Round the Herne

 Earlier this month we had the third annual Suffolk Jungian Symposium at West Suffolk College. My contribution to the day was a talk applying Jungian principles to Oscar Wilde's novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (which also has plenty to say about the human psyche in general and not just as a bit of pretentious lit-crit. The recording of the original event did not come out at all well, so this is a slightly more rambling version of the same thing.

My reading of the twelfth and final chapter of Kenneth Grahame's lovely children's classic, "The Wind in the Willows" (1908). The heroes besiege the Wild Wooders who have taken over Toad Hall - will they succeed in putting the world to rights? Well, duh! I rather enjoyed recording this (even if the listeners didn't!) and it's one off my bucket list. I'll give it a breather and do other things before I think about recording any more books.

 My reading of the penultimate chapter of Kenneth Grahame's classic story "The Wind in the Willows" (1908). Toad is reunited with his friends but finds that disaster has befallen his ancestral home during his incarceration. 

 My reading of the tenth chapter of Kenneth Grahame's delightful classic "The Wind in the Willows" (1908). Toad's flight to freedom continues, peppered with meetings with a variety of characters with highly unconvincing accents.

 My reading of the ninth chapter of Kenneth Grahame's beautifully lyrical "The Wind in the Willows" (1908). I love the sophistication of language, delivered confident in the assumption that children would understand it - back in the day when things were not dumbed down. Anyway, the story moves on to Mr Rat and his encounter with both the call of the seasons and a seafaring Rat filled with tales of the briny deep. Went for a wander down by the River Gipping this afternoon, just to get in the mood for Grahame's story.

 My reading of the eighth chapter of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's classic "The Wind in the Willows". Mr Toad makes a daring prison break in a scene guaranteed to inspire thoughts of criminality in anyone listening to it!

 My reading of my favourite chapter (the seventh one) of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's classic "The Wind in the Willows". Here a baby otter goes missing and, on the adventure to find him, the friends encounter Pan Himself - in a scene that still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up even after multiple readings. I do wonder if this scene came to Grahame as some kind of dream of visionary experience - to me it feels like a genuine spiritual encounter and it sits quite strangely in the wider story.

 My reading of the sixth chapter of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's book "The Wind in the Willows". In this part of the story an intervention is staged to deal with Toad's obsession with cars - and the miscreant goes totally off the rails.

 My reading of the fifth chapter of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's fantasy "The Wind in the Willows". In this chapter, Mole experiences the irrevocable call of home, drawing him back to his tunnels and the gentle joys that they hold. Apologies for the execrable 'singing', but that's field mice for you.

 My reading of the fourth chapter of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's story "The Wind in the Willows". Mole finally gets to meet with Badger in his home deep in the Wild Woods.

 This is my reading of the third chapter of Kenneth Grahame's wonderful 1908 children's story "The Wind in the Willows". In this chapter Mole gets wanderlust and decides to brave the Wild Wood. I love the lyrical description of plants as the seasons change - very reminiscent of Oscar Wilde's nature poetry, filled with the same love of the green realms. 

 My reading of the second chapter of Kenneth Grahame's delightful 1908 story "The Wind in the Willows", in which Mole meets Toad and the all enjoy (for a very brief period) the joys of life on the open road.

 My reading of chapter one of Kenneth Grahame's wonderfully lyrical 1908 children's story, "The Wind in the Willow". Mr Mole awakens from his winter slumbers and encounters both the River itself, a central character in this semi-animistic tale, and Mr Rat who dwells beside the waters.

 A recording for the Suffolk Jungian Circle (and anyone else who might be interested) reflecting on Jung's views about the archetypal nature of unidentified objects in the sky. If you would like to take part int he online discussion (7.30pm on Wednesday 28th May).

 As today is St George's Day, I thought I would share a short story about a dragon - the Krepel is part of the folklore of Bytom in Poland. The area where the dragon once lived is no longer forest land but part of the city itself (as to what became of the dragon in the long-term, alas I do not know - there are no accounts which I could locate answering that one).

