Michael Dames Boeken

In an age of ecological turbulence, our understanding of the hills, rivers and fields we live amongst is more critical than ever. But what strange mysteries might the academic study of geography conceal from us, and what relationships to the land might be revealed by reinvestigating the forgotten knowledge of myth, history and legend? Here Michael Dames sets out to reconnect with the hallowed landscapes of Britain and Ireland, and finds them populated by ancient goddesses, strange rites and embedded energies.

The River Severn is Britain's longest natural waterway. It rises in mid-Wales, where it is known as the Hafren. Both these names stem from that of a river goddess, known since prehistoric times as Sabrina. To stop anywhere along Sabrina's course, or on either side of her beautiful estuary, is to risk becoming absorbed and transfixed by her ever-moving, yet timelessly repetitive progress. Throw a net across Sabrina, from side to side, and you might catch a fish, but the body of her stream will pass straight through the mesh. Can words possibly convey the elusive majesty of her current, or adequately describe its multi-stranded sacred story? In Spirits of Severn, artist and mythographer Michael Dames - whose acclaimed work includes The Silbury Treasure, The Avebury Cycle and Mythic Ireland - brings the river's illusive legacy to the surface, while tracing her progress from her pair of sources to the furthest tips of her Mor Hafren estuary.