Galdrbok. Practical Heathen Runecraft, Shamanism and Magic.

Nathan J. Johnson Robert J. Wallis: Galdrbok. Practical Heathen Runecraft, Shamanism and Magic. 398 pages, Wykeham Press of London and Winchester, revised edition of a privately circulated work, 2005.

It's been a long time since anything new appeared regarding Nordic magick. I had almost assumed that Germanic paganism got stuck in the usual merry-go-round of group politics and hierarchy games. Then, out of the blue, appears a magnificent book on practical rune magick. The Galdrbok is a work of art. It blends high-quality scholarly research with the pragmatic approach required to make things work. Out of the union emerges something new. It could be you.

Treadwells and Secret Chief Talks

Treadwells

Here's a selection of talks at Treadwells. Full descriptions of all events are to be found now on website, http:www.treadwells-london.com

Treadwells, 34 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London WC2
Places booked on 0207 240 8906
or by email info@...

1st February (Wednesday)
Celtic Brigit: A Scholarly Look at the Goddess and Saint
Dr Christina Oakley Harrington. 7.15 for 7.30 pm start £5.00
This talk, coinciding with the Celtic festival of Imbolc, surveys the state of scholarship on the goddess/saint Brigit, whose holy day falls on the first of February. The talk covers the attributes of this goddess, and her alleged temples, rites and fires. There is a critical consideration of the myths that have arisen about Brigit, and so archaeological evidence and the written primary sources are highlighted. Christina Oakley Harrington, PhD did her postgraduate work at University College London and lectured at the University of Surrey for ten years. Her monograph, Women in a Celtic Church, is published with Oxford University Press.

3rd February (Friday)
Launch Party for Candlemas
Launching Eaman Murrar’s fantasy novel, The Oracle. From 7.00 pm - 10.00 pm
Please join us for our Candlemas soiree, which comes on the heels of our now--legendary Christmas bash. The occasion is the launch of a debut novel by a friend of the shop, Eaman Murrar. The theme of the evening is Candlemas, the ancient Celtic festival sacred to the Goddess Brigit (also known as Imbolc). The theme will be white, and the decor will be (no prizes for guessing) candle-lit. Please join us.

Tuesday, February 14
Thanatology: Philosophy of Death
Dr Stephen Alexander
7.15 for 7.30 pm start. £5.00
A six-part series of lecture seminars on death, sex, suicide and sacrifice from a philosopher-scholar of the Continental school, an old friend and regular of Treadwell’s whose annual series always provoke controversy, dismay, and outrage. The first evening is entitled ‘On Dissolving the Distinction Between Life and Death’. It examines the metaphysical assumption that posits life and death as two mutually-exclusive terms within a dualist framework. Alexander asks us to consider the possibility that ‘being alive is actually nothing but a rare and unusual way of being dead’. Stephen Alexander, PhD, is a scholar philosopher and post-punk icon. His doctoral thesis was done at Warwick University.

Sunday, February 19
Magic, Drama Power: A Day Course
A day of drama, magick and improvisation. By John Harrigan and FoolishPeople 11 am - 5 pm £35.00
John Harrigan is director of the occultist theatre company FoolishPeople, whose current cycle of plays is being held at the Horse Hospital Theatre in Bloomsbury. On this one-day course he will take the class through exercises, challenges and experiences of the magical and theatrical arts that are central in this company’s work. These will include improvisation, visualisation, examining ones own world-view, and challenging assumptions about power, the world, the nature of reality, and magic. On the day please wear comfortable loose clothing. For more on FoolishPeople and the work of the company, see www.foolishpeople.org. Currently FoolishPeople are performing their Dark Nights Cycle at the Horse Hospital, and the next performance will be held on Saturday, 14 January. To register for this day course, please register via Treadwell’s as soon as possible, as numbers are strictly limited.

