Thomas I just listened to that "Ink and Fantasy" a couple of hours ago. There really is something in it. Tolkien was very much taken by the Legends and Myths of Ireland✨️
I read Tolkein and Lovecraft a lot when young and another writer Clifford D. Simak of whom Robert Heinlein proclaimed, “To read science fiction is to read Simak" Simak is a Wisconsin native and many of his books and short stories like The Thing In The Stone take place in South Western Wisconsin where I lived most of my adult life. I understand the concept of evil in the land and have felt that about certain places, but also nurture and belonging that the land can provide. When we decided we had to retire and sell our home and land we lived in for over 44 years, my dead dogs visited me in my dreams a number of times and told me not to move. I took the property off market but a year later the realtor found someone who wanted the place and my wife was really excited so we sold. The dogs again came to me and told me "this land is not for them" and "save the land". Next they came an said "This land is not for them which is why the land gave the man cancer." Later I found out he had developed a grand glioma brain tumor. He only lived to stay in our former house twice before he died. His wife kept the place and built a new house after tearing down everything we had built or was there before us. It turns out the house she built was exactly the house I had seen in dreams for decades before. I would drive by the intersection not recognizing our place because there was a different house on the hill.
I never told this story before in public, but this has been an important series of dream time events that has stayed with me, and forms much of what moves me to study and contemplate about our nature now. I think this is what made me find your YouTube videos and substack.
As a child visiting relatives in Wisconsin I too felt it was evil and hated going there. There's a very interesting book called Wisconsin Death Trip you would like.
Not all of Wisconsin is, but I think more and more lately. Of course it also may be as I aged I have become more aware. I read Wisconsin Death Trip a long while ago. I think it was in the 1970s and had a lot of pictures. I don't think I want to see it again.
Very true about the boglands. I grew up beside bogland that have fulacht fia cooking pits at their outskirts. I was constantly drawn to the bog, spending many hours there without ever understanding why it attracted me so much. A handful of times while there the psychic atmosphere changed very quickly and became extremely dark and negative. My instincts flooded my mind with a sense of mortal danger, despite the sun shining and no one else being around. I literally ran out of there a few times when this feeling became unbearable, but within a couple of weeks I would be drawn back to the bog again…
Yes - very interesting Tolkien vid - I was born and brought up in the west, I remember with foreboading as a boy having to visit relatives in Co Mayo, this was in the 70's, going there was always bleak, gloomy and uneasy, the countryside was mostly unpleasant and I didn't like going.On the othere hand visiting relatives in Limerick the opposite case , the countryside seemed alive and pleasant and exciting. As a youth in Eire I did 'fit in' with other 'weirdo's' but not generally with the 'regular' types, I left Eire at 20 and kind of feel homesick but 'not' homesick at times. JRRT was really on to something with his observations - maybe not all of Eire has this evil lurking , it may be region/location specific .........................'To Hell or to Connaught' as some historical tosser is reported to have said ! ....excellent post Tom !
It seems that "woke" is the key that many have, or are still, using to open the doors to the evil that lies behind, underneath, around specific sites... sometimes hiding in plain sight.
I was born in Liverpool, grew up in Australia and have about 30% Irish DNA. When I visited Ireland in 2017, I was shocked by how ill at ease I felt, how malevolent parts of the landscape seemed (especially near Cliffs of Moher towards Galway) and how desperate I felt to get back to England. Shortly after, I discovered via Ancestry DNA that much of my Irish ancestry came from near Galway. Perhaps I was experiencing genetic memories of the famine and their desperate need to leave. I wasn't expecting that.
wow - that is interesting , yes I do think there is something in the genetic memory ! well at the very least you did make the trip and had that experience. This experience puts flesh on the bone of what Tolkien may be referring to
I grew up about ten minutes from the Cliffs of Moher, and from an early age, I felt a powerful presence in the surrounding land - something very ancient and foreboding. In 2010, I started a music project, FROM THE BOGS OF AUGHISKA (https://fromthebogsofaughiska.bandcamp.com), as an attempt to capture the dark, brooding sound of the wild west of Ireland, a sonic reflection of its mist, myth, and darkness.
One place that left a deep mark on me was a spot in Doolin known by locals as Hell , an entrance to an underwater cave system (Hell Complex). As a child, it haunted my dreams. That lingering fear eventually led me to take up diving, driven by a need to understand what lay beneath.
