In
the previous two pages, the buildup to an intense period of several
years of productions is described. The book gives details of that
period and the plays performed. Here we include the Epilogue to
show how such a period of creativity and group genius can also
grind to a halt - even when things have gone quite well! This piece
was written in 1996.
Epilogue
And They Call Her Name Wisdom
During the summer of 1994 I began to have ideas for an alchemical
allegory based on the legends and landscape of Glastonbury and
Avalon, featuring the mysterious
Nine Morgens who rule the Isle of Avalon and Merlin. Alchemy is the mystical
science of the blending of the inner and outer elements of the psyche in
order to find the Philosopher's Stone or in other words the Stone
of Sophia, who is
also known as Wisdom. Wisdom throughout the ages and in all religious traditions
is a feminine quality by its very nature, appearing in the form of the
Goddess Sophia or Lady Alchymia. Part of this quest to find the
Philosopher's Stone involves
the making of a substance which can transmute base metal into gold, both
a physical and a mystical experience. The processes of alchemy
are as mysterious and obscure
today as they ever were in the past. I began to read some alchemical writings
in my
attempt to understand what it was all about.
One of the fundamental alchemical experiments involves the heating together
for a long time, sometimes years, in a sealed vessel of a prima materia -
primal matter with red and white elements. During the long process they
pass through various stages of transformation changing in colour from black
to white
to red to yellow (interestingly all traditional Goddess colours) with various
stages in between, one delightful one known as the peacock's tail when
the contents of the athenor sparkle with iridescent blue and green. The
uniting of the red
and the white appears in many mystical traditions, the red symbolising
the blood of the womb, of life and woman, and white representing the seminal
fluid and
sperm of man. Their union culminates in the rite of the Sacred Marriage
both internally
creating wholeness and externally in sexual communion.
In the early autumn when I had understood as much as I was able about alchemy
and wisdom I wrote a play entitled AND THEY CALL HER NAME WISDOM - A Hymn
of
Praise and sent the call out for participants. Performers came forward
for most roles, except for the main female lead - Jasmine. We began rehearsals
without
her and creating music with Jana Runnalls, Lydia, Katrina and Moses. Jana
is a fine musician and singer who had recently moved to Glastonbury from
Devon with
Katrina. Everything was going fine except for some reason, I couldn't find
the right woman to play Jasmine. One person came forward then withdrew,
then another
took it on but also withdrew, just two and a half weeks from the performance
date. It was strange because until now it had always been far easier to
find women performers than men, but the tables had turned and now there
were more
men available than women. I couldn't take in what was happening at first.
Where was the synchronicity of Ariadne's energy wave I had always relied
upon - the
belief that someone would always turn up at the right moment to play a
part. For some reason it wasn't happening. I had always trusted that everything
would
be alright in the end and that everything that happened was as it was meant
to be. Now it seemed She had let me down.
No-one suitable appeared to play Jasmine and anyway it was all too late.
No-one could learn the lines in time. We decided to postpone the production
until the
following year.
Stopping production when it was underway was awful. Energetically it was
like being hit by a truck. The energy was all flowing forward and then
it stopped
and we all lurched forward. For a few days we were in shock. But there
was nothing to do but wait until the energy wanted to move again. After
a while some realisations
began to dawn. It became obvious that by trying to perform a sacred drama
about alchemy we had of course synchronously entered the alchemical process
itself
and since alchemy involves spending a lot of time being heated up in an
enclosed space, we would just have to wait for as long as it takes, until
the time is
right and
the processes of transformation have taken place.
Beltane 1995 came but the energy wasn't there for performance and it seemed
we were postponed at least until Samhain or the Winter Solstice. Then a
nightmare
entered my life. Just after Lammas 1995 I found a thickening in my breast
and was diagnosed as having breast cancer. My life took a nose-dive as
I experienced
the debilitating yet life-saving effects of conventional medicine and faced
my great fear of dying. The pain was alleviated by large doses of complementary
medicine and the love and prayers of many friends. Cancer is a disease
of transformation.
The theory is very simple - transform your life or die. But what on earth
does transformation really mean and when you've faced all you can face?
Is it enough
to stay alive?
The play of synchronicity is a major feature in the creation of sacred
drama and I am as susceptible as any of Ariadne's participants to the touch
of her
spirit. A little insight came to me as I sat in hospital waiting for my
first injection of severely poisonous chemotherapy. The doctor appeared
with two large
syringes, one filled with a bright red fluid and the other with a clear
whitish fluid and began to slowly inject them into the back of my hand.
It made me smile
as I realised that in this alchemical experiment the red and the white
were being united in the athenor of my body. Oh! Ariadne always has a trick
or two up her
sleeve to catch the unwary. I can only pray that a little of her wisdom
will come my way
as this process of transformation continues.
