Mystical Realms Newsletter for April, 2012
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Jef
Apr 10, 2012, 9:20:00 AM4/10/12
to Mystical_Realms
Greetings!
And welcome to my newsletter for April, 2012! Please feel free to
forward this to anyone you think would be interested in keeping up
with me! To receive these newsletters regularly, please drop me an
email or subscribe online from my website (http://www.JefMurray.com )
or at: http://groups.google.com/group/Mystical_Realms . Notices of
events and items of interest are at the bottom of this email.
Ponderings ==============
It comes without warning, and at the most unexpected of times. I’ll be
furiously focused on one task or another: painting, or writing, or
preparing for some descending deadline or some travel plans I’m
making. Then, as if Someone had gently disconnected the power to all
of these troublesome tasks and tribulations, everything ceases. The
hammering of schedules, emails, phone calls, and messages slows, and
then stops; the silence is startling.
I am awash in great calm, as if the very air was incensed with thick,
swirling mists of magic and mystery. And at such times, all that I can
do is take a deep breath and radiate gratitude for this gift, this
consolation that has come, unbidden, from the Hidden Realm.
Many of us have felt such consolations. They are moments, I believe,
when we are touched by God and reminded that everything will be
alright…that all our cares are like freshets from a spring shower,
chilling us, perhaps, but also honing our hearts. They are reminders
that the realm we inhabit harbours depths unplumbed and heights
unchallenged; and yet, even this Middle-earth in all its crystalline
glory is only the threshold to other worlds and other adventures.
This month I embark on a new adventure. I will travel to the Yorkshire
shores to tread the very spot where, as Bram Stoker tells us, a
Transylvanian prince once terrorized the English countryside. At
Whitby, tells the tale, a foreign schooner came through a terrible
storm toward the harbour:
“The wind suddenly shifted to the northeast, and the remnant of the
sea fog melted in the blast. And then, mirabile dictu, between the
piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed, swept
the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and gained
the safety of the harbour. The searchlight followed her, and a shudder
ran through all who saw her, for lashed to the helm was a corpse, with
drooping head, which swung horribly to and fro at each motion of the
ship. No other form could be seen on the deck at all.”
With this ominous advent, evil comes to Britain from afar. And the
thing that I most admire about Bram Stoker is that he did not mince
words. In his tale, the undead Szekely prince was cruel, hate-filled,
and anything but romantic, unlike the post-modern vampires so popular
in today’s culture. There was no ambivalence, no hand-wringing, no
remorse on the part of the heroes who ultimately confronted this
monster and, thanks be to God, destroyed him.
Stoker did not glorify Count Dracula; it was more than a full century
after the publication of his masterpiece that we as a society became
so confused about the nature of good and evil that we would come to
revere horror, death, violence, and cruelty, while demeaning hope,
life, valour, chastity, charity, and honour. The many vampire novels
and films that are now standard fare worship the undead as gods, while
scoffing at those who would destroy them as misguided religious-
extremists who lack in compassion and sensitivity.
What strange and twisted worldview have we wrought for ourselves?
Is the Meneltarma, then, abandoned, and Eru Illuvatar forgotten? Do we
now, in fact, worship Tash, the god of death, rather than Aslan, the
son of the Emperor beyond the sea? Can we no longer discern good from
evil, or truth from spin?
Southern writer Flannery O’Connor once said that her strange and often
horrifying tales focused on “the action of grace in territory largely
held by the devil.” And in a world that has come to idolize and
sensualize the demonic, it becomes harder and harder to argue with
Flannery about the nature of the cultural territory we now inhabit.
But it is at such times, and often after such thoughts, that I
sometimes receive those moments of clarity, those gifts from the
Perilous Realm: of peace, of consolation, of encouragement. Whatever
may come to pass, we need not follow the cataclysmic cultural course
of confusion; we need not invert the great mythologies handed down to
us through the long centuries in order to feed a dwindling self-worth
and in order to conciliate Morgoth and those who, often unknowingly,
worship him: this at the expense of life, of love, and of goodness,
truth, and beauty. We can cut away the cankerous, creeping tendrils of
indifference, reminding ourselves that evil does exist and that our
task is to battle that evil, not to offer it homage and tribute.
