ALL SOULS' NIGHT

"And it is All Souls' Night.
And two long glasses brimmed with muscatel
Bubble upon the table. A ghost may come,
For it is a ghost's right,
His element is so fine
Being sharpened by his death,
To drink from the wine-breath
While our gross palates drink from the whole wine."

so sang W.B. Yeats in his superb "All Souls' Night".

I reproduced the scene by examining the text. The wine should be a sparkling wine made from muscat grape. I chose Reymos Moscatel from Spain. And the long glasses should be the type for sparkling wine, showing the little bubbles going upward as long as possible. I purchased two of those.

I'd like to make this an annual ceremony to commemorate those personalities who appeared in the poem, especially for Horton (I love him, and love the strange story of Horton and Amy Audrey Locke). I wonder if he responds to my call.

The muscatel is so sweet and tasty. Have to be careful not to drink too much.

Divine Feminine, Horton, and Audrey Locke.

painted by W.T. Horton

I Wonder Why

I Wonder Why (1920) by Alfred Scott-Gatty is a music score book with the words by Dorothy Bouviere and the pictures by W. Graham Robertson.

The pictures in the book feature mostly little boys and that makes the book unique among the works of WGR who are famous for his fondness of little girls. But looking at the pictures one by one helped me understand the nature of the book.  First, the boys are playing in the nursery, then outdoors, and in the bed at night and meeting with an angel. Published in 1920, I believe the book was a sort of "Requiem" for the British soldiers who died in WWI.

 WGR mentioned this book in a letter to his friend Kerrison Preston, "The Gatty-Bouvierie-Me book seems to be going well and is stocked at most strange, unexpected, places in London, such as Liberty's, and the Army and Navy store" (Letters from Graham Robertson, p53). Though WGR wrote "unexpected", it's no wonder they put the book on the shelves of Army and Navy Store.

masonic charity

"Above is a coloured reproduction of the famous picture painted by J. Stothard in or about 1790, showing the Founder, the Chevalier Bartholomew Ruspini, leading the children from the Masonic School into the Temple of the Grand Lodge in Great Queen Street, before His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, afterwards King George IV, and other distinguished Freemasons.

For many years the original was in the Museum of Grand Lodge, but, in 1947, Bro. Beachcroft was able to acquire it from the Masonic Authorities (who most generously accepted a price greatly below its actual value).

It was by him presented to the School and now hang over the mantel of the Commitee Room, behind the Chairman's place." (Maurice Beachcroft, Memories of Rickkansworth,  p.31.)

GEORGE WASHINGTON, the father of our country

"Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come

unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven"

TO THE GRAND LODGES OF THE UNITED STATES

This print represents THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC OF MASONRY, CHARITY, bestowed on proper objects.

"Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God."

The second picture is from Kitty Cheatham's A Nursery Garland (New York, G. Schirmer: 1921). It seems the second is a copy from the first, with some changes of the faces and figures. But for what end? 

I found these in my research on W. Graham Robertson. 

a dagger

Every country has its law on the weapon control.

A number of atrocious homicides by daggers outbroke in my country of 2008 and consequently the selling and possesing of daggers became illegal. The police was persuading the citizens who possesed a dagger to bring and give it up to the neaby police station by the 4th of July 2009. After that date, possesing of dagger was regarded as a crime and offenders will be fined or imprisoned. So I gave up my air dagger to a police station (after demagnetizing it) and have been using a small paperknife since then. But today I found a really good alternative "lawfuldagger". The hilt is natural wood and very easy to paint, the blade being genuine stainless steel yet without the edge, an ideal ceremonial tool. And it's not expensive, about 10 bucks. To tell the truth, the official name of the dagger is "oyster knife": a simple tool for fishermen to open and scrape oysters. The jurisdiction might interfere if the tool is unnecessarily sharp or hefty, but those now on the market is legally okay. I am a conformist.

