A Magical trip around the Glasgow Underground
This recording documents the inner circle of the Glasgow Subway system which travels in an anticlockwise direction (widdershins), a constant banishing ritual performed daily upon the whole of the west side of Glasgow. The Subway first opened on 14 Dec 1896, but was soon closed after an ‘accident’ resulting in wheels painted in blood being traced around a circuit of the track (a blood sacrifice to energise the protection). The line didn’t reopen until well after the Winter Solstice (19th Jan 1897) allowing further rituals to take place. Central to this circular containment field is Cranston Hill, (formerly Drumother Hill from the Gaelic - druim odhar meaning Grey Ridge), which was prophesized in the 1600’s to become the future 'Cross of Glasgow' by the masked Covenanter Alexander ‘Prophet’ Peden. At that time, the hill stood in open countryside outside the Burgh of Glasgow, but during the western expansion of the City in the early 1880s, a series of railway tunnels were built in the area. No record can be found of what was discovered/experienced during the excavations, but a consultation process started shortly after between the Glasgow Town Council and members of the Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia (SRIS) (whose teachings were the foundation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn). The Glasgow Subway was commissioned in 1890.
We had planned to record the outer (clockwise) line then replay it on the inner to negate the effect of the banishing, but then decided we'd subtly change its phase to glimpse behind the protection without dropping the shield altogether. Beginning and ending at Hillhead Station, we recorded over the period of totality on the winter solstice eclipse 2010, the first time a total eclipse has fallen on a winter solstice since the days of Prophet Peden (1638). This recording was then soundscaped and played back on the inner circle late one evening at beginning of Feb 2011. Because of differences in passenger numbers, platform delays and speed between morning and night trips our recording soon fell out of sync with the passing stations as intended. A notable increase in the train’s vibration was then felt; four people in the carriage fell asleep and needed to be roused in order to prevent them missing their stops and those used to taking audio cues from the train were standing in sync with the music and moving towards the doors only to find the train not slowing down. Confusion soon turned to aggression giving us a glimpse at what lay inside the protection field and we curtailed our experiment and ran, allowing the banishment to return.
The polymath Alasdair Gray wrote in Lanark: A Life in Four Books, of a vision concerning a mouth opening in a stone face within the Glasgow Necropolis which transported Lanark to Unthank, an altogether different, darker, Glasgow. We believe the portal is to the west of that, and within a few years, as the city moves slowly into alignment, they should coexist upon the Grey Ridge, the centre of the Subway ritual.
Total time: 24Mins
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