 |
Released
in 2005 |
“On the day when the green fields
Are a colony goldenly ruled by Apollo,
May the sensation we have of life
Be a dance within us.” - Fernando Pessoa
Tracklist
Part One: “Atho”
01. Atho
02. The Windrow
03. Which of these Worlds?
04. Spin
05. Birch Wandering
Part Two: “Ardhuu”
06. Escalder’s Tree Ride
07. Canterville
08. The Green Pentacle
09. Ceracini
10. Poppet Plum
11. The Witch in the Wood
Finale:
12. Kunmanngur
Lyrics
click the link above for Lyrics from Apple Pentacle
Green Twin of my previous CD “Alabaster”,
“Apple Pentacle” heralds Persephone’s return to fertile realms
amid flowers, wild rambling vines and
The Apple Tree Man / The Face in the Leaves,
revisiting also our beloved themes of parallel lives and faerie trysts.
“Full fierce he was to sight / And all over bright green”
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Green Man, spirit of the Greenwood, roves through the ages as Puck Robin, Robin Goodfellow, Robin Hood, Garland / Harvest King, Jack-in-the-Green, Herne, Bucca, Spanish Bosgou, German Woodwose, Sumerian Enkidu, Egyptian Osiris (The Great Green), moss-clad Tapio of Finland, Arcadian Pan, Dionysus, Roman Bacchus, Attis, or Rex Nemorensis. My Welsh ancestors knew him as Atho, Ardhuu, Gruagagh, or Pwca (Puge in old Danish, Pukje in Norwegian). He is Tolkien’s Treebeard and The Knot Wisdom (Solomon’s Seal) of Morris Dancing. The Face in the Leaves peers from foliate heads or sprouting masks. The Koran honours Al-Khidir the Green One. Further East he appears as Krishna or Rama / Vishnu. Ancient Mayan, Aztec and Hopi Indian cultures celebrated him, eg. as Kokopelli. Pacific Islanders and Australian Aborigines also had legends of The Wild Man. His European consort is the Spring Maiden, Flora, May Queen, Green Faerie Absinthe, or Lady Bercilak, wife of The Grim Man in Green in 14th century romance, Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, Arthurian poem of love, sex, honour and magic. Beneath its medieval courtesy was an ancient battle between Summer & Winter, a struggle between the waxing & waning Moon. Gawain’s shield bears a pentangle. The pentacle or pentagram (star in the apple) signals protection, luck, creative energy & immortality. It is also the sign of the Illuminati.
Folklore
“Escalder’s Tree Ride” is from my tale “The Legend of Elderbrook”, in which Escalder the Green Lady - a waterwitch - dives inside a tree, to meet her lover Thelderbrin and his brother Sir Malder.
Earlier she visited “Love Sessions” Vol 1, Prikosnovenie, in The Spellbinding song.
19th century image of the World Tree
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil
* * * * *
“Poppet Plum” is a tribute to José Géal, puppet master of the Toone Theatre in Bruxelles, Belgium:
http://www.toone.be/btnanglais.htm
* * * * *
“Kunmanngur” is a serpent from an Aboriginal tale, “The Flood and the Bird Men”,
told by Kianoo Tjeemairee of the Murinbata tribe. There are many names for the Rainbow Serpent in Aboriginal mythology, depending on location and language. It is a powerful symbol of fertility and creation. Several words in the song are names of birds.
* * * * *
More folklore related to the Apple Pentacle project
Composition:
Melodies / Lyrics: Mark Krol / Louisa John-Krol, except “The Green Pentacle” (music): Jenni Heinrich.
“Kunmanngur”: Fred Chaplain (Lys)/Brett Taylor/Louisa. Brett Taylor & Harry Williamson co-arranged others, esp. “Which of these Worlds” & “Escalder’s Tree Ride” respectively.
Instrumentation:
Louisa John-Krol
Singing, angel harp (“Canterville”)
Mandolin (“Birch Wandering”)
Harpsichord (“The Witch in the Wood”)
Acoustic guitar (“Windrow”, “Poppet Plum”)
Clay puppet-feet bells, Tibetan bell, Triangle, Windchimes; Rainstick.
