TITLE: Urthona: Issue 25.' Celtic Connections'
EDIORS: Bonnet, Dhivan, Padmacandra, Ratnagarbha
DISTRIBUTORS: UK: Central Books, 99 Wallis Rd,. London, E9 5LN.
N.AMERICA: Disticor, 695 Westney Rd. Sth. Suite 14,
Ajaz, Ontario, L1S 6M9.
AUSTRALIA: Windhorse Books, PO Box 574, Newtown, NSW
2042.
PRICE: £3.99; A$10.95; CN$9.99; USA $8.99
Reviewed by Ann Skea (ann@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
).
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I must declare an interest from the start. I was recently contacted by one
of
the editors of Urthona, a magazine which I had not previously come across,
with
a request to use an essay of mine in a forthcoming issue. Contributors do
not
receive any payment, so I have no vested interest in promoting this
magazine.
However, I have found Urthona to be a beautifully produced journal full of
a
wide range of interesting articles, art work, photography, opinions and
discussion.
Urthona was founded in 1997 by members of the Western Buddhist Order.
Yet, its
focus is not wholly Buddhist and the most recent issue explores the myths
and
cultural traditions associated with the Celtic peoples. Ratnagarbha, one
of the
editors, introduces this issue with a personal anecdote about a university
lecturer who issued a dire warning to his students about the dangers of
mythology. According to this lecturer, mythology was used by unscrupulous
people to deprive others of their reason. This suggests a certain paranoia
about the powers of the imagination, and certainly, myths are powerful
stimulants to that. The continued existence of myth in every culture
attests to
the attraction of mythological stories and suggests that there is some
common,
deeply felt satisfaction in them. Psychologists like Jung see myths as
reflecting valuable truths about human nature and about the sorts of
worlds we
create for ourselves.
Poets, too, have always known the power of myth, which is perhaps why
Plato
sought to ban poets from his ideal republic. In our own times, Seamus
Heaney,
as Ratnagarbha notes, has likened myth to the genetic code of the human
spirit,
and myths, as Heaney knows well, were the basis of much of the mystery
and
power of Celtic tradition,. To lose this wonderful Celtic treasury of
stories,
history, mystery and magic would be tragic. But this Celtic issue of
Urthona is
steeped in Celtic myth. Maybe, to satisfy the likes of Ratnagarbha's
lecturer,
it should carry a warning on its cover. But it doesn't. Instead, it
demonstrates very well the beauty and inspiration which myths can bring
us.
Included in this issue are the story of Tristan and Iseult and its
origins; a
tracing of the footprints of Brigit, goddess of poetry, smithcraft and
healing;
a personal reflection on the White Goddess by the most recent editor of
Robert
Graves' book of that name; plus a variety of fine poems, reviews,
photographs.
More information about the contents of this issue of Urthona can be found
at
http://www.urthona.com/,
together with an editorial, articles from earlier
issues, and other information.
The stated aim of Urthona is to explore ways of envisioning a sacred
element to
the arts by linking the contem****ary and the traditional. This issue shows
very
well how Spirit survives and is transmitted through the arts, even in our
own
machine-dominated, science-wor****pping age.
Ann Skea
Website and Ted Hughes pages: http://ann.skea.com/
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