November 2014

 

While we enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving dinner on the day itself at London’s Sloane Club, yesterday (Sunday) we were privileged to a second Thanksgiving meal – prepared by Elizabeth and Marco. With Warren present, it became for Richard and me a mini-Family reunion. Jim joined us later. The foods were superb, and we had a wonderful indulgent time. All was low-key, intimate and perfectly relaxed. It was also an informal Pagan Church gathering – the best kind.

The day before, we saw Santima and earlier the same day both Carlo and Jean-Christophe who brought along Arthur who may be re-doing our kitchen – something long overdue and needed. But as Richard subsequently pointed out, in our first two days here we had seen more than half of the people we know and love in Amsterdam. On top of that, within less than an hour from the time we arrived at the Centraal Station coming from London, we were at the Hotel de l’Europe having drinks and then dinner with Tom & Doc who were here for the annual documentary film festival that takes place in Amsterdam. It has been a busy and full times. Last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, Peter took us to the Athenaeum for drinks and dinner. Utterly sumptuous.

The day before our dinner at Waterloo Place, we had enjoyed The Green Bay Tree at the Jermyn Street Theatre. The Saturday before that we met up with dear James and Eamonn at the Roman amphitheatre beneath the Guild Hall. I had not known about it and found the excavations superbly presented. Eventually we ended up at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society for some drams and before dinner that followed at the Wilmington. The day before that was lunch at the Royal Overseas League with dear Claire; the day before that we enjoyed a tour of the National Gallery that Richard led Meg and myself on with him selecting all his favourites. And the day before that was a perfectly splendid meal and time with Annie and Stephen at their country home outside Reading.

Earlier in November, Lisa and Daniel visited us from Brisbane. On their last night, we went to The Garage for Earth Warrior, a highly active pagan music group from Amsterdam. The next day we lunched with Elizabeth and Tilly at Granger in Nottinghill. The following day was the Witchfest in Croydon.

Richard seems to have recovered from his hernia surgery. We have also begun with lawyers the process that hopefully will conclude with Richard’s UK naturalisation. However, we have learned that he will need to maintain five years of residency before he can qualify. Since we have committed ourselves between Amsterdam and the Provence for the first half at least of next year, we will not be able to begin the residency process until the summer at the earliest. It will be, to say the least, a complete revision of the mindset. The flat, however, is comfortable, easily manageable and excellently located. It is in fact the reason why we think of it as our final retirement destination. And we will have ample time to explore England, Scotland and Wales once the residency begins.

For the rest, the writing for ‘Celebration’ continues intermittently. I have heard nothing further from Springer yet concerning ‘Pagan Ethics’. The long Indian Summer and mild autumn has finally ended, and winter seems to have begun. Today, the first of December, it is 2 degrees Celsus in Amsterdam. We are following three days of nefastus in ceremonial preparation for the thirteen-day Roman yuletide that begins with the 11th. I am not sure I can do this, but I am intending to avoid listening to the news for the full festival period. I still find world events fascinating although equally depressive and frustrating. An enforced hiatus could just possibly be a liberating moment of respite.

In London, we also attended the Giovanni Battista Moroni and Anselm Kiefer exhibits at the Royal Academy as well as the Pop Art show at the Saatchi. The Kiefer for me was utterly inspiring. I would not necessarily term his work ‘beautiful’, but he has dealt with the social ugliness that seems to envelop us all and grounds this in the immediacy of nature and simultaneously expands this into the freedom of the cosmos. I was once again reminded of Bron’s explanation that if one can achieve the proper distance (e.g., view the earth from outer space), the horrors disappear and become invisible and beauty alone triumphs. I found something similar with Kiefer. I think in fact his work has prodded me to consider that divinity is something unimaginably positive. It need not be considered or reduced as I felt Marco was doing through atheist rejection to the personal or some mindful entity – though it may include these. The personal remains for me the Etruscan persona – a mask. Our personalities are the masks through which we present ourselves to the world at large. Likewise, the gods, whatever else they may be, are the masks through which much of the divine has been known historically and culturally. They are vehicles themselves of the divine.

Consequently, I am seeing the cosmos as itself the ongoing positive manifestation of the primordial wish. We are part of this cosmic whole – in some way, an important part. Through us, consciousness emerges – and who knows to where this might lead? I remain grateful for being a part of this enormousness, and ever so grateful for the happiness I have known through friends and loved ones, through art and nature, within this enormity – all the more dazzling when considered as the infinitesimal spec it is within the unfathomable hugeness in which we exist.