Never Ending Circles

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Books, Phil Rickman, Photography, Religion, The UK

In Poolewe there is a graveyard and as I am rather fond of graveyards we had to go and take a look.  Although it has been there for centuries it is also still in use today, this I like a lot.  Inscribing gravestones with a name and date came late to Poolewe – the earliest is dated 1839, before named gravestones became commonplace burial plots were reused the circle of life and death continued for generations, so it is impossible to know how many souls have been laid to rest there.  It is a place of serenity and calm, not far from the edge of Loch Ewe itself, with the mountains behind it and a river either side a pretty little setting set back from the modern road, but there is more to this than might at first meet the eye.

Mother Ruth had pointed me in the direction of Phil Rickman’s series of books which follow the exploits of Merrily Watkins, and as those of you who follow me on facebook will already know I was reading them while on holiday.  One of the books I read was ‘A Crown of Lights’, the story revolves around the site of a deconsecrated church which had been placed on the site of a pre-Christian ritual site and hence had an unusual circular graveyard.  Yes you’ve guessed it, this graveyard too is circular, and like the graveyard in A Crown of Lights it too is surround by a ring of trees and what is more it too I believe has pre-Christian history.  But I am jumping ahead slightly – or should that be back slightly – as before I talk about that a quick bio of the more recent past might be in order.  The ruins of a church is in the north-east segment of the burial ground and has a number of later enclosures built along one side.  This is not the original church which fell out of use during the Reformation, although it might have continued to be used as a private chapel.   It was rebuilt in the 17^th century and used for Episcopalian worship, but it is hard to know when Christian worship first took place on the site.

I was one of the final people who did what was known as ‘The Scottish Dimension’ – personally I think it is a great shame that it is no longer compulsory for those who come to the SEC from other shores but hey who am I to express such an opinion? – Any way, when I did it back in the 80′s part which I chose to do was to write a paper on Old Govan Parish in particular the change from a pre-Christian to a Christian site.  I was reminded forcibly of it when I saw this:

Most people who take the time to wander round that graveyard probably pass this stone whose markings can not be read by, it is not very tall and you might say that there is nothing particularly impressive about it.  Well I believe you would be wrong in that assumption for this is the typical shape of a Viking Hogback burial stone (there are some at Govan Old Parish) which rather than standing upright as this on is would be laid on top of a grave (or possibly a stone cut coffin) as the lid with the rounded surface facing outwards.  The Vikings were in Wester Ross in quite large numbers using its natural harbours to great effect as a base for their raids further south.  You don’t need to look too far in Wester Ross to find Viking place names, so it was no surprise to me to see what I think could very probably also be a sign of their burials.  While I am speculating I think that this too might very well be a hog back this time upside down with the characteristic hump buried in the grass.

But there is more than this speculation than the circular nature of the graveyard and a couple of possible hogbacks, there is also the Font Stone that lies north-west of the chapel, partly buried in turf.

Now it might be called a font stone but it is the smallest font I have ever seen and I think local folklore gives us a clue to what it was originally.  In the Highlands, and indeed in Argyll and the Isles, hollowed cup stones were associated with sacred water, used for coronations like at Dunadd in Kilmartin Glen, for the blessing of people on the verge of major milestones of their lives, for catching the full moon at the solace, or a sunbeam at mid summer, and the water that was in these cups were often said to have healing powers.  Local folklore says that the water in the stone at Poolewe cures warts and locally it is known as the Wart Stone.  Well to me it sounds much more likely that this stone has a pre-Christian history as a Pictish cup stone, that in centuries past the water contained in it was as likely to have blessed a young woman so that she might be like some mother earth god and bear strong healthy sons as blessing a new-born in the name of the Trinity.  Now before you think I am getting too fanciful then take a look at this:

This is a Pictish stone which would have once stood upright but has later been used as a burial slab.  Some of the original carving can still be seen, it is not the usual Pictish symbols that are commonly seen but rather geometrical ones.

There is a weathered crescent and v-rod symbol decorated with a curvilinear design and an arrangement of dots.  Pictish stones are traditionally found in northern and eastern parts of Scotland.  The stone at Poolewe is one of only two symbol scones discovered on the west coast of mainland Scotland.  Taking into account this rare stone being here says to me that this must have been an important site for the Picts.

