King's Lynn

                 
Custom House and statue of George Vancouver

The historic Norfolk market-town of King's Lynn is well worth visiting. King’s Lynn Custom house  (above) was built in 1683 by Henry Bell  and modeled upon Dutch architecture which occupied the site previously. In fact, the influence of  the Dutch  permeates the cultural history of Norfolk. Evidence of the Dutch influence in trade, migration and immigration and even dialect can be found in the place names, family surnames and architecture of  Norfolk including King's Lynn. 

The architecture of King's Lynn's  historic quarter affords a generous insight into its  medieval past and hints of  voyages  of  trade, exploration and  pilgrimage made by its citizens. Situated forty miles due west from Norwich at the mouth of the River Ouse and  the Wash estuary,  sheltered  from the North Sea yet within easy sailing distance to the coast-line of  Scandinavia, North Germany,  Flanders and the Baltic, King's Lynn's  location meant that it became a busy and prosperous  sea-port during the Middle Ages.  Inland it's geographical position to the Midlands and Norfolk meant that it also exported large quantities of  British produce including wool and pottery.

Such was Lynn's sea-trading importance that it was once a member of the Hanseatic League. The Hanseatic League, a confederation of sea-ports radiating around the  Baltic Sea, traded in commodities such as  amber, resins, furs,  rye and wheat. Individual Hanseatic ports had their own representative merchant  warehouses.  There was a Hanseatic representative  in the English cities of Boston, Bristol, Hull, Ipswich, Norwich, Great Yarmouth and York. However, the only surviving example of a Hanseatic warehouse in England can be found standing close to the harbour at King's Lynn.

Nikolaus Pevsner, author of the authoritative guide to the architecture of England,  was  an admirer  of King's Lynn. Pevsner stated that the walk from the Tuesday Market Place to the River by the Customs House was one of the finest in the world. Near the market-place is the medieval Guildhall. Like Norwich's medieval Guildhall its facade has a chequer-pattern design, a symbolic reminder that it was once where revenues were collected, payments placed upon  a table of the same chequer pattern, like a Chess-board. In Britain, the Minister for finance is known as  the Chancellor of the Exchequer,  a  title which retains a  remnant of the  money-collecting tradition.

The church of Saint Margaret’s has some remarkable, ornately-carved pews known as misericords, (folding chairs which flip upwards as in cinemas). They were made for monks to support them standing during long church services and date from circa 1370.

Also in King’s Lynn there’s the  Red Mount, a  peculiar 15th century chapel   described by the architect  Nikolaus Pevsner as 'one of the most perfect buildings ever built' and 'unique'. In a flat landscape it was a prominent land-mark and  stop-over point for  religious pilgrims en route to the holy shrine of Walsingham.

King's Lynn's most famous pilgrim  of the Middle Ages was  Margery Kempe. The daughter of a Lynn mayor, Margery Kempe (c.1373 -1440) was a remarkable woman. In addition to bearing fourteen children when married, she  embarked upon pilgrimages throughout England and Europe to Aachen, Venice, Rome, Spain, Norway,  and even made pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land in 1414. A dramatic enactment of Kempe's recorded visit to Julian of Norwich was recently realised by a UEA drama group in their re-construction of their medieval mystery play Mary's Step's.

Margery Kempe's religious mysticism  was portrayed as all accounts of her agree, with  emotional, volatile and fervent  piety, not untypical of much religious sentiment of the Middle Ages. Although she was unable to read or write Margery Kempe dictated her life's events to produce one of the earliest European autobiographies and an informative travelog of the age.

King’s Lynn was also  the birth-place of George Vancouver (1757- 1798). A statue of  the sea-port's  most famous citizen was erected nearby the Custom House. Vancouver was an officer in the British  Royal Navy who explored and charted North America's northwestern  Pacific  Coast, including the coast of Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands and  even the southwest coast of Australia.

It's also in King's Lynn ( in a museum adjacent to the Bus-Station ) that  an important  prehistoric artifact is now on display. It's the so-called 'Seahenge', a timber circle with an upturned tree root at its centre, which was first detected during an exception low-tide in 1998. It's estimated that Seahenge was constructed in the twenty-first century BCE,  over 4000 years ago during the early Bronze Age in Britain.  Like its more famous Stonehenge, the wooden circle of tree-trunks were most probably constructed for religious and  ritual purposes.

                             Seahenge at  Holme-next-the-sea, 1998.

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An artist's impression of how Seahenge may have looked 4000 years ago.

Hawthorn tree

The coldest winter for 50 years followed by the driest ever March and then the  warmest ever April are strong indicators that it's not  just the weather but the  very climate which is changing. I've lived  near to  a specimen of  Hawthorn tree for over 30 years and its the first time I've ever seen  one flower in April, invariably it flowers later in May.  

While cucumber and strawberry growers are reporting an early bumper crop, due to the warm weather, by far the most concerning weather feature at present is the fact that in the East of England it's not rained for almost 3 months. Without water life on Earth is unsustainable. The present-day weather extremes are ominous indicators of  climate change.

Lobster

'Lobsters in great number about Sheringham and Cromer from whence all the country is supplied.'

 Sir Thomas Browne was a  significant  natural historian so it's not too surprising that The Project Gutenberg EBook has recently  reproduced his  'Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk'.

 First published in 1902 by Jarrolds of London, Browne's 'Notes and Letters upon the Natural History of Norfolk more especially on the birds and fishes', is a valuable document  inasmuch as it provides evidence not only of Browne's  keen-sighted observations  and  his willingness to assist  the ornithologist Christopher Merritt, but also to the abundance and decline throughout the intervening centuries of particular species in Norfolk. However, those expecting to read highly-stylized 'vast undulations of sound' as exemplified in  the poetic Discourses of 1658 will be sorely disappointed, for it is Browne at his most scientific  note-book prose encountered in his natural history notes.

The county of Norfolk is described by Browne as having a 'great number of rivers, rivulets & plashes of water', elsewhere in his notes he writes of its 'broad waters' which may well be from where the term 'Norfolk Broads' originates. I've written before upon Browne as an ornithologist here's the link.

