Thursday March 22nd 2012, 7.30-9.30pm:
'Permaculture in Your Purse', with Fiona Hopes
Permaculture in Your Purse is a brief look at the principles of Permaculture and how they apply to everyday living, including the financial systems that we currently use (financial permaculture).
Permaculture is usually thought of as a system of growing food and gardening (which it is), but the same principles of whole systems design can be applied in every area of life. This is an opportunity to look at one's personal finances as well as the whole financial system from a permaculture viewpoint, and to see that there is much more than money to make you rich.
Permaculture is usually thought of as a system of growing food and gardening (which it is), but the same principles of whole systems design can be applied in every area of life. This is an opportunity to look at one's personal finances as well as the whole financial system from a permaculture viewpoint, and to see that there is much more than money to make you rich.
Financial permaculture does not use visualisations and affirmations, and there is no ‘secret’ to it, just common sense and an holistic way of seeing and understanding the rich and varied world in which we live.
Fiona Hopes is a landscape and garden designer, gardener, and author of five books on gardening. She is a qualified permaculture designer, and gives talks and workshops on many aspects of sustainability, sacred landscape, and interconnected Earth-centred life. She is a member of the Gatekeeper Trust, and leads regular pilgrimages in local sacred landscapes, in tune with the natural cycles of the Earth.
www.song-of-the-earth.com
Fiona Hopes is a landscape and garden designer, gardener, and author of five books on gardening. She is a qualified permaculture designer, and gives talks and workshops on many aspects of sustainability, sacred landscape, and interconnected Earth-centred life. She is a member of the Gatekeeper Trust, and leads regular pilgrimages in local sacred landscapes, in tune with the natural cycles of the Earth.
www.song-of-the-earth.com
Now Jan 27th (Friday) 2012: Pathless Land - the Life and Teachings of Krishnamurti, with Kris Lee
Jiddu Krishnamurti is regarded as one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the twentieth century, if not all time. His teachings continue to inspire and challenge millions of people throughout the world.
Kris Lee tells the fascinating story of Krishnamurti’s development from a child thought to be so obdurately stupid at school he was regularly beaten, to his grooming by the Theosophical Society as an incarnation of the "World Teacher", through to a lifetime of world travel up to his death aged 90, lecturing and engaging in intense dialogues with everyday people as well as philosophers and scientists.
Krishnamurti did not expound any philosophy or religion, or seek followers, but rather talked of the things that concern all of us in our everyday life and the problems of living in modern society. Kris will present some of the principal threads of Krishnamurti's teachings and in the spirit of those teachings will invite discussion and questioning. The core teachings propose that freedom only comes from the abandonment of all systems and beliefs, complete awareness of the present, a sacred connection to the natural world and the unthinking exercise of compassion.
Kris Lee tells the fascinating story of Krishnamurti’s development from a child thought to be so obdurately stupid at school he was regularly beaten, to his grooming by the Theosophical Society as an incarnation of the "World Teacher", through to a lifetime of world travel up to his death aged 90, lecturing and engaging in intense dialogues with everyday people as well as philosophers and scientists.
Krishnamurti did not expound any philosophy or religion, or seek followers, but rather talked of the things that concern all of us in our everyday life and the problems of living in modern society. Kris will present some of the principal threads of Krishnamurti's teachings and in the spirit of those teachings will invite discussion and questioning. The core teachings propose that freedom only comes from the abandonment of all systems and beliefs, complete awareness of the present, a sacred connection to the natural world and the unthinking exercise of compassion.
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Kris Lee lectures on Shakespeare, early modern England, and
astrology – some of you may know him as one of the people who helps run
Aquarius Severn Astrology Society in Cheltenham – and has been studying
Krishnamurti's work since 1988 after being shown his astrological chart.
He regularly visits the Krishnamurti study centre, a wonderful retreat in rural Hampshire. |
Kris Lee
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Thursday November 25th
'Soultides, Soulseasons', with Eve Adams
Unfortunately, due to family illness this talk was cancelled.