Since the 1990s, much of the west of Irelands bogland has been swallowed by rows of non-native trees, a strange afforestation that feels more like containment than conservation as not much life seems to live in them. Sometimes I wonder if these forests were planted not for growth, but to trap something older (The Tuatha Dé Danann maybe?) - spirits buried in the peat, held below for better or worse, while the soul of our nation is carved up and sold to global interests.
I'm not sure if it's still active, but the Burren Tolkien Society (Set up by Peter Curtin who owns The Roadside Tavern & Smoke house in Lisdoonvarna) once claimed to have compelling evidence that parts of The Lord of the Rings were inspired by the Burren. However, when the book was published in 1954, Tolkien reportedly denied any connection. Some believe he may have distanced himself from these Irish influences, fearing they might not sit well with his predominantly English readership at the time.
Tolkien also wrote about eucatastrophe. So when all seems lost the tide can still unexpectedly turn. Thanks Thomas for your own great efforts in wakening the country up.
Tolkien and Lewis were part of an informal club called the inklings. A great name.
I believe all in the Irish awakening movement, trying to save our country, have the natural law engraved in their heart, i.e have a strong inkling that something has to be done.. l
It is despairing though when within the movement itself are those who rush to say some are 'purer' than others and take digressionary pot shots at non enemies.
The lamestream media cannot but laugh. Personally I don't give a fig if someone is Christian or Pagan, Theist, Atheist or Agnostic as long as the totality of their work speaks the truth of where we are now.
I think Tolkien quoted as thinking Ireland's mythology irrational implies he regarded Christian mythology rational which defies intelligence. He may have been a fine writer but belief in Christian dogma to me indicates low intelligence or a pervasive selling out encounter in high society/academia to proclaim yourself Christian to hang on to what you have which is understandable. If he proclaimed himself pagan all would have been denied to him and we perhaps would have never heard of his work much less read it. The whole world has an evil streak. Primeval energies emerge in some places feeling evil.
Thomas I just listened to that "Ink and Fantasy" a couple of hours ago. There really is something in it. Tolkien was very much taken by the Legends and Myths of Ireland✨️
lived and worked and holiday in Ireland for years. His first time on a plane was flying to Dublin for a lecture.
I read Tolkein and Lovecraft a lot when young and another writer Clifford D. Simak of whom Robert Heinlein proclaimed, “To read science fiction is to read Simak" Simak is a Wisconsin native and many of his books and short stories like The Thing In The Stone take place in South Western Wisconsin where I lived most of my adult life. I understand the concept of evil in the land and have felt that about certain places, but also nurture and belonging that the land can provide. When we decided we had to retire and sell our home and land we lived in for over 44 years, my dead dogs visited me in my dreams a number of times and told me not to move. I took the property off market but a year later the realtor found someone who wanted the place and my wife was really excited so we sold. The dogs again came to me and told me "this land is not for them" and "save the land". Next they came an said "This land is not for them which is why the land gave the man cancer." Later I found out he had developed a grand glioma brain tumor. He only lived to stay in our former house twice before he died. His wife kept the place and built a new house after tearing down everything we had built or was there before us. It turns out the house she built was exactly the house I had seen in dreams for decades before. I would drive by the intersection not recognizing our place because there was a different house on the hill.
I never told this story before in public, but this has been an important series of dream time events that has stayed with me, and forms much of what moves me to study and contemplate about our nature now. I think this is what made me find your YouTube videos and substack.
As a child visiting relatives in Wisconsin I too felt it was evil and hated going there. There's a very interesting book called Wisconsin Death Trip you would like.
Not all of Wisconsin is, but I think more and more lately. Of course it also may be as I aged I have become more aware. I read Wisconsin Death Trip a long while ago. I think it was in the 1970s and had a lot of pictures. I don't think I want to see it again.
