IGR REVIEW NUMBER ONE

Although this is the last issue of ANCIENT MYSTERIES, this is the first issue of IGR REVIEW, which will continue as a section in the new Cambridgeshire Ancient Mysteries, No. 2 in CAM No. 1 and so on.
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EARTHFIRE 1 – Exploring the Energies of the Ancients by Jalandris
From AURA 1548 Grace Street, Lincoln NE 68503 USA.

This is the first in a proposed series of publications from the Association of Unity Research and Awareness. Further copies etc may be obtained for $10, or so the blurb says. Anyway, we got a review copy, and review it we will!

This issue is about earth energies, all the varied aspects. It begins with a preamble about the ancients’ awareness of the Earth as a living, dynamic being, and the ‘web of power’ that encompasses it. The groundwork was in the “leys” of England, says the author, and explains how he was ‘turned on’ to leys. “Reaching the summit of a hill top” etc. – the classical Watkins myth is again recounted, this time without chivalric overtones, and fortunately correctly at Black rather than Bred (wardine, that is), but even so, the ‘vision’ again rears its poetic head in keeping with the ‘New Romantic’ craze of 1981. This apart, the publication is a good attempt to correlate the many strands of geomantic lore collected together by many researchers. Drawing heavily upon the Bords’ Secret Country it lists types of ley-legends, mentions Underwood’s geodetic studies, then goes on to the memories of energy-lines across the world, astroarchaeology, etc. Ireland brings us Fairy Paths. Then we come across Germany, one of the areas of research rediscovered by the IGR: Teudt and Heinsch are mentioned, but not a notice of Gerlach. However, continuing to France, we get Guichard’s Alesia studies, but no mention of the earth energies work of François Peyre. Then Greece, Italy and Egypt are lumped together – declining Oracles, Scully’s work on ‘central’ positioning of temples, with holy hills, notch sighting and celestial orientation; Chaldeans, the Great Pyramid and energies, tenfold measures of light etc. The African revelations are most interesting, for they bring out the work of W.J. Harding King who discovered a linear system marked by standing stones and cairns in the Sahara.

<The section on> Israel mentions the work of Heinsch – strange that the major geomantic work should be done by a man living in Nazi Germany! The Bible’s geomancy is touched upon, and then we reach Feng-Shui. Australian native customs also show these universal energy characteristics, argues Jalandris, and the Pacific and American spheres are not lacking. Finally, this fascinating excursion through world geomancy is culminated by the idea of the Earth as Crystal, with diagrams and line sites.

Despite the occasional lapses – Fenris-Wolf is at BAR HILL, not London! – and omissions of key books in the bibliography – the overall impression is that a good deal of valuable work has been done in collecting the information together from many disparate sources. As an introduction to the overall claims of earth energies, it is of great use to all geomants, and is highly recommended.
Nigel Pennick.

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SOWERS OF THUNDER by Anthony Roberts. Available from the author at Address, London SW6, £2.00 paperback £3.50 hardback.

Subtitled Giants in myth and history, Sowers of Thunder is the best book on giants to date. Anthony Roberts is one of Britain’s long established writers in the field of geomantic research, and this book (which has been woefully under-publicized) explores the realm of geomantic-mythological-esoteric-historical knowledge Roberts terms ‘geomythics’. Starting from the evidence that giants were a reality – and he lists many recent and living ones – he concludes that they were the original inhabitants of the British Isles and the makers of the great geomantic earthworks we know and love. Delving into legend, the author shows its connexion with ley lines, earth energies and the general geomantic schemata of the country. The extraterrestrial connexion, the Glastonbury Zodiac and the St Michael’s mounts are all skilfully woven into a coherent exposition of the nature of the giant mythos. Gogmagog, Cornish Giants, the Titans and beloved Albion are all dealt with in fascinating detail, and four appendices are of especial relevance to those who would dismiss the author’s thesis, for they list historically authenticated giants, detail the weird Nazi theories of Hörbiger’s alternative cosmologies, retell encounters with “King Anak, Giant of the Giants”, and explain aspects of giant legendry in American myth. Sowers of Thunder is a thoroughly worthwhile study of a much neglected subject and deserves to be on the bookshelves of all students of the geomythic arts.
N.P.
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AN ARCHITECTURAL HANDBOOK OF GLASTONBURY ABBEY
By Frederick Bligh Bond. RILKO/Thorsons £3.95

