Dorothy Clutterbuck - The Diaries

The Diaries

Clutterbuck left three volumes of diaries, which are actually more similar to commonplace books, filled with daily poems and illustrations and intended to be read by visitors to her home.

The researchers Ronald Hutton and Philip Heselton have both read Clutterbuck's diaries, and have come to entirely different conclusions on their contents. Hutton believes that Clutterbuck's poems show her to be a "simple" and "kindly" woman with no connections with paganism or the occult. Heselton, on the other hand, believes that her writings reveal that "Dorothy was a pagan in all but name."

The evidence cited by Heselton and his supporters consists both of the absence of overt Christian themes and the apparent presence of pagan sentiments. Heselton notes that "there is hardly a mention of Jesus and it seems as if her deepest spiritual experiences come from nature and, particularly, her garden." Little Christian sentiment is expressed, even on Christian holidays. Of the few direct references to Christianity, this for Whit Sunday 1942 is characteristically oblique:

"The Sunday that comes in the time of the May

With its crown of white blossoms for this sacred day

The Essence of this Day - The Spirit of Prayer

Brings to us those loved Spirits who used to be here"

"Midsummer," Heselton says "is lauded as 'the day of all days most dear'". Nature and the feelings of magical enchantment that come from it are commonly repeated themes, as is the theme of a fairy-like dancing maiden, often referred to as 'the Queen', who seems to personify the seasons and the land. For example:

"... I knew you were a vision

The loveliest ever seen

But I also knew that you were Real

And of my heart, the Queen."

"I am waiting for my Lady

For, down the pathway shadey

I think I hear her footfall light

My heart beats wildly with delight

...

I cannot wait — the minutes drag

Just when I'm in despair

Dear Heaven! She is coming! And now She's here! She's here!"

"Of all the Ladies that I know

There's only one can please me so

That all her Looks and all her Ways

Make Music for me all my Days.

For Life, I love her, and adore

I only saw her once — not more

But once I saw her, as I say

But once she crossed my Path, my Way

For Ever. She will be my Queen

Where did I see her? — in a Dream."

The diaries also contain frequent references to fairies and the full moon; bits of herb-lore, and occasionally vivid descriptions of classical gods such as Aurora. Other examples seem more ambiguous, and could equally express Christian or Pagan sentiment, or simple poetic metaphor:

"Then with a flash of Scarlet

Sweeping across the snows

Comes Christmas, Radiant Creature!

She's laughing as she goes. The shining holly fills her lap

Blue pages hold her train

Dear Time of lovely memories. So here you are again

There stand the glittering Christmas Trees

The Fires flame and glow

Soft fingers tapping on the pane

Are fairies, made of snow

The Bells ring out, The Carols mount

All the old songs are dear

The First Most Sacred Festival

The best of all the year"