 What started off as some research for a lecture (around male friendship) took me off down various mythological tangents, including into the daimona/goddess/spirit Philotes from Ancient Greece who formed and sustained friendships between people (and sometimes also sexual relationships, but that is a side issue). The work-related research has been looking at the connection between social isolation and what are euphemistically called negative life outcomes - ill health, mental problems, increased chances of suicide etc.). While friendship may not get anywhere near the modern cultural coverage of romance (thinking about all those soppy songs, films, Mills & Boon novels etc.), in ancient times there were plenty of tales about friends going off on adventures together.

 The April meeting of the Suffolk Jungian Circle (taking place on the 23rd) will be discussing the Red Book. One of the members, Carol, volunteered to do the video presentation to spark discussion, but is even less technically-minded than I am - so rather than the usual talking head format, we did it as an interview so I could take care of the recording element. If you would like to take part in the monthly discussion leave a message and I will send you the link.

When the router died, I spent a bit of time adding more to this story. It's never going to go anywhere (from a publishing perspective), but it's providing a relaxing diversion for me to write.  CHAPTER 1 is  here CHAPTER 2 is  here   CHAPTER 3 is  here   CHAPTER 4 is here (if you haven't already read them) CHAPTER 5   As the induction class drew to a close, Catriona glanced round to see the other members of the group looked as stunned and bewildered as she felt. A rueful smiled played on the Principal’s lips as his kindly blue eyes took them all in. it was doubtless far from the first time that he had turned people’s worlds upside down. A painfully thin lad with a prominent Adam’s apple and bad acne set further along the bench, staring at the copious pile of notes he had taken and looking as if he might cry. The light from the three large stained glass windows cast hypnotic patterns across them all. The Otherworld, which she had always taken as ...

 Bit of a meander into some of the issues linking the realm of artistic creativity (be that painting, music, sculpture, cinema or whatever else) to ethical issues. Partly this is in response to events over the last year or so where a few prominent creative types have fallen off their pedestals and quite a few former fans have sworn off reading/watching/consuming their output. Be interesting to hear how followers of this channel respond to ethical concerns about creativity.

 This is a recording made today or a story that I told along with other members of Clan Ogma (druid group that also does annual storytelling) at the Leaping Hare pagan convention in Colchester. Hard to credit, I know, but the accents were even less convincing at the live performance than they are in this recording. Judging from the feedback for the convention, everyone seems to have had a good day and are all looking forward to next year's event.

 Chapter the fourth in my serialised meander into the world of YA fantasy. I'm amusing myself if nobody else, so will write a little more before the q=burdens of the quotidian world get in the way, CHAPTER 1 is  here CHAPTER 2 is  here   CHAPTER 3 is here (if you haven't already read them) CHAPTER 4    “The Fourth House?” Dylan mouthed the words as if he were saying something obscene that he did not want overheard. “Who on earth told you about that?” Catriona recounted the scene she had witnessed in the bookshop. Her books were currently teetering on the dresser. She had opted to skip the hurley shop and acquired a sackful of herbs and a pocket-sized sickle at Demulcent’s Herbarium. The herbs were filling her room with a heady aroma. At Morwenna’s insistence she had gone into Stang and Treen’s stavewright shop to acquire a staff. A polished length of oak has caught her eye, engraved with a stag design. She felt rather silly carrying it home (catching...

 This is my recording if a 1918 short story, "Courage", by the talented but now rather neglected Irish author Forrest Reid. It is the tale of a lonely boy's sojourn in the Irish countryside and what happens when he explores an abandoned house. I find Reid's style very engaging and may well record other stories by him in the future, try and boost his profile to current audiences a little bit. Much of his work deals with supernatural and mythical themes.

Continuing the whimsy to a third chapter of this serialised (and outrageously derivative) YA fantasy, I am quite enjoying this even if nobody else is, so might go to at least a fourth chapter if I can settle on a name for the villain of the piece. CHAPTER 1 is here CHAPTER 2 is here  (if you haven't already read them) CHAPTER 3   Catriona sat at the long wooden table in the Refectory staring at the empty plate and wishing that her head would stop spinning. She didn’t think that she’d ever has to get used to so many shocks in a single day. She had screamed hysterically at the sight of Kai transforming into a dog, only stopping when he sauntered across and licked her face. After that the screaming had turned into equally hysterical giggling. Eventually Dylan explained that everyone is Kai’s family was capable of transforming into dogs. Whilst not common, he outlined how a fair number of people who lived within the Veil were able to shapeshift. The stories of selkies, werew...