Very true about the boglands. I grew up beside bogland that have fulacht fia cooking pits at their outskirts. I was constantly drawn to the bog, spending many hours there without ever understanding why it attracted me so much. A handful of times while there the psychic atmosphere changed very quickly and became extremely dark and negative. My instincts flooded my mind with a sense of mortal danger, despite the sun shining and no one else being around. I literally ran out of there a few times when this feeling became unbearable, but within a couple of weeks I would be drawn back to the bog again…
Yes - very interesting Tolkien vid - I was born and brought up in the west, I remember with foreboading as a boy having to visit relatives in Co Mayo, this was in the 70's, going there was always bleak, gloomy and uneasy, the countryside was mostly unpleasant and I didn't like going.On the othere hand visiting relatives in Limerick the opposite case , the countryside seemed alive and pleasant and exciting. As a youth in Eire I did 'fit in' with other 'weirdo's' but not generally with the 'regular' types, I left Eire at 20 and kind of feel homesick but 'not' homesick at times. JRRT was really on to something with his observations - maybe not all of Eire has this evil lurking , it may be region/location specific .........................'To Hell or to Connaught' as some historical tosser is reported to have said ! ....excellent post Tom !
It seems that "woke" is the key that many have, or are still, using to open the doors to the evil that lies behind, underneath, around specific sites... sometimes hiding in plain sight.
I agree.
I was born in Liverpool, grew up in Australia and have about 30% Irish DNA. When I visited Ireland in 2017, I was shocked by how ill at ease I felt, how malevolent parts of the landscape seemed (especially near Cliffs of Moher towards Galway) and how desperate I felt to get back to England. Shortly after, I discovered via Ancestry DNA that much of my Irish ancestry came from near Galway. Perhaps I was experiencing genetic memories of the famine and their desperate need to leave. I wasn't expecting that.
wow - that is interesting , yes I do think there is something in the genetic memory ! well at the very least you did make the trip and had that experience. This experience puts flesh on the bone of what Tolkien may be referring to
Another thought provoking piece Thomas!
I grew up about ten minutes from the Cliffs of Moher, and from an early age, I felt a powerful presence in the surrounding land - something very ancient and foreboding. In 2010, I started a music project, FROM THE BOGS OF AUGHISKA (https://fromthebogsofaughiska.bandcamp.com), as an attempt to capture the dark, brooding sound of the wild west of Ireland, a sonic reflection of its mist, myth, and darkness.
One place that left a deep mark on me was a spot in Doolin known by locals as Hell , an entrance to an underwater cave system (Hell Complex). As a child, it haunted my dreams. That lingering fear eventually led me to take up diving, driven by a need to understand what lay beneath.
Since the 1990s, much of the west of Irelands bogland has been swallowed by rows of non-native trees, a strange afforestation that feels more like containment than conservation as not much life seems to live in them. Sometimes I wonder if these forests were planted not for growth, but to trap something older (The Tuatha Dé Danann maybe?) - spirits buried in the peat, held below for better or worse, while the soul of our nation is carved up and sold to global interests.
I'm not sure if it's still active, but the Burren Tolkien Society (Set up by Peter Curtin who owns The Roadside Tavern & Smoke house in Lisdoonvarna) once claimed to have compelling evidence that parts of The Lord of the Rings were inspired by the Burren. However, when the book was published in 1954, Tolkien reportedly denied any connection. Some believe he may have distanced himself from these Irish influences, fearing they might not sit well with his predominantly English readership at the time.
Tolkien also wrote about eucatastrophe. So when all seems lost the tide can still unexpectedly turn. Thanks Thomas for your own great efforts in wakening the country up.
Tolkien and Lewis were part of an informal club called the inklings. A great name.
I believe all in the Irish awakening movement, trying to save our country, have the natural law engraved in their heart, i.e have a strong inkling that something has to be done.. l
It is despairing though when within the movement itself are those who rush to say some are 'purer' than others and take digressionary pot shots at non enemies.
The lamestream media cannot but laugh. Personally I don't give a fig if someone is Christian or Pagan, Theist, Atheist or Agnostic as long as the totality of their work speaks the truth of where we are now.
I think Tolkien quoted as thinking Ireland's mythology irrational implies he regarded Christian mythology rational which defies intelligence. He may have been a fine writer but belief in Christian dogma to me indicates low intelligence or a pervasive selling out encounter in high society/academia to proclaim yourself Christian to hang on to what you have which is understandable. If he proclaimed himself pagan all would have been denied to him and we perhaps would have never heard of his work much less read it. The whole world has an evil streak. Primeval energies emerge in some places feeling evil.