Thomas Southwell in the 1902  introduction to Browne's notes, 'emphasises the originality which pervades all  Browne's observations, a characteristic so conspicuously absent in the work of most of his predecessors'.

Southwell also laments-

'It may be truly said of Sir Thomas Browne that a prophet hath no honour in his own country; the writings of this remarkable man are little known in the city of his adoption, and a recent movement to erect a monument to his memory has hitherto met with feeble support'.

Although a statue of Browne was in fact erected in his honour upon the tercentenary of his birth  in 1905 by the citizens of Norwich,  it remains true a full century later that, 'the writings of this remarkable man are little known in the city of his adoption'.

Willows on the Wensum

Now spring has finally arrived there are some very  green and scenic views near to home. The ancient and senile river Wensum winds slowly through Norfolk entering Norwich just a mile or two from my door-step.

Annunciation

I'm lucky to spend time at present as a volunteer at the church of Saint John Maddermarket. Now that the tourist season is under-way I get to meet visitors from all over the world. The window in the North chapel depicts the Annunciation and was designed by James Powell & Sons. It was donated by  parishioners of the church and cost £165 in 1913. Many visitors to the church of  Saint John Maddermarket  have commented on its pre-Raphaelite style, and it's arguably the most popular stained-glass window in the church.  The centre panel depicts lilies, emblematic of the Virgin Mary. On the well which Mary stands beside there can be seen two scenes from Genesis, the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve's expulsion from paradise on the right, the scene thus sharply contrasts Eve's disobedience to Mary's obedience.

I'm technically a little late posting this because March 25th  is the date of the church festival  commemorating Lady Day and the Annunciation in the ecclesiastical calender.

But of all the many beautiful religious artifacts located in Saint John Maddermarket my favourite remains the utterly fascinating  Layer Monument.

Ghosts and Quincunxes

 Frontispiece to 'Urn-Burial' by Paul Nash

In the deep discovery of the Subterranean world, 

a shallow part would satisfy some enquirers.

It’s testimony to Sir Thomas Browne’s antiquity as well as his originality that throughout the centuries, thinkers, writers, artists and composers have responded to his art and thought, including the English artist Paul Nash (1899 -1946). 

Paul Nash was one of the leading English artists during the first half of the twentieth century. He was recruited as an official war artist during the 1920’s and promoted modernism in Britain as well as the avant-garde styles of surrealism and abstraction. In 1933 he co-founded the influential modern art movement Unit One with Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and the art critic Herbert Read. 

When  in 1932 Nash was invited to illustrate a book of his own choice he unhesitatingly chose Thomas Browne’s Discourses 'Urn-Burial' and  'The Garden of Cyrus', providing the publisher with no less than 30 illustrations to accompany Browne’s text.  Titles included among Nash's thirty designs include - 'Tokens',  'Buried Urn', 'Funeral Pyre', 'Mansions of the Dead', 'Ghosts' and 'Sorrows'.

In his essay ‘Browne and Paul Nash : The Genesis of Form’ Philip Brocklebank notes that Nash studied Browne’s text carefully and had an exact command of it. According to Brocklebank, Nash's art

‘encourages a readers scattered perceptions to coalesce into new orders; and he contrives to create in colortype and watercolour  a visual equivalent to the prolific allusiveness and the aphoristic immediacies of Browne’s style’.

Brocklebank also noted that Nash responded sympathetically to the themes of death and human mortality in ‘Urn-Burial' ; indeed, both Browne and Nash witnessed the slaughter and horror of war in their life-time. Browne's Discourse 'Urn-Burial' itself has been described as a threnody to the waste of human life during the English civil war.

'When the Funeral Pyre was out, and the last valediction over,
men took a lasting adieu of their interred friends'. 

 'the souls of Penelope's Paramours conducted by Mercury chirped like bats and those which followed Hercule's made a noise but like a flock of birds'.

Nash was equally sympathetic to  the themes of optics, the geometry of nature and Browne's perspicacious observations upon sundry subjects in 'The Garden of Cyrus'. Illustration titles include 'Vegetable Creation', 'Poisonous Plantations' and the running title sub-sections of the Discourse 'The Quincunx naturally considered', 'The Quincunx artificially considered',  and 'The Quincunx mystically considered'. 

A like ordination there is in the favaginous Sockets, and Lozenge seeds of the noble flower of the Sunne.

                                                                                                                                                             
Nor is it to be overlooked how Orus, the Hieroglyphick of the world is described in a Network covering from the shoulder to the foot.

And beside this kind of work in Retiarie and hanging textures, in embroideries, and eminent needle-works; the like is obvious unto every eye in glass-windows. Not only in Glassie contrivances, but also in Lattice and Stone-work...

Book consulted -

Approaches to Sir Thomas Browne, The Ann Arbor Tercentenary Lectures and Essays. edited by C.A.Patrides pub. University of Missouri  Press 1982

4th Duchess of Norfolk

Today I discovered that the church of Saint John Maddermarket at Norwich now has a page on Wikipedia. The church has memorial stones of several notable people, including the marine artist  Joseph Stannard  (1797-1830) and the theatre director Walter Nugent Monck  (1877-1958) founder of the Maddermarket Theatre nearby. There's also a large funerary  monument to the memory of    Margaret Howard 4th Duchess of Norfolk (1540-1564) which can be seen  high up towards the clerestory at Saint John's.

Here's the  magnificent portrait  of her by the Flemish painter Hans Eworth (c. 1520–1574).

Femme Fatale

The French phrase femme fatale (lit. deadly woman) represents male sexual fantasies and fears as well as the sexual empowerment of women. Although portrayals of the femme fatale in literature and film have altered considerably, as a mythic creature she continues to endure. Sociologically the role of the femme fatale can be interpreted as embodying female independence and rebellion against traditional female gender roles. In Jungian psychology the femme fatale is an archetypal figure who represents the lowest manifestation of the anima in the unconscious contents of the male psyche.

