“LISTEN ALL, SENSE ALL
HEAR THE WIND AND HEED THE CALL”
If you have not read The Witch, an online version is available at http://now.readthisplease.com/2011/10/through-night-we-tread/
Posted by adminnow on Now.readthisplease.com
Exclusive for readers! ReadThisPlease is honored to post B G Lewis’ The Witch in it’s entirety. Turn down the lights, curl up, and travel back in time to a mystical land when change swept the countryside.
The Witch was registered by the National Archives of Canada on December 21, 2007, strangely five years from the solstice on December 21, 2012. The small book contains thirteen chapters, a preface which provides some background, and a cryptic declaration of the Witch, herself.
From the introduction…
Thirteen characters cross the path of a witch.
Some carry on, some meet their demise.
Each brings their own attributes and failings.
This is the tale of those occurrences.
Each chapter resembles a parable where an outsider interacts with an ancient seer, who we only know as the Witch. Beautiful, captivating, the Witch embarks on a reclusive change of life, but not before warning leaders of their folly. The second chapter, entitled The Scholar, confronts an old paradigm and declares ‘change’ will overcome the land. The book predates the US elections of 2008 where a similar mantra was issued. But that’s not the only coincidence.
Throughout the yarn, simple life lessons are woven into the text, and many of these common sense ‘knowings’ jar memory with some age-old wisdom. Yet equally appealing are the comparisons to what’s going on in the world right now. From a ‘call for change’, to a rejection of the power paradigm, the disparity of wealth, to disillusionment with celebrity and turmoil, the story of The Witch continues to pace current events. How odd?
What happens to the characters in The Witch? You’ll have to read the tale, songs and dialog, and consider the detailed woodcut-style sketches. Some of the experiences foreshadow a few unpleasant days ahead, if the story is true. However, there’s bitter joys and old world humor within. It’s worth reading over, for the multiple layers of meaning and a few puzzles in the text.
Does The Witch predict what will happen in the future? A few metaphors have to be stretched, but it is odd. There’s also numerical connections, and sense of symbolism that lurks behind the scenes. So far, on a grander scale, we are moving somewhere around the fifth chapter, slowly paging through strikingly similar, global issues.
The first edition sold out two printings, and originals are hard to get. However a limited number of signed copies were withheld by the publisher. Now.readthisplease.com is pleased to present, with permission, B Lewis’ ‘timely’ account of The Witch.
The Witch picturebook requires Flash. Click the icon, lower left on the panel, to view full screen.
