Lavondyss

 

Lavondyss is, as its author Robert Holdstock puts it, ‘not a sequel but a return visit to Ryhope Wood (Mythago Wood). The original Mythago Wood I read regularly, though this was only my second reading of Lavondyss. I loved it. And was left wondering why I'd not returned before. Tallis Keeton is a young woman living on the edge of Ryhope Wood, she's deeply connected to the surrounding landscape,it's places, monuments and myths; and they to her. She sees the land differently, her connection and understanding deepens as getting older she develops a range of shamanic abilities, including the ability to create hollowings, portals through time and place, with the aid of her hand-crafted wooden masks. Over a decade before, in the events of Mythago Wood, her older brother Harry Keeton had disappeared whilst on a quest into the heart of of the Wood with Stephen Huxley. Through a hollowing she hears Harry call to her from the heartland of the wood. With her burgeoning shamanic powers and collection of masks Tallis is determined to somehow rescue Harry from the depths of Ryhope Wood. Actions though have ramifications, and her interactions with the Mythago world have altered the course of stories, and as a consequence the paths of all those journeying through the wood. Holdstocks' writing is beautiful, evocative, his story telling compelling; he's created a recognizable world, plausible and engaging, imbued throughout with genuine magic. Deftly weaving archaeology, history and the natural world with mythology and lore, exploring the place and necessity of stories in the human experience, how they've shaped us and our navigation of the world.  It's a weird and wonderful read.

Mythago Wood

I've just finished reading Robert Holdstocks' Mythago Wood for the umpteenth time, and it's star remains undimmed. Man, I love this book. I can't recommend it highly enough. Holdstock deftly weaves threads of reality and fantasy, between threads of archaeology, history, and folklore into a compelling tale, brooding and atmospheric. With characters that are believable, well developed, with dimension and depth, complicated; and a world that is at once wholly recognisable and fantastical. Beautifully written he masterfully evokes the atmosphere of the wild wood, and the magic of a landscaped soaked in history, monument, and lore. Ryhope Wood is a timeless English wood, a remnant of the original wild wood that once covered this post glacial isle, it ignores all natural laws and defies reality. A landscape where the genesis of myths are formed, become flesh, live out their stories and regenerate for changing times; Mythagos, variants of timeless archetypes roam the woods. The Huxleys' home sits within the influence of this mysterious wood, a family beguiled by a wild beauty and the magic of Ryhope Wood, who end up consumed by both in a pursuit back through time, ancient stands and stories. The potency and purpose of myth and story, their cultural importance, are explored; how stories shape our lives and our experience of the world.  Our ancestors lived in a world of magical phenomena and mythical characters, an oral world, a world shaped by stories. Through the magic of Ryhope Wood I feel Holdstock encourages the reader to experience woods differently, through an awareness of the magic that surrounds us, and to be open to it. Mythago Wood is an enthralling read. If you love the natural world, if you find wonder amongst the stands, and if you're open to letting your imagination run. Then this is a book for you.

Horse shrine

 

Our walks in the forest and the things we come across frequently puts me in mind of Holdstock's 'Mythago Wood'; and Mythago Wood has always made me think of the forest. In this case a horse skull stands guard at a place between worlds where the woodland abuts wet heath and bog; and I'm reminded of the prehistoric horse shrine deep in Mythago Wood. Good book, I recommend it.

A rhapsody to moisture

At the moment the forest is a rhapsody to moisture being performed against a backdrop of autumnal hues. It's magical, if not sodden and obstacle strewn, walking, with a glorious feel to it, as if something deep and ethereal is afoot. I could best describe the atmosphere as like wandering through a fairytale, expecting at any moment someone or something to hurry through the stands and the adventure begin. Maybe it was mythagos or something, there was certainly magic about...and, wet, lots of wet.

Just a peek

I've mentioned Mythago Wood on several occasions as a book which has had, and continues to have, a huge influence on my interpretation and interactions with woodland. Mythago Wood is the first book in the Mythago Cycle of novels, followed by Lavondyss. In Lavondyss the main protagonist Tallis is the younger sister of a character from Mythago Wood, who at the end of the book was lost in the Wood. In short, Tallis carves a series of wooden masks through which she can see the wood through time and space and with them travel to those different places and times. For some reason gateways have always held a strange significance for me, and although I understand the books are fiction, I also understand truths can be found in surprising places, as I've frequently found. I've always enjoyed walking between paired trees, I still do, wondering, possibly hoping (I say 'possibly hoping', I definitely *am* hoping) that I'll find myself in another manifestation of the world, a changed world. I know, I'm a total fantasist, what the hey. At the bottom of Glastonbury Tor there used to be a cleaved tree with a path through it, I would always approach the Tor through it, it took on a ceremonial meaning for me, a transition into the sacred. I was saddened when over time one side inevitably succumbed to the time and the elements and fell. Anyway, I digress. Since reading Lavondyss I can't pass a tree with a hole through it without peering through in the hope of seeing that changed alternative reality. And, although I haven't seen it yet, it doesn't mean that I wont. I want to believe.

Epiphanies

I've been grateful for any moments of epiphany I've had, we all need them, things that have offered clarity, a change of perception or a key that's opened another door. They come in many forms and from diffuse sources. One that often comes to mind when I'm in the woods, predictably maybe, is reading Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood. I was thinking whilst amongst the crowded stands of shadowy conifers, with their pockets of veteran deciduous trees appearing like magical groves, how profoundly Mythago Wood altered the way I perceived, received and related to landscape. I know it's fiction, don't underestimate the magic in the arts though. I've found there's often elements of genuine truth to be found in stories and lyrics, truths are just truths. Musing I wondered how best describe the gift the book had given me, and concluded that I couldn't adequately put into words how Mythago changed my perceptions, just that it did. Through it I managed a deeper richer connection to nature, the past, and an  understanding of how they're connected, it shone a beneficial light on my spiritual path too. Not that I base my spirituality on a book, though millions do, more that Mythago Wood was a lightning rod, it acted as a key to change, and that change was illuminating. I never really leave the woods, I understand that  now.

Horse Shrine

It was years ago I first read Robert Holdstock's 'Mythago Wood', I've read it many times since and would honestly say it had, and continues to have, a powerful effect on how I experience the natural world, myth and legend. I know it's a work of fiction, though I found aspects of it resonate, and anyway, there's often truths to be found hidden in fiction. Reoccurring features throughout the books (there several books and short stories in the Mythago Wood series based on the mysterious Ryhope Wood), are the horse and horse shrines, the horse has always been a important and powerfully symbolic animal, important to human cultures all over the world, they have helped us so much, and in so many ways. From beasts of burden, wood and field labourers to revered, respected and feared war-machines, and everything in between. The horse has been our companion throughout our journey from way back when to now. The New Forest is famous, amongst other things, for its rugged ponies, 5000 of whom range free, living and dying almost wild as they have done for over 2000 years, and whose ancestors arrived here after the last ice age. As I say, they live and die wild in the forest, and I regularly find horse skulls and my mind wanders back into the mythological landscape of Mythago Wood. The horse shrines in the stories always feature skulls.