A place of rest for centuries, a place of circles upon circles and I am left thinking of those who rest there, be they Viking, Pict or Christian, in the words of a Roman gravestone:

May your bones rest quietly
and may the earth lie lightly on you.

Go To Sleep Little Baby

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Books, Films, Music

Hubby and I sat down to watch ‘O Brother, where art thou’ on Sunday.  Bassed on The Oddesy it is a great way to remind oneself of the book without having to plough through it again, plus it has the added advantage of some great songs.

Holding Together by Christopher Cocksworth

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Books, Religion

I didn’t want to blog about this book until after the Clergy Book Group today when we were discussing it but now as it has happened I will.

The book has a sub-title Gospel, Church and Spirit – the essentials of Christian identity, and clear on the very first page of the preface are these words:

The aim of this book is not in any way to go beyond the simple gospel of salvation and the conviction that the Bible is the inspired word of God that I learnt from my spiritual fathers and mothers.  It is to go deeper into the scriptural gospel, to mine more of its depths, to receive more fully of its fullness, to grasp more of what it means to be a gospel person, an evangelical.

I always think it is good when a theological author nails their colours to the mast right at the beginning, at least then you know what position they are writing from, and Christopher Cocksworth despite the grand title of Holding Together – the evangelical and Catholic traditions within the Church – in my view fails as there remains throughout the book, the undercurrent of the evangelical way is the right way.

That being said doesn’t however take away from some of the very good stuff inside the book.  I would be interested to know just what an evangelical thinks about the chapter on Mary, are you one have you read it?  The chapters on Touching Grace and Breaking Bread I enjoyed and were well described by one person in the group as generous and I think his own brief sentence when introducing the discussion between formalised liturgy and freedom beyond any fixed liturgy expresses this tension well ‘God’s immediacy is mediated.’ p158.  The chapter Making Disciples is also worth delving into, and on the whole that is what I feel about this book, there are bits worth delving into but as a whole I found it stodgy and unreasoned, more like a collection of ideas for several books rather than a completed work in itself, but then as I said at the group I don’t think I was his target reader.

{It is worth saying, especially if you are considering buying the book and wanting other views before parting with your £16.99 – I got mine for 12p+p&p – that while some shared the views expressed above others didn’t, one person (who arrived late and will remain nameless was very enthusiastic about it all, although he hadn’t finished it!).  One person found it very Church of England, that totally escaped me and still does.  I along with at least two others of the group would have probably not got past the first chapter if it hadn’t been for the discipline of it being the Book Group book.}

The 40 Acorn Challenge

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Books, Jean Giono, Liturgical Seasons

I fell in love with the book ‘The Man Who Planted Trees‘ when I read it for the first time several years ago, and ever since then I have tried and failed to get a copy of the DVD of the animation of it that can be played in this country.  At least being able to watch it on You Tube in two parts is better than not seeing it at all, although the sound is a bit iffy at times and the cutting of the two parts not brilliant, but as I said better than nothing.

So if you want to do yourself a favour make yourself a tea or coffee, or pour yourself a glass of wine if you are reading this in the evening then sit down for 30 minutes and enjoy the wonderful animation and the yet more wonderful story by Jean Giono read by Christopher Plummer.  (2 separate parts hence two links)

To return to the title of this post, you’ve got a week to get your 40 metaphorical acorns ready and think about where you are going to plant them before the 40 days of Lent and your challenge begins.  It is simple, you don’t need to plant acorns, although you might choose to, you don’t even need to plant a tree, although again you might choose to, the challenge is to do something each day that will benefit others today or in the generations to come.

A Whole Lot of Candles

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Charles Dickens

Today marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens birth.  For many people his work doesn’t go beyond Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol and even at that it is it probably mainly due to Lionel Bart and Alistair Sim respectively, but Dickens has a lot more to offer than four ghosts and some more gruel.

Dickens started out as a political journalist, which may be were his interest in social reform and removing the stigma from the poor and marginalised  in Victorian society came from.  His writing often has the poor, the orphan, the outcast as the hero; while the gentry and rich are frequently less than the moral and upstanding members of justice and morality that the Victorians liked to believe they were.  Several of his novels highlight the exploitation of the disadvantaged and the appalling conditions that people lived in due to poor sanitation and the animals were treated better than people in workhouses and prisons.  It has been claimed that he was instrumental in having the notorious Fleet Prison in London closed down.

