A few words about Frances Hodgson Burnett on her birthday

The writer Frances Hodgson Burnett was born on this day, November 24th, in 1849. 

She was briefly mentioned in the article that lists some more Sagittarian writers. I read her three most popular children's books when I was very young and quite liked The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, but I knew almost nothing about her. After learning that she was interested in metaphysical matters, I put an investigation of her life on my to-do list.

I have looked again at the children's books and trawled through some biographical material. I found a lot of fairly interesting information about Frances Hodgson Burnett's life, some of it unexpected and some of it depressing. 

Where this blog is concerned, the results of the investigation to date are rather disappointing. Unlike fellow Sagittarian L. M. Montgomery, whose books, journals and letters are packed with article-inspiring material, Frances Hodgson Burnett provides very little that resonates or that I want to quote and comment on.

There is nothing new about her being different from the people around her as a child or being an avid reader and an inventor of exciting adventure stories from an early age. She was not the only writer to find books and the products of her imagination better than real life either.

Wanting to have something to show for my efforts, I selected enough material for a short article. It consists mainly of some elements that Frances Hodgson Burnett had in common with L. M. Montgomery.

Frances Hodgson Burnett and L. M. Montgomery

As might be expected, both Frances Hodgson Burnett and L. M. Montgomery were voracious and compulsive readers from an early age.

Frances Hodgson Burnett has been described as a writing machine; L. M. Montgomery felt compelled to write and was also very prolific. 

Both writers were profoundly influenced by works of the Brontës. There are some parallels to both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights in Frances Hodgson Burnett's Secret Garden for example.

Both writers had their first stories published when they were still teenagers.

Both writers became the main breadwinner in their families; in Frances Hodgson Burnett's case this started at the age of 18, when she began to make money from writing.

Something about Nicholas Stuart Gray's Mainly in Moonlight

I have recently read Nicholas Stuart Gray's Mainly in Moonlight (1965) for the first time. 

Mainly in Moonlight consists of ten short tales of sorcery and the supernatural, the third of which gives its name to the book. One story is an addition to Over the Hills to Fabylon, another to Grimbold's Other World and, as mentioned in the 100th anniversary article, yet another story, one that is told by a demon with a sense of humour, may have given some ideas to Jonathan Stroud.

There is not much quotable material in the book, but some of the stories inspire a small amount of commentary.

Mainly in Moonlight the story
The story titled Mainly in Moonlight has something to say about the inappropriate use of magic and people who get themselves out of a tight corner only to fall into a worse one. 

A young man called Colin decides to seek out a sorcerer to request a magic charm that will get him something he has set his heart on. The sorcerer says that before his wish for a magic spell can be granted, Colin must serve him for one year. 

Colin has to perform tasks such as drawing water, lighting fires, baking bread and tending to an invisible horse. He thinks constantly of escape. 

A creature living at the bottom of the well offers him a way out, but the catch is that he must serve it for one year. Life down below turns out to be worse than it was with the sorcerer.

Again and again Colin is rescued from a disheartening situation only to be expected to serve his new master for one year.

Colin, who had thought that it would be a small and simple matter to get a magic charm, learns his lessons. He says this at the end of the story:

“There is only one simple truth about magic. You get a lot that you didn't ask for and absolutely nothing that you wanted!”

This is certainly true in many cases. However, the sorcerer keeps his word and there is a good outcome for Colin.

Today is the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Nicholas Stuart Gray

The Scottish writer, playwright and actor Nicholas Stuart Gray was born on this day, October 23rd, in 1922. ***

The In Memoriam article contains some information about his life and works; there is still a little more to be said about him, and the 100th anniversary of his birth is an appropriate time to do it. 

***Since this article was first published, I have seen evidence that Nicholas Stuart Gray was not only not the Highland Scotsman he was widely said to be, he was also born in 1912 rather than 1922.

More information about this can be found here:

http://www.imaginarymongoose.co.uk/blog/reviews/ns-gray/

These recent and unexpected discoveries are not relevant to the following material. 

Writing for oneself
Nicholas Stuart Gray said something very interesting about his writing:

“...Cassandra had written the author a fan letter, and she still treasures his modest, graceful reply, in which he said, amongst other things: ‘As all my books and plays are only written for myself and not for any imagined audiences, readers, age-groups, publishers, etc, it is always a delightful surprise to get proof that anyone BUT myself ever reads or sees them...’"

https://firebirdfeathers.com/2015/02/10/on-writers-nicholas-stuart-gray-and-the-stone-cage/

It is the same with this blog! I produce the articles mainly for my own benefit, but I am delighted when I see that they are being read by many people.

The articles about Nicholas Stuart Gray's witches are among the most popular posts on here. I don't know how many are read by people who were already familiar with his works; I would love to think that I have introduced his books to a few new people. 

The cult leader in Jonathan Stroud’s Whispering Skull

I find Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. series well worth reading for the stories alone. Material that inspires commentary is a bonus! 

The article about Stroud's predatory ghosts does not cover everything of interest and relevance in the Lockwood books. There is some material that makes me think of cults, and there are people and other entities who use supernatural powers to make themselves appear to be angels when they are really demons.

This article has something to say about a sinister doctor called Edmund Bickerstaff, who is of particular interest because he has some of the characteristics that are often found in cult leaders.

