Ancient Mysteries no. 16, July 1980 (continuation of Journal of Geomancy)
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Nowadays, we read unceasingly of the much-vaunted New Age, Aquarius, Aeon of Horus, The New Order, etc., etc. What do these terms mean, and what exactly are people getting out of it? For starters, a certain ‘New Age Festival’ this year made over £1000 profit, which is now going into the pockets of a landlord for the rent of an office. Other festivals are even bigger – never mind the body, feel the profit! Estimated prophets of the New Age proliferate like ticket touts outside Wembley Stadium on Cup Final day. But at least ‘Fat Stan’ Flashman sells the real thing – you pays yer money and yer sees yer team lose one-nil. In the New Age everything is theta-waves in the sky – you pay your money and you get … CAVEAT EMPTOR!
The bottom of the barrel is dredged in the commercialization of this Aquarius bit. Its New Ageism is typified by its theme song Aquarius. Let it not be forgotten that this notorious piece of rhythm-and-blues was from a debased commercial exploitation of sanitized hippiedom that made inordinately massive profits for its impresarios. It is no coincidence that Nixon was bombing Vietnam flat at the same time that stage hippies warbled “Harmony and understanding …”. Such naiveté in the face of universal torture, repression and nuclear holocaust is the worst form of escapism – except you don’t escape. Whether the Moon is in the umpteenth house will have no effect on the outcome of a nerve gas attack on your neighbourhood.
If research into ancient skills and wisdom is not to degenerate into mindless reiteration of authoritarian canonical
formulae, then this millennarian eschatology must be tempered with realism.
The Ghost Dancers of Native America in the 1890s believed their magic was proof against the machine guns of the
US Cavalry and Artillery. You bet it wasn’t – their New Ageism led them to their graves.
THULEAN
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An ancient obelisk-style milestone has been re-erected outside the Manchester Arms Hotel, St Ives, Cambs. It was
found 20 years ago when an old toll cottage was demolished at the site. The obelisk, probably 17th century, was then in
use as a gatepost, partially buried. Reconstrution of the road this year has led to its re-siting beside a new
roundabout. The obelisk, which has carvings of hands pointing to various towns, has a twin standing near the village
boundary at nearby Somersham.
cr. Daryl Potter
Scientists testing the effects of electric fields on growing cells have found that the cell generates its own field which controls shape and form. In the Journal of Cell Science (42: p. 261) Danny Brower and Richard McIntosh of Colorado University show the effects of fields on a 1 millimetre alga called Micrasterias. Algae were grown on culture medium and had a field of 14 V/cm applied through electrodes. When the cells were placed with their lobes at right angles to the field, new parts did not grow as big as the parent parts, and their form was aberrant. The new half grew larger at the side of the negative electrode. This indicates that cells generate their own fields which give form to new growing parts – something of supreme importance and verifiable in earth energies research.
The fag-ends of geomantic practice have now reached perhaps the lowest ebb in their long and venerable history. The CAMBRIDGE EVENING NEWS for Saturday 28th June 1980 had a photograph of the Bishop of Ely laying the new foundation stone of a school in Nuffield Road, Cambridge. Complete with cross potent and neat inscription, one would think that the old lore continues. Not a bit of it! After the ceremony had ended and the spectators had gone home to an evening in front of the box, the contractors removed the stone to store. So much for the astrological and geomantic significance of place and time in laying the foundation of the new school. They haven’t even thought of a place for the stone to go yet. If this muddled thinking is analyzed, it shows the total futility of such ceremonies. Either they should do them properly, with astrological and geomantic calculations, or the whole remnant sham should be quietly terminated and the church’s wealth redistributed to the poor and needy.