Symbols of the Goddess
Over the last few years, I have increasingly enjoyed getting into nature. I am also rekindling my interest in geology and these days enjoy nothing better than getting out into the wild with my hammer. There is a magic about certain places that I have noticed more and more recently. You can sense the nature spirits and of course, the Goddess herself in such places. I have always enjoyed solitude in nature and once spent an entire 6-weeks geologically mapping the island of Eigg off the west coast of Scotland where, for days and weeks at a time, I didn’t see another human. I found that I began to have all sorts of spiritual experiences there including hearing angelic singing and seeing certain things from the other realms (Some of
Read More »An Old Man in Scotland
To spice things up a bit, here is a story from My Haunted Life – out in Kindle and paperback formats from any good Amazon online store.
Read More »Sand Castles and Pea Shooters
It is funny how some things remain with you through life as strong and vivid memories. They were those events that had an impact in some way I suppose, and this is why we remember them while forgetting much of the rest of our lives. Memory is a very strange thing. My mother often tells me that she can remember with clarity things from 50-years ago but what she did an hour ago is a mystery! For me, its names. I remember people and places and context but I am clueless as to their names – old school friends and the like now nameless faces. Of course, memories can be reinforced. If we talk about some event in the past often or if like us, you have old cine film
Read More »Disappointed in Humanity
Just in the last few years I have found myself growing quite weary of many things such as politics, religion and so on. After 50-odd years of seeing the same old tired arguments back and forth I have come to the conclusion that frankly, people are gullible, silly or both. I know how arrogant that sounds but I really don’t know how else to say it. Politicians and religious zealots are very clever and use tried and tested methods to disseminate their divisive and hate-filled rhetoric to a willing audience of people who propagate it without so much as a thought – myself included at times. I haven’t voted in years and I don’t think I will ever bother to do so again. Apathy has set in. I work in
Read More »Nationalism
At college I joined the territorial army. The union jack and the national anthem always stirred my emotions. I was deeply proud of being British. I even flirted with nationalist politics but was frankly put off by the other people I met on the right wing fringes of the Tory party. Even then, I liked to buck the trend. It was trendy to be a leftie so I did the very opposite like the contrarian Aquarian that I am. But I grew up. Firstly, I traveled a lot. At first inside the UK with three years in the midlands, a year in Leeds, three years in Glasgow, three years in Aberdeen, 3 years in London. To be honest, my parents liked travel too so even by age 16 I had
Read More »Divide et impera
What is the definition of divide and conquer? A strategy for achieving political or military control (my italics). There are a lot of ways to divide and conquer but the three that most easily come to mind are as follows; 1. Nationality 2. Religion 3. Race Politicians use all three of these and many others on an almost daily basis to gain what they want for their personal power. They pit us against one another by playing to our sense of injustice. The us and them statements designed to obtain an emotional response because if we surely thought about what we are being said we would recognise it as BS it really is. I’m English and a yorkshireman apparently. Why? Because by accident of birth I was born there. Nothing
Read More »A Photo
A photo of my Dad looks back at me from my desk in my home office. He sits in rainproof gear and back pack with a big smile on his face on the top of the Sgurr of Eigg. It was chilly and drizzling that day but we had climbed the Sgurr in the morning and were now examining the remains of the Iron age fort at the top and admiring the views periodically visible through the mist. After a sandwich and crisps lunch, we would walk down the other side of the Sgurr talking animatedly about the Iron age, geology and Scotland. Half way down, I would step inadvertently into a hidden crack in the peat and have to endure a smelly, wet and very darkly stained foot and
Read More »Six Weeks of Eigg
As an undergrad Geology student you have to undertake what’s called a field mapping project at the end of year 2. The field mapping project is essentially about spending 6-weeks out at some location trying to understand the geology and make a geological map. It’s great fun. I chose the Island of Eigg to do mine…. Eigg? I hear you ask. Where is that? Well, it’s an island off the west coast of Scotland below the Island of Skye. At the time I was there, it had about 50 inhabitants mostly living in the south of the small Island. I ‘lived’ on the north end of the island and sometimes I didn’t see anyone for days on end….. I took two tents there as my intention was to camp. After
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