians and the Italians as to the ownership of the famous five thousand year old ‘Ice Man Corpse’ which is now displayed in a refrigerated cell with bullet-proof windows after threats from Austrian nationalists to blow it up! Lunatic Drinkers deals with archaeologists uncovering drinking vessels pointing to Neolithic man’s consumption of alcohol at Callanish on the Isle of Lewis – apparently they enjoyed supping a heather-based beer and mead by the light of the slivery moon! Merlin’s Bones reports the unearthing in Carmarthen of a skeleton that could be that of Arthur’s chief magical advisor. There’s no Curse Like an Old Curse translates a lead tablet in which a Romano-British chap called Muconius invokes the sea-god Neptune and the Celtic river-god Niskus to punish a thief who has legged it with some of his gold coins. Oliver Cerne deals with a new theory that the rude man of Cerne Abbas is none other than Oliver Cromwell. In order to avenge himself on the arch-puritan Protector-General, the local MP Denzil Holles depicted him as a naked sexually aroused bully-boy!
Correspondence should be addressed to: Mike Howard, Caemorgan Cottage, Caemorgan Road, Cardigan, West Wales, SA 43 IQU, Great Britain.
Resurgence
Founded over thirty years ago, Resurgence styles itself as ‘an international forum for ecological and spiritual thinking’. With a captive audience of over ten thousand, the scope of its interests justifies this description. It is rare to see wisdom allied to sensitive, globally aware journalism, but Resurgence actually achieves such a blending.
The present issue, No 189, kicks off with a lively shot by David Nicholson-Lord who bemoans the fact that urban life has become over-regulated and neurotic. City dwellers in particular are inclined to take it out on trees. "The people next door have now been infected with subsidence and…their insurance company has written to neighbours, urging us more or less to defoliate everything in sight." People have got afraid of nature; they believe any manifestation of wildness has the potential of causing accidents. "You can see the same force at work," Mr Nicholson-Lord goes on, "in so many areas of urban life. You can’t create real forests because muggers and rapists may lurk in them. You can’t make real ponds because people may drown in them. And so, often with what seems to be the best of intentions, you end up with a sterile, sanitised environment…in which everything is neat and tidy and tickety-boo…"
Is the News Getting Worse?
Better still is Mr Nicholson Lord’s second article Is the News Getting Worse? in which he draws attention to depressing tendencies in current press reporting – namely trivialisation, dishonesty and selling out to market forces. "Intelligent writing," he opines, "tells you things you didn’t know about subjects you didn’t realise mattered. It takes events and explains what lies behind them."
Right to a Way of Life by Laura Rival, a university lecturer, examines the plight of the Huaorani tribe of Amazonian Ecuador whose way of life is being threatened by massive oil pipelines driven through their territory. This is a direct violation of their tribal rights but the Ecuadorian state owns the subsoil resources of their territory, and the Huaorani are forbidden to obstruct any such development or indeed explore any such resources themselves. It is another David and Goliath scenario, massive capitalist interests stamping down on traditional ways and indigenous cultures.
End of Development
"Cities of the future need to be Earth-friendly, energy-efficient and spiritually enchanting," argues Herbert Girardet in Cities in the New Millennium. He points out how cities run on vast quantities of coal, oil and gas – substances that pollute as well as devour the world’s resources. If cities were aligned with natural systems and urban farming restored to its rightful place, that would be a step in the right direction. Furthermore, poisonous emissions should be laundered and recycled in situ and not dispersed into the countryside.
In a similar if fiercer vein, Andrew McLaughlin’s End of Development hammers at a well-beaten nail, arguing how ‘development’ masks numerous social horrors and environmental brutalities. Tearing a forest apart can be euphemised as ‘development’ or ‘progress’ - one should not confuse self-serving economic policies with Utopianism. However, not all is lost, according to Donella Meadows, who draws attention to a group of rich Americans concerned about the widening income gap. Their organisation Responsible Wealth "feels a responsibility to speak out against the rules that have been written to benefit us and to speak in favour of policies that benefit the long-term common good of all." They quote Martin Luther King: "Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice that make philanthropy necessary."
The Millennial Tree
We are back to the soothingly pastoral mode in The Millennial Tree by Andy McGeeney who suggests that to celebrate the millennium yew trees should be planted. "Yew trees," he writes, "are a visual surprise. They have a dark and sombre presence as if they absorb the shadow of other trees…The yew is a survivor; it can live in a tough environment. It is an evergreen…a symbol of patience, strength and endurance."
The future of the planet lies in the values seeded in young minds – in educational policy. Quite properly, Resurgence pinpoints departures from conventional teaching, drawing attention to the work being done at Ruskin Mill, Gloucestershire, for the rehabilitation of young people suffering learning difficulties and emotional deprivation. Apparently a young man with a history of car crime came to Ruskin Mill and worked in the coppice, slashing wood to make charcoal and using the charcoal to smelt a knife from scrap metal. By such process, he developed his natural talents and learned to ‘live through’ problems rather than sidestep them.
Seeds of Genius
As a coda to this fertile mix of reflection and topical urgency, an extract from Seeds of Genius, a collection of late Alan Watts’ early writing. It focuses on the thought of G.K. Chesterton who believed in spiritual worldliness and the divinity of ordinary objects. He expressed radical astonishment at being alive and valued a truly light-hearted attitude – "In perfect force, there is a kind of frivolity, an airiness that can maintain itself in the air…Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly." As for the test of a true scientist, it is to understand the paradox "that the more you know, the more mysterious everything becomes until you are forced to roar with laughter at your own efforts to make yourself the equal of God."
This is only the merest whiff of a single issue of Resurgence. Add to this nuggets of practical wisdom, art coverage, quality illustrations, poetry, gossip, cookery and book reviews, and you realise that you’re reading a periodical that, for its intelligence and broad humanity, stands as an exemplar to the world.
Resurgence is published bi-monthly and subscriptions are obtainable from Resurgence, Rocksea Farmhouse, St Mabyn, Bodmin, Cornwall PL30 3BR.
UK Tel/Fax: 01208 - 841824