‘TIME FOR MAGIC: A Shamanarchist’s Guide To The Wheel Of The Year’
By Jamie Reid, with Philip Carr-Gomm, Stephen Ellcock and John Marchant
Book review by Tommy Calderbank
Hey, you! Yeah, YOU! Do you believe in MAGIC? (and no, not the Paul Daniels variety…)
Whatever your answer, I’d like to offer this book as Exhibit A in the case for its irrefutable existence.
In this soul-squeezed world there’s still magic to be found, if you know where to look. It’s there in nature, it’s deep in your eyes, it’s on the beach beneath the pavement. One such beautiful manifestation is this VERY special book; ’TIME FOR MAGIC’ by the late, great Jamie Reid (1947-2023), ably assisted by his co-authors and curators Philip Carr-Gomm, Stephen Ellcock and John Marchant.
They – and publishers Watkins – should take a deserved bow, as they’ve created an utterly dazzling, landmark publication, here. It includes – but goes far beyond – the punk, Sex Pistols and agit-prop Situationist graphics for which Jamie’s best known, and takes a deeeep dive into his vast druidical work. In doing so, it offers an entrancing overview of a lifetime of incredible art and creative social engagement, structured around the eight seasonal festivals of the Wheel of the Year (the Equinoxes, Solstices plus Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain). Jamie observed these festivals, and focused on this theme massively in his later paintings. It features key Wheel of the Year artworks as well as famous earlier pieces.
There is SO much to love about this incredible book! Beginning with its gorgeous look and feel. The cover appropriately features Jamie’s OVA symbol – which he did ova and ova again – embodying the Victory of Anarchy within the circle of Compassion. Adding a line across the middle creates the additional meaning of the 8-Fold Year Wheel. And the COLOUR! His colour palette was huge and psychedelic. Curator Stephen Ellcock obviously had one hell of a job in swimming through the VAST archive of work J left behind, to select these choice and deep cuts. In the press release, he says:
“I’ve always believed that Jamie Reid will come to be regarded as one of the most important and influential British cultural figures of the past fifty years. People still haven’t really come to terms with his extraordinary body of work or with his legacy.”
How right he is. In his own inimitable style (honed in previous brilliant works such as England on Fire and The Cosmic Dance), Stephen arranges the art into season-themed chapters, as well as including images of Druidic ceremonies held by Jamie’s great-uncle, George Watson MacGregor Reid at Stonehenge. (Incidentally, Great Uncle George surely deserves a book all of his own; as extraordinary in his way as his celebrated descendant, George was the Chief Druid of the Druid Order, socialist, campaigner, occultist, fabulist, author, publisher and adulterer. Had a hand in the invention of Ovaltine, amongst many other notable things….). In conversation with Jamie’s gallerist and friend John Marchant, Stephen introduces Jamie’s life, legacy and love of making trouble, while John’s captions give deep insight into the individual artworks. Philip Carr-Gomm writes about the turning seasons of the Wheel of the Year, how we can live in rhythm with their ever-changing energies, and how it can help us find a new way of being in this era of escalating climate crisis.
His deep and passionate connection with Liverpool can be seen in a still from 1995. This shows Nina Edge’s radical street work Sold Down The River with participation from Liverpool arts collective Visual Stress who contributed a Vimbuza to the ritual healing for the city. Edge, and Stress protagonists Maxine Brown, Frank Owedebo and Jamie’s dear friend Kif Higgins, processed with ten other local groups to the river with a giant willow woman shaped like a corn dolly. Jamie accompanied the hundred strong procession, documenting the event until the willow woman’s clay sister was submerged in the dock to dissolve and be returned to water. Like all the work he moved around it was magical in intent and execution.
My only criticism is I would like to have seen more images than just one from his work at the Strongroom in Shoreditch. After all, he spent the best part of 10 years – with his friend and designer Mike Nicholls – completely covering the walls, curtains, desks and other furniture with his colour magic, in what was to become one of Europe’s largest studio complexes. Again, that’s worthy of a book in its own right, and the constraints of space in this case mean there’s only a glimpse of what may prove to be his greatest work, in terms of dedication, scale and individual creative energy.
This exquisite volume is truly alchemical, fusing as it does Punk with Druidry, and mysticism with social and political activism – all bound together by the thread of British counterculture, from the art school strikes, Situationism and Punk to the miners’ strikes, rave culture, campaigns for social justice and passionate environmentalism. In doing so, it helps refocus critical attention from the river of J’s Sex Pistols work to the sea of his wider and deeper artistic achievements. This is a book that shines and vibrates with immense POWER and HUMANITY, effortlessly engaging and endlessly enchanting. Open it on any page and observe your consciousness changing, rising, flowing. Art as drugs. It rewards repeated visits, where you will be bowled ova and ova, every time.
Coming almost a year since Jamie’s death, this beautiful piece of his Soul couldn’t be more timely.
Fuck Your Wars.
It’s Time For Magic….
’Time For Magic’, OUT NOW, £26.99 from Watkins.
‘Time for Magic’ will have its Liverpool launch on 16th July, 7-8.30 at The Florrie, his spiritual home and studio in his later years. Co-author John Marchant will present an audio visual guide to the book and field questions on Jamie’s life and legacy. He will be joined on stage of Jamie’s old friend anarcheologist Rhys Mwyn and Jamie’s daughter Rowan. New from Nowhere will have books available to purchase on the night. Tickets are free, but donations are welcome. Any monies raised will go directly to the Florrie food fund. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/
