There be monsters here...
❦ A review of Paul Holman’s Sussex Coils and Loops by writer, artist and magician Locke Fitzroy.
‘It is Whitsun. The mummers have assembled at Climping Beach...’
In Sussex Coils and Loops, Paul Holman approaches the occult, the divine and the mythological without prejudice, lovingly poring over ancient records and Wikipedia page edit-histories, and achieving a rare and beautiful work in the process. Sussex Coils and Loops is part fairytale, part ritual manual and part academic untangling of misquoted texts of yore. A significantly more grounded cousin to near-hallucinatory psychogeographical books such as Andy Sharp's English Heretic Collection, it is every bit as compelling. Focusing on the current of serpentine energy that has been running through the collective subconscious of Sussex inhabitants for centuries, surfacing in countryside tales, Christian lore and artworks – but also in tree roots and dirt-bike tracks, for all with eyes to see – Sussex Coils and Loops winds its way across the centuries, effortlessly weaving together the long-gone and the strikingly recent.
It cannot be overstated how well-researched this book is. Holman obsessively inspects pamphlets, letters, books (and their slightly altered reprints), websites, and oral histories. In doing so he can trace a single piece of information through the centuries, observing how it changed when published here, or misquoted there, and how in a field largely comprised of passionate laymen, most people were simply too polite to say ‘Be honest – you just made that up, didn't you?’ (Quote: ‘Caxton's use of “Nicker” as “a demon or devil”, detached from any connotation with water elementals, has been given as the lone example of a second definition of the word in the OED since 1907.”)
The author also demonstrates an intimate familiarity with magical practices and – perhaps more importantly – a keen understanding of how to convey these practices to his readers. This reviewer would have only wished for more chapters similar to ‘The hidden thing, the herdsman, the goad’, in which a full ritual working is systematically outlined and explained. There is something exciting about a book that touches upon magic in a perfectly rational and calm manner, pulling back the smoke-screen, deciphering the symbolism, and saying confidently: This is how it is done, and this is how it shall work, and here is why. The confidence to apply the transparency of an almost scientific, though never sterile, explanation to one's personal ritual craft must be admired. Many occult writers may benefit from pondering this approach. And yet, Sussex Coils and Loops can be read purely academically, or purely poetically, by anybody, whether they believe in occult powers or not.
Sussex Coils and Loops is a rare example of a book that creates harmony between elements of historical analysis, modern ritual working and storytelling – while wholeheartedly embracing the present! According to Holman, the Sussex Serpentine – whatever that may mean to the reader – has not been diminished by the impacts of modern society. It is a genuinely encouraging experience to read this type of work without the usual undertones of nostalgia or loss. One feels that one could go for a countryside ramble this afternoon, pick up a curious rock in a dried-up creek, and go on a strange adventure from there.
Sussex Coils and Loops is a compelling, interesting and important work, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to the local historian, the educated magician, or the curious teenager such as I used to be. Be not afeared, for there be monsters here...
– Locke Fitzroy (Writer, Artist, Magician), May 2026.
Works by Paul Holman
Paul Holman’s Sussex Coils and Loops is a work of parafolklore on the great serpents encountered in the land of south-east England. The book describes a series of ritual actions performed between the winter solstice of 2017 and the summer solstice of 2022 at sites with serpent or dragon legends associated with them.
8vo (234 × 156 mm)
176 pp
Illustrations by Harriet Holman Penney
Issued in 4 editions –
fine / standard hardback / paperback / digital
Tara Morgana is a work of pure magical writing. Part magical diary, part dreamscape, part dérive, Tara Morgana is an enigmatic record of ritual practice from poet Paul Holman.
8vo (160 × 240 mm, landscape)
112 pp
31 black & white photographs by Paul Lambert
Issued in 4 editions –
fine / standard hardback / paperback / digital