 A reflection for the Suffolk Jungian Circle on the topic of Jung & Modernity (being discussed via Teams on the evening of March 26th - if you want the link to join in, please leave a message). Some of this also touches on postmodernity and the ideas of Elisabeth Eisenstein on types of culture and communication technology, though maybe each of those could be a separate discussion in their own right.

 Continuing the whimsy to a second chapter of this serialised (and shamelessly derivative) YA fantasy, I might go a third chapter, not sure whether to continue it beyond that. It gives me something more creative to do of an evening than just watch drivel on TV. CHAPTER 2   The bell started to toll as they exited the lift, Catriona still wondering what the Veil was and if she would look foolish by asking. By the third and final stroke Morwenna had shepherded them across to a stairway that wound down into the cellars beneath the Tower. Catriona’s momentary panic about her luggage was assuaged with the promise that the Porter would ferry everything off to the Halls of Residence. The others seemed quite blasé about not having seen the Halls and were confident that everything would be in place for them. Catriona’s past experience of educational administration had not left her as trusting, but she kept her fingers crossed and was swept along on the flight down to the Great Hall....

This is just a bit of whimsy to give my three remaining brain cells a bit of exercise (been under the weather lately and lacking creativity). I like the idea of a serialised story, so here is the first entry in a highly derivative YA fantasy, praise be to St Plagiarus. Not sure how much further, or how regularly, I will continue this but at least it has kickstarted the grey matter once again. CHAPTER 1    Catriona stood before the stone doorway, her fingers traced the triquetra carved into the ancient wooden door. It looked early medieval, ancient in a city where every other building seemed steeped in centuries. The carved symbol matched that on the letterhead that she had received back in March inviting her to study Celtic History at Gorsedd College, Cambridge. Catriona had applied to study in Cambridge, but at Peterhouse not at this college. She hadn’t even heard of Gorsedd College much less applied to it, but the offer was excellent and especially sweet with the bursary...

 This is my reading of the 1921 short horror story "The Picture in the House" by H P Lovecraft. It is another of the stories from the book gifted me at Yule by a good friend - I have already recorded a few of the shorter samples. The recording is a bit odd due to my recovering from a throat infection. Apologies to any American listeners for the dreadful attempt at a backwoods accent - I've never been tot he States so have no real idea (outside of the movies) what the regional accents are like. Lovecraft writes heavily accented dialogue, which is quite fun to read aloud.

 This month (on Feb 26th at 7.30pm) the Suffolk Jungian Circle will have an online debate around the celebrity death match of Freud vs Jung - where are their ideas similar and where do they differ? To help get the discussion rolling, I've recorded a few initial thoughts in the video below. If anyone would like to be sent the Teams link to take part, drop me a line or leave a message on this blog.

 I gave this talk at a college event in December 2024, recording it now on the off-chance that it might eb of interest to some followers on YouTube or this Blog. The talk interprets some of the ghost stories written by E F Benson, Saki, M R James, and Forrest Reid in the light of sexuality and social isolation. If nothing else, I rather hope that this talk will inspire listeners to want to read the works of the respective authors.

 My reading of the eighth and final chapter of M R James' (1922) children's story 'The Five Jars'. An odd conclusion because the secrets of the villains are (spoilers) not resolved - maybe James was intending to write a sequel but never got round to it?

 My reading of the seventh chapter of M R James' 92922) children's fantasy story "The Five Jars". The narrator is beset by the forces of evil, using their wiles to get hold of the magical jars. Quite what they would do with them is not yet clear!

 My reading of the sixth chapter of M R James' (1922) children's fantasy "The Five Jars". The narrator learns more about the Right People and their strange world.

 This is my reading of the fifth chapter of M R James' (1922) children's fantasy The Five Jars. The narrator continues to experiment with the jars of ointment and comes under attack from sinister forces.

 My reading of the fourth chapter of M R James' (1922) children's fantasy story "The Five Jars". The narrator makes contact with yet more strange beings and learns about what else exists in the world.

 My reading of chapters two and three of M R James' (1922) children's fantasy book "The Five Jars". The narrator discovers the power of the magical potions for the ears and eyes. New worlds open up before him!