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"The musician is a Healer, a Dealer and a Mother-loving seed bearer. 2 years ago, I stood in the great Avebury henge with Michael Dames, the Visionary author of the Occult classics The Avebury Cycle, The Silbury Treasure and Mythic Ireland. His writing is wondrous spectalur revelation, he's the Lester Bangs of Neolithic discovery, right? I was screaming all this at the guy. He'd written the first two books in 1977 and 1978 and there's enough discovery there to last an archaeologist 1000 lifetimes (and the rest). I shouted out that there was so much Vision in those first 2 books I bet he didn't remember one quarter of what he'd written. Dames is a great looking guy - he turned around beaming a huge grin and said, 'Right! You're totally right. I had to re-read them recently for the first lecture I'd given in years. And it was like reading someone else's work.' So it WAS Vision, I screamed. Yes, it truly was! Dames is about 50 now and he's so full of light - the last thing he said to me as we parted was about the Musicians. The Musicians are the discoverers. The Musicians are the way forward. Michael Dames told me I was the next step and handed me the baton... And now, I am the MC5. I am Ash Ra Tempel. I am the first 5 Funkadelic LPs out of their sleeves and being played 10 times a day each. I am the Living giving breathing Everlasting first." (from "A Week In The Field of Julian Cope, published in the Ur-Pagan, A Propheteering Companion)

I really don't think you could get a more glowing recommendation.

...seems to be a regular thing on this forum. It just makes me want to read him more, though!

I've just finished <I>The Silbury Treasure</I>, and it was an amazing book. I definitely don't believe all of Dames' theories to be true, but some of his observations are very appealing. I reckons there's a lot of scope for non-archaeologists like him and Julian to see things that the people with the trowels overlook. There's certainly more scope for publishing theories that require a leap of faith if you're not an academic trying to uphold a reputation as an empiricist.

Also, I was extremely struck by the similarity between Julian's approach in TMA and Dames'. I'm not suggesting that Julian ripped him off, but Dames must have been a major influence on him. The emphasis on etymology, and the projection of modern folk traditions onto the activities of prehistoric 'man' were certainly echoed in TMA. Neither Cope or Dames is scared of joining the dots in the wrong order, which is what stops the academics from exploring the spiritual elements of prehistory.

In short, I reckon <I>The Silbury Treasure</I> is a darned good read!

Kammer x

I love that quote TomBo. I seriously need to do some Cope teasing about that one in light of recent comments :-)

cheers tombo,

The Cope really is a breath of fresh air, i'm looking forward to dipping into the dames book.

i have friends who have difficulty with TMA's lack of acedmic specificity, but i find his enthusiasm wins me over everytime.