Merlin's Wood - Druid geeks only
Every time I read Robert Holdstock, little electric light bulbs go off - and as many mysteries remain. Holdstock leaves a trail of crumbs in all his novels that there is alwyas more there than meets the eye.
Merlin's Wood is probably the hardest of Holdstock's Ryhope Wood series to acquire economically. It is not actually part of the Ryhope sequence (Mythago Wood, Lavondyss, The Hollowing, Gate of Ivory Gate of Horn, The Bone Forest), but takes place in the forest of Broceliande. Near the beginning is the chapter called the Stoneshifter's tale concerning the burial of the main character's mother. Within the first four pages the following ogam "trees" are mentioned in order.
"cold earth home"(Ur, heather, "cold dwelling", "the end of lifelessness")
"dark oaks" (Duir, oak)
veined and snaked with ivy (Gort, ivy)
strangling thickets (Huathe, hawthorn or perhaps Straif, blackthorn)
"the applewood sweet" (Quert, apple)
"hazelwood smoke more acrid" (Coll, hazel)
"his rosy complexion now brighter with the embarrasment he was feeling (Ruis, elder -intensest of blushes from the reddening or shame)
"red and white berries were dropped carefully on the linen" - on his mother's coffin in the grave -(A whole list of possibilities for the the red Luis, Rowan for protection against enchantment or perhaps Tinne, Holly or perhaps Ruis, elder or Idho, Yew - the white is probably mistletoe which is an alternate for Ur.
(a flask of honey, a sack of meat and a small sun-wheel - a clear reference to Ogma the god are also placed on the coffin.)
"newly greased axles" (Tinne, Holly, "the third part of a wheel")
"trials and tribulations" (Eadha, aspen, "Horrible grief, test tree")
"pine table" (Ailm, pine or silver fir)
"cider" (Quert, apple)
"brandy" (Muin, grape or blackberry)
It is impossible that this is an accident, It might even be a play on the title of the novel. But Holdstock does more than casually drop references. especially in the case, of the letter Ur, both heather and mistletoe.
to be continued . . . .
Merlin's Wood is probably the hardest of Holdstock's Ryhope Wood series to acquire economically. It is not actually part of the Ryhope sequence (Mythago Wood, Lavondyss, The Hollowing, Gate of Ivory Gate of Horn, The Bone Forest), but takes place in the forest of Broceliande. Near the beginning is the chapter called the Stoneshifter's tale concerning the burial of the main character's mother. Within the first four pages the following ogam "trees" are mentioned in order.
"cold earth home"(Ur, heather, "cold dwelling", "the end of lifelessness")
"dark oaks" (Duir, oak)
veined and snaked with ivy (Gort, ivy)
strangling thickets (Huathe, hawthorn or perhaps Straif, blackthorn)
"the applewood sweet" (Quert, apple)
"hazelwood smoke more acrid" (Coll, hazel)
"his rosy complexion now brighter with the embarrasment he was feeling (Ruis, elder -intensest of blushes from the reddening or shame)
"red and white berries were dropped carefully on the linen" - on his mother's coffin in the grave -(A whole list of possibilities for the the red Luis, Rowan for protection against enchantment or perhaps Tinne, Holly or perhaps Ruis, elder or Idho, Yew - the white is probably mistletoe which is an alternate for Ur.
(a flask of honey, a sack of meat and a small sun-wheel - a clear reference to Ogma the god are also placed on the coffin.)
"newly greased axles" (Tinne, Holly, "the third part of a wheel")
"trials and tribulations" (Eadha, aspen, "Horrible grief, test tree")
"pine table" (Ailm, pine or silver fir)
"cider" (Quert, apple)
"brandy" (Muin, grape or blackberry)
It is impossible that this is an accident, It might even be a play on the title of the novel. But Holdstock does more than casually drop references. especially in the case, of the letter Ur, both heather and mistletoe.
to be continued . . . .