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photography by: Hugh Macdonald
Dressed in Lincoln green, staff in hand, we wait on Magdalen Bridge for the church clock to strike the hour of departure. As it sounds, we begin our walk towards the Thames. The gathered witnesses follow as we tread the High Street in our Mercury shoes. The busyness of the High Street highlights the slowness of our pace, highlights our intention, highlights our silent focus. We turn into Magpie Lane and the new and age old ceremonies of Oxford carry our action. Streets trod for centuries echo our foot fall, our silence allowing us to hear and see more clearly. Into Christ Church quod and across the meadow walking under the arching boughs of aged poplars while cattle graze the grass of this city centre meadow. Witnesses follow as we pass humans in everyday doings of walking and sitting talking time to feel the day. As we come to the water of the Thames, named the Isis here, we turn to walk with the flow of the river, it is brown and swollen after rain, and its body charges it speedily towards the open sea.
Arriving at the site of ceremony we mark the alignment with the stars on the gritty path and then stand within the markings, aware now of heaven and earth. We fill our glass flasks with water from the moving body and turn to face the direction we will travel overland and the direction of the flowing waters. We will take this water to the Rhine where it flows through Oxford’s twin city Bonn.
Carrying the liquid on cords around our necks, we leave the circle and return towards Magdalen Bridge, walking beside the Cherwell as it flows past us and into the Isis. We return to the busyness of the city, along Rose Street and finally to our starting point. We will repeat this action on October 26 in Bonn, when we will exchange the life giving waters and on November 1, when we return with the waters from the Rhine to the Isis.
photography by: Hugh Macdonald
Dressed in Lincoln green, staff in hand, we wait on Magdalen Bridge for the church clock to strike the hour of departure. As it sounds, we begin our walk towards the Thames. The gathered witnesses follow as we tread the High Street in our Mercury shoes. The busyness of the High Street highlights the slowness of our pace, highlights our intention, highlights our silent focus. We turn into Magpie Lane and the new and age old ceremonies of Oxford carry our action. Streets trod for centuries echo our foot fall, our silence allowing us to hear and see more clearly. Into Christ Church quod and across the meadow walking under the arching boughs of aged poplars while cattle graze the grass of this city centre meadow. Witnesses follow as we pass humans in everyday doings of walking and sitting talking time to feel the day. As we come to the water of the Thames, named the Isis here, we turn to walk with the flow of the river, it is brown and swollen after rain, and its body charges it speedily towards the open sea.
Arriving at the site of ceremony we mark the alignment with the stars on the gritty path and then stand within the markings, aware now of heaven and earth. We fill our glass flasks with water from the moving body and turn to face the direction we will travel overland and the direction of the flowing waters. We will take this water to the Rhine where it flows through Oxford’s twin city Bonn.
Carrying the liquid on cords around our necks, we leave the circle and return towards Magdalen Bridge, walking beside the Cherwell as it flows past us and into the Isis. We return to the busyness of the city, along Rose Street and finally to our starting point. We will repeat this action on October 26 in Bonn, when we will exchange the life giving waters and on November 1, when we return with the waters from the Rhine to the Isis.
1 comment:
as you know i arrived at Magdelen Bridge at two minutes past two to find Alex who had got there at one minute past the hour. we did not know that you had set off so promptly on the hour or in which direction you had gone and so we were unable to take part in the silent walk with you.
what we did do was to spend time on the bridge and surrounds thinking and talking about you and your planned journey. i took some pictures and we shared some time together connecting in a way that we have never before done.
i had a sense that in an imperceptibe and un-named way we were keeping a vigil, and marking your departure although we had not been able to witness it.
each time subsequently that i have crossed the bridge i have stopped to consider the significance of the journey that you are on.
the meditative and ritualistic aspect of what you are doing is very compelling in it's apparent simplicity and by that opens a channel, a conduit both to the inner and the outer.
i feel a strong connection with you as you make this work and in readiness for your return i plan to visit the bridge to mark the spot where you began your journey. to signal and herald your imminent return. i will ask Alex to join me.
go well friends.
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