Typical descriptions include her being mysterious, subversive, double-crossing, unloving, predatory, tough-sweet, unreliable, irresponsible and manipulative. She is often portrayed as a woman who is extremely attractive with a sultry voice, a provocative body and a complex character. She tends to be very intelligent, in addition to her beauty she often speaks, behaves and dresses in an unusual and striking manner designed to attract male attention. Most importantly, she is extremely dangerous; an entanglement with a femme fatale often involves devastating consequences for a man.

From the enchantress Circe’s transformation of men into pigs to the alluring song of the Sirens in Homer’s epic poem ‘The Odyssey’, to Biblical characters such as Delilah’s emasculation of Samson to Salome’s erotic dance, examples of the femme fatale occur throughout  world literature. Other notable literary characters  include Sheridan Le Fanu’s  ‘Carmilla’ and De Quiros’ Genoveva in  The Tragedy of the Street of Flowers  but there's many other portrayals of the femme fatale  scattered throughout world literature, too numerous to mention.

Depictions of the femme fatale often proliferate whenever there is rapid social change and upheaval. An early cinematic portrayal of the femme fatale can be seen in Von Sternberg’s 'The Blue Angel'  (1930) in which the infatuated fall of school-teacher professor Rath through night-club singer Lola (Marlene Dietrich) occurs. Another historical epoch  in which the role of the femme fatale  was prominent was after the social upheaval caused by World War II  in American society, as depicted in film noir cinema. Notable femme fatales in film noir include Rita Hayworth in  ‘Gilda’, Lana Turner in ‘The Postman always rings twice’ and Barbara Stanwyck in ‘Double Indemnity’.

The writings of the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung provide an illuminating  understanding of the psychological significance of the femme fatale. In Jungian psychology the femme fatale is a somewhat negative manifestation of the anima (it’s corresponding term in a woman being defined the animus). It’s worthwhile refreshing one’s understanding of the Jungian concept of the anima. Jung defined the anima as the feminine component in a man’s personality and the totality of all the unconscious feminine psychological qualities that a male possesses. In his words, woman has carried for man the living image of his own feminine soul and likewise man has carried for woman the living image of her own spirit. 

Central to Jungian psychology is the concept of projection, that is, active but unconscious thought  towards another, often towards the opposite sex. Projection in itself is neither good or bad, but an unconscious activity, it is what one does with the projection which matters. Negative effects of projection upon the anima (animus in a woman) are directly related to a man’s unawareness and devaluation of his feminine side, and vice-versa in a woman. 

According to Jung the entire process of anima development  is about the male opening up to emotionality and to a broader spirituality, this includes intuitive processes, creativity, imagination and psychic sensitivity towards himself and others. Just as the anima is the master of a man’s moods and irrational behaviour, so too the animus  is the master of opinions and judgements in a woman. Its important here to emphasis that woman is as much in the unconscious grip of her animus as man is of his anima, resulting in unconscious  judgements, opinions and over-intellectualism  at the expense of feeling in her.

Jung proposed that there were four stages of the anima in man’s psyche, these being Eve, Helen of Troy, the Virgin Mary and at the apex of development of the anima the spiritual wisdom of Sophia.  The character of the femme fatale in literature and film, the lowest rung in the sequential development of a man’s anima equivalent to the temptress of Eve takes on a clearer understanding and profounder meaning in  the light of Jung’s psychology.

The problem of relationship and  the frequent misunderstandings between the sexes  according to Jung arises from the fact that, more often that not, rather than accepting and listening to the real  and flawed person facing one, there frequently  arises unconscious  and projected anima or animus activity which overtake true relating. Whenever a man or woman fascinates us we can be sure that a projected content of the unconscious is at work. For a man, this means recognising that his moods, compulsive sexual fantasies, and insatiable restlessness have a dark feminine side at their source. For a woman it means recognising that the opinions and destructive criticisms that suddenly come into her consciousness have the inner figure of the animus behind them. 

Woman as a femme fatale  in Jung's psychology is none other than an immature and undeveloped aspect of a man's anima figure. The misunderstandings between the sexes are succinctly stated  by Jung thus -

‘no man can converse with an animus for five minutes without becoming the victim of his own anima…. The animus draws his sword of power and the anima ejects her poison of illusion and seduction’.  - CW 9 ii 29

The persona of the femme fatale divides opinions amongst sociologists. Some consider the femme fatale to be closely tied to male misogyny, while for others the role of femme fatale remains an example of female independence and a threat to traditional female gender roles. for it, ‘expresses woman's ancient and eternal control of the sexual realm’. 

Some have argued that Jung's psychology, based upon mythology, simplifies the complexities of  relationships between the sexes. What is certain however is that many years before the American pop-star Britney Spears (b. 1984) entitled her new seventh album Femme Fatale,  the German-born chanteuse, Gothic uber-fraulein and prodigy of Andy Warhol, Nico, (1938-98 photo above)  accompanied by the Velvet Underground, sang Lou Reed’s song entitled Femme Fatale in 1967. Like many self-styled femme fatale’s Nico died prematurely.

The modern femme fatale is as likely to have the same self-destructive tendencies and mental health problems which are usually associated with men, that is, problems arising from alcohol abuse, drug addiction, violence and aggression, negative effects from empowerment not resulting in true equality for women.

Jung's psychological  observations, although less fashionable than once, when fully comprehended, continue to clarify the often confused relations between the sexes today. 

Recommended reading and quotes from - The Invisible Partners: How the Male and Female in Each of Us Affects Our Relationships by John A. Sanford 1979

Cheltenham Festival

                                      

                          Water-jump at Cheltenham race-course

This year sees the staging of the 100^th Cheltenham Festival, a truly unique event in the world sports calendar. It’s the  apotheosis of the British National Hunt horse-racing season. The atmosphere at the Festival  today is considerably enhanced by the fact that it’s Saint Patrick’s Day, with as many as 10,000 Irish fans travelling over the sea to join in the festivities. In fact Irish-trained horses and jockeys seem to be winning almost every race at this year’s Festival. The fabled luck of the Irish with all its fickleness seems to be shining on the Irish, deservedly so for all their recent economic woes.