Approaching the darkest time of year Eve Adams will share how she weaves together different threads personally and professionally to live creatively during times of challenge and difficulty. Part of the talk will be experiential and her husband Peter will read poetry some his own. Eve will also display her spontaneous Goddess embroidery.
Eve is an experienced psychotherapist, trainer, supervisor and group leader. Integrating the worlds of psychology, bodysoul and spirit she has found her home in a blend of approaches inspired by Psychosynthesis, Marion Woodman, Earth-based Spirituality and Mindfulness practices.
Since 1989 Eve has been running groups and working with individuals incorporating ritual, story, dreams, seasonal celebration, movement, other creative forms of expression and working with an inner process.
www.soultides.org.uk
Eve is an experienced psychotherapist, trainer, supervisor and group leader. Integrating the worlds of psychology, bodysoul and spirit she has found her home in a blend of approaches inspired by Psychosynthesis, Marion Woodman, Earth-based Spirituality and Mindfulness practices.
Since 1989 Eve has been running groups and working with individuals incorporating ritual, story, dreams, seasonal celebration, movement, other creative forms of expression and working with an inner process.
www.soultides.org.uk
Thursday October 14th: an illustrated talk by Paul F. Cowlan
Alchemy by Night - The Confessions of an Alchemist
Alchemy in Everyday Experience
For Paul alchemy is much more than an intellectual interest. Tonight, after a brief introduction to basic alchemical imagery and concepts, you will be regaled with stories of what it's like for one man to have lived with these symbols and processes for most of his adult life. In his own words, 'alchemy has been central to my personal development from that moment of synchronicity in 1985 which brought my latent interest suddenly into the daylight world.' Shortly after this event his dream diaries began revealing that his nights were teeming with alchemical activities as well. And that was just the start....tonight, it all comes out in the telling.
‘Somnium narrare vigilantis est’, says Seneca: whoever relates his dreams must be awake.
Paul F. Cowlan is a professional singer/songwriter/poet, with eight albums and a recently published volume of poems to his credit. Paul has practised psycho-spiritual alchemy since the early 1980s, predominantly guided by a combination of his own dreams, the community of books, and a pragmatic application of the insights thus acquired. He gives illustrated talks and workshops on the subject, and has published three booklets.
A practitioner of yoga since the late 70s, he has also developed a system of Alchemical Yoga, using selected asanas in combination with Tantric and Alchemical imagery.
www.paulcowlan.co.uk
‘Somnium narrare vigilantis est’, says Seneca: whoever relates his dreams must be awake.
Paul F. Cowlan is a professional singer/songwriter/poet, with eight albums and a recently published volume of poems to his credit. Paul has practised psycho-spiritual alchemy since the early 1980s, predominantly guided by a combination of his own dreams, the community of books, and a pragmatic application of the insights thus acquired. He gives illustrated talks and workshops on the subject, and has published three booklets.
A practitioner of yoga since the late 70s, he has also developed a system of Alchemical Yoga, using selected asanas in combination with Tantric and Alchemical imagery.
www.paulcowlan.co.uk
Thursday June 24th: James D'Angelo -
Resonance of the Cosmos
The very nature of existence is founded upon vibration and frequency, leading to a musical model of the universe. Many great spiritual traditions have used the principle of vibration in the form of mantra, chanting and the use of subtle and powerful musical instruments to induce the expansion of consciousness and the move towards Self-realization. This evening’s presentation will not only explore the nature of vibration but will also engage the audience in creating sound so as to experience its effects on their consciousness and being.
James D'Angelo is a performing musician, composer, writer, workshop leader within the sound healing field and formerly a lecturer within the City University of New York and Goldsmiths College, London. His presentations and workshops have taken him to conferences and venues throughout the UK, in Europe and the USA.
He is the author of Healing With the Voice and The Healing Power of the Human Voice. His essay on spirituality and religion will appear this year in A New Renaissance: Transforming Science, Spirit and Society, published by Floris Books.
