An Archer's Inner Life

Since the early 19th century when the Romanticists developed the literary theme, interest in the subject of our place in nature grown enormously. The author’s interest was especially piqued one colorful autumn when he picked up an old book at an auction, The Witchery of Archery by Maurice Thompson. Its subject is the old archery of wood bows and arrows. It leads the author to examine the connection between making a wood bow and finding his own place. His crafting brought forward an entirely unanticipated flood of psychological material. He suffered a fit of discontent. He became morose and restless. He restudied his Jung. He had dreams. He underwent a transformation. Herein he writes of his change, of crafting the wood bow, of primitive artistry, of kaleidoscoping personae wherein artist and hunter are, as in the ancient past, indistinguishable. He has used the ideas brought forth by bowmaking to approach the idea of hunting, but he has arrived at a conclusion different from that held by the dominant sport hunting community. One of the earliest and still most prevalent influences in his thinking is Aldo Leopold. Leopold’s ideas, as well as those of Thoreau and Lao Tsu, are reformulated in this book to suit archers and hunters. It will be of interest to any lover of those thinkers, and to hunters, archers, outdoors-oriented people, and peripherally to anyone who is interested in personal transformation.