Liber Quantum

Practicality and exactness are what usually come to mind when most people think of either Science or Mathematics. On the other hand, when Tarot Cards, Astrology, or Occultism in general is mentioned, many individuals will roll their eyes and smile politely as if they were hearing of an adventure with Peter Pan. While these two viewpoints may at first seem to be antithetical, the reality is that everything created by human beings in this manifest world must necessarily represent a balanced mix of both the practical intellect of the Scientist and the intuitive intellect of the Occultist. A realistic awareness of the need for such balance has been evolving for a while in the field of “Quantum Theory,” the most progressive and cutting edge branch of Modern Science. This is because the best and brightest Scientists are continually realizing the need to accept unexplainable and paranormal phenomenon as both a necessary and relevant part of our evolving collective knowledge.

From another point of view, the Qabalistic Adepts have faced a similar challenge within the constructs of their creation mythology because the entire system of correspondences known as “Qabalah” takes form from the paradox of a Great Void known as AIN or “Nothing,” where all things exist simultaneously as un-manifested potential.

Aside from its mystical meaning, the Hebrew word AIN is also an interesting term from a linguistic perspective because when the letters are rearranged to spell ANI, the word for “nothing” is then transformed into the Hebrew word for “I’ or “the self.”

The same sort of relationship between the individual and the whole is also true in Quantum Theory where it is believed that any experiment only has validity when there is an observer present, inferring that reality must ultimately originate from a point of view. With this in mind, the urobos of our collective intelligence would appear to be swallowing a little more of its own tail as Science and Mysticism can now ironically agree on “Nothing” as a means to come to terms with one another.

Now that a general analogy has been drawn, let’s take a more specific look and see how the methods of the Scientist and the Magus share a few basic similarities.

When the average person sees an example of a complex mathematical equation written out they become mystified. This is because they aren’t necessarily connecting with the fact that the unfamiliar glyphs being viewed are like any other language, namely symbolic representations of ideas not unlike the letter “L” included in a word in a newspaper or the number “3” on a store receipt. Hence, when it is boiled down, there is essentially little difference between a Scientist using mathematical language to theorize about how to manifest jet propulsion or a Qabalistic Magician constructing a talisman of Hermetic symbols to manifest an intention on one plane into a tangible result on another.

In his piece entitled, “An Essay Upon Number,” Aleister Crowley creates a theoretical Qabalistic statement using the Tarot and Hebrew alphabet correspondences from the Tree of Life. The statement he made concludes with;

III=G=The High Priestess=II=2=B=The Magus=I=1=A=The Fool=0

For all intents and purposes, the above could very well be an example of a Quantum equation because it is an illustration of a very Quantum-like idea. When the preceding theorem is translated into lay terms it is essentially saying that 3=0. Now of course such a statement isn’t true if you’re doing business in the marketplace, yet metaphysically the triad represents duality evolving toward unity or “1,” which then by reflection allows us to define the concept of “Nothing” or mathematical Zero. While this may seem oversimplified, the preceding point is an excellent example of theory and practicality coming together. I say this because every manifestation in our earthly experience requires us to come to terms with creating something from nothing, hence the ability to put zero, or the mystery of the unknown, into a context of possibility rather than fear is about as practical as one can be.

It is said that if you feed a man a fish you will satisfy his immediate hunger, but if you teach him to fish he will be able to feed himself and be the master of his own fate. I would further add that through the act of fishing there also exists the potential for spiritual insight, or an awareness of the greater balance of our world in a universal sense. It was my intention when writing “Modern Magickal Keys” to initially provide an introduction to the basic languages of Hermeticism and Magick from a practical perspective, and then to show examples of my own Qabalistic creations in relation to Classic examples. I hoped this would reveal to readers how an Adept euphemistically learns to fish, for the Qabalah and its associative dialects of Astrology and Tarot can really only have value relative to their practical use, just like the association between the number 3.1415… and the Greek letter Pi is just a bit of data to a Mathematician until he or she attempts to compute the area of a circle. To this end, the title “Modern Magickal Keys” is also a reference to self-empowerment, for after the key to anything has been made available, it is then up to the possessor to use this tool to unlock the doors of perception which will then lead us to a future just waiting to be made real by a point of view.