To any geomant, the name of Bond needs no introduction. His work on Glastonbury Abbey, connected as it was with psychism and accusations by Church orthodoxy of daemonic connotations, must be one of the weirdest episodes in the bizarre chronicle of geomantic research. RILKO has resurrected a fine edition of Bond’s most enduring work, the Architectural Handbook in its 1909 incarnation. The only criticism must be the reproduction of V.M. Dallas’s 1932 plan which although beautifully reproduced in near-to-original colours, omits the Edgar Chapel apse now so shamefully buried by the Church authorities beneath a baulk of earth and turf. Perhaps the only jarring note comes in an introduction with five numbered footnotes advertizing books and criticizing Bond for not having signed affidavits of his ‘automatic writing’ with Alleyne. It is satisfying to see, however, that one of the ‘introducers’ has now accepted my definition of science.
N.P.
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CANNIBALIZE LEGALIS By Anonymous Bosch. Fireweed Press, Box 23, Oakley.

This astonishing publication, printed on the worst duplicator that exists, so it seems, purports to be the automatic writing of an Irish Jew at Stonehenge in 1632. A load of garbled ravings, it seems to suggest that the positioning of the stones was arranged to get people ‘high’ by channelling the tellific energies of the world in the pattern of a cannabis leaf. It has to be a joke!
N.P.
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REVIEWS continue in the next issue of IGR REVIEW in Issue 1 of CAMBRIDGESHIRE ANCIENT MYSTERIES, out in JULY 1981.
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STRANGE HAPPENINGS IN HITCHIN AND NORTH HERTS. by Ron Pigram. 60p from Ron Pigram at Address, Hitchin, Herts.

This interesting work is subtitled “being an account of local UFOs, ghosts, arson, railway accidents, crime and punishment, Victorian electioneering and carnivals”. Such a wide ranging coverage is bound to be fascinating, and Ron Pigram’s book certainly brings together many well-researched facts. UFOs include the Luton one of September 15, 1875, a big bang in 1895, up to a 1978 incident. The usual local ghost tales follow, then ‘Unpleasant things on the railway’ – derailments, illegal rides, and the weird tale of a survivor of the Titanic sinking who shot himself on a train near Hitchin in 1921. Also spiritual railwaymen!

Arson and fire are always in the news today, with Arsonizations continuously wiping out property, especially schools and official buildings. The ‘fire-devils’ of Hertfordshire are mentioned here – William Moles of Hitchin, hanged at the age of 17 for arson in Weston in 1817 for ‘rural incendiarism’. The same year local revolutionaries attacked a fire engine on the way to extinguish one such fire at Weston, throwing the fireman to his death beneath the wheels of the engine. The campaign of incendiarism which started at Potton (Beds) in 1783 destroyed much of the town and led to fears of revolution. Police arson in 19th century Hitchin is an untold tale unearthed by Pigram. Knebworth Lodge Farm went up in flames 12/9/1852; 22/3/53 Gatewards of Hitchin burnt. On 11/3/57 John Lewis’s yard in Hitchin Market incinerated. On Dec 1 1865, after other arsonizations, a Mr Brown was walking thru Hitchin when he came across a recently started fire at the Sun Hotel, near to an unconcerned policeman. Three unexplained fires that month led to the appearance of two local ‘bobbies’ before the local court for “being concerned with originating dangerous fires”! Pigram follows this tale with Mill fires – drastic disasters, and then ‘law and order’ – strange after the case of the police arsonists. Finally, after traffic accidents in Victorian Hitchin, we get election riots (something for the modern ‘laurel and ordy’ brigade). One riot was stopped by the Chief Constable bribing two men to start a fight and draw away the crowd! Lastly, the Guy Fawkes events of the 1870s, carnivals and the celebrations of monarchical spectacles with beer and bunting. Worth getting a copy – something for everyone from Forteans to students of arson.
N.P.