His website is www.soundspirit.co.uk.
James D'Angelo is a performing musician, composer, writer, workshop leader within the sound healing field and formerly a lecturer within the City University of New York and Goldsmiths College, London. His presentations and workshops have taken him to conferences and venues throughout the UK, in Europe and the USA.
He is the author of Healing With the Voice and The Healing Power of the Human Voice. His essay on spirituality and religion will appear this year in A New Renaissance: Transforming Science, Spirit and Society, published by Floris Books.
His website is www.soundspirit.co.uk.
Thursday April 22nd 2010, 7.30-9.30pm.
Peter and Sarah Dawkins - 'Wisdom in the Land'
We are delighted to welcome Peter and Sarah Dawkins to Cheltenham.
"The very earth we walk on, live in and depend on, is a great book of wisdom. Enshrined in its landscape, moulding its form and influencing our lives and consciousness, is the eternal, universal truth, waiting for discovery and cooperative manifestation. With such wisdom we could build a paradise on earth. The ancients called it the goddess - the loving intelligence of the land, pregnant with wisdom that she can reveal and to which she gives birth."
In this talk Peter, accompanied by his wife Sarah, will share some of the wisdom that the landscape has revealed to him over the years, and the accompanying mythology and traditional knowledge that is our ever-growing heritage. With the landscape come landscape angels, guardians of the earth, just as we have our own guardian angels. For Peter, these have also been teachers, and they will feature in the talk and illustrations.
"The very earth we walk on, live in and depend on, is a great book of wisdom. Enshrined in its landscape, moulding its form and influencing our lives and consciousness, is the eternal, universal truth, waiting for discovery and cooperative manifestation. With such wisdom we could build a paradise on earth. The ancients called it the goddess - the loving intelligence of the land, pregnant with wisdom that she can reveal and to which she gives birth."
In this talk Peter, accompanied by his wife Sarah, will share some of the wisdom that the landscape has revealed to him over the years, and the accompanying mythology and traditional knowledge that is our ever-growing heritage. With the landscape come landscape angels, guardians of the earth, just as we have our own guardian angels. For Peter, these have also been teachers, and they will feature in the talk and illustrations.
Peter is an author, teacher, geomancer and consultant in sacred architecture and landscape, earth energies and the Western wisdom traditions. He is founder-director of the Zoence Academy, which runs a training course in the spiritual, geomantic and cosmological wisdom of the West. He is known particularly as a pioneer and leading teacher in the science of landscape temples (geocosmology) and their connection with mythology and the wisdom teachings, and since 1980 has been leading wisdom tours and geocosmological pilgrimages in Britain, Europe and America, and occasionally other countries of the world.
Sarah, Peter's wife, is a Feng-Shui consultant, co-director of Zoence Academy and secretary of the Francis Bacon Research Trust, who also teaches and leads workshops and pilgrimages internationally.
Sarah, Peter's wife, is a Feng-Shui consultant, co-director of Zoence Academy and secretary of the Francis Bacon Research Trust, who also teaches and leads workshops and pilgrimages internationally.
Thursday March 11th 2010, 7.30-9.30pm.
Jay Ramsay - 'The Poet In You'
How can poetry inspire us at this time of transition? As we recognize the need to become more open spiritually, it is poets like Rumi, TS Eliot and William Blake that open us to a sense of the sacred, as well as a significant number of living poets.
Jay Ramsay has been working with poetry and transformational consciousness for 25 years. A UKCP accredited psychosynthesis psychotherapist, in private practice in Stroud & London, he is the Author of over 30 books, most recently 'Out of Time', 'Places of Truth (Awen)', and 'The Poet in You'. He also tutors people in poetry, and runs workshops at Hawkwood College. See also www.lotusfoundation.org.uk
Jay Ramsay has been working with poetry and transformational consciousness for 25 years. A UKCP accredited psychosynthesis psychotherapist, in private practice in Stroud & London, he is the Author of over 30 books, most recently 'Out of Time', 'Places of Truth (Awen)', and 'The Poet in You'. He also tutors people in poetry, and runs workshops at Hawkwood College. See also www.lotusfoundation.org.uk
Thursday February 11th 2010, 7.30-9.30pm:
Jonathan Stedall - 'Where On Earth is Heaven?'