Brett Taylor
Wurlitzer, Bass, 2nd acoustic & Electric guitars, Male backing vox (“Windrow”)
Mellotron, Piano, Synth, String arrangement, Melody bells / Chiming fruit, Drums, other percussion, loops (“Which of these Worlds”), Classical guitar (“Spin”)
Harry Williamson
Hammer dulcimer (“Escalder’s Tree Ride”)
Synth (“The Witch in the Wood”)
Harp (“The Green Pentacle”)
Paper drum (“Canterville”)
Charango, Tiple, 12-string guitar (“Escalder’s Tree Ride”; “Poppet Plum”)
Richard Allison
Piano arrangement & performance (“The Witch in the Wood”)
Jenni Heinrich
viola & classical guitar (“The Green Pentacle”)
Bronwyn Lloyd
Hurdy Gurdy (“Spin”)
Instrument made by Tim Guster
Production:
Part 1 & Finale: Brett Taylor, Pilgrim Arts, Australia;
Part 2: Harry Williamson, Spring Studio, Australia
E xcept: repeating vox motif of “Which of these Worlds” and “Spin”, recorded by Olaf Parusel of Stoa, in the Stadtgottesacker, Halle cemetery, Germany, later developed by Brett, Mark & Louisa in Australia.
Mastered by Brett Taylor, Australia 2005 & Fred Chaplain, France 2005.
Photography:
Catherine Goss. Promo: Arno Pellerin, Prikosnovenie
Visual Design:
Sabine-Adelaide, Prikosnovenie: http://www.sabine-adelaide.com
Special thanks:
Friends, family, fey
including all our collaborators on this & other projects…
http://www.louisajohnkrol.com (thanks Richard) & http://louisajk.ekishnugal.com (Saaroth).
Faerie News (Frederic Cotton, Khimaira/lefantastique).
In memory of my Welsh father, Michael John, who told & sung of Robin Hood.
May we all meet again in the Green Glen.
Faerielore, wicca & pagan bibliography:
“The Green Man” - J. Matthews
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” - Tolkien & Barron translations
“By Oak, Ash and Thorn” & “Wicca” – Conway
“The Witch in the Wood” – T.H.White
“Australian Dreaming” – Jennifer Isaacs
“Aboriginal Myths and Legends” – Roland Robinson
“The Canterville Ghost” – Oscar Wilde
“Three Romances” (Love stories of Camelot) – W. Rosen
“Puck of Pook’s Hill” – Kipling
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – Shakespeare
“Absinthe – La Folie Verte” – music by Blood Axis & Les Joyaux de la Princesse
“Green Witchcraft” – A. Moura (Aoumiel)
“Wild Witchcraft” - Marian Green
“Witch Crafting” – P. Curott
“Wicca” – Cunningham
“The Mist-Filled Path” – Frank MacEowen
“The Moon on the Lake” – Caiseal Mor
“The Faery Queen” – Spenser
“The Symbolism of Tarot” – Ospensky
“The Mythic Tarot” – J.Sharman-Burke & L. Greene
“The Castle of Crossed Destinies” – Italo Calvino
“The Lord of the Rings” – J.R. Tolkien
“The Secret History of Kate Bush” – Fred Vermorel
“The Crock of Gold” – J. Stephens
“The Wiccer Man” – film directed by Robin Hardy
“Dictionary of World Folklore” – Larousse
“Dictionary of Classical Mythology” - Zimmerman
“A Dictionary of Fairies” - Katharine Briggs
References for Robin Hood, The Green Man, or Applelore:
http://www.legends.dm.net/robinhood/
http://www.mikeharding.co.uk/greenman/greenindex.html
http://www.stonecarver.com/greenman.html
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/a/apple044.html
http://www.druidry.org/obod/trees/apple.html
The Face in the Leaves
Lyrics
“Atho”
Atho we go whirling over, Atho we go…
“The Windrow”
The Yarra of Warburton
clashing cocoons ripping through the
Mirrors of what we see
glancing upon the screen of promise
Which one is your world?
Which one are you sure about?
Take all your favourite dreams
arrange them in patterns plenty
No matter how deep you dive
into wells of circumstances
Windrow, Windrow,
Drift like a curtain - Speak like thunder!
Teapots at Yarraglen
masking mountains leaping clover
Caravans in the dawn
carting musk and sandalwood
Which one will you choose?
Which one knows and questions you?
Hazelnuts in the breeze
carrying embers of delusion
Why don’t take your drum
and unleash the memory of you?
Windrow, Windrow,
Drift like a curtain - Speak like thunder!
“Which of these Worlds?”
and here's a world in which I can fly,
and here's a lake I skim like a mermaid,
here's a world where I'm imprisoned,
here's a pentagram of spells
that take a shape and burn like fire,
and here's a world where I beg for my life,
and here's a pleasure screamed with delight,
and here's a street I stalk as a vampire,
here's a world where I am a queen,
and here's a world where love reigns supreme,
and here's a world where I cannot walk.
And which of these worlds will I cry for?
And which of these worlds will I yearn for?
And which…. world did I choose?
