The Eldritch World

For most of us, life is a largely monotonous affair--an endless round of school, work, and social and family commitments, punctuated by idle chatter. But beyond this drab and uninspiring reality, there is another world altogether, a world where the contours are sharper and the colors are brighter. This is the domain described by mystics and Surrealists, esoteric poets and psychedelic voyagers. For Nigel Pennick, who has spent much of his life mapping out this hidden terrain, there is a name for it: the Eldritch World. The way that we experience the eldritch is invariably tied to the circumstances of our birth, or to what philosophers might call our being-in-the-world. The eldritch has a history and its roots run deep in the land. In Nigel Pennick's case, it manifests through the myths, folklore, and customs of his native Britain. A gentleman scholar in the Victorian style, Pennick has made a career out of documenting these fast-disappearing traditions and of working toward their revival. He is a mummer and a magician, a Pagan, and a practitioner of the traditional arts and crafts. Yet unlike many of Pennick s other writings, The Eldritch World is not about runes, or geomancy, or the ancient customs of pre-Christian Europe. The Eldritch World is a meditation on what these things mean and why Pennick has devoted his life to them. It is also a manifesto: against the soulless mediocrity of the modern world, and for a reinvigorated Spirit of Place. Presented in a fine clothbound edition, The Eldritch World is beautifully set in seventeenth-century type and illustrated throughout with eerie archival images and photographs depicting various folk traditions and beliefs.