Writer and documentary film-maker Jonathan Stedall explores challenging questions about living and dying, looking and seeing, heaven and earth, as well as our human potential.
Jonathan presents a film based on his recently published book 'Where On Earth is Heaven', which includes material on John Betjeman, Laurens van der Post and Alan Bennett, as well as sequences from his biographies of Tolstoy, Gandhi and Jung.
After the film there will be time for discussion on the issues raised.
Jonathan's website is at www.jonathanstedall.co.uk
Jonathan presents a film based on his recently published book 'Where On Earth is Heaven', which includes material on John Betjeman, Laurens van der Post and Alan Bennett, as well as sequences from his biographies of Tolstoy, Gandhi and Jung.
After the film there will be time for discussion on the issues raised.
Jonathan's website is at www.jonathanstedall.co.uk
November 20th 2009 - Professor Ursula King: 'Responding to Spiritual Challenges of our Time'
“Love is the free and imaginative outpouring of the spirit over all unexplored paths.” (Teilhard de Chardin)
Professor Ursula King - an internationally renowned scholar on spirituality, interfaith dialogue, women and religion, will discuss themes from her latest book, The Search for Spirituality: Our Global Quest for Meaning and Fulfilment.
"What are the spiritual challenges today in a personal, social and global context?
What does spirituality mean in a pluralistic world? And what has love to do with it?
I want to explore some new trajectories in spirituality and show how these can help us promote the flourishing of all people and the planet".
Earlier this year she was interviewed by Jenni Murray on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.
URSULA KING FRSA
Professor Emerita of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Bristol. Educated in Germany, France, India and England, she has lectured all over the world and published widely, especially on gender issues in religions, interfaith dialogue, spirituality, and on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. She has held been awarded honorary doctorates by the universities of Edinburgh, Oslo, and Dayton, Ohio.
Her publications include Christian Mystics. Their Lives and Legacies Throughout the Ages; Women and Spirituality; the illustrated biography Spirit of Fire: The Life and Vision of Teilhard de Chardin; and most recently The Search for Spirituality: Our Global Quest for Meaning and Fulfilment (Canterbury Press, 2009).
Professor Ursula King - an internationally renowned scholar on spirituality, interfaith dialogue, women and religion, will discuss themes from her latest book, The Search for Spirituality: Our Global Quest for Meaning and Fulfilment.
"What are the spiritual challenges today in a personal, social and global context?
What does spirituality mean in a pluralistic world? And what has love to do with it?
I want to explore some new trajectories in spirituality and show how these can help us promote the flourishing of all people and the planet".
Earlier this year she was interviewed by Jenni Murray on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.
URSULA KING FRSA
Professor Emerita of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Bristol. Educated in Germany, France, India and England, she has lectured all over the world and published widely, especially on gender issues in religions, interfaith dialogue, spirituality, and on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. She has held been awarded honorary doctorates by the universities of Edinburgh, Oslo, and Dayton, Ohio.
Her publications include Christian Mystics. Their Lives and Legacies Throughout the Ages; Women and Spirituality; the illustrated biography Spirit of Fire: The Life and Vision of Teilhard de Chardin; and most recently The Search for Spirituality: Our Global Quest for Meaning and Fulfilment (Canterbury Press, 2009).
September 25th 2009 - Nick Campion:
'The Sacred Sky: Good, Evil and the Soul’s Ascent
to the Stars'
The belief that the human soul – or psyche – has a direct relationship with the stars was first attested in ancient Egypt; the Pyramid Texts tell of the Pharaoh’s journey to the stars after death. The idea was developed by Plato, for whom the rational soul possessed an inherent ability to return to the heavens.