Thomas Eisele [abramelin21@...].
Tom's book Modern Magical Keys is published by Abramelin Press, New York

The Grammar Of Witchcraft III

David w. Parry M.A.

Copyrights © 09/2005/6

Chapter 2

Caliban felt uncomfortable opening the cheerless Elm doors under the curiously judgemental stare of two elderly clerics. Why were they stood there? Obviously, both clergymen knew he was gay and disliked his confident gait. The dwarf however was unperturbed, since he was in service to the dazzling Orisha Orun and a brother to his sunlight, so theoretically there should be no problem. Christianity was itself a Sun Cult and early Christian missionaries exhibited meticulous courtesy towards Sun Worshippers whenever they met them: irrespective of their sexuality. Nevertheless, he intuitively knew clerical ignorance, amplified over untold centuries of malice towards other spiritual paths, would allow no tolerance of him. Shit! He walked quickly past them, nodding politely. There was also an usher at the entrance who quickly guided him to his seat. "Ah yes sir", she whispered, "you are with the brides party". Caliban wondered how he could be with the "bride's" party? The words "husband" and "wife" have specific historical connotations and he didn't want to be anyone's husband or wife. Surely, gay and lesbian people didn't need to mimic the unsuccessful and largely mechanical customs of unhappy heterosexuals? Anyway, he thanked the burnished Heavens his pew was at the back.

To Caliban's surprise, more balding, fustian clerics stood at the front altar. Then it hit him. Lesbians are fashionable. If there was a better way to drag punters into church, he couldn't think of it. One of them was already intoning in a patronising voice: "As David so loved Jonathan and as Ruth so loved Naomi…" Caliban gasped, "Fuck, these people have no scruples". It seemed to him that one minute, homosexuals are excluded from full participation in the Church, and the next Clerics are citing gay characters in the Bible. He took a prophylactic to lessen the tension. Only his planetary self had to suffer the hypocrisy surrounding him. Caliban relaxed, as the capsule began to loosen the silvery bonds between his various bodies. He had always known Witchcraft went further than the way of the Saints, because it invigorated all three vehicles, not just the fleshly physique. Orun once sang to him that the atom of soul grounded itself in the soil of existence in an archetypal, imaginal and physical form: like a seed becoming a root, leaf and Lily flower- only to become a seed again. Orun enlighteningly chorused that when the cords were relaxed, each body could roam on its own plane, separately experiencing different parts of the one life uniting them. "A petal seeks light, a tendril needs darkness but all is still a single plant," the monad stressed melodiously.

So for decades, Caliban obsessively studied the signs of the physical body, finding himself intrigued by a range of divinatory techniques based on clinical observation concerning the marks and lines of the skin. Interpreting these engravings was traditionally known as Somatology, and methods included: Palmistry, Physiognomy, Neomancy and Phrenology. Until our Post-Modern period, such techniques signified peasant magic, despite the fact they decode the oldest talismans known to humanity. Maybe for this reason Caliban prized these tactile impressions, inscribing as they did, the semiotics of fate and the legacy of race memory.

His personal divinations always commenced with Palmistry (or to be more technical Chiromancy) since it uncovered primary psychological traits and unexpected future probabilities. Other witches followed similar procedures. Yet in his practice, Caliban concentrated on the lines of life, delightfully contouring the thumb, to tell his client the length of time he or she had left to live. Caliban then focussed on the lines of the heart, to delve into the dominant emotions his client had already experienced, while discussing their passionate trajectories. Thirdly, Caliban pondered over the wrinkles on his client to calculate intellectual potential, warning him or her about personal excesses. Explanations followed, concerning issues raised by lines of health, along with ways to prevent any malady from manifesting. Lastly, he searched for lines of Destiny on the wrists of his client, not only to prophesy achievements, but also to see if he was dealing with someone who may one day join the Teachers-of-True-Epistemology.

