ATDTDA (3) Ritual Reluctance/Pan's Labyrinth 75-79

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

     " 'Alchemist' work, that's what you're doin up here? Well but mercury 
     now, there is this one interesting compound I keep runnin into, 
     fulminate I believe it's called. . . ."

Running side by side, we see the themes of Magick---the stuff that 
really demonstrates Heinsenberg's principle of the interaction of 
observer and observed, the importance of naming and calling 
out and the most important thing of all; the will and skill to be 
silent---and at the same time we see the same "ritual reluctance" 
on display in anarchist circles. Just as in Pan's Labyrinth we see 
the parallel storylines of magical action in the little girl's 
dreamscape and the anarchist actions, so there are constant parallel 
storylines of magical actions coincident with anarchist actions in 
Against the Day.

         "Almost makes you think, if there's a Philosopher's Stone, there might 
     not also be---"

          "Careful," said Merle.

          Webb peered at him, almost amused. "Something you fellas 
     don't talk about?"

          "Can't. Or that's the tradition." AtD, 77/78

In part, the tradition was established by the Holy Roman Empire,
as they gobbled up lands long settled with natives not disposed
to dealing with the demands of violent, willful strangers. Like the 
development of Satanism at Versailles as an (in part) anti-Papal
parody, ritual reluctance is the shadow of "The Light of the Lord."
In any underground enterprise (and I don't think there's much of 
anything more "Underground" than a mineshaft), there is a need 
to maintain "a certain, constant, level of paranoia", an awareness 
of the potential damage of recklessly disseminated information
to underground enterprises.

         "The two men looked at each other, each pretty sure who the 
     other was. "Mine engineers take a dim view," Merle pretended 
     to explain, "old-time superstition from back in the Dark Ages, 
     nowhere near's scientific as modern-day metallurgy. " He 
     paused, as if only to catch his breath. "But if you look at the 
     history, modern chemistry only starts coming in to replace 
     alchemy around the same time capitalism really gets going. 
     Strange, eh? What do you make of that?"
     
          Webb nodded agreeably. Maybe capitalism decided it didn't 
     need the old magic anymore." An emphasis whose contempt 
     was not meant to escape Merle's attention. "Why bother? Had 
     their own magic, doin just fine, thanks, instead of turning lead 
     into gold, they could take poor people's sweat and turn it into 
     greenbacks, and save the lead for enforcement purposes."
     
          "And the gold and silver . . ."

          "More of a curse than they know, maybe. Sittin right there 
     in the vault, just waiting for---"

          "Don't say it!"

          But Webb rode away with the grand possibility repeating in 
     his mind like a heartbeat---the Anti-Stone." AtD 79

Webb functions as one of those "natives", someone whose life
and livelyhood leaves him indisposed to reconciling himself with 
the demands of violent, willful, strangers. In the process, he returns 
the favor by being just as violent and willful. And the man is 
obviously filled with thoughts he could never speak, Webb is just as 
magically bound to his various vows of silence as any other 
alchemist or anarchist.