Avalonian Aeon: From Glastonbury Festival to 2012. a Personal Occult Odyssey
From the July edition of the Glastonbury Oracle.  Those of us familiar with Paul Weston's talks in Glastonbury in the late nineties have long been waiting for this account of his occult journeyings during the 1980's and early 1990's.  I am happy to report that it surpasses all expectations, starting with the early acid fuelled misadventures and developing into the main body of the book featuring epic vistas of psychic questing across the Glastonbury Zodiac and points further afield.   Paul has always been wonderfully perceptive in his exposition of magical and mystical sources and Avalonian Aeon contains insightful studies of John Cowper Powys, Katherine Maltwood, George Gurdjieff and a host of other influences. It seems unlikely that any of these influences could have envisaged the kind of voyage Paul chose to launch upon.   The demented early days rarely allow for boundaries and the purple hazed initiation of Solstice Eve at Stonehenge free festival in 1979 sets up a repeating cycle of especially intense Solstices throughout the eighties - an inspired all nighter up the Tor is particularly memorable, where Sufis, Wiccans and bongo crazies conspire happily together in creating serendipity.   Psychic questing is an unaccountable phenomenon whereby information is psychically received, directions given to specifically described locations leading to the discovery of physical objects such as swords and gems, as well as apported objects, and further information. Paul was working in a group that included Andrew Collins, who has written extensively on the phenomenon, but much of the material in Avalonian Aeon has not been published before.  A vast mass of Arthurian, Sumerian, Egyptian, Mayan and other historical/mythical sources creates an ever evolving matrix out of which further adventure happens. I cannot remotely give justice to the intensity and richness of the material.  The appearance of Trebor the Follet, a Cornish Sprite, might give you a flavour: Trebor offers plenty of useful guidance, but has an unhelpful habit of fusing electrics and bursting plumbing, as one might expect from a sprite.  And then of course, there is the Essex cultural background to deal with. For it is the Company of Essex trooping across the misty Vale of Avalon - hailing from Southend and all points East - very much in the tradition of Cowper Powys, where mystical ecstasies are counter-pointed by foul smells. Quests are deliberated upon in smoky pubs, excessive alcohol consumed and revelatory nights flow into breakfast at Little Chefs. Reaching for the stars and scaring themselves shitless in the process.  This is a superb book, an indispensable addition to the Glastonbury canon, full of inspiration and bound to  lead to further synchronicities and connections. The Glastonbury Zodiac is currently gaining much more attention  and Avalonian Aeon is an invaluable source book for those interested in exploring its terrestrial esoteric initiations.  The book does of course carry the usual health warning Not for those of a tender disposition but you may have worked that one out for yourselves already. Too much for me to absorb in one week's reading and I will be reading it in more detail again. But it sent me well doolally for the few days leading up to Solstice Eve 2010, so job done.   Mike Jones