As the soul rose through the planets towards the stars, it approached perfection and eventually united with the divine. Such concepts formed the basis of the Hermetic teachings, the Mithraic mysteries, and stood at the heart of Neoplatonic beliefs that the soul has an innate desire to return to the Good.
However, in the hands of the Gnostics, the theory took on a different form. Believing that the material world was essentially evil, the Gnostics recast the planets as representatives of humanity’s oppression, rather than agents of its liberation. According to this teaching, salvation was available only through Christ.
In this talk Nick explores the confusion between two opposing concepts, that the material universe is either inherently Good, or essentially Evil, and how this has led to the tangled web of western esoteric thought, together with the widespread (misplaced) concept that esotericism is incompatible with Christianity.
As the soul rose through the planets towards the stars, it approached perfection and eventually united with the divine. Such concepts formed the basis of the Hermetic teachings, the Mithraic mysteries, and stood at the heart of Neoplatonic beliefs that the soul has an innate desire to return to the Good.
However, in the hands of the Gnostics, the theory took on a different form. Believing that the material world was essentially evil, the Gnostics recast the planets as representatives of humanity’s oppression, rather than agents of its liberation. According to this teaching, salvation was available only through Christ.
In this talk Nick explores the confusion between two opposing concepts, that the material universe is either inherently Good, or essentially Evil, and how this has led to the tangled web of western esoteric thought, together with the widespread (misplaced) concept that esotericism is incompatible with Christianity.
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Nick Campion is senior lecturer in the department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Wales, Lampeter, where he is head of the Sophia Centre and director of the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology. He is also on the faculty of Kepler College. His recent books include the two volume History of Western Astrology (London: Continuum 2008, 2009). His future publications include Cosmology and Astrology in the World’s Religions (New York University Press 2011).
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Friday May 22nd 2009
Paul Devereux: ‘Sound and Ancient Sacred Places’
Throughout the centuries, and in every culture, sound has been used to access and deepen our sense of the sacred. This rich and unique audio-visual presentation will explore the role of sound at many different kinds of ancient sacred places worldwide: from prehistoric monuments, sacred indigenous sites and Greek and Indian temples, to churches, chapels and cathedrals. It will also include new acoustic research by a Royal College of Art team taking place at Carn Menyn, Preseli, Wales, source area of the Stonehenge bluestones, and will introduce the new archaeological area of investigation known as "archaeoacoustics" -- the study of sound at archaeological sites.
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Paul Devereux is a research affiliate of the Royal College of Art, and a founding editor of the peer-review publication, Time & Mind - The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture (www.bergpublishers.com). He has written over two dozen books, including Stone Age Soundtracks and The Sacred Place, as well as many articles for both specialist and popular magazines, plus a range of peer-reviewed academic papers. He presents talks to all kinds of audiences internationally.
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Friday April 24th 2009, Jeff Saward:
‘Labyrinth & Mazes – 4000 Years Of Tradition’
The history of the labyrinth is dotted with times when it has surfaced in a society that has creatively incorporated it into their cultural structure. Sometimes these episodes of labyrinth flowering were short-lived; often they flourished for hundreds of years and spread the concept far and wide. Wherever it has gone over the course of this 4000-year history, the labyrinth has served many purposes. This richly illustrated presentation will give a concise history of where labyrinths originated, how they have developed and spread. From its origins in pre-history, to the modern explosion of interest in this ancient symbol, the labyrinth continues to spark the imaginations of artists, thinkers and spiritual seekers alike.
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Jeff Saward is a world authority on the history and development of labyrinths and mazes and is the author of Magical Paths - a pictorial essay on the modern revival, Labyrinths & Mazes - a comprehensive illustrated history, and is the editor of Caerdroia – the Journal of Mazes and Labyrinths. He is the co-founder and director of Labyrinthos, the international Labyrinth Resource Centre, Photo Library and Archive, and acts as a consultant to projects around the world. |
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