Raphael

Of course "Raphael" was a nineteenth century astrologer named Robert Cross Smith (can we express his name as "R+"?) who wrote much about astrology and occultism including John Dee, John Pordage, geomancy etc. And he seemed to be a member of an esoteric group "The Mercurii".

I love the following description of serpentine movement.

"Although it is vey well known to astronomers and learned persons, that the path of the moon through the firmament has, from time immemorial, been symbolized by a dragon or serpent, yet many through whose hands this work may be expected to pass, cannot be sepposed to have any notion of these ancient symbols; it therefore becomes necessary to make mention of them in such a manner as to let every one understand their application. That no emblem could have been fixed upon to symbolize the moon's path, which is really serpentine, and to have done it more appropriately, than a serpent, will become evident to the least learned, by inspection of the following little cut and references.

Suppose the curve line A B to represent a portion of the ecliptic or orbit of the earth, along which let the earth be supposed to be moving from E to F, and from F to G, while at the same time, the moon, keeping nearly an equal distance from the earth, moves along the serpentine described by the body of the dragon, from C to H, from H to I, from I to D: at C, where the moon crosses the line of the earth's orbit from north to south, is the Dragon's Tail, marked in modern astronomy thus XX; and having made the semicircle C H, it ascends, crossing the earth's orbit from south to north, where it bends again in the semicircle H I; and having reached the earth's orbit again, it bend forward in the direction of the curve I D, where, as it is again ascending into the north, I place the Dragon's Head; and thus you see how very appropriatedly the moon's path about the earth may be denoted by a serpent or dragon. For the sake of showing the application of the emblem the more perfectly, it is here continued to four points of the ecliptic; but let it be understood, that in every descent of the  moon from north to south, she is in the tail, and in every ascent from south to north, in the head of the dragon. The most improtant astrological significations are attached to the head and tail of this emblematic dragon; and hence it was deemed by the Babylonian priesthood a fit object to promote superstition, and to effect the purposed of that sort of imposture which it was their desire to accomplish in those oriental nation." (from The Astrologer of the Ninetheen Century)

George Wither's SDA

I am not of their Minde, who thinke the Sun,
The Moon, the Planets, and those glorious Lights
Which trim the Sphaeres, doe in their Motions run
To no more purpose, then to please our Sights.
Nor for distinguishment of Nights, and Dayes,
Or of the Seasons, and the Times, alone,
Can I suppose the Hand of God displayes
Those many Starres, we nightly gaze upon:
For, both by Reason, and by Common-sense
We know (and often feele) that from above
The Planets have, on us, an Influence;
And, that our Bodies varie, as they move.
Moreover, Holy Writ inferres, that these
Have some such pow'r; ev'n in those Places, where
It names Orion, and the Pleiades;
Which, Starres of much inferiour Nature are.
Yet, hence conclude not, therefore, that the Minde
Is by the Starres constrained to obey
Their Influence; or, so by them inclin'd,
That, by no meanes resist the same we may.
For, though they forme the Bodies temp'rature,
(And though the Minde inclineth after that)
By Grace, another Temper we procure,
Which guides, the Motions of Supposed Fate.
The Soul of Man is nobler than the Sphaeres;
And if it gaine the Place which may be had,
Not here alone on Earth, the Rule it beares,
But is the Lord, of all that God hath made.
Be wise in him; and, if just cause there bee,
The Sunne and Moone, shall stand and wayt on thee.

from A Collection of Embleme, Ancient and Moderne by George Wither (1635)

*****

I happened to find this in my search of the symbolism of snail (as we see it in the Nine of  Pentacles of RWS tarot).

On The Street Where They Walked

 a photo of Farringdon Street from London Round (1896)

detail of map from Baedecker's London and its Environs (1889)

The first Vault was located in Thavies Inn which I believe was somewhere in the map. I need a more specified street guide of the late Victorian London. Anyway the Baedecker is a good starting point to make an armchair-exploration of the Capital of British Empire.