An Opening of the Way
It was an unlikely place to encounter the Mythos, or perhaps not; the Roman spa town of Bath exudes a particular enigmatic aura that comes from a deeper source than the weathered, pock-marked, centuries-old stone of Georgian parades and colonnaded crescents. Deeper and older than the temple and baths built by the Romans in the first century AD, where the location gained the Latin name, Aquae Sulis.
It’s as if the very ground, the remains of an ancient volcanic caldera, holds onto energies that pre-date the Age when humans, or their predecessors, first walked upright through mist-shrouded forests and gazed up in wonder and awe at yellow orb of the Moon. Those energies are subtle but ever-present, especially on dank nights when the rain makes the stone facades and pavements glisten with odd reflections, or when the freezing fog rolls down from the surrounding hills and wraps the streets in silence.
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A view of Bath in daylight
I live in Bristol but work in Bath. A duality that I find pleasing. I stayed late this one night to join my friend, Dan, who was travelling to Bath to see an art installation called Illuminate Bath. It was raining and freezing cold, and even wrapped in waterproofs, snood and thick hat, the chill was seeping through me. However, there was a great atmosphere on the streets. Crowds of people wandering around despite the foul weather exploring the various installations, where light and sound were combined to create an effect. It was surprisingly good. However, the prize moment was when we walked into the outdoor enclosure surrounding the Great Baths. The structure above ground dates from the 19th Century, but standing on the stone balconies, peering down, you see structures that are vastly older. In fact, the site itself was first used as far back as 836 BC by the Celts (according to Geoffrey of Monmouth in his book Historia Regum Britanniae).
David J Rodger
The intense cold was a superb bonus because it meant that the hot geothermal waters, seeping up into the pool, created roiling clouds of steam that drifted over the green surface. A sound system had been installed and this was shaping an uneasy medley of deep-bass chords, notes that rumbled the air, accompanied by a reedy electronic piping. A hub of lasers bristled in response to the sounds, blazing down from the upper reaches into the green waters below – but the light was diffused by the steam creating dramatic illusions: these weren’t laser beams but eruptions of cosmic light emerging from the vapours hovering over sacred waters. I was glimpsing an opening of the way – a portal – revealing the distant yet rapidly approaching form of some Thing. I really wish I could convey how vivid and real the experience was. Dan and I stood there for over 30 minutes – utterly transfixed. A really great artistic event.
Combined with the awe inspiring sounds, I found myself thinking: I’m witnessing the emergence of a Great Old One into our reality – this is a ceremony to breach the protective membrane of the Quantisphere and render some Thing… from beyond, into our world.
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An opening emerges
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It was really rather good; and I think the dismal weather probably made it more so.
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