With the finance of Angela Burdett Coutts behind him Dickens set up a refuge for women who had been caught up in prostitution, there they learnt to read and write which along with other skills set them up to find a way out of the life that had previously trapped them.  He also helped in both the setting up and continually running of the fledgling Great Ormond Street Hospital.

People of his time and since have often said that his stories were unrealistic, yet the echos of his own life which can be seen in his stories testify to that isn’t the case.  Mr Micawber in David Copperfield is said to be based on Dicken’s own father; while Nancy from Oliver on one of the women in the refuge he set up; and it has even been said that Pip from Great Expectations is based on his own life.  A young lonely child starting out without any future, working in a dirty occupation (Dickens himself worked in Warren’s blacking factory), until he learnt to read and a new future came into view (while Dickens himself was finally allowed to return to school).

From the Cricket on the Hearth to Bleak House, from A Tale of Two Cities to Little Dorrit, from The Pickwick Papers to Our Mutual Friend Dickens has something for everyone.  What is more in using his pen to powerful effect he was part of the beginning of a shift in Victorian society which in time would see the end of the workhouses, the introduction of a welfare state and child labour no longer being acceptable.  The sad thing about today is while lots has been accomplished that Dickens would rejoice at and b e glad in, I am sure he would still also be scribbling furiously away at the injustice that still finds its home in today’s society.  So maybe if you take this anniversary year to pick up and read a Dickens book you will do it with new eyes and let Dickens inspire you to try and right some injustices that still remain 200 years on.

Unchanging Times

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Ecclesiastes

In the same day I have read these words:

Everything that happens has happened before;
nothing is new, nothing under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

and then these:

“… when lawyers or hussars who have no special knowledge are appointed Directors of banks or companies and receive gigantic salaries, I conclude that these salaries are not fixed by the law of supply and demand but by personal influence.  This is an abuse important in itself, which has a bad effect on the state …”

Karenin in Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

A Question That Demands Attention

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Books, David F Ford, Proverbs, Religion

Come, eat my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight
Proverbs 9:5-6

The cries of wisdom are meant to stimulate us to cry out for her too.  If nothing else we desire can compare with her, then we need to relate our desire for wisdom to our other desires.  In the midst of all the cries – longings, appeals, and demands that come from within us and from all around us – how are we to shape a wise life?

I don’t usual comment on books before I have finished them but this time I am going to.  Every time I pick up my Kindle to read some more of David F Ford’s book The Future of Christian Theology I find myself drawn back to the section above from page 2.  Sometimes I don’t even get any further than contemplating that question.

How are we to shape a wise life?

Book Reading

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Books

Yes, today I read a book!

Don’t get too elated for me it was a children’s book with only one line of writing while a and black and white drawing filled the rest of the A4 page.  My mind is now whirring as to how I will use it, for use it I most certainly will.  So what is the book you might be wondering, well I think I will save that for after I have used it, so watch this space.

It is so good to be back.

No Eyes to Read But Ears to Listen – Books 25, 26 & 27

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Books, Dorothy L Sayers, Maeve Binchy, Umberto Eco

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco – How old does a book need to be before it is classed a ‘classic’?  The Name of the Rose was first published in 1980 in Italian and first published in English in 1983 there are those who will give it that meaningless title of ‘modern-day classic’ – a classic in my view has to be a book that has stood the test of time and I am not convinced that but one generation is a big enough test.  All that being said I for one will not be surprised if future generations class it along with other modern-day best sellers as a classic.

It is 1327 and death prowls a Benedictine monastery in northern Italy which awaits the arrival of The Inquisition.  William, a visiting Franciscan friar, with the help of Adso, a Benedictine novice, set about to investigate by invitation of the Abbot.  A knowledge of the Bible, especially the book of Revelation, will no doubt help you with the story line as large chunks of it are quoted and referred to.  Also a familiarity with the rule of monastic life and Latin will possibly make the book flow more easily, I am not sure how disjointed the book might have seemed had I not known which psalm or canticle was being quoted, what the Latin phrase thrown in actually meant, what time of day Lauds or Prime was.  However, the mysteries of the abbey are unravelled and by the end of the book I am sure such things will be of no account, although you will some of the word play.  On Eco’s website – which I visited to see what else he has written, and discovered there is a film of the book with Sean Connery – it states:

The book is an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory.

