Was Charles Dickens a Victorian Shaman?
The January 2011 issue of Fortean Times (FT270) has a wonderful article from Guy Reid-Brown which is well worth a read for anyone interested in the occult, folklore and myth, the works of Charles Dickens or the traditions of Christmas. In it, Reid-Brown makes a convincing case for interpreting Dickens's classic tale "A Christmas Carol" as an initiatory journey through death and re-birth:"The paradoxical core of all Initiation is the dying to oneself in order to be reborn, and Scrooge’s story occurs, entirely appropriately, at that ancient and emblematic time of death and rebirth, the Winter Solstice. His psychopomp, that escort and guide to the Underworld, the necessary Prime Initiator, is of course old Jacob Marley himself, Scrooge’s own dear departed."Read the full article in the print edition of Fortean Times 270 (if you don't already subscribe, you really should), or online at the Fortean Times website.
