Flags, Flax, and Fodder

Flags, Flax, and Fodder

The Secrets of 1734 Revealed.

GWm Gray letter #10

Many thanks for your letter and copy of the magazine. Sorry and all the rest of it, but I view some of the statements in it as rather niaf, not so much the editorial but the article by Ariel. I do not think that I can ever cross the line between them and myself, since the basic philosophy is so very different. I really think that it is time that a distinction was made between witchcraft and paganism. One can be an ardent Christian, and practice witchcraft. One can be a raving pagan and never touch the stone or cord. The real trouble lies in Victorian interpretation of the Mysteries and the philosophers who have foolishly accepted such writing as being the last development of thought upon paganism. Witches existed during the pagan reign, and were recognized as such, and the mysteries of witchcraft were also recognized as different and distinct from the mysteries of paganism. The nineteenth century attitude that lumped them quite cheerfully together was refuted before the advent of folk-lore, and refuted by such authorities as Carl Jung, etc. Wven Shakespeare in 'The Merry Wives' in which he refers to something very similar to modern witchcraft as 'rustic games'. The magazine still seems to make this basic mistake, and cheerfully asks that we should all join together and be friends. Ariel may as well ask that Catholics and ceremonial magicians should all join together and practice the Mass in joint harmony. It just would not be possible. There is too wide a gap between religious faith and religious science. Like you, I despair of ever finding people who can accept the discipline of thought necessary to achieve magic and this is what drives Jane and I apart from the others. Apart from that gloomy outburst, the presentation of the magazine is excellent, and the editorial hand is light but firm and you have my sincere and grateful thanks for sending me a copy.

Noel sounds like one of my type, I would like to meet him, and discuss more fully what he thinks the mysteries are. There is something about modern witch thought that makes it's adherents intellectually incapable of going further than the last variations on fertility, pantheism, and rolling in the dew. Noel sounds as if he has begun to inquire further, and examine something of the faith he practices. I definitely would like to meet him since both he and I might be upon the same track through a very devious and difficult passage, and we might have something in common.

You sure you want to try your hand at a caving? The caves are at Llangastock by a quarry over a gentle drop of about a hundred feet. The one ehich interests me is fondly known as Fanny, and is a triple layered cave big enough to take a double-decked bus in the entrance and small rnough to squash me flat at the end. A crawl followed by a transverse bedding plane, opens out onto a stream tunnel that is horriblt low. It is the end of the passage that the interest lies, since I felt the living rock move when I sat on it. I think there is another systen underneath this point and we will be digging down to find out this trip. The part where the mound and stone is, is in the back of the cave in a very tight spot. I could not manage the whole crawl myself since it was very low, but according to a reliable caver's report, there is a recent rock fall, thene a chamber where the stone is. The crawl to it is our own discovery, since it is not marked upon the reference to the cave. Since Aggy Aggy, the longest cave in Britain, is only a few hundred yards away (Aggy is thirteen miles long), it may be another system that extends for a few miles on. If you would really like to try your hand out, and incidentally work on top of a Welsh mountain the previous night with Jane and I, we will be setting out a fortnight from now and passing through Cheltenham about five o'clock on the Saturday. You wiill need a good pair of boots, a tent and bedding. We can arrange for a helmet and light, but wear old warm clothes since the caves are very dirty and cold. Fanny is a fascinating cave, with many water markings that are very beautiful, plus a small cavern that could possibly be used for magical work, on the right. It is well worth the ride just to feel the atmosphere, it is very Keltio and green, and the mountains are all around the site. We will camp overnight since the nearest inn is Crickhowell, about four miles down in the valley. Jane and I intend to hold a meeting on top of the mountain, which is a moor about twenty miles square without any human habitation. It is only an easy scramble to get up the rock face to the top, and we will be working out that Saturday, jjust the two of us, since John and Dick are not up to scratch as yet. As I said, you will need good boots with the maximum of nails and a tent (or if you feel like a long walk, Crickhowell may offer some possibility of accomodation). The main entrance is very easy, Adrian has done it with knobs on, but the floor is slippery and strewn with boulders. If you would like to come, you will be very welcome, and to add some sauce to the meat, you will also be welcome to join us on the mountain that night. I am preparing a 'callin', that is, I am going to try to to summon spirrits fromm The Netherlands, since I need some help in the next stage of my magical argosy, and I am going in for some bargaining withthe powers that be. Perhaps we can work out something between us and try to get some reaction from the other side, even if it is only a loud raspberry. In spite of everything, Jane and I are still fighting on. I reckon we will be working by ourselves before long.

I am very inclined to agree with you about apprentices. People either have the desire to learn or they haven't. If they want things easy, then it is no use. I find that the most difficult job is teaching them the first basic steps in abstract thought. They all appear to think physical actions will have spiritual results., and they can take an untidy and undisciplined mind and work miracles with it. Witchcraft generally seems to be cursed with types that want nudismn sex and free beer as a religion. Try and teach them the next stage beyond desire and the howl of anguish is fantastic. I have definitely got beyond the point when I am willing to teach someone who just wants an excuse for senseless blathering about his particular fantasies, and I really do sympathise with you trying to teach ordinary disciplines of the path, since I have tried it so often myself. 'Magic' is all science fiction to the average inquirer, and they bloody well expect miracles with two penn'oth of action and thought. As you know, magic is blood and tears all the way, and with no let up. I suppose a strong instinct for self preservation of the personal ego is responsible for most of the errant and reeatic meanderings of the student, because when the first light does come through, it is so bright and clear that what little we have is so very small in comparison. I think I will ask only one question in future, that is 'Do you really want to die?', and if the answer is positive, then I will have someone to learn from and teach. To practice grnuine magic is to literally throw your life away upon imponderable and half apparent truths, that you know will never become clear until death overtakes all of us. Magic is the rejection of illusion in favour of whay may be a greater illusion still. Still somewhrtr, somehow, someone will listen and understand.

I am pleased to hear that you havr one in N.D., Doreen V. weote and told me she has a poem in also, both your letters arrived at once. I just cannot get to any understanding with D.V. We seem to be circling each other and then she asks a key question, I counter, and code up one for her, so far we have missed in the middle and shot off to our divergent paths. I shall have to work with the woman so that she will understand. Up to date we sound rather like two Dons trying to outbid each other with snippets of academic knowledge. Not my game, but each time I start fooling it up a bit, she takes me seriously. Oh, well, love will overcome. So help me if this keeps on. I shall go out of my way to either make up a really wild and fantastic statement with suitable cooked up historical backing, and invent a totally new mystery, or I shall work moon and birch upon her and so fascinate her, that she will get all coy everytime she writes (Joke). Talking about fascination, I did a bloody silly thing when I was on holiday. I was demmonstrating to a friend, rather talking about whispering animals, and they looked rather skeptical, so I did a live show on the spot with a couple of chickens that seemed to be hanging around. About ten minutes later I realized that we were being followed by not two chickens, but a whole bloody chicken farm, thousands of 'em, 'ollering like mad at me, evidently thinking I was the biggest and best rooster that they had ever seen. My friend is now convinced, that is the evidence of three thousand hens takes some beating, and the farmer gave us a very old fashioned look.

We will see you on the twelfth. God willing, (if 'E ain't, I am) and best wishes foe your group.

Three F's,
Roy and Jane

P.S. I will give you a telephone call the night before we move out to confirm arrangements -- Bloated Capitalism - how nice for you. I can't even get plump on my money. 'Break a leg' for your opening performance.

Roy