Ninth Wave

Last night I went to Cardiff Pagan Moot at the Rummer. It was my third time. I first went last October when I delivered a talk on Dream Drugs and Shamanic Dreamstate, which went down pretty well. I was basically exploring the links between endogenous (naturally/biologically produced) entheogenic drugs and external entheogens; looking at their use in shamanic cultures and their role in OBEs and lucidity. I'll write it up some other time.

I was deeply envious of Kim last night. She was giving a talk entitled:

Cursing, Burying, Crushing, and Piercing: Voodoo dolls from Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, all the way through Europe in the Middle Ages, and right into modern America. With complete cast of witches, pharoahs, old wives, witch hunters, Hermetic magicians, and Greek dramatists.

:op

The reason I was envious was because this is her MA thesis. I tentatively attempted to introduce my interests in entheogenic dreamstate to my MA, but got the thumbs down. I was accused of introducing Anthropology and other such disgusting elements to the study of Linguistics lol So I went back to writing about Deaf people, and all was forgiven.

I met a woman called Rose at the moot. On the way home she was telling me that her friend is doing a dissertation on, believe it or not, Kate Bush's album The Ninth Wave. Apparently her friend, knowing her to be Pagan, had been asking about Nordic traditions in relation to the meaning of the album. Always one to put my library to use, I suggested she look at Celtic, rather than Nordic, mythology. I remembered reading something a long time back in Caitlín Matthew's The Celtic Tradition (1989) on the subject. So, for those also interested in the deeper folkloric implications of Kate Bush's work:

Invasions from Beyond the Ninth Wave

'Some peoples, such as the Romans, think of their myths historically, the Irish think of their history mythologically'. This statement stands for all Celtic peoples, but it is among the Irish texts that we find the most compelling evidence for conscious mythic history. The Book of Invasions details the waves of invaders who came to Ireland, and is an attempt to synthesise bardic and oral memory with biblical tradition. The result is a magical epic of intricate detail, giving a wealth of story.

In Celtic tradition, the ninth wave was the designated boundary of the land, beyond which were the neutral seas and foreign countries. To be exiled was to 'go beyond the ninth wave'. Frequently we read of this most extreme of Celtic punishments for offenders: to be set adrift in a boat with neither oars, sails nor rudder, with only a knife and some fresh water. At the mercy of the seas, few survived, but those who did were fated to perform great deeds which shape the outcome of history...(p.2)

However, Wikipedia (and so, presumably, Kate Bush herself) attributed it to a poem by Tennyson.

So, yes. There's currently talk of holding another Tinkinswood bash for Solstice. I was asked whether I’d like to dis-organise one, but declined. It was a one-off for me, although I’m happy people want to keep it up and use the land in the way it should be. I'll probably go if it materialises. It was a stunning event.

I finally finished reading Pride & Prejudice the other day. A nice hard-back edition, yet lightweight for carrying around coffee shops. It was good. Not stunning, but good. Doesn't top Wuthering Heights. Though I still rather like the 2005 film which, in many people's eyes, probably makes me unworthy even to turn the pages.

I am now slogging my way through a slightly more factual and academic text: Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England. I'm actually rather enjoying it, and it raises some insightful points about the time. Goes nicely with my slightly harder-to-get-hold-of copy of Witchcraft and Demonianism by C. L'estrange Ewen which is a wonderful documentation of just about every witch trial in England and Wales during the hunts. I bought it for the special reference to the Guilsborough Witches alluded to by the Renton sisters in the Record of Guilsborough, Nortoft & Hollowell which, by the way, would make someone some pocket money. It's sold for around a tenner at the local shop, yet commands prices upwards of £25 online. I have, ashamedly, just splashed out probably more than it's worth on an 1800's copy of Sternberg's Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire. It is a lovely addition to the family, though.