Cave of Enchantress - Heather Blakey

"Every man must have one secret, even if only one, from his wife', he said. 'Promise me this my whey-faced piano player; promise me you'll use all the keys on the ring except that last little one I showed you. Play with anything you find, jewels, silver plate; make toy boats of my share certificates, if it pleases you, and send them sailing off to America after me. All is yours - all is open to you - except the lock that this single key fits. Yet it is the key to a little room at the foot of the west tower, behind the still-room, at the end of a dark little corridor full of horrid cobwebs that would get into your hair and frighten you if you ventured there. Oh and you will find it such a dull little room! But you must promise me, if you love me, to leave it well alone. It is only a private study, a hideaway, a 'den', as the English say, where I can go, sometimes, on those infrequent yet inevitable occasions when the yoke of marriage seems to weigh too heavily on my shoulders"

"I took the forbidden key from the heap and left the others lying there... I felt no fear, no intimidation of dread."
from the Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Now I do not mean to sound alarmist since some of you have gone straight through the doorways without fear or intimidation of dread. Maybe you have not read Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber. No doubt you have and no doubt, like me you are ready to take the forbidden key, whatever the cost and go past the cobwebs and through the door to that little room.

I was in a bit of a quandary really because I do believe that door represent hope and opportunity, a passageway from one state or world to another. I am closing a door behind me as I leave the Victorian Education Department and opening another as I blithely head off with all of you to Italy and the Cave of the Enchantress. I have often told people that Soul Food is my inner world and so when I think of a door I think of an open doorway. But, we all know there are many doors don't we. 'The entrance to the seven zones of Paradise or the cave of initiation. The three doors of the Cathedral are symbolic.

So I come to another door. This one has been sealed for a very long time. It is set in a space like this.



It is a heavy door with old hinges and is very firmly shut. I mean, really, if I go around opening doors like this I may just end up in a room with book titles like The Keys Of Mysteries, The Initiation or The Secret of Pandora's Box and find myself as an unlikely heroine in some gruesome, sordid tragedy like the seventeen year old bride in The Bloody Chamber.

Between you and me I am just a wee nervous about this Enchantress who is taking us off to a subterranean cave in the Umbrian Mountains. We will see....



As soon as I saw the cave of The Enchantress I knew that I had to make a journal in which to document my stay here. It happened that I had a copy of a National Geographic containing images of some of the most famous caves that have been discovered, particularly in France. So I cut out a number of images and covered an inexpensive, ring binder book. Then I covered the book with contact plastic seal and each day I am putting my notes in it. For once there are no complaints. This is a significant shift from old journal entries where I plotted and planned my future away from the regimentation of a school. This book is filling with ideas. It is becoming a container for my journey of self exploration and the creative treasure I return with.