I Saw Water. Ithell Colquhoun

      

      I SAW WATER

      ITHELL COLQUHOUN

      Edited by Richard Shillitoe and Mark S. Morrisson

      I SAW WATER

      AN OCCULT NOVEL AND OTHER SELECTED WRITINGS

      The Pennsylvania State University Press

      University Park, Pennsylvania

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Colquhoun, Ithell, 1906–1988, author.

      I saw water : an occult novel and other selected writings / Ithell Colquhoun ; edited by Richard Shillitoe and Mark S. Morrisson.

      pages cm

      Summary: “The first publication of I Saw Water, the second novel by the surrealist artist, writer, and occultist Ithell Colquhoun (1906–1988). Also included is a selection of her writings and images”—Provided by publisher.

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-0-271-06423-9 (cloth : alk. paper)

      1. Nuns—Fiction.

      2. Convents—Fiction.

      3. Future life—Fiction.

      I. Shillitoe, R. W. (Richard W.), 1950– , editor.

      II. Morrisson, Mark S., editor.

      III. Title.

      PR6053.O434I17 2014

      823’.914z—dc23

      2014015845

      Copyright © 2014 The Pennsylvania State University

      All rights reserved

      Printed in the United States of America

      Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press,

      University Park, PA 16802-1003

      The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses.

      It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Material, ANSI Z39.48–1992.

      This book is printed on paper that contains 30% post-consumer waste.

      CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Note on the Texts

Editors’ Introduction

Notes

I SAW WATER

       Notes

       OTHER SELECTED WRITINGS

       Muin

       The Tree-Alphabet and the Tree of Life

       Dance of the Nine Opals

       Pilgrimage

       The Night Side of Nature

       Wedding of Shades

       Divination Up-to-Date

       Les Grandes Transparentes

       Love-Charm II

       Red Stone

       The Zodiac and the Flashing Colours

       The Openings of the Body

       Sanctifying Intelligence

       The Taro as Colour

       Notes

       Published Works by Ithell Colquhoun

       Index

ILLUSTRATIONS

       Fig. 1 Man Ray, Ithell Colquhoun, ca. 1932

       Fig. 2 Neolithic stone rows at Ménec, Brittany

       Fig. 3 The Neolithic dolmen at Cruz-Moquen, Ménec, Brittany

       Fig. 4 Ithell Colquhoun, Beth-Luis-Nion on Trilithon, 1972

       Fig. 5 Ithell Colquhoun, Dance of the Nine Opals, 1942

       Fig. 6 Ithell Colquhoun, Linked Islands II, 1947

       Fig. 7 Ithell Colquhoun, Second Adam, ca. 1942

       Fig. 8 Ithell Colquhoun, extract from a dream diary, dated June 21, 1964

       Fig. 9 Ithell Colquhoun, Un grand invisible, ca. 1943

       Fig. 10 Ithell Colquhoun’s scrying mirror

       Fig. 11 Ithell Colquhoun, Torso, 1981

       Fig. 12 Ithell Colquhoun, The Thirteen Streams of Magnificent Oil, ca. 1940

       Fig. 13 Ithell Colquhoun, Binah, 1979

       Fig. 14 Ithell Colquhoun, The Lord of the Winds and the Breezes, the King of the Spirits of Air, 1977

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      The editors gratefully acknowledge the support and assistance that made this first publication of Colquhoun’s novel possible. Staff at