Why a Booktrail?
1641: What he sees in the stars will change the course of history.
The Magick of Master Lilly
What you need to know before your trail
In 1641, the country of England stands divided. London has become a wasps’ nest of spies, and under the eyes of the Roundheads those who practice magic are routinely sent to hang.
Living in exile in the Surrey countryside is the Master Astrologer and learned magician William Lilly. Since rumours of occult practice lost him the favour of Parliament, he has not returned to the city. But his talents are well-known, and soon he is called up to London once more, to read the fate of His Majesty the King.
What he sees in the stars will change the course of history
Travel Guide
London 1600s
The London of the 1600s of William Lily, the famous astrologer is quite something:
“Driving over the cobbles, the overwhelming acrid smell of the coal fires, the stink of animal dung, human sewage and the tang of Mother Thames carried on the dank air – a familiar stench hauling out of the depths of memories …”
This is the world of the real life astrologer William Lilly at a time where science and religion were clashing like never before. Where astrology was seen as witchcraft and where reading the stars could get a man hanged.
The settings of the story range from palaces to the dark dark streets….
Greenwich palace
Be sure to visit the most famous place of astrology the Greenwich Observatory
Where the House of Delights in the book is located deep within the Palace:
‘Well pleased with the simple beauty of the place, more temple than dwelling, I paused admiringly.”
Panels are being painted of a celestial landscape – fairies, angels, stars and the vast sky. “A conversation between a paintbrush and a story”
Phoenix Theatre
The theatre in the book known as the Cockpit theatre. The theatres were where magic happened and where many scenes in the book take place.
“ It had been years since I had attended a London theatre and I looked about me with curiousity, for I have always regarded such auditoriums as a mirror to society in its flux.”
Pudding Lane
Well known for being the site where the Great Fire of London started in 1666, only a few years after the ending of this book. And it’s where the printer Harry Pickles lives and works. It’s one of many dank, dark streets, where houses and people huddle for warmth and safety. Many workplaces are located here. William Lily was in real life suspected of having predicted the fire in some way or even willing it to happen!
Oxford
There is a shorter section set in Oxford where the parliament head to and where several Puritan well-wishers within the Royal parliament where centered. East of Oxford was Parliament’s territory, the lands west of Oxford were occupied by the Royalist troops led by the notorious Prince Rupert.
William Lilly (11 May 1602 – 9 June 1681) was perhaps the most celebrated astrologer of the seventeenth century. He came from humble surroundings as the son of a farmer before travelling to london to work as a servant. He later married his former master’s widow which gave him the time and status to study astrology
In 1644, during the English Civil War, he published the first of many popular astrological texts. and in 1647 he published Christian Astrology, which was a guide book to educate and inform a nation in crisis, in the language of the stars. He was even suspected of predicting or even causing the Great Fire of London as he had earlier owned and published images of a city in flames surrounded by coffins.
He was called the English Merlin.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
This was a unique read to say the least! Magic in the time of 1640s England? The role of the magick people, the astrologers in the court when outside the walls the Civil War was exploding? Those who practise magic were sent to hang…
It’s a book to immerse yourself in for this is a world recreated from real sources and real historical facts. This excited me when I found out the main character William Lily really existed!
There is a LOT of research in this novel and it rarely gets in the way. Some parts are tough going as the facts come thick and fast. Stay with it though as the story creaks and groans, sparkles with magic, gasps with the fight between science and religion and ooh the language! The language!
This is what I think might divide readers as it’s mostly written in the language of the time. Almost sounds Shakespearian in that olde English way of conversing. I’ve done English at uni and love shakespeare but it did slow down the reading somewhat. It wouldn’t have been as effective in the modern tongue however but it could have been toned down somewhat I think.
Overall, this is a magical interlude in the stench of London, the pomp of the English court and the shadows of the scientific world and the religious one. There is a LOT to love discovering about the belief system of the time, of the way you could read the stars, the charts and try to both heal and change events. I found the whole story fascinating and almost wanted to go out and buy a telescope and some incense. It’s all very immersive.
A tome of a read – but keep this on your wooden desk, close to your quill pen and paper for you shall be writing notes on the wonder of a world hidden in plain sight.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Magick of Master Lilly
Destination : London Author/Guide: Tobsha Learner Departure Time: 1640s
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