For many years the climax of the Festival, the Gold Cup, coincided with the British budget day until it was finally realized,  there was a far greater interest nationwide in who would win the Gold Cup than government economic policies. The Budget day has since been shunted to another week. The Cheltenham Festival itself has an enormous financial turn-over, with an estimated half-billion pounds gambled during the 4 day Festival. It would appear that  people gamble as much, if not more, during times of recession, although nowadays football generates a far greater percentage of gambling in total than horse-racing. However, until the advent of mass-spectator sports such as football in the 20 th century, horse racing, the 'Sport of Kings' was in many ways the true National sport of Great Britain, uniting the whole spectrum of British society in participation.

When once a dedicated gentleman of the turf, I had the pleasure of witnessing Imperial Commander win at Cheltenham. He progressed further to win  last year's Gold Cup. And though at present the unlucky star of fast women and slow horses seems to be my ascendant along with a moderating of my stake, I still enjoy the spectacle and thrill  of  watching  man and beast united in equestrian competition and bravery. Actually I do believe I am up a few pennies this week so far, backing both Sizing Australia and Sizing Europe. Who says names are unimportant factors in selecting a winner ?  My earliest Cheltenham memory ? Desert Orchid winning the Gold Cup in the mud in 1989.

  

Jockey of the day on Tuesday at the Festival was surely the champion Ruby Walsh, the reigning Irish National Hunt champion jockey. He was the leading jockey at the Cheltenham Festival in 2004 - 2006 - 2008 - 2009 and 2010. Returning to the saddle after  a 4 month lay-off from a broken leg,  Ruby Walsh won no less than 3 races on Tuesday. What other sportsmen frequently  suffer cuts, bruises and broken bones yet repeatedly  return to the saddle risking injury ? 

Although moral objections are sometimes made about a sport which involves both animals and gambling, in truth National Hunt jump racing is one in which animals are  lovingly cared for by owner and stable-staff  alike. As for gambling, well not every person who drinks alcohol becomes an alcoholic. Gambling can even, as the late Clement Freud observed, teach a few moral lessons, such as how to forebear loss, sharpening an indecisive mind, teach how to live with the consequences of  greed and how to be  modest and magnanimous in winning. Indeed many aspects of  life are a fated combination of  good or bad  fortune supplemented by good or bad decision-making. In brief a gamble. 

Uranus

                                 Photo of Uranus taken by Voyager 2

  

230 years ago today the German-born British astronomer Sir William Herschel observed a new planet. (March 13, 1781). Herschel’s discovery expanded the known boundaries of the solar system. At first the new planet was named after its discoverer, but was later named after a Greek god as other planets of the solar system. The name of the new planet was chosen  from mythology as the logical progression in genealogical sequence; for Mars was believed to be the son of Jupiter, who in turn was the son of Saturn, who was born from Uranus.

In Greek mythology Uranus (from Greek Ouranous, sky) personifies the heavens and the night sky. Believed to have been born from chaos, Uranus was the primogenitor  of all Greek gods. He was castrated by Cronos or Saturn with a sickle because of his  fathering of monstrous progeny.

Astronomically, Uranus is the seventh planet in orbit from the sun and the third largest of all planets. It was detected as having a ring-system similar, if less spectacular than Saturn on March 10, 1977 by an American astronomical  team led by James L. Elliot (b. 1943 – d. March 3, 2011). Only a little more than 200 years since its discovery, the American space-probe Voyager 2 reached Uranus in 1986, its closest approach occurring on January 24, 1986.  Voyager 2  which was launched in 1977 encountered  the Jupiter system  in 1979, Saturn in 1980 and finally Neptune in 1989. It was the first space probe to provide detailed images of the  ice-giant  planets Uranus and Neptune.

 Astrologically, Uranus is associated with individuality and eccentricity, new and unconventional ideas, discoveries such as electricity, television and invention in general. When Uranus was discovered the events of the French and American revolutions along with the Western Industrial revolution  were shaping the modern world of today. Uranus is also believed to govern societies and any group dedicated to humanitarian or progressive ideals. It  is also the planet associated most with sudden and unexpected change, ruling freedom and originality. Above all planets Uranus rules genius and the characteristics of the zodiac sign of Aquarius. Astrologers noted that the slow-moving  planet of Uranus which takes 84 years to orbit the Sun, entered the zodiac sign of Aries on March 12, 2011. The orbit of the planet Neptune is even slower;  first observed in 1846 it will have completed just one full circuit of the Sun since its discovery on July 12,  2011.

The Mutiliation of Uranus by Saturn by Vasari circa 1560

 Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.

 Book  -   Uranus by John Townley  pub. Aquarian Press 1978

Chess

The strongest evidence that Sir Thomas Browne was a Chess-player occurs in his spiritual testimony and psychological self-portrait   Religio Medici. Browne not only displays a familiarity with the game of Chess, but also apprehends the impending schism in the western intellect between scientific reason and religious faith stating-

 Thus the Devill played at Chesse with mee, and yeelding a pawne, thought to gaine a Queen of me, taking advantage of my honest endeavours; and whilst I labour'd to raise the structure of my reason, hee striv'd to undermine the edifice of my faith. -  R.M. Part 1:19

The game of  Chess is mentioned in the lesser-known half of  the 1658  Diptych Discourses,  The Garden of Cyrus. Aptly to his theme of   pleasurable delights, Browne alludes to several pastimes, including Backgammon, skittles and  the little stones in the old game of Pentalithismus, or casting up five stones to catch them on the back of their hand.

In The Garden of Cyrus Browne orbits beyond the ordered patterns of games such as Chess  and Backgammon (Tables)  into a near stream-of-consciousness rapture, utilizing dense layers of cosmic and Hermetic symbolism-

In Chesse-boards and Tables we yet finde Pyramids and Squares, I wish we had their true and ancient description, farre different from ours, or the Chet mat of the Persians, and might continue some elegant remarkables, as being an invention as High as Hermes the Secretary of Osyris, figuring the whole world, the motion of the Planets, with Eclipses of Sunne and Moon.