Unlike inexperienced witches, Caliban knew this merely began a full sensual reading, since each finger has a symbolic attribution. He furthered his personal oracles by deciphering the finger nearest the thumb as the finger of King Jupiter, expressing True-Will. If it is naturally sculpted, this suggests a fondness for carousing, whereas a lengthy finger denotes the need to dominate others, accompanied by a lack of sensitivity towards basic human concerns. Next to this is the finger of Old Father Saturn: a spindly digit implies that the personality is unbalanced, whereas short joints reveal the intuitive psyche of a writer or painter. Afterwards came the finger of Radiant Apollo, or the ring finger. Any well-balanced person has a finely formed ring finger, but a stubby column indicates emotional dysfunction as well as restless introspection. Finally there is the finger of Winged Mercury which if strong, suggests a seeker after sexual secrets, but if weak or twisted, screams of neuro-ethical disorders. Thumbs, like a silent dictionary, guide a witch over the fingers. They personify the libido. In which case, large ones testify to a potent character, while a bent trunk betrays intrinsic melancholia. In situations of distress people often hide their thumbs, symbolising a desire to escape from the world.

The mounds are also extremely instructive. The mount of Sovereign Zeus relates to enthusiasm. If it is rudely coloured there is a tendency towards self-importance, conversely a poorly shaped cushion shows a severe lack of confidence. Secondly, a well developed hill of Grandfather Cronus, whispers of a quiet disposition. Such a person is usually hard working with diligent predispositions towards their private affairs, yet austerity taints their consciousness with a leaning towards world-weariness. As a significant stratagem, a witch will probe for tell-tale marks fencing the ridge of footloose Hermes. This part of the palm shows a love of change and travel as well as rapidity of thought, yet a fullness of the mound warns of evil inclinations. Perhaps this is why most Witches move swiftly to the crescent of Selene. A strongly dappled pad demonstrates an idealistic or romantic personality; cratered carvings show sensitivity, coupled with a love of nocturnal sophistication. The last portion of the palm to be read is the rise of Aphrodite, because it relates to uncontrolled lust, or warmth of temperament. Unique markings are then finally taken into account, such as birthmarks, the texture of the skin and the overall shape of the arm. At this point, Witches remind their clients that the left hand (on a right handed person) is chiselled with previous behaviour patterns; a right hand however, changes with the course of present experience.

Caliban's dam Sycorax taught him physiognomy and phrenology, because a client's facial features and cranial shape may be analogically compared to those of an animal. As occult diagnoses, readings are based on an ageless perception that human beings re-capitulate the entire evolutionary process, although the vast majority of people only progress to rudimentary stages. Demonstrably, everyone reflects the juncture at which an adaptation-chain stopped, and this proves to be the esoteric key unlocking their essential qualities. Hence, a "monkey-headed" man is mischievous and fun-loving but lacks determination and stability. A "lion-headed" adolescent is a person of natural courage, though one who acts in a foolhardy fashion. Her private journal mentioned "ass-headed" women who are stubborn, stupid and loyal," and "pig-headed" babies who are ruled by their base appetites. Unevenness on the right side of a "donkey -shaped" skull, indicated congenital pride, "gifted" by overly assertive ancestors. A Craft remedy for this, she wrote, would be to empathise with other people, thereby stimulating the alternate side of the cranium.

With these skills in mind, Caliban looked closely at the stooping couple in front of him. Increasingly shocked, his earthly eyes awoke to the realisation that Helen (the groom) was a living weapon against the tyranny of reason, quite unlike her step- sister Moscow Chestnova of recent Soviet history. His Helen stood at the candle-lit altar like a legendary Hag: her extended chin, arching forehead and huge crook nose embodying rebellion. For her special day, Helen wore an extremely tight, green, ball gown, exaggerating her hunched back and causing her to mutter in barely suppressed curses. Despite themselves, the congregation watched Helen's androgynous frame tremble, as though she were a suspended marionette with hands quivering upwards in a series of disturbing mudras. Guests seated nearby were further unnerved at Helen's tiny teeth, as wan as parsnips, and on permanent, malicious, display. Like a modern Mother Shipton among the elect, Helen revelled in grotesquery.