As I stand atop the cemetery overlooking Whitby harbor, I hope to be
reminded, in that first week of Easter, that evil, true evil, can
strike at any time. But, I also hope to be reminded, as with the
gentle fragrance of Frankincense from the altar, that each of us can
choose to fight despair, chaos, and spin in order to protect what is
worth protecting, and in order to worship and to love that which is
worth loving.
A glorious and light-filled Easter season to you all!
Nai Eru lye mánata,
Jef
Prospects ===================
• I will be appearing as a guest speaker and presenter at the
Bram Stoker Centenary Conference at the University of Hull and in
Whitby, England, April 12-14. Whitby, as many of you may know,
features prominently in Stoker’s classic horror tale, Dracula. The
conference theme is "Bram Stoker and Gothic Transformations", and in
addition to developing the logo for the confrerence, I was invited as
a guest of the university to discuss my illustration work for Gothic
novels, particularly "The Magic Ring" by Fouque, as well as on two new
editions of Gothic works including one by Bram Stoker himself. More
information can be found at: http://www2.hull.ac.uk/fass/english/events/conferences/bram_stoker.aspx
• For lovers of C.S. Lewis and Narnia, there is a new movie in
the works on the story of C.S. Lewis’ conversion story and his
friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien. I have been privileged to have been
able to help with the development of the teaser trailer for the film.
More information, and the teaser itself, can be found at the official
movie website at http://www.thelionawakes-themovie.com/
• The Middle-earth Network ( http://middleearthnetwork.com )
continues to be the “Go To” place for news about Middle-earth and
Narnia-related events and for discussions on its social network,
http://mymiddle-earth.com/ . The site now offers you the opportunity
to create your own Blog webpage, absolutely free! Along with podcasts
with folks of interest to Middle-earth and Narnia fans, there are
contests, articles of interest, pointers to intriguing websites, etc.
If you’re not a member yet, you’re missing out on a great community of
artists, musicians, and general lovers of Tolkien and Lewis!
• The Return of the Ring 2012 (see http://www.returnofthering.org/)
will be a huge Tolkien-themed conference and gathering at Loughborough
University on 16-20th August, 2012. I am an invited guest at the event
hope not only to share my paintings and sketches, but also to
participate in panels and presentations. You can book reservations now
online.
And welcome to my newsletter for April, 2012! Please feel free to
forward this to anyone you think would be interested in keeping up
with me! To receive these newsletters regularly, please drop me an
email or subscribe online from my website (http://www.JefMurray.com )
or at: http://groups.google.com/group/Mystical_Realms . Notices of
events and items of interest are at the bottom of this email.
Ponderings ==============
It comes without warning, and at the most unexpected of times. I’ll be
furiously focused on one task or another: painting, or writing, or
preparing for some descending deadline or some travel plans I’m
making. Then, as if Someone had gently disconnected the power to all
of these troublesome tasks and tribulations, everything ceases. The
hammering of schedules, emails, phone calls, and messages slows, and
then stops; the silence is startling.
I am awash in great calm, as if the very air was incensed with thick,
swirling mists of magic and mystery. And at such times, all that I can
do is take a deep breath and radiate gratitude for this gift, this
consolation that has come, unbidden, from the Hidden Realm.
Many of us have felt such consolations. They are moments, I believe,
when we are touched by God and reminded that everything will be
alright…that all our cares are like freshets from a spring shower,
chilling us, perhaps, but also honing our hearts. They are reminders
that the realm we inhabit harbours depths unplumbed and heights
unchallenged; and yet, even this Middle-earth in all its crystalline
glory is only the threshold to other worlds and other adventures.
This month I embark on a new adventure. I will travel to the Yorkshire
shores to tread the very spot where, as Bram Stoker tells us, a
Transylvanian prince once terrorized the English countryside. At
Whitby, tells the tale, a foreign schooner came through a terrible
storm toward the harbour:
“The wind suddenly shifted to the northeast, and the remnant of the
sea fog melted in the blast. And then, mirabile dictu, between the
piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed, swept
the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and gained
the safety of the harbour. The searchlight followed her, and a shudder
ran through all who saw her, for lashed to the helm was a corpse, with
drooping head, which swung horribly to and fro at each motion of the
ship. No other form could be seen on the deck at all.”