The Tower

The Tarot card of the Tower seems a highly symbolic and appropriate depiction of contemporary world-events, not only of the unrest and challenge against incumbent governments throughout North Africa, but also of the sudden change of fortune experienced by many today. The card depicts a tower struck by lightning with two figures falling headlong from it.

It’s probably best to state at the very outset that personally I give little credence whatsoever to any fortune-telling aspect of Tarot cards, all such methods of divination of individual destiny being prone to highly subjective interpretation; but its also worth reminding those who condemn any form of occult divination that the foremost book which has shaped the Western psyche for millennia, namely the Bible, has itself been used as a source of divination in the form of bibliomancy, that is, the casual choosing of  a  verse from a randomly opened Bible to be heeded as God-given advice upon a situation.

The Tarot is believed to have originated from Northern Italy, a hand-painted Tarot pack was created for the Duke of Milan in 1415. Sometimes believed to contain the wisdom of the mythic ancient Egyptian god Thoth-Hermes, Tarot cards have fascinated and intrigued many minds throughout history. Even the eminent 20th century psychologist Carl Jung, after attending a lecture upon Tarot cards was open-minded enough to confess that- 

'It seems as if the set of pictures in the Tarot cards were distantly descended from the archetypes of transformation'.  (CW 9 i:81) 

 It’s in this context, as  pictorial representations of  archetypes, that the  cards of the Tarot are of particular  psychological interest.

Mention of towers can be found throughout the Old Testament; frequently alluded to in the form of a fortified frontier post or watch-tower for vine-yards. More importantly, the tower in the Bible often symbolizes  an impregnable stronghold in which to place one’s trust in God.

For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. 

-Psalm 61 v. 3

But occasionally  the tower in the Bible is likened to the human body, especially in the love poetry of Solomon’s Song –

Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury. 

Thy neck is  as a tower of ivory;….. thy nose  is as the tower of Lebanon.

I am a wall, and my breasts like towers.    Solomon’s Song  4:4, 7:4 and  8:10

The symbolism of the tower card in the Tarot may originate  from the Biblical Fall of Man, or more aptly, to the tower of Babylon which was destroyed by God as punishment for Man’s overweening pride (Genesis 11). In modern times the symbolism of a tower struck suddenly by lightning holds a peculiar resonance to the devastating trauma of the 9/11  attack upon the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.

There are a number of interpretations relating to the Tarot  card of the Tower but most conform to a standard meaning. These include - Chaos, Sudden change, Hard times, Crisis, Revelation, Disruption, Realizing the truth, Disillusion, Uncomfortable experience, Downfall, Ruin, Ego blow,  Explosive transformation, failure and catastrophe.

Other interpretations of this flexible and inevitably inexhaustible symbol include the paradigms constructed by the ego and the sum total of all schemata which the mind constructs to understand the universe. Frequently a symbol of ascent heavenwards, as in the Babylonian tower, the Tower is struck by lightning when reality does not conform to expectation. Another interpretative insight of the Tower card is the war between the structures of lies and the lightning flash of truth, in which, ‘false concepts, beliefs and institutions come tumbling down, suddenly, violently and all at once resulting in being blinded by a shocking revelation'. It sometimes takes a devastating  lightning strike to see a truth that one refuses to see. Such  cataclysmic activity is sometimes necessary for real change and growth.

Yet another highly relevant interpretation of this enigmatic, yet archetypal card is that it symbolizes hard times, sudden change, crisis and ruin, a trauma experienced by many individual lives at present.

                                                         *  *  *   *  *   *
Highly  Recommended reading-
Meditations on the Tarot : A journey into Christian Hermeticism
by Anon, Element  1985
(Although the author is stated as anon, the Russian theosophist,
Valentin Tomberg is considered to be the author).

Dragon

The city of  Norwich UK  hosts its second-ever Dragon Festival from 12th - 27th February. Norwich’s association with the fabled, mythic beast is strong and images of dragons  in either carving, stained-glass or wood sculpture can be found throughout the City, often in its fine medieval buildings. 

The Dragon played a prominent role in the medieval Guild processions once held in Norwich. Simon Wilkins describes a medieval Guild procession thus-

There has been from time immemorial, on Mayor’s Day at Norwich, an annual pageant, the sole remnant of St. George's guild, in which an immense dragon, horrible to view, with hydra head, and gaping jaws and wings, and scales bedecked in gold and green, is carried about by a luckless wight, whose task it is, the live-long-day, by string and pulley from within to open and shut the monster's jaws, by way of levying contributions on the gaping multitude, especially of youthful gazers, with whom it is matter of half terror, half joy, to pop a half-penny into the opened mouth of SNAP, (so is he called) whose bow of thanks, with long and forked tail high waved in air, acknowledges the gift. Throughout the rest of the year, fell Snap lives on the forage of that memorable day: quietly reposing in the hall of his conqueror's sainted brother, St. Andrew, where the civic feast is held.

The association of the dragon with England's Saint George was developed throughout the middle Ages. The story of Saint George slaying the dragon does not describe an historical event, but is symbolic of the victory of St. George, the embodiment of Christian faith, over evil and the forces of the devil, the enemy of God, the dragon. As a patriotic symbol of national pride and power, George and the dragon became synonymous with the forces of good versus evil and the triumph of England over her enemies. But in fact the dragon and its complex, archaic symbolism can  be found throughout World-cultures.

In ancient Egypt Pharaoh was assimilated to the God Re, the conqueror of the dragon Apophysis. The dragon Marduk in the Babylonian creation myth was the tutelary god of ancient Babylon. Depicted as a composite creature  Marduk had a head and tail of a serpent, the body and fore-legs of a lion and hind legs of a falcon. In Judaic tradition the pagan kings were represented in the likeness of a dragon, such is the Nebuchadnezzar described by Jeremiah and the Pompey in the Psalms of  Solomon. In Chinese mythology the dragon represents the east, sunrise, spring and fertility. Long Wang, the dragon kings who were responsible for rain were also gods of rivers, lakes and oceans who protected ferryman and water-bearers. In many cultures, including China, the dragon  is a celestial symbol of the life-force and the power of manifestation.