Confusingly, her partner Emily, (the bride), was a much more powerful Witch. In appearance she was tall, lean and boyish, partly explaining why her dress sense never stretched beyond tweeds. Yet, Emily's heavily bespectacled face always retained its expression of sapphic superiority. Indeed, to the congregation, her every move appeared strangely slow and precise, like a collection of sepia photographs. Emily's intimates, including Caliban, commented that she had an atmosphere about her, similar to the menace posed by an angry colony of Africanised Bees. The threat she personified seemed inconsequential until it was aroused to devastating effect. Since most people at the Service were Emily's friends or family it came as no surprise that the girls audibly cackled at each other as they exchanged their vows.

Suddenly, the dwarf felt his huge imaginal hands beginning to move of their own accord: they now had strength enough to strike down all his Clerical oppressors. In a moment, Caliban understood the sleepless nights of the Christian ascetics, the physical tortures of Indian Fakirs and the icy baths taken by young Tibetan monks as methods to reinforce this imaginal superstructure. If he wished to use his imaginal fists to punch his opponent's imaginal stomachs, he could knock them across the room with no discernable cause. Likewise, Caliban speculated that if he intended to kill the Clerics, he could fashion a shard of black light into imaginal daggers and ecstatically plunge them into his inquisitor's imaginal backs. No orthodox physician could detect the cause of his enemies' deterioration, still less have the requisite knowledge, or necessary power, to remove these subtle weapons. Only another Witch of equal ability would be able to perform the task without adding more problems to the case. Perhaps the Eranos Institute alone knew how to heal such wounds.

Immediately afterwards, Caliban's imaginal eyes opened wide. He saw the Saint of Saints, Christed Jesu and realised all three of The Healer's bodies were woven together in the archetypal world. Caliban sensed Jesu's movements in the iconography behind the Clerics. He saw a man at Gethsemane whom he will never forget. He observed his unkempt hair, crippled carriage and Semitic nose. Caliban marvelled at the Saints gigantic heart-shaped head, single cyclopean eye, and muscled, luminous torso. He detected the white raiment of a skilled Therapeutae and he thought he heard oral prescriptions. Caliban saw him picking a cluster of nearly unrecognisable weeds, as well as Hemp and black pods. The dwarf felt an intense need to reach out and touch The Healer, but refused to embarrass himself. Caliban could taste in his mouth a supper of Goose and Claret held in Jesu's honour, and became festive at that flavour. He realised this celestial Saint was the Lord of infinite space, who could hide himself in a Cobnut shell. Miraculously, The Healer had transcended material limitation.

Caliban started to understand imaginal space as the source of Witchcraft, because the Gnostic Name of our Goddess echoes everywhere in those dimensions. Her sighs constitute a Symphonic Grimoire, recorded by witches in the organic world as transcripts forming a Book of Reverberations. Frustratingly, witches moan that these sounds are frequently misheard, which is why the study of their notational grammar gave objective knowledge. For Caliban in particular, the error of Classical civilization was to put so-called musical expertise on a pedestal and subsequently protect its fallible pronouncements as if they were descriptions of a fixed reality. Older witches constantly added that everything in the earthy realm was relatively true and that Vibration is actually the agent securing each sigil or trapping human cognition. Grammar and foreground static aren't the same thing.

The effects of his drug were rapidly wearing off and Caliban didn't know whether a hundred seconds or a hundred hours had gone. Noises loudly played their music in his ears. Nonetheless, he recovered himself in order to greet his friend. "Congratulations Emily, how does it feel to be an unlawfully married woman?"

"Absolutely great!"

"Where is your other half?"

"She's trying to avoid the artful bodger".

"Ah", Caliban guessed that was Helen's brother AKA "the loser". He felt he should say something portentous, such as: people don't always recognise when they fall in love and are normally incapable of doing the right thing once they have. But this was a time to celebrate, so he needed to make his way to the garden with the other guests.

