Nexus - 0805 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

REVIEWS CATASTROPHOBIA humanity faced up to this "catastrophobia" and "devil" monkeys. Featured are accounts The Truth Behind Earth Changes in the and realised that we don't have to live in of experiences in places with "devil names" Coming Age of Light constant expectation of apocalypse (not that and sites that exhibit strange phenomena. !). This collec- The book has proved an endurin, by Barbara Hand Clow all of us do, for that matter!). ee Ok fas P neuring Bear & Co./Inner Traditions, USA, 2001 tive fear, she says, is something that insidi- Fortean" reference. The bibliography has a c , , ous forces have used for thousands of years _ regional US breakdown and there is now an ISBN 1-879181-62-2 (256pp tpb) to control the masses of humankind. Clow, index plus updated appendices covering Price:_US$16.00; $25.50; A$36.00, author of The Pleiadian Agenda, Heart of such delights as recurring "spook lights" NZ$47.95; £14.50; NLGF44,90_ the Christos and other titles, draws on the across the US, encounters with "teleporting Distributors: USA—Inner Traditions, tel wisdom of her Cherokee/Celtic heritage and _‘gators" (sometimes with overtones of (802) 767 a 7A Ww arisipress. com the evidence of significant archaeological ancient mysteries), and sightings of phantom earpress.ntm; Canada—len speed Press, —_ findings to show that we are in the midst of _ ships and lake monsters. tel (416) 213 1919; Australia—Gemcraft, a major shift of consciousness, heralding a I like to think that maybe, one day, more tel (03) 9888 0111; NZ—Southern new age of healing and enlightenment—not —_ and more of the "unexplained" will at least Publishers, tel (09) 309 6930;UK—Deep cataclysm. All in all, an empowering, be explainable; but meantime, the sheer Books, tel 020 8693 0234; Netherlands— _thought-provoking book. inexplicable just keeps happening, even in NEXUS Office, tel +31 (0)321 380558 the most industrialised nation on Earth. umanity is a wounded species suffering © MYSTERIOUS AMERICA Maybe we pou be concerned ee with from a collective psychosis due to unre- by Loren Coleman the shrinkage of our natural world, so many solved trauma from cataclysms in our past, Peraview Press, USA, 2001 (revised ed.) of us will never have the chance to catch a says Barbara Hand Clow in Catastrophobia. _ |SBN 0-931044-05-8 (384pp tpb) fleeting glimpse of something that makes us A great catastrophe befell the Earth in Price: US$16.95 + p&h; NLG£47,90 question our comfortable notions of reality. 9500 BC when a supernova fragment tore Distributors: USA—Paraview Press, tel through the solar system and rocked our (212) 489 5343, website www.paraview- world, leaving survivors to pick up the press.com; amazon.com; Netherlands— pieces of their civilisations and repopulate NEXUS Europe Office, tel +31 (0)321 the planet. Another, less drastic, calamity 380558 struck in 5600 BC and affected the Black I cryptozoology is your special interest, Sea region in particular. These cataclysms you're likely to have a copy of Loren are now confirmed by science, and, to sup- Coleman's classic 1983 book Mysterious port her thesis, Clow draws extensively from America. However, this is the newly updat- the work of geologists D. S. Allan and J. B. ed edition, so this is a good reason to update Delair, authors of Cataclysm! (1997, first or explore this title for the first time. published in 1995 in the UK as When the This revised edition has new chapters, Earth Nearly Died; see 2/24, 2/25). Clow drawing attention to reports of the Giant suggests, as do Allan and Delair, that the Catfish and Minnesota Iceman, a new list of cataclysm of 11,500 years ago was responsi- American "cryptid black panther" sightings, ble for tilting the Earth's axis—an event that and many reworked/updated chapters cover- resulted in the precessional cycle of 26,000 ing all manner of weird creatures like the years and the seasons as we know them. Dover Demon, Jersey Devil and Eastern However, Clow argues, it's time that Bigfoot as well as out-of-place kangaroos humanity faced up to this "catastrophobia" and realised that we don't have to live in constant expectation of apocalypse (not that all of us do, for that matter!). This collec- tive fear, she says, is something that insidi- ous forces have used for thousands of years to control the masses of humankind. Clow, author of The Pleiadian Agenda, Heart of the Christos and other titles, draws on the wisdom of her Cherokee/Celtic heritage and the evidence of significant archaeological findings to show that we are in the midst of a major shift of consciousness, heralding a new age of healing and enlightenment—not cataclysm. All in all, an empowering, thought-provoking book. and "devil" monkeys. Featured are accounts of experiences in places with "devil names" and sites that exhibit strange phenomena. The book has proved an enduring "Fortean" reference. The bibliography has a regional US breakdown and there is now an index plus updated appendices covering such delights as recurring "spook lights" across the US, encounters with "teleporting ‘gators" (sometimes with overtones of ancient mysteries), and sightings of phantom ships and lake monsters. I like to think that maybe, one day, more and more of the "unexplained" will at least be explainable; but meantime, the sheer inexplicable just keeps happening, even in the most industrialised nation on Earth. Maybe we should be concerned that, with the shrinkage of our natural world, so many of us will never have the chance to catch a fleeting glimpse of something that makes us question our comfortable notions of reality. NEXUS +75 AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2001 www.nexusmagazine.com