The roots of the word dragon originate from the Greek drakon meaning a serpent. The eminent scholar of comparative religion, Mircea Eliade succinctly defines the interconnection of dragon/serpent/snake symbolism thus-

The dragon is the paradigmatic figure of the marine monster, of the primordial snake, symbol of the cosmic waters, of darkness, night, and death – in short, of the amorphous and virtual, of everything that has not acquired a form. 

Though today the dragon is now reduced to commercial fantasy and heritage promotion status,  in the seventeenth century the Norwich philosopher Sir Thomas Browne was aware of the extensive symbolism associated with  dragons. Browne was a scholar of comparative religion who, not only devoted a short chapter upon the history of the George and the Dragon myth  in his Pseudodoxia Epidemica, (Bk.5 chapter 17) but also possessed  books in which alchemical  symbolism  associated with the dragon was developed.

In Martin Ruland's Lexicon Alchemiae (Frankfurt,1612) for example, once upon the groaning shelves of Browne’s vast private library, the magic powers of a stone acquired from the dragon are recorded. The psychologist Carl Jung, referring to Ruland's Dictionary explains-  

This stone was known to Pliny and to medieval alchemists, who named it dracnites, or drachetes. It was reputed to be a precious stone, which could be obtained by cutting off the head of a sleeping dragon.. But it becomes a gem only when a bit of the dragon's soul remains inside, and this is the "hate of the monster as it feels itself dying." ...Even though there are no dragons nowadays, these draconites are occasionally found in the heads of water-snakes. Ruland asserts that he has seen such stones, blue or black in colour.  Vol. 9 ii 214

During the twentieth century Jung wrote extensively upon the dragon's varied symbolic attributes, including its being chained to the underworld, its many-eyes, its wings, ever-wakefulness, fire-spitting, poison and tail-eating. In fact a bewildering number of references, often of a seemingly contradictory nature in the dragon's symbolism can be found in Jung's writings. Importantly however, Jung knew of the dragon's intimate relationship to alchemy, for the tail-eating dragon, or Ouroboros or mercurial serpent it became a major emblem of the alchemical art itself. In Alchemy and Religion Jung speculates-

They are personified by the serpens mercurii, the dragon that creates and destroys itself and represents the prima materia. This fundamental idea of alchemy points back to the Tehom, to Tiamat with her dragon attribute, and thus to the primordial matriarchal world which, in the theomachy of the Marduk myth, was overthrown by the masculine world of the father. The historical shift in the world's consciousness towards the masculine is compensated by the chthonic  femininity of the unconscious.  - CW 12:26

Its great that the Norwich Dragon Festival is back by popular demand in 2014.  The  events held in Norwich during the next two weeks - predominantly those of an educational, arts and crafts, children-orientated theme, help promote awareness of this mythic creature and the City’s cultural heritage. But expect no learned lectures upon the chthonic origins of the dragon, or its powerful role in esoteric symbolism. However, the consequences of the present-day socio-economic climate for many in the UK, indeed for many of the wider world, may be described as being in combat against the dragon.

Pictures Top - An engraving by Lucas Jennis from alchemical tract  

De Lapide Philisophico (1599)

Bottom - Norwich Snap Dragon in Castle Museum

Books consulted

The Sacred and Profane Mircea Eliade 1957

The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols 1977

C. G. Jung Collected Works vol 9 i and ii, vol. 12, 13, 14.

Facsimile of 1711 Sales Auction of Sir Thomas Browne's Library

Martin Ruland -Dictionary of Alchemy Frankfurt 1612
listed in 1711 Sales Catalogue page 22 no. 119

Black Swan

                                   Natalie Portman in Black Swan

Yesterday I attended a screening of  the latest Darren Aronofsky film, the controversial  Black Swan. Set in  New York in the gruelling world of  a Ballet company in rehearsal, it’s the story of  Nina  who has to prove herself capable of performing the dual lead role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. The theatrical director thinks  she is too much a perfectionist and although technically  able to perform the part of Odette, the white swan, out of touch with her inner, sexual self  to  perform the role of Odile, the black swan.

It should be remembered that in some ways the dual role of white swan/black swan in Tchaikovsky's perennial masterpiece is the Hamlet role in the ballet world. It requires that the dancer not only projects the pure innocence of the white swan heroine, but also the seductive femme fatale role of the black swan. There's  not too many dramatic roles which demand acting both the goodie and the baddie.

It’s a slow burner of a film which deliberately plays tricks upon the viewer. Natalie Portman’s acting throughout totally engages the audience to empathize with her fate as she confronts her possessive and manipulative mother, jealous peers and predatory director.  Issues such as body image, sexuality, rivalry, madness, obsessiveness and the quest for perfection are explored as Nina’s psyche  slowly unravels under pressure into  a deceptive hallucinatory world.

Natalie Portman has already won numerous awards for her acting in Black Swan and may yet well win more in the coming Oscar season. Personally I feel she deserves to. She acted a  not dissimilar role of  disintegration of personality in Milos Foreman’s 'Goya’s Ghosts' (2006).

 Black Swan has been compared in its decent into paranoia and madness to Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, Repulsion and The Tenant as a psycho-drama. It's as scary as the aforementioned Polanski films in horror and subtle deception of the viewer.  Film critics  however seem to be sharply divided between hate and admiration of Black Swan, some considering Aronofsky’s offering  to be shallow, pretentious and stereotypical in its portrayal of ambitious women, and those who consider it  redeemed by compelling performances  and direction.

 Black Swan shares some of the thematic concerns of Powell and Pressburger’s 1948 ballet film The Red Shoes in its portrait of artistic destruction in the quest for perfection. In essence however Aronofsky's Black Swan is a  horror psycho-drama which exploits the physical and mental pressures of ballet for its own artistic agenda.

                   Prima ballerina Irena Kolesnikova in the role 
                     of the black Swan in  Swan Lake

Cosmo's Factory

 Probably the greatest American 70’s rock album ever !

