Procure I Saw Water: An Occult Novel And Other Selected Writings Documented By Ithell Colquhoun Displayed In Manuscript

narrators tone was a bit cold for me, but I imagine that this won't be shared by many readers
Charlotte wanted to give her lover a present but could not decide what form it should take.
On the subject of a suitable gift she wished she could consult her brother Keith, who seemed to her a model of tact and worldly wisdom, She considered a pigskin suitcase, a pair of royalblue swimming trunks or a wooden object, made partly of cottonreels, which she sometimes wore as a sanitarytowel, If she chose the suitcase, it might look as though she wished him to travel and even the bathingtrunks would be as useful in his swimmingpool at home as they were on Ménec.
She even wondered whether there were not a pun hidden in these two things, namely the word trunk, which could also apply to his own body and by its material the suitcase would call him a pig, which she did not wish to do.



I have little to add to Sean's review,

Some of those footnotes, whoa, Are these editors serious Words cant do this book justice, Highly symbolic and dense with allusions, Ithell

Colquhouns occult novel I Saw Water follows the narrator Sister Brigid aka Ella as she moves toward her second deatha Theosophical concept whereby a persons astral body lives on for a time after death, eventually fading until the second death, at which point the soul moves on to occupy another body, thus completing the cycle of reincarnation.
As with Colquhouns novel sitelinkGoose of Hermogenes, therefore, this is a journeybased novel, with the names of the chapters corresponding to figures within the geomantic system of divination.
The figures are used to provide continuing insight into the characters individual situations, psychological states, and progress in their journeys,

Sister Brigid is cloistered in the paganleaning Roman Catholic Ianua Vitae Convent on the Island of Death, here identified as Ménec, off the coast of Brittany, France.
She, of course, is dead, as is everyone else who arrives on the island, including her cousin Charlotte, whose story unfolds in reverse, a technique used by Colquhoun to emphasize the cyclical nature of death, rebirth, and life.
Over the course of the novel, Brigid, Charlotte, and all of the other characters slowly come to realize what is happening to them, In the meantime, confusion is commonplace, a state effectively conveyed through the use of oneiric sequences, a favored technique of Colquhouns which she also employs in Goose.
These narrative shifts into nearverbatim dream transcriptions are fairly easy to identify, although they are also on occasion indicated as such in the I Saw Water's copious endnotes,

Without prior knowledge of Colquhouns Christian background, her extensive appropriation of Catholic imagery and traditions in a novel of decidedly nonChristian concepts might seem bewildering, What she appears to be doing, though, is crafting her own personal hybrid occult mythology, Unfortunately, although the notes more than adequately address the many allusions, the proliferation of such references can weigh down the narrative for those of us who need to frequently flip to the back of the book.
Without the resulting discovery of Colquhouns subtext, however, the novel would be much less palatable, Unlike Goose, it lacks the consistent urgency and momentous sequences that permit a reader to enjoy that novel without a thorough understanding of the symbolism, I will note also that this is a case where reading the introduction first does enhance the reading of the work itself,

Though it may be of less interest to casual readers of occult fiction than Goose, this book is still a worthwhile read, particularly for those interested in Colquhoun as a writer and occult figure.
It just documents a much different kind of journey than Goose does, The central character is older and farther along in her spiritual development, She is wiserless wideeyed, though no less willing to embrace new experiences, The narrative arrives at a graceful, satisfactory close, and it is one of those endings that prompts one to turn back and reexamine the path that led to it.
Ithell Colquhounis remembered today as a surrealist artist, writer, and occultist, Although her paintings hang in a number of public collections and her gothic novel Goose of Hermogenesremains in print, critical responses to her work have been severely constrained by the limited availability of her art and writings.
The publication of her second novel, I Saw Waterpresented here for the first time, together with a selection of her other writings and images, many also previously unpublishedmarks a significant step in expanding our knowledge of Colquhoun's work.


Composed almost entirely of material assembled from the author's dreams, I Saw Water challenges such fundamental distinctions as those between sleeping and waking, the two separated genders, and life and death.
It is set in a convent on the Island of the Dead, but its spiritual context derives from sources as varied as Roman Catholicism, the teachings of the Theosophical Society, Goddess spirituality, Druidism, the mystical Qabalah, and Neoplatonism.


The editors have provided both an introduction and explanatory notes, The introductory essay places the novel in the context of Colquhoun's other works and the cultural and spiritual environment in which she lived, The extensive notes will help the reader with any concepts that may be unfamiliar, British surrealist painter and occult author, and the only significant biographer of sitelink S, L. MacGregor Mathers. British surrealist painter and occult author, and the only significant biographer of sitelink S, L. MacGregor Mathers. sitelink.