With this ominous advent, evil comes to Britain from afar. And the
thing that I most admire about Bram Stoker is that he did not mince
words. In his tale, the undead Szekely prince was cruel, hate-filled,
and anything but romantic, unlike the post-modern vampires so popular
in today’s culture. There was no ambivalence, no hand-wringing, no
remorse on the part of the heroes who ultimately confronted this
monster and, thanks be to God, destroyed him.
Stoker did not glorify Count Dracula; it was more than a full century
after the publication of his masterpiece that we as a society became
so confused about the nature of good and evil that we would come to
revere horror, death, violence, and cruelty, while demeaning hope,
life, valour, chastity, charity, and honour. The many vampire novels
and films that are now standard fare worship the undead as gods, while
scoffing at those who would destroy them as misguided religious-
extremists who lack in compassion and sensitivity.
What strange and twisted worldview have we wrought for ourselves?
Is the Meneltarma, then, abandoned, and Eru Illuvatar forgotten? Do we
now, in fact, worship Tash, the god of death, rather than Aslan, the
son of the Emperor beyond the sea? Can we no longer discern good from
evil, or truth from spin?
Southern writer Flannery O’Connor once said that her strange and often
horrifying tales focused on “the action of grace in territory largely
held by the devil.” And in a world that has come to idolize and
sensualize the demonic, it becomes harder and harder to argue with
Flannery about the nature of the cultural territory we now inhabit.
But it is at such times, and often after such thoughts, that I
sometimes receive those moments of clarity, those gifts from the
Perilous Realm: of peace, of consolation, of encouragement. Whatever
may come to pass, we need not follow the cataclysmic cultural course
of confusion; we need not invert the great mythologies handed down to
us through the long centuries in order to feed a dwindling self-worth
and in order to conciliate Morgoth and those who, often unknowingly,
worship him: this at the expense of life, of love, and of goodness,
truth, and beauty. We can cut away the cankerous, creeping tendrils of
indifference, reminding ourselves that evil does exist and that our
task is to battle that evil, not to offer it homage and tribute.
As I stand atop the cemetery overlooking Whitby harbor, I hope to be
reminded, in that first week of Easter, that evil, true evil, can
strike at any time. But, I also hope to be reminded, as with the
gentle fragrance of Frankincense from the altar, that each of us can
choose to fight despair, chaos, and spin in order to protect what is
worth protecting, and in order to worship and to love that which is
worth loving.
A glorious and light-filled Easter season to you all!
Nai Eru lye mánata,
Jef
Prospects ===================
• I will be appearing as a guest speaker and presenter at the
Bram Stoker Centenary Conference at the University of Hull and in
Whitby, England, April 12-14. Whitby, as many of you may know,
features prominently in Stoker’s classic horror tale, Dracula. The
conference theme is "Bram Stoker and Gothic Transformations", and in
addition to developing the logo for the confrerence, I was invited as
a guest of the university to discuss my illustration work for Gothic
novels, particularly "The Magic Ring" by Fouque, as well as on two new
editions of Gothic works including one by Bram Stoker himself. More
information can be found at: http://www2.hull.ac.uk/fass/english/events/conferences/bram_stoker.aspx
• For lovers of C.S. Lewis and Narnia, there is a new movie in
the works on the story of C.S. Lewis’ conversion story and his
friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien. I have been privileged to have been
able to help with the development of the teaser trailer for the film.
More information, and the teaser itself, can be found at the official
movie website at http://www.thelionawakes-themovie.com/
• The Middle-earth Network ( http://middleearthnetwork.com )
continues to be the “Go To” place for news about Middle-earth and
Narnia-related events and for discussions on its social network,
http://mymiddle-earth.com/ . The site now offers you the opportunity
to create your own Blog webpage, absolutely free! Along with podcasts
with folks of interest to Middle-earth and Narnia fans, there are
contests, articles of interest, pointers to intriguing websites, etc.
If you’re not a member yet, you’re missing out on a great community of
artists, musicians, and general lovers of Tolkien and Lewis!
• The Return of the Ring 2012 (see http://www.returnofthering.org/)
will be a huge Tolkien-themed conference and gathering at Loughborough
University on 16-20th August, 2012. I am an invited guest at the event
hope not only to share my paintings and sketches, but also to
participate in panels and presentations. You can book reservations now
online.
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