 Can it really be 40 years ago today that I purchased for my birthday at the princely sum of 39 shillings and 11 pence, the album 'Cosmo's Factory'?  As a choirboy the  singing of John Fogerty, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s front-man simply astounded me.  Not only did he pen the band’s numerous hits, playing  a mean, lean, clean and bluesy lead guitar, but also sang  like some crooning Mississippi swamp bull-frog. It was unknown to me and to most Brit’s probably, that in fact the band hailed from Berkeley, California and  were  not from the south at all, but  were  creating a highly original pastiche, inspired by the music of New Orleans and the bayou swamp lands. In fact their first ‘hit ‘Proud Mary’ alludes to New Orleans.  When Tina Turner covered 'Proud Mary' it regenerated her career.  But what a lot of people don’t know is that  the British band Status Quo's  mega-hit  ‘Rockin’ all over the world’   was also penned by J .C. Fogerty.

Emerging out the late 60’s Creedence  Clearwater played at the swan-song  festival of the 60’s,‘Woodstock’, but because of the over-indulgence of the previous act, Grateful Dead, they didn’t appear on stage until 3 a.m. Not too surprisingly  given the circumstances, the footage of their performances is long lost.

 It’s just the sheer joy of hearing Creedence’s tight, 3 minutes  of feelgood songs with strong melodies which makes them  continue to be one of the most played bands on American radio. The quintessential all-American band, as  American as Mom's apple-pie, they have now sold over 26 million records world-wide. When other bands went for a slick studio production Creedence’s ‘keep it simple’ style ensured that they were as good to hear live as in the studio.

 During their meteoric and short-lived rise to fame CCR spawned number one hit after hit  in America and the UK.  Powered by the driving bass and drums of Stu Cook and Doug Clifford with Tom Fogerty on rhythm guitar CCR became the sound of early 70's American pop-rock. However, a grueling schedule of near non-stop recording sessions and touring meant that the  band did not last long with artistic conflicts between band-members, notably between John and his elder brother Tom Fogerty.

 At first hearing many believe the band’s  2 minute hit-single ‘Travelling Band’  on 'Cosmo's Factory'   to be a 50’s song, but its evidence  of  J.C.Fogerty’s genius to pastiche classic 50’s pop in an updated way. Every track on ‘Cosmo’s Factory’ is a classic.

One of the most amazing rock-guitar solo’s ever occurs on Cosmo’s Factory.  Fogerty, who is easily a guitar virtuoso equal to Carlos Santana or Jimmy Page,  covers Marvin Gaye’s ‘I heard it through the Grapevine' with soulful vocal and blistering guitar solo.  His funky soul-based guitar playing on the track confirms him to be  a musical  adept  of many genres, including country and western,  R 'n' B, pop, rock  and soul music.

I had the pleasure of seeing John Fogerty interviewed on a T.V. chat-show a few years ago.  A modest, soft-spoken, American gentleman, ever the musician-trooper he continues to successfully tour and is popular in  Scandinavian countries.

Tonight  I hope to be celebrating my birthday with  friends and a 1970’s cold war drink, vodka and coke, cranking  up the volume for what is quite simply in my humble opinion, the greatest guitar solo ever  - as heard on the 11 minute studio jam track of Creedence's cover version of ‘I heard it through the Grapevine’.  

Today is the birth-dates of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lewis Carroll and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. It is also World Holocaust Memorial Day.

Stargazer lily

                             When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
                             I summon up remembrance of things past. 

The translated English title of Marcel Proust's vast novel A la recherche du temps perdu originates from Shakespeare's Sonnet 30. The Stargazer lily was created in 1978 by Leslie Woodriff, a lily breeder in California, USA.

Dad

My father died on January 22nd 1996, aged just 60, 15 years ago today. He was a sailor when this photo was taken on his wedding day. Just a few days before he died I picked up a copy of Sir Thomas Browne for the first time since my undergraduate days. On the day he died I had a numinous experience and several coincidences in my life occurred.  I remember my father's sound advice  - specialize in order to become an authority upon a subject. 

The figure of the cucullatus  points to the hooded, that is, the invisible one, the genius of the departed, who reappears in the child-like frolics of a new life, surrounded by the sea-forms of dolphins and tritons. The sea is the favourite symbol for the unconscious. -Jung CW 9 i 298.

The Fiery Angel

Set in Renaissance Germany and the world of  magic and occult arts, ever since its first publication in 1907, Valery Bruisov's novel ‘The Fiery Angel', has been controversial. It’s full title is indicative of both its subject matter and stylistic tone

The Fiery Angel or a True Story in which is related of the Devil, not once but often appearing in the Image of a Spirit of Light to a Maiden and seducing her to Various and Many Sinful Deeds, of Ungodly Practises of Magic, Alchymy, Astrology, the Cabbalistical Sciences and Necromancy, of the Trial of the Said Maiden under Presidency of the Eminence of the Archbishop of Trier, as well as of Encounters and Discourses with the Knight and thrice Doctor Agrippa of Nettesheim, and with Doctor Faustus, composed by an Eyewitness. 

Written in an archaic style as if a Gothic romance or Renaissance adventure travelogue and with meticulous attention to historical detail, the story of Renata is narrated by the Knight Ruprecht, recently returned to Germany from his travels in America. Ruprecht recollects his tale from his first encounter with the beautiful Renata who is in a frenzied state. He tells of their relationship, study of the occult together and quest for the fiery angel of Madiel. Eventually the Inquisition are summoned to investigate Renata’s disturbed behaviour at a convent where an outbreak of collective hysteria erupts.

The three-cornered relationship between Renata, an attractive young woman who experiences visions, the Knight Ruprecht and Madiel, the fiery angel who manifests himself as the red-headed Count Heinrich and with whom Renata has an obsessive relationship, was in fact mirrored in the real-life menage-a-trois  between the novelist Bruisov himself, Nina Petrovskaya, a young 19-year old girl and fellow symbolist-decadent author, Andre Bely.

