Customer Reviews
A fine book about magic & mysticism by a parish priest & his - By: , 09 Dec 1998 
BOOK REVIEW
"The Swordin the Sun: Dialogue With An Angel", Anthony Duncan, Sun Chalice Books, Oceanside, CA; 1997. ------------------------------------------------------------------
I am fey, so they say; I have seen the walking dead hurry to Mass on a weekday morning. I have heard the doors go bang & have heard their footsteps hurrying. I have heard the solemn warning through & beyond the bell's wild clang; the long clear call fron the tower. [From "Tewkesbury Abbey", p 162]
Messages from angels, spirits, & galactic aliens are being published with increasing frequency these days as we approach the Third Millennium. And sometimes, rather than acting as a blind channel for proclamations of wisdom or prophecies of doom, an intermediary will question his source directly & be rewarded by responses of more astute relevance. But rarely amid the current flurry of communiques from the Other Side does one encounter anything that comes close to intelligent & intimate conversation. Whomever, or whatever, these Beings are, & wherever they come from, you suspect that they would not be treated as welcome strangers at a company lunch, even if they WERE visible. But after reading "Swordin the Sun", I would certainly welcome its author, Anthony Duncan, to lunch, even if the appearance of his angel could not be guaranteed.
Before he retired to the splendid (relative) isolation of Northumberland, a gray stone's throw from his native Scotland, Duncan was a parish priest for thirty years, an occasional exorcist, & Honorary Canon of Newscastle Cathedral. "Sword In The Sun: Dialogue With An Angel" was the second & most extraordinary of five books he wrote during the early 1970s "within the context of a profound inner compulsion". He had just passed his fortieth birthday. It is a record of experiences he had over the course of several weeks, often seatedin his study,in the presence of his "guardian angel" who, from the outset, encouraged him to write their conversations down so that others, sooner or later, could "eavesdrop".
What transpires is a grand journey full of surprises, subtle & huge; from dark mossy bog & bright Highland hill to the far-flung & horizonless corners of the mental world & back again, much as they have been seen & inwardly understood by the keenest & most sensitive of British folk -- poets or mystics, artists or vicars, warlocks or warriors -- down through the centuries & back again. Always coming back to the Presence, which is always, & usuallyin a small churchyard amid tombs & gardens, orin a spring breeze that sings among stones on moorland.. hymns that plunge & rise again, from sorrow to ecstatic union: a bliss, clothedin glories which may be Christian, with integral trimmings of high Pagan delight, but which enfold an essence that is irresistably inclusive & universal.
Yet "The Sword" is a small book, & modest. In some ways it is like an updated & revised version of Revelations for children. Even Pan, arch-deva of the animal realm, drops by to chat. Although what Pan says, & how the Qabala is unveiled by the angel, (along with some profound basics about chakras & reincarnation), seems slightly beyond the comprehension of an average toddler, never mind an educated theologian!
In other words, it is a soul-stirring book for all ages, in more ways than one, & perhaps will be understood best by those who have not been entrained by dogmas, churchly or alienesque. And for those who like good poetry -- because there's more than a touch of the laureate friarin Duncan as well as visionary bard of the heathery glen -- this book will shine like an amethyst at dawn. ------------------------------------------------------------- Review by -=Rab Wilkie -------------------------------------------------------------
A book of magic , mysticism by a parish priest... - By: , 09 Dec 1998 I am fey, so they say; I have seen the walking dead hurry to Mass on a weekday morning. I have heard the doors go bang & have heard their footsteps hurrying. I have heard the solemn warning through & beyond the bell's wild clang; the long clear call fron the tower. [From "Tewkesbury Abbey", p 162]
Messages from angels, spirits, & galactic aliens are being published with increasing frequency these days as we approach the Third Millennium. And sometimes, ratherthan acting as a blind channel for proclamations of wisdom or prophecies of doom, an intermediary will question his source directly & be rewarded by responses of more astute relevance. But rarely amid the current flurry of communiques from the Other Side does one encounter anything that comes close to intelligent & intimate conversation. Whomever, or whatever, these Beings are, & wherever they come from,you suspect that they would not be treated as welcome strangers at a company lunch, even if they WERE visible. But after reading "Swordin the Sun", I would certainly welcome its author, Anthony Duncan, to lunch, even if the appearance of his angel could not be guaranteed.
Before he retired to the splendid (relative)isolation of Northumberland, a gray stone's throw from his native Scotland, Duncan was a parish priest for thirty years, an occasional exorcist, & Honorary Canon of Newscastle Cathedral. "Sword In The Sun: Dialogue With An Angel" was the second & most extraordinary of five books he wrote during the early 1970s "within the context of a profound inner compulsion". He had just passed his fortieth birthday. It is a record of experiences he had over the course of several weeks, often seated in his study,in the presence of his "guardian angel" who, from the outset, encouraged him to write their conversations down so that others, sooner or later, could "eavesdrop".
What transpires is a grand journey full of surprises, subtle & huge; from dark mossy bog & bright Highland hill to the far-flung & horizonless corners of the mental world & back again, much as they have been seen & inwardly understood by the keenest & most sensitive of British folk -- poets or mystics, artists or vicars, warlocks or warriors -- down through the centuries & back again. Always coming back to the Presence, which is always, & usuallyin a small churchyard amid tombs & gardens, orin a spring breeze that sings among stones on moorland.. hymns that plunge & rise again, from sorrow to ecstatic union: a bliss, clothedin glories which may be Christian, with integral trimmings of high Pagan delight, but which enfold an essence that is irresistably inclusive & universal.
Yet "The Sword" is a small book, & modest. In some ways it is like an updated & revised version of Revelations for children. Even Pan, arch-deva of the animal realm, drops by to chat. Although what Pan says, & how the Qabala is unveiled by the angel, (along with some profound basics about chakras & reincarnation), seems slightly beyond the comprehension of an average toddler, never mind an educated theologian!
In other words, it is a soul-stirring book for all ages,in more ways than one, & perhaps will be understood best by those who have not been entrained by dogmas, churchly or alienesque. And for those who like good poetry -- because there's more than a touch of the laureate friarin Duncan as well as visionary bard of the heathery glen -- this book will shine like an amethyst at dawn. Review by Rab Wilki
