Ah yes, Oedipus: the son kills the father. He does it unknowingly but....  but the overbearing old man on the road is a symbol of the father- and is asking to be killed- only then turns out to be the actual father- and the laudable or understandable act of self-defence is revealed as parricide- worst of crimes ( Read more... )

So I'm rereading Dion Fortune's The Mystical Qabalah.

Dion Fortune- aka Violet Mary Firth (1890-1946)- was a ceremonial magician.

Here she is, doing her thing


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Last night's dream had a lot of talking in it- but I forget what was said. Our taxi driver had taken us to his home where we met his wife and I was impressed by the books she had on the shelf behind her . I remember one of them- a fat volume entitled The Tree of Life ( Read more... )

We were looking after a cat last week - as we do from time to time. This commits us to a couple of visits a day, hanging out a bit and making sure the food and water bowls are topped up ( Read more... )

I dreamed that my son- the one who has recently fallen out with me- gave an hour long lecture without notes. He was just a kid and I was proud of him ( Read more... )

So, when you're drawing up a list of 100 best novels, or movies or whatever, do you let your heart or your head rule you ( Read more... )

The Guardian is giving us a list of the 100 greatest novels,  starting at the bottom and counting up. What I've seen so far doesn't greatly please me. There's too much recent stuff,  too much anglophone stuff ( Read more... )

Does it really matter who the British Prime Minister is? The next person who fills the role will sweat under the same sun as the current one does, bow before the same wind ( Read more... )

John Tenniel's illustrations to the Alice books are definitive- and all the artists who have come after him have worked in his shadow. In spite of that there have been a lot of them ( Read more... )

"Have the courage to be disliked" says Fraya Mortensen in a Youtube video that tumbled into my pathway this morning. I'd never heard of her before, but that's synchronicity for you; when you need to be told a thing someone or something will make sure you get the message ( Read more... )