Logic, new maths, apothecary and other things of the world are used to solve the out-of-bounds labyrinthine library.  Is laughter heretical?  Is life too precious, too important to take anything but seriously?  Are carnal thoughts that different from perfect love, love of sin, love of death?  And just where is the boundary between madness and religious fervour?

If you are a fan of the ecclesiastical whodunnit then this is a must!  As for Eco I can’t wait to read something else of his and have this feeling he will become one of my favorite authors.

Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L Sayers – It was actually a dramatisation from Radio 4 on cd I listened to, but as it is a book I’ve included it here.  This is one of Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries set in the beautiful Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland.  Of course it doesn’t take long before a body appears and the question of whether the death was accidental or not raises its head.  Six suspects, five of them red herrings, to discover just which one killed the painter is Wimsey’s aim.  A charming enough way to while away a few hours witty and evocative of the era (the music between scenes probably adds to that, although I did find the frequency of it to be somewhat annoying as were the fake Scottish accents).

The Return Journey and Other Stories by Maeve Binchy – Not going to mention all 14 just the ones I enjoyed.  Package Tour – Moya and Joe plan a holiday and have very different ideas about what is needed for a 2 week holiday and discover before it’s too late what is in it rainbows have gone and glitter dimmed.  Victor and St Valentine – poor Victor a 38 year old electrian who just can’t seem to get it right or can he?

You have now caught up with my listening so this stream of posts will end with this one and in future I will simply note if it is a book I have read or listened to – although it will probably still be a while before the former is it case.

No Eyes to Read But Ears to Hear – Books 23 & 24 – History Part 3

Tags

Alison Weir, Books, Hilary Mantell

Katherine Swynford by Alison Weir – who I hear you cry why Katherine Swynford; John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster’s first mistress, then wife, sister-in-law to Geoffrey Chaucer, you know the one.  In a time of mistresses Katherine is probably the most famous and infamous, in fact I would go as far to say she was the Medieval Nell Gwyn.  Weir as always is well researched and brings life into not just the main character but all those who touched her life or whose lives she touched.  That being said however, it can also be said that maybe that is where the book falls down a bit.  For like so many woman of the time very little was written about them while they lived, so there is more about the people around her than there is about her herself, but then again, when I for one pick up a book like this I know it before I set out so it doesn’t get me too hot under the collar, especially as it is still a very good read.  While other historical biographies often correct the tarnished reputation of people, this one while being sympathetic hardly raises Kathrine’s reputation, which in itself says much.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantell – Well have you read the winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize?  No, well neither had I, I had been put off by the number of people who have said they had started then stopped, and to be honest I was surprised that such a well-known and re-told story would merit such a prize and decided not to bother.  However spying an audio version I re-thought, well if such a well-known and well written, filmed, dramatised story gets a prize maybe this one is worth giving the benefit of the doubt to, so I listened.

Henry VIII his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, marriage to Anne Boleyn and the birth of the Church of England is the setting for this tale – told you it was a well-known bit of history.  It is told from a slightly different slant from most, the child of a blacksmith rises to be England’s most powerful man. Thomas Cromwell, being the central character and that, in my view, is what gives this book its edge.  It is a well written page turner, even if when listening there are no pages to turn, and from what I know the historical side of it seems accurate which is a definite plus as I think there is no need to invent history when history itself can seem the stuff of fiction.

If you have been put off before hand like I was, give it a go you might be surprised.

No Eyes to See But Ears to Listen – Books 19 – 22

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Books, David Hewson, Jonathan Coe, Sarah Dunamt, Susanna Kearsley

The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant – In a convent a nun dies of a supposed tumour while the fear of plague opens the door to a mystery par excellence.

We all have choices to make, for 15-year-old tom boy Alessandra, the daughter of a rich Florence cloth merchant the choice is between marriage and convent.  However, as if often the case the choice and consequences aren’t quite as simple as first they might appear.

It is Florence at the end of the 15th century and civil unrest simmers between those who are stirred by the words of the fundamentalist monk Savonarola and those whose wealth has always bought them favour and power under the Medici family.  Religion and philosophy spa for souls, money and piety vie for hearts and the past and future lay claim to minds as death and murder fill the air.  Alessandra is in love but not with the man she is to marry, he too is in love, but not with her, but that is hardly unusual for a marriage of the time.  Meanwhile the painting of the Cecchi family chapel continues by a new and young renaissance artist and throughout Florence perception becomes more important than reality, but then reality has become so messy.  A shift in time and place and reality returns, the reality of the cost and price of love with more than a touch of déjà vu.

