EARTH MYSTERIES

Walking myth into place: the damned zodiac John Billingsley  “This is what we walk: the shape of the gods. We burn, by use, their outline upon the turf … The track is the heated spoor of our own ancestral animal-host: hare, raven, salmon, wolf, or boar, whatever lives in the recesses of memory-bones … Energies […]

The first point noticed about the Hebden Bridge Zodiac is that it is ‘upside-down’; which it isn’t of course, except insofar as maps are oriented with N at the top. More accurately, the figures all present themselves to be viewed from a northerly perspective, rather than, as in other zodiacs, revolving around a central point.

Our series of self-guided walks ends with the guartdian figure of the Crow. You will need the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 South Pennines map. Please note that routes and their condition were accurate at their time of survey, 2017-2020; updates may be made at later dates.   A recurrent feature of Britain’s terreestrial zodiacs is an

Our series of self-guided walks continues with the water-sign of Scorpio (Oct. 22-Nov. 21 approx.) You will need the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 South Pennines map. Please note that routes and their condition were accurate at their time of survey, 2017-2020; updates may be made at later dates. Please be alert to any other quasi-affirmations and

Our series of self-guided walks continues with the fire-sign of Libra (Sept. 22-October 21 approx.) You will need the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 South Pennines map. Please note that routes and their condition were accurate at their time of survey, 2017-2020; updates may be made at later dates. Please be alert to any other quasi-affirmations and

Our series of self-guided walks continues with the earth-sign of Virgo (Aug. 22-Sept. 21 approx.) You will need the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 South Pennines map. Please note that routes and their condition were accurate at their time of survey, 2017-2020; updates may be made at later dates. Please be alert to any other quasi-affirmations and

Our series of self-guided walks continues with the fire-sign of Leo (July 22-August 21 approx.) You will need the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 South Pennines map. Please note that routes and their condition were accurate at their time of survey, 2017-2020; updates may be made at later dates. Please be alert to any other quasi-affirmations and

Our series of self-guided walks continues with the water-sign of Cancer (June 22-July 21 approx.) You will need the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 South Pennines map. Please note that routes and their condition were accurate at their time of survey, 2017-2020; updates may be made at later dates. Please be alert to any other quasi-affirmations and

Our series of self-guided walks continues with Gemini (May 22-June 21 approx.) You will need the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 South Pennines map. Please note that routes and their condition were accurate at their time of survey, 2018-2020; updates may be made at later dates. Please be alert to any other quasi-affirmations and correspondences of Gemini

In the 1990s, a new magazine of forteana and related subjects, Beyond, was launched, ran for three issues, and ceased… NE’s editor John Billingsley supplied an earth mysteries column for this short-lived venture, and we reprint here in one file those three columns.   John Billingsley, editor of ‘Northern Earth’, looks back on his ‘initiation’