To Glimpse a Hollow Hill
A 17th Century Account of the Unseen World
by Daniel Yates
In 1691, the Scottish minister Robert Kirk penned The Secret Commonwealth, the foundational source text on the lore of fairies and second sight traditions. However, this seminal work remained unpublished for 120 years until Sir Walter Scott released an incomplete version, which shaped most subsequent editions. Over time, various publications have either presented the text in modernised form, presented it only in its archaic form, or retained only portions of the original language offering abridged versions that obscure Kirk’s full intent.
In To Glimpse a Hollow Hill, Daniel Yates presents, for the first time, the complete and unabridged text of The Secret Commonwealth in both its original form and a fully modernised version. Here, he offers unparalleled insights and accessibility into Kirk’s work, alongside a comprehensive history of the manuscript’s transmission through time. Yates provides a faithful rendering of Kirk’s words, correcting errors that have persisted for over two centuries, and includes extensive analysis and commentary.
This definitive volume also illuminates previously misrepresented aspects of the Seers’ magical practices and the true nature of the various Sith, restoring Kirk’s vision in its entirety. Sith as Robert Kirk describes them are not the tiny winged faeries of Victorian fantasy, but as a people with their own culture, hierarchy, and even religious practices. These are beings who live alongside humans but by their own strange rules and logic — sometimes helpful, sometimes dangerous, always other.
____________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
The Fairy Minister: Robert Kirk (1644-1692)
Upon a Winding Road: The Past Lives of a Manuscript
Beneath the Hollow Hills: A Modernisation of The Secret Commonwealth
Eyes of Twilight and Shadow: Sith and Those Who Would Behold Them
Servants, Predators, and Doubles: Roles Within the Commonwealth
Whispers from Below: The Legacy of the Fairy Minister
Appendix 1: Transcription of the Original Text
Appendix 2: Andrew Lang Commentary of 1893
Bibliography
____________________________________________________________
Standard Hardcover Edition - Limited to 250 copies
248 pages. Full colour printed hardcover, black endpapers, head and tail bands.
____________________________________________________________
Press, reviews, endorsements
Interview with Daniel Yates on the Spirit Box podcast - watch on YouTube here
____________________________________________________________
About the Author
Daniel Yates is a theology researcher, folklorist, and occult photographer who has spent over twenty years dedicated to grassroots research into witchcraft practices in northern England. His current postgraduate research is focused on ritual practices in pre-Roman Lancashire. This background has informed a lot of the photographic work he has undertaken, which has seen publication in his book Arcanum alongside PILLARS: Circling the Compass (both under Anathema Publishing) and Wyrd Vol 3 (Three Hands Press). An extensive collection of his work is featured in the Ritual Space and the Crooked Path Beyond series (Atramentous Press).