(p.s. there are some sexual scenes and some language which might cause offence in this book, so don’t say you weren’t warned if you prefer to avoid books which contain them.)

The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe – Daughter told me I had to listen to this one it couldn’t wait for me to read her copy so I listened.  Four; once students who were housed in the university accommodation in Ashdown, a huge grey and imposing cliff top house; are drawn together years later when the house becomes a private sleep clinic.

“To sleep, perchance to dream-
ay, there’s the rub.”

William Shakespeare – Hamlet

Indeed there is the rub, to sleep or not, to dream or not – a book, obsessions, asleep, awake, jelly babies and footnotes.  Coe, in my view, is a master of penmanship one minute you squirm the next you smile, he weaves the fine silken threads of the characters into a splendid tapestry of vivid colours and subtle hues.  Of course there will be those, for there always are, who say that Coe is too clever for his own good but for me that is what makes his books so re-readable there always seems to be something else to happen upon.  I think it is long past time I re-read all his other books.

The Winter Seas by Susanna Kearsley – The least said about this one the better, just not my cup of tea I guess.  The characters where flat, the plot iffy at best and just way too predictable.  You, of course might think differently.

The Fallen Angel by David Hewson – An accidental death that is no accident seems such a cliché way start to any book, even more so when it is the 9th book in a series about a detective, the detective in question being Nic Costa.  However, I for one quickly forgave the somewhat tired start as the story is gripping as we travel through Rome, secrets of the Vatican and urge Nic and Gianni Peroni, his partner, ever onward to discover the mystery of the Gabriel’s, first class!

No Eyes to Read But Ears to Listen – Books 16, 17 &18 History Part 2

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Alison Weir, Books, Rabbi Mark Glickman, Stacy Schiff

Have you noticed I seem to have an interest for woman in history?  I never really realised it until I started doing these blog posts I know I have a penchant for a historical biography, but the ratio of male to female historical biographies I have read is very heavily weighted on the female side, that had never struck me before.  It all started with a library book about Amy Johnson, the more I read the more my list of heroines and women through the years grew.  Now I am not saying that history has never been unkind to a man, but it does seem to feel a need to make powerful, pioneering and influential women into demons, maybe this it what draws me to them, to see what the real story behind the popular myths are.

Cleopatra A Life by Stacy Schiff - Cleopatra is maybe an exception to that rule.  Carry on Films, Elizabeth Taylor, the  love of Mark Anthony and baths of milk instantly spring to mind, well mine at least.  It could be said that history has been kind to her, it could be said, but no the point is missed once more if that is only how popular history remembers her.  While many have fallen into the simplicity of painting her as a beautiful queen with a poetic death she was far, far more than that.  A powerful monarch, a major player in world politics, a shrewd and astute ruler.  This is a serious biography well researched yet listening to it, it is easy to think you are listening to a novel.  If this period in history interests you I would highly recommend it, for it is about more than just Cleopatra herself.

The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir – The childhood years of Elizabeth I as a novel, you know the score by now, this is Alison Weir, so the research is strong, however.  There was something about this book that felt a bit too artificial, not sure why maybe the reader or maybe more to the point the listener!  I didn’t not enjoy it but have enjoyed others more.

And now as it has been said before ‘for something completely different’ well maybe not completely as we are still on a history theme just not of the female biography/bionovel type.

Sacred Treasure the Cairo Genizah by Rabbi Mark Glickman – What is it they say about judging a book by its cover?  Well I don’t have a cover as such but here is what the book says about itself.

In 1897, Rabbi Solomon Schechter of Cambridge University stepped into the attic of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, Egypt, and there found the largest treasure trove of medieval and early manuscripts ever discovered. He had entered the synagogue’s genizah—its repository for damaged and destroyed Jewish texts—which held nearly 300,000 individual documents, many of which were over 1,000 years old.

This is far more than an academic or historic book though, it is certainly far more than a book on religious Jewish writing, there is a hint on Indian Jones lurking in there and it is incredible that a century after this discovery new things are still being uncovered within those manuscripts.  A fascinating book which some screen writer will discover one day and embellish beyond recognition – but maybe they already have.