John Michell RIP
May. 5th, 2009 10:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloJohn Michell died. I wouldn't say I was a disciple, but whenever I have pursued some particularly far-out line of speculative thought- anything to do with UFOs, ley lines, King Arthur, Glastonbury, standing stones and so on- it's a pretty sure thing that MIchell was loitering about somewhere in the vicinity. I must have read some of his books- though I'm not sure which- because the New Age books that weren't written by him were mostly inspired by him- and you can't dip your ladle into that nutricious porridge without it coming out full of Michell. Earlier this year I found myself navigating round South West England with his book Sacred England as my guide and he led me to a very wonderful romanesque bas relief of St George in a suburb of Dorchester that even the locals don't know is there. He was a man who knew a fabulous number of things- all of them fascinating, many of them nonsense. And the dear thing about him is that he was in on the joke. He was a savant, a mystic, a trickster, a conjurer, a twiddler and tweeter on the Pipes of Pan. His scholarship was ludic, because- as he fully believed- the universe is too. He wasn't serious- or responsible- but he cared- and is in the line of those- which includes Shakespeare and William Blake and Kipling and Stukeley and Dion Fortune and so many other of my heroes and heroines- who have treated and written of England as holy ground.
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Date: 2009-05-05 10:43 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-05-05 12:04 pm (UTC)What do you think--are they all a hoax? I've heard that many people report hearing sounds (like crickets, but more mechanical).
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Date: 2009-05-05 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-05-05 02:04 pm (UTC)Some are made by hoaxers- but I find it hard to believe they all are. Some of them are so extraordinarily elaborate
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Date: 2009-05-05 02:05 pm (UTC)I really ought to subscribe to the FT.
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Date: 2009-05-05 04:12 pm (UTC)And now I must go see if I can track down an obituary.
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Date: 2009-05-05 04:23 pm (UTC)"Hans Holzer, who died on April 26, is survived by two daughters. Through one of them, he has since sent his heartfelt "thanks" to The Daily Telegraph for its interest."
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Date: 2009-05-05 04:51 pm (UTC)Exactly what he WOULD have said, I think. "...heartfelt 'thanks' to The Daily Telegraph...."
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Date: 2009-05-05 04:54 pm (UTC)Thank you for this remembrance of him. It makes me want to read him even if I won't agree with a single thing he says.
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Date: 2009-05-09 07:37 pm (UTC)