(. . . continued next time)

Chaotopia! SORCERY AND ECSTASY IN THE FIFTH AEON
by Dave Lee

isbn 1869928881, 208pp 145x229mm, illustrations 12.99 in paperback original

‘Once one is fairly competent at practical sorcery, there is little of importance that remains to be said or read about the subject; the magician at this point tends to emphasize inner development in his work. It seems to me that Chaos Magic itself has reached this point; the basic ideas needed for anyone to construct his or her own system of sorcery and to hone their skills are already covered by the available books. What has been lacking so far, is a Chaos magical approach to the investigation of the ecstatic states that underlie magical gnosis. This book, rather than trying to provide yet another slightly different flavour of Chaos technique, takes as its starting point the relationship between ecstasy and magic; between Chaos Magic and Chaos Mysticism, if you like.’ from page 8

"Chaotopia! is neither Utopia nor its opposite. It is what Austin Osman Spare called 'the chaos of the normal', seen through an illuminated eye, the eye of the sorcerer."

Chaotopia! includes updates and evaluations of techniques in Chaos Magick and an exploration of ecstatic states in relation to both magick and mysticism. Also chapters on:

Wealth Magick/Conflict and Exorcism/Sex Magick/Body Alchemy and Healing/Magick and Physics/Chaos Illumination/Spirits/Aeonics

‘A highly intelligent book by a leading Chaos Magician which will broaden and deepen Chaoist debate, theory and practice.’
Peter J. Carroll

Dave Lee has over 20 years of experience in practical magick and is also trained in Neurolinguistics. An early editor of Chaos International magazine, he is the author of Magical Incenses and the Wealth Magic Workbook. He has worked with the Illuminates of Thanateros for many years, and presents workshops and lectures in the UK, USA and mainland Europe. Dave lives in England, and is engaged in continual magical researches which will no doubt find their way into print in one form or another.

Generation Hex (review)

Jason Louv (Editor) £9.99 Disinformation Company 2005

Generation Hex comes on strong. Like the hissing intensity of a DMT hit it reaches out and grabs you. Hang on to your crown chakras kids, it’s going to be one hell of a ride!

Though brash in it’s post post-modern reality hacking style Generation Hex is far from being all façade and no content (although the design quality of the volume, as we have come to expect from the Disinformation crew, is indeed excellent). This is a wonderful selection of essays by young magicians, mostly from the USA that I found a real inspiration to read.

The collection ranges across samples of diary extracts, detailed explorations of how magick might be understood through pure maths and physics, through to work on psychogeographical drifting and esoteric parables. The styles differ as well, from the post-Gibson swaggering psybermagickical, through cut-up discordianism and into more classic modern journalese. But uniting each essay are a number of common features. The first is that without exception each essay is wonderfully written. The second is that each essay gives the sense that it is a window into real experimental magick and that the authors are primarily practitioners first and writers second. The third is that in their different ways each essay is seeking to broaden the perception of what magic is.

I was particularly taken by the honest and direct position that drugs take within the magickal work of many of the essayists. I was inspired that such intelligent, honest and human magick is being produced by younger adepts. Though you’ll find techniques in this volume it’s so much more than a crummy how-to manual. Perhaps for me (aged about 10 years older than most of the guys and gals writing in this collection) one of the great insights was how the availability of esoteric technique and technology (especially via the internet) means that today’s new generation of occultists can spend their time experimenting and doing, and not waste so much energy in trying to obtain paraphernalia, find rare out of print books and hang-around at lame New Age festivals looking for real magicians (like I had to! Honestly these kids don’t know they’re born!).

This is a must read for anyone interested in the sociology of magick let alone those people who are themselves occultists. I have a feeling that the Generation Hexers are really going to be helping to set the new agenda for magick in the 21st century and if this book represents the way we’re headed then we can expect great things indeed.

If you’ve been wondering what was going to come after chaos magick then the approaches explored in this book may well be the answer. Buy it now.