The Russian literary critic and novelist Valery Bruisov became a leading figure amongst Decadent and Symbolist artists of his time. He attended seances, spiritualistic meetings and lectures by scholars of the esoteric and became familiar with leading authors of occultism. Popular interest in the occult, the writings Madame  Blavatsky, founder of the theosophy movement and Rudolph  Steiner were enormous throughout Russian society during the first decade of 20th century. Bruisov's own complete knowledge of esoteric topics is evident throughout the novel which is in essence, like  Andre Bely’s ‘Petersburg’ (1916) a major  novel of  Russian Symbolism. 

It's often during epochs of intense socio-economic upheaval that Apocalyptic prophecies and visions proliferate along with revived interest in the occult arts. The early years of 20th century Russia were no exception to this phenomenon. The artistic movement of Russian Symbolism emphasised the  transcendent aspects of the arts to near religious status. 

Russian symbolist art’s messianic role is exemplified in Mikhail Vrubel's  'Six-winged Seraph' of 1904 (above painting). Composed as a kind of inner vision to the artist, reminding him of his mission and utterly Symbolist in theme and creed, Vrubal’s painting endeavours to rouse its audience from the trivia of everyday existence to awareness of spiritual phenomena. Moving in the same artistic circles, its impossible Bruisov was not aware of Vrubal’s  painting.

In brief, in the absence of social and political reform in Russia, the arts became imbued with religious fervour. The artist Kandinsky in his essay ‘Concerning the spiritual in art' (1911)  stressed this  religiosity of art, stating-

‘Every man who steeps himself in the spiritual possibilities of his art is a valuable helper in the building of the spiritual pyramid which will someday reach to heaven’.

                                       Valery Bruisov 1873-1924

In Bruisov’s novel the heroine Renata falls victim to religious intolerance and an all-too-literal interpretation of a single line of Biblical scripture, Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live. ( Ex. 22 v. 18) This single verse tragically endorsed genocide throughout Renaissance Europe. Over-zealously interpreted by an exclusively male legislative and judiciary it resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of lives, mostly single women, especially those who were young and attractive, or old and ugly, throughout Europe over three centuries.

In essence the subject-matter of ‘The Fiery Angel’ is that of the complex relationship between sexuality and spirituality. Written only a few years after Sigmund Freud’s seminal work of psychoanalysis ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’ (1900) psychiatry eventually abandoned concepts such as female hysteria. Today the heroine Renata would be diagnosed as perhaps suffering from a bi-polar disorder or  old-fashioned existential angst. 

'The Fiery Angel' has a precedent in the French Symbolist writer Joris-Karl Huysman’s  novel La Bas (1891) with  its description of  a black Mass. Aspects of its subject-matter are also echoed  in Aldous Huxley’s novel,  'The Devils of Loundon' (1953) with its depiction of religious hysteria. More importantly the general theme of the occult along with the Passion of Christ also occurs in Mikhail Bulgakov’s  masterpiece ‘The Master and Margarita’ (1940).

Incidentally it's a curious cultural coincidence that the Russian craze for occult learning during the pre-revolutionary years of the 20th century coincides with a similar cultural phenomena in 1650's England. Both historical  epochs were  characterised  by political instability and uncertainty. Following the civil war, execution of Charles I and establishment of the Protectorate of Cromwell  large portions of English society, unsure of direction, apprehensive of an impending apocalypse, searched for new knowledge and spiritual guide-lines. The same social phenomena occurred  in Russia centuries later. While England experienced the trauma of civil war, deposition of Monarch and a radical change of Government and then engaged in popular interest in esoteric affairs, early 20th century Russian interest in the occult preceded the horrors of world war, regicide, radical change of government  and civil  war. 

Bruisov fleetingly alludes to the city of Norwich in 'The Fiery Angel'  and there exists a curious connection between  Czarist Russia to Norwich worth exploring; for the actions of the archetypal historical character associated with the occult, the charismatic, haemophiliac-healing 'Mad Monk' Rasputin can be linked to a 17th century Norwich resident.  Among the alchemical manuscripts Rasputin is recorded to have stolen from the Romanov Czar’s Imperial Library were those by the English physician Arthur Dee when resident  physician to Czar Mikhail circa 1614-30 in Moscow. When Arthur Dee, eldest son of the Elizabethan magus John Dee, left Moscow he eventually settled at Norwich where he befriended the physician Thomas Browne.

When Arthur Dee died in 1651 a flood of esoteric literature began to  pour from British printing-presses. Many important esoteric titles made their first appearance in the English language during the 1650's decade,  including those of  the magus Cornelius Agrippa, author of 'Three books of occult philosophy' who makes a significant appearance in the action of  'The Fiery Angel'.

Arthur Dee’s close associate Thomas Browne confidently defended a belief in  angels in his Religio Medici declaring -

Therefore for Spirits I am so farre from denying their existence, that I could easily beleeve, that not onely whole Countries, but particular persons have their Tutelary, and Guardian Angels: It is not a new opinion of the Church of Rome, but an old one of Pythagoras and Plato; there is no heresie in it, and if not manifestly defin'd in Scripture, yet is it an opinion of a good and wholesome use in the course and actions of a mans life, and would serve as an Hypothesis to salve many doubts, whereof common Philosophy affordeth no solution. R.M.Part I:33

 Edition consulted -

'The Fiery Angel' by Valery Bruisov published by Dedalus  2005  with an  afterword by Gary Lachman

Sloth

In response to  love of the Potto and as an excuse for neglecting blogging here's a photo of my new mentor. 

Sloths live in the rain-forests of  south America and have an extremely low metabolism. Like many animals they are rapidly becoming an endangered species. I can just about make the effort to find a Sir Thomas Browne connection here. Remarkably, somehow the worthy physician knew of the Sloth.  In what must be one of the very earliest recorded references to the creature and with typical  humour he makes the moral observation-

 To strenuous minds there is an inquietude in overquietness, and no laboriousness in labour; and to tread a mile after the slow pace of a Snail, or the heavy measures of the Lazy of Brazilia were a most tiring penance, and worse than a Race of some furlongs at the Olympicks. -Christian Morals  I:33