Kipling reverberated through my mind. “Our England is a garden.” Here were still, rural regions, peaceful and beloved, where tranquil rivers flowed, rolling meadows shone in the sun, and castles and cathedrals sat serenely, much as they do in the Britain of storybooks. A little farther afield were grim moors, abrupt hills, and threatening islands. And beyond and behind this outer landscape– I now knew this truth with certainty– there was a hidden world all around me, a world full of magic, mystery, and adventure, and I considered how the character of the British people was molded and informed as much by the quiet and secluded valleys and the steep crags as the mysteries that emanate from behind the trembling veil that separates the unseen world from this one.
— Simon Buxton, The Shamanic Way of the Bee
