The Spirit of the Green Man, by Mary Neasham
Published by Green Magic, I bought this in Glastonbury last year, and finally just got round to reading it. One of the best things about it are the full page illustrations by Jane Brideson - and it's worth checking out the colour versions on her website at Dark Moon Designs.The book itself is more a collection of disparate pieces rather than one continuous text, and I confess to finding some sections hard going where the author started to irritate me - describing a friend who'd picked a bunch of wild garlic in a wood, she writes: "He had a brief and transient attempt at possessing nature whilst nature responded by dying in his hands. I haven't seen him again." Oh please, get over yourself. The other thing that annoyed me at the beginning was her habit of making assertions and immediately following them with "there are, I know, many scientific people who will disagree with me on this" or similar. Look, either research something properly, or if it's the product of meditation/spiritual revelation SAY SO, and have faith in your material, don't just make a statement and then cancel it out with one that comes across as well this is what I think despite all evidence to the contrary.
Sections include origins of the green man, connecting with him through meditation and exercises, the green man's message today, his presence in literature (where the author re-presents some familiar tales in her own way), organisation contacts, and an informative section on individual tree species. It then finishes with a few essays by other writers.
Conclusions then, it is well worth a read, although I'm not sure I'd spend a tenner on it. Borrow it, get it second hand or order it through the library. I'm sure that's the greener alternative anyway!
posted by Izzy @ 10:22 am
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