‘THE POISON MAKER’ by John Symonds

The Alchemy Theatre Company presents ‘THE POISON MAKER’ by John Symonds
at The Old Red Lion, 418 St John St, London EC1V 4NJ
Tube: Angel, Box Office 020 7837 7816, Admin 020 7833 3053
31 January-18 February 2006 Tues-Sat 8pm, Sun 5pm Tickets £12/£10

Based on a true story, this atmospheric, dark comedy period piece involves two families emotionally bound together by unrequited love and explores the dangerously close relationship between a bohemian single mother and her son. Controversial and psychologically gripping; the play contains nudity.

This is the world premiere of this gothic play by John Symonds, who is best known for his critically acclaimed biography of Aleister Crowley ‘The Great Beast’.

Previous reviews for John Symonds’ work include:

‘curious and remarkable… Symonds has created a host of extraordinary characters…rare intelligence and wit.’
FRANCIS KING, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Cast: Steven Blake, Vicki Carpenter, Eva Gray, Amy Sayers, Anna Westlake, James Oliver Wheatley.

Director: Vicki Carpenter, Producer: Tom Symonds, Stage Design: Richard Newman, Computer Graphics: Adrian Mars.

For more information, please telephone Vicki Carpenter on 020 7794 1029 or 07816 291811

Synopsis of the play

Set in the early 1900s, this dark comedy drama tells the story of two families emotionally bound together by an unrequited love and a blood tie.

Pansy, an attractive bohemian, has brought her son Felix up single handedly. They sometimes smoke opium together. She previously rejected his father, Timothy Tegg, throwing him out of the house on the day her son is born. Shrewd in business, she earns a living buying and selling antiques. The relationship between Pansy and her enigmatic, poetical son, is unusually close, and she allows him to take photographs of her in the nude.

At the age of 21, Felix sets off to meet his father for the first time, who, spurred on by rejection, has successfully made a name for himself in the art world. Having married on the rebound, he now lives unhappily with his wife Florence, and their two grown up, attractive daughters. However, over the years, Florence has become bitter, morbid and a fantasist, under the realization that their marriage is a sham and her husband is still in love with Pansy.

Felix visits the house for the first time and immediately causes upset, showing Florence and her daughters the nude photographs he has taken of his mother. Anna, the youngest daughter, falls in love with Felix, and causes further upset by boldly moving in with him, while insisting that their love remain pure and sacred. Pansy's scheme to keep Felix to herself is now shattered, and she fears she will lose her son.

Meanwhile, Florence, recovered from the shock of her rival's naked photograph and the disloyalty of Anna, finds herself also drawn towards Felix, and invites him to the house again. Dispite Anna's protests, Felix is curious and accepts the invitation. Much to the anger of the remaining daughter Margaret, he returns and they share an intimacy which awakens Florence's sexuality, allowing her to break free from the narrow, psychological, grave she feels she has been in all these years. She seduces Felix, who was a virgin and gives him her cynadide pills to symbolise her renewed desire to live, but her husband, now aware there is a battle between mother and daughter for Felix, fears the poison is intended for Anna.

The story is set in motion when Anna, acting on an ideal, is determined to relive an earlier moment of her life, when she saw geese flying over a catherdral in Sweden. Driven by Catholic guilt and sexual repression, she plans to visit the same place again with Felix, desperate for a sign that their relationship is blessed. Felix who has been sexually released by Florence, from his mother's apron strings and Anna's desires for a pure, sexless life has lost faith and no longer believes in the signs from God but he still goes along with it as he hasn't quite got the strength to break free. In Sweden, once again, illusions are shattered, when Anna fails to see the geese and she and Felix quarrel.

However, they finally give in to physical desires when false ideals of repression crumble. The play gives a radical examination to many of the precepts that underly our lives, such as false illusions, idealism, incest and unrequited love.

The play will run at The Old Red Lion in Islington from the 31st of January to 18th February 2006.

John Symonds writing has been published to critical acclaim and the Poison Maker, a fne example of his work, is unique, mysterious, and intriguing. He lives in Hampstead with his wife .

'The Unbound Book' by Nicholas Green