And which of these was I thrown into?
and here's a lever lowering a bridge
that's leads to castles far in the wood,
and here's a carriage in which I ride
to my demise, my execution,
here I dance with daggers of steel
and here I run with wolves to the sea,
and here's a plate where poison is placed,
a gun to end the life of a rebel
here is snow where a life did expire,
and here's a banquet filled with mirth,
and here's an edict that would make
a billion people into slaves,
and here's a hole that leads to my freedom,
here's a shroud concealing a grail,
and here's a flag, and here's a sail
to take me to the next galaxy.
“Spin”
Moon stay: in your eyes I swim…
Tune fray: tell me where you spin?
Down in the valley of size
Where the treasure slips by
The roving eye finds -
You sway to me:
Spin one more day.
“Birch Wandering”
Did I hear you say they’re wandering?
They’re rendering the seas and seasons
And I hear they are wondering why
They would wander to their home in the sky -
O’ the wandering, O’ the sundering
And for the rendering, the hopes ‘n’ horses
When my feet are tired on moss an’ grasses
O’ the wandering, O’ the sundering
Soon, o’ how soon the Autumn comes along!
Here, yes even here, no-one will know you.
Over me the loneliness of trees
Rest ‘n’ rustle rolling over me
O’ the wandering, O’ the sundering
And the humming of your hopes ‘n’ horses,
For the tendering and wondering why –
O’ the wandering, O’ the sundering
O’ how soon, how soon…
“Escalder’s Tree Ride”
You want me down darling, let me be!
For I am in love with the Lord of a Tree
And I’m riding to the good Sir Malder….
Saraway told me he was lithe as the wings of bees
But he got his blood from the Mountain -
Told me I’d find him in the body of Tree
Where his blood flows back to the Mountain -
So I stole through his spirit
Like a beetle in the shivering seas,
I was lost in here for centuries – for the love of Tree!
Of the seven seas inside you, Time is only one:
I stirred them all as I floated through
And then my fingers touched the ground.
You want me down darling, let me be!
For I am in love with the Lord of a Tree
And I’m riding to the good Sir Malder.
“Canterville”
When a golden girl can win
prayer from out the lips of sin
When the barren bough bears
and a little child gives away its tears
Then shall all the house be still
and peace come to Canterville.
A golden girl can win
from the lips of sin
Come to Canterville!
And the ghost spoke again
And his voice was the wind
“The Green Pentacle”
Bow, your shield’s at ease,
How many virtues are these?
Count round your pentangle down to three:
Which courtesy would you now break for me?
Now, I’ll hunt to kill!
Your every wish to fulfil.
Master’s out, and the servants are all asleep!
I’m… your love and shall be still.
Keep my girdle green,
Dream, we are not who we seem:
So a good knight would have claimed a kiss
From the wife of the Grim Man in Green.
Face in the Leaves… leave the hunting to me!
I’ll ride you down, I’ll ride you free….
“Ceracini”
Ceracini dance in me
Hear the children playing in the street
Where the nut and brown berry speak
Ceracini laugh and leap
Down the muddling chestnut trees
Marble echo under my feet
Some were known and some never seen
Sister-father, mother me.
“Poppet Plum”
He is on the stair, he knows you:
Take your seats inside the tune.
The marionettes are there, listening through you,
Human dreams hang in this room.
Believe their faces, they know you,
Their souls are waiting by their feet
To hold your graces, and your failures,
Not so far above the street.
Poppet Plum, stamp and run
Bobbing thumb, swing your drum
Hand to hand, son to son
Till the Human Tale is done.
Old as this town, old as this man,
With a bagpipe and a bell
Tin-tap, lights go down:
Time for dancing hands!
They can show what we can’t tell.
“The Witch in the Wood”
There’s a red briar, in my garden
Dressed in fruit she carries but once a year
There’s a changeling, in my cradle
With a phantom laughter and pointed ear
There’s a black crow, at my window
With the hollow eyes of a seer – oh!
Tell me, do you know the Witch in the Wood?
Come Robin, tell me - have you seen the Witch in the Wood?
I’ve a stable, by the old tree,
And her walls of spiderthorn tangle my hair
There’s an ocean, in my cauldron
And the earth’s belly is aching for more
There’s a piper, on our hillside
If you won’t follow I’m going alone – oh!
Tell me, how to find the Witch in the Wood…
Come plover, show me – if I am the Witch in the Wood:
Oh seer, you’ll wake the witch in my blood!
For I am, mother, oh I am the Witch in the Wood.
“Kunmanngur”
down in deep of dawn, where bough was horn
a word was born
roam in rune of rain, your reel is flame
we call your name -
Curlew and Eagle
Pulloo-Pulloo, Karan
Kar Kork and Weirk
Tarduk… Darimun
Kunmanngur! Kunmanngur!