The sinister Victorian doctor
Dr. Edmund Bickerstaff is a character in The Whispering Skull, the second book in the Lockwood series. He was involved with occult research and experimentation; he pursued forbidden knowledge. After years of unwholesome activities such as grave robbing and necromancy, he was believed to have come to a horrible end in 1877. The fate of his remains was unknown until the present day, when his gravestone is unexpectedly found in London's Kensal Green Cemetery.

Dr. Bickerstaff's ghost is likely to be very dangerous, so Anthony Lockwood and his fellow psychical investigation agents George Cubbins and Lucy Carlyle are retained to supervise the excavation of the grave and deal with the remains. 

Their discoveries and adventures while on the case make fascinating reading, but it is the effect that Dr. Bickerstaff has on people that is most relevant here. 

Dr. Bickerstaff and cult leaders
Cult leaders often promise everything and deliver little or nothing. They can be pied pipers who lead their sleep-walking, spellbound followers to disaster; they can be sirens who lure people to their doom. Dr. Bickerstaff is one such leader. He operated on a relatively small scale when alive, but had a lethal effect on his followers.

Two incidents at the equinox

The article about depression at the autumn equinox describes how Charlotte Brontë suffered badly for a month to six weeks at this time of year. 

I have been feeing under the weather for around two weeks myself. It is worse than it has been in recent years, but nothing like as bad as it got in the distant past. 

While it helps to know that certain unseen influences may be at work, this doesn't stop the feelings of malaise, stagnation, despondency and being unprotected; it doesn't stop approaches from strangers who make me feel uncomfortable either. 

I experienced two such incidents when I went out shopping recently.

The first one happened when I visited a shopping centre some way from where I live. I have been there many times in the past, but I felt confused when I came out of the station. I made a false start or two, then set off down what I soon realised was the wrong road. As I walked past some tables outside a café, a rather weird and witchy older woman with straggly grey hair who was sitting there called out loudly, eagerly and triumphantly, “Hello darling” as if she knew me! 

I am wondering whether I fell into her psychic trap or answered her call and was drawn to that place because my defences were low at the time. The shopping expedition was not a success: the store I planned to visit had closed down and I came home with nothing.

The second incident happened when I was standing in a queue at a big supermarket. Someone just behind me started to comment in an over-friendly manner on the items I had selected; I looked round cautiously and saw that it was a rather weird and witchy older woman with straggly grey hair! The woman on the till was very slow and there were several people waiting in front of me, so I was a captive audience. I just smiled vaguely while she kept talking.  She also said loudly, “Hello darling” to the woman on the till! It was definitely not the same person though.

I am wondering what drew her to my queue and not one of the others. 

A few points about people who join cults

Steven Hassan's best-selling book Combating Cult Mind Control, which is described as a 'Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults', is a good starting point for people who want to learn something about cults. First published in 1988, it is still very relevant.

This book contains a lot of useful - not to mention depressing, disturbing, sinister and chilling - information and covers many cult-related topics.

Steven, aka Steve, Hassan is American; he is a former high-level member of the Unification Church or 'Moonies'. Much of what he says about this cult and his life inside it has a much wider application.

This article covers a few points of particular interest that Steve Hassan makes in connection with joining cults.

He says for example that the Moonies justify the use of deception to recruit new members. So do many if not most cult-like organisations. Misleading people, luring them somewhere under false pretences and downright brazen lying are common practices; some examples can be found in this article.

A key point about people who join cults
Steven Hassan makes a very good point here:

“It is important to remember that for the most part, people don't join cults. Culls recruit people.“

This is very true in the majority of cases. Most people who join cults do so only because they were approached and manipulated by unscrupulous members with recruitment targets to meet: they would not have sought out and joined the cult of their own inclination and free will.

Some cults however are very exclusive, at least in the early stages of their existence. They prefer quality to quantity and try to attract rather than target people. They make it difficult to join and they let the would-be members make all the running and prove themselves worthy. Of course, this could be a clever recruitment technique!

Something about Nicholas Stuart Gray's Grimbold's Other World

I recently read Nicholas Stuart Gray's Grimbold's Other World (1963) for the first time. 

This little fantasy book is written in the style of fairy tales; each chapter is followed by a poem. 

I wish that I had encountered this book when I was very young and could read it just for the settings, the stories, the characters and the humour as I did with Nicholas Stuart Gray's Over the Hills to Fabylon: the references to not belonging and the dangers of being involved with magic and other worlds are the main interest now.

Grimbold and Muffler
Grimbold is a black cat who introduces a boy called Muffler, who was found in a hen's nest by some villagers and is 'different', to the night world and its inhabitants.

Muffler has a whole series of adventures in his world and the night world. He is involved with a variety of characters including a sorcerer, talking animals, birds and trees and mythological beings such as dwarves. 

Children will enjoy the stories for their own sake, but adults who are interested in unseen influences may notice some sad and alarming messages.

The quotations speak for themselves – and for the author and others who don't feel at home in this world.

The villagers say this about Muffler:

“We must be gentle, and not let him suffer for being different.”

The narrator makes this depressing – but true - comment:

“This, of course, was not possible. Everyone must suffer who is different.”

Grimbold's Other World contains many warnings about what happens to people who get involved with magic and the night world.