'Under the Frenzy of the Fourteenth Moon'

The first story in The Far Tower, Stories for W.B. Yeats, is by Ron Weighell.

As one would expect from the author of The White Road, it shows a firm grasp of the esoteric and has a fairly traditional structure. The narrator, who has a lifelong fascination with the poetry and occultism of Yeats, makes the acquaintance of a man who possesses some unpublished papers by the great man. The narrator visits the elderly Thias Powers at his 'Palladian manse hidden amid picturesque, if discreetly dwindling, acreage'. There he explores a wonderful library (rather like an M.R. James narrator), discovering priceless volumes on mysticism, alchemy and other forms of arcane lore.

Thias Powers, once a handsome young man but now somewhat gone to seed, seems reluctant to show the narrator any Yeats papers, however. Instead he directs his visitor to the 'Faery Thorn', a tree where the locals place offerings. Our nameless narrator picks up a small, smooth stone, 'a black disc no bigger than the flat of my hand'. When I read this, it seemed unwise, but perhaps I was wrong. Back at the house Thias finally produces the papers, some of which consist of automatic writing produced by Yeats' wife, Georgie, a spiritualist medium.



Perhaps by sheer coincidence (though this seems unlikely) the narrator also discovers in the library another mind-bogglingly rare text that contains something approximating to the 'gyres' mentioned in Yeats' work. Our man constructs a device, a Great Wheel, that can be used for divinatory purposes. After this discovery the narrator starts to experience a recurring dream, in which he encounters a mysterious, beautiful woman. Then he encounters her in real life, and enjoys a brief dalliance with the enigmatic Leanan Foley. After she vanishes he begins to recognise other people from his dream.

The story ends with the protagonist yearning to return to the dream world that may be more real than the one we know, the 'hidden country with its cruel, unfathomable law and mad ceremonials'. The story defies conventional plot analysis but, as the references to Blake make clear, that is not the point. It is a remarkably successful work of visionary prose.