Into the Marvellous tour: a riotous July week

The second leg of the Into the Marvellous UK tour was a riotous sell out success, with packed audiences braving the July heatwave in Bridport, Bruton, Hampshire, London, Canterbury and Lewes. The next trip will be Ireland in October, with two events at Yeats’s Tower in Thoor Ballylee on October 5 – see here for details and tickets. An event in Dublin is also in the pipeline, to be announced soon.

Into the Marvellous tour: a riotous July week2019-08-01T17:56:02+00:00

We Are In The Underworld And We Haven’t Figured It Out Yet

An essay by Dr Martin Shaw As both a mythologist and wilderness rites-of-passage guide I am frequently asked to comment on climate change, collapsing stories, and what on earth to say to our kids about the future. I am no kind of pundit, so choose my words sparingly and carefully. What follows is a few thoughts. *** The real horn being blown at this moment is one some of us simply cannot hear. Oh, we see — the endless television clips of crashing

We Are In The Underworld And We Haven’t Figured It Out Yet2022-03-11T15:13:21+00:00

The Wild Twin

Fairy tales tell us that we were born with a secret twin, a wild twin, and on the hour of its birth it was sent into exile, abandoned in the forest. That a good life is one that seeks them out. Who is the wild twin? I first caught the perfume of my wild twin by walking with muddy boots though wet grasses to my scrubby woodland den as a six year old. As the trees swirled I caught a scent and started to cry without understanding. I

The Wild Twin2020-12-10T17:17:08+00:00

Chthonic Memory in the Deep Wild

Martin is just finishing up a new book on wilderness rites of passage, due out in September 2019. This is not a book for everyone, he says, but he hopes it's of use to one or two. Here are a few lines from the introduction: *** Winter gods lope the forest Strike you with their wolfskin glove And the counterfeit life Takes its carrion demands Back to the blue deceits Of the one who first folded you. I trust words like that more than therapy talk, or

Chthonic Memory in the Deep Wild2019-07-17T18:01:38+00:00

On Memory And Story

We managed to briefly lure Martin away from his desk to share a few words from a new book he’s been labouring away on. If he doesn’t growl too often we’ll try again. *** What I want to do here is make a concerted plea for you to become a story carrier. I say this as seriously as I would the labour of becoming a shield-maiden for Boudicca, or being on one knee in front of Arthur, or sitting in the longhouse as the snow falls and

On Memory And Story2019-03-19T16:21:49+00:00

The Night Wages Tour

The first leg of the Into the Marvellous UK tour was a sell out success, with invitations still coming in. Martin and the Cista Mystica team were overwhelmed with goodwill and a warm welcome in Brighton, London, Devon and Cornwall, and are now busy planning the next tour in July. “Thank you to everyone who came, every single venue sold out and there was so much good will and excitement. We loved it.” -Martin

The Night Wages Tour2019-03-19T17:21:24+00:00

The Night Wages First Copies

The Cista Mystica Press sent out its first publication The Night Wages, Dr Martin Shaw's latest and deepest book yet that he has described as a 'poetic hit of contemporary romanticism'. Hundreds of people from across the world had pre-ordered this book and all received copies personally signed by Martin.

The Night Wages First Copies2019-03-15T10:28:40+00:00

Into the Marvellous—The Tour

Dates for the first UK leg of the Into the Marvellous book tour were announced this week following an overwhelming response from folks from afar afield as Australia, Alaska and California. A deluge of invitations initially came in unbidden after a few promotional evenings were announced, sparking an adventurous plan to travel far and wide with The Night Wages. Martin put out a request on social media for interesting venues and the floodgates opened. The first tour will take in Brighton, London, Devon and Cornwall in February

Into the Marvellous—The Tour2019-03-15T10:31:20+00:00

Small Gods

We hear it everywhere these days. Time for a new story. Some enthusiastic sweep of narrative that becomes, overnight, the myth of our times. A container for all this ecological trouble, this peak-oil business, this malaise of numbness that seems to shroud even the most privileged. A new story. Just the one. That simple. Painless. Everything solved. Lovely and neat. So, here’s my first moment of rashness: I suggest the stories we need turned up, right on time, about five thousand years ago. But they’re not

Small Gods2020-12-10T19:54:18+00:00

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