SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Month: October 2020

Despite the world of the Picts being so far away in time, there was one man who reached back and ‘touched’ their minds with a language they shared… Art (A ten minute read, 1300 words) (Above: George Bain) He looked, once again, at the beautiful rendering of belief and life and…. everything. Once more, he was swept away by a sense of identity with … Read More Two journeys, one destination (8) : the thousand-year fingers

October 27, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Sacred Sites, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, mystical travel, Photography

“Ain’t this a mess, Sheriff!”

by Steve Tanham

In the film ‘No Country for Old Men’, there’s a famous opening scene at the site of a drugs shoot-out. Everyone’s dead when the local Sheriff and his deputy arrive and start wandering through the bodies as though they were in a Spaghetti Western. The Deputy stays silent for a long time, then says excitedly, “Ain’t this a mess, Sheriff!”. Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee … Read More “Ain’t this a mess, Sheriff!”

October 25, 2020 + #Silenti, Lake District, landscapes, mystical travel, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography

Mellow moods for Autumn (4) : by the river

by Steve Tanham

Autumn is a beautiful time in the Lune Valley… The River Lune rises in the gentle hills of the Eden Valley, in Cumbria, the last western county before you cross the border into Scotland. It flows for 53 miles in long curves, defining a series of beautiful valleys. It’s most scenic section is where it passes a few hundred metres from the centre of … Read More Mellow moods for Autumn (4) : by the river

October 22, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Sacred Sites, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, mystical travel, Photography

Two journeys, one destination (7) : Rosemarkie, the Black Isle

by Steve Tanham

The continuing story of the ‘Pictish Trail’, the Silent Eye’s workshop in the far north-east of Scotland. We encounter the best Pictish stone at close quarters… (A ten minute read, 1100 words) Our final visit of the Saturday was to Rosemarkie, a beautiful village on the Black Isle, whose seafront looks south across the vastness of the Moray Firth. Rosemarkie was also home to … Read More Two journeys, one destination (7) : Rosemarkie, the Black Isle

October 20, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, mystical travel, Photography, Travel and Photography

Bridges of Stone and Heart

by Steve Tanham

The emotional story of an unusual wartime chapel on Orkney reveals a different type of heroism… and hope. (A ten-minute read, 1400 words). (Above: the waters of Scapa Flow have not always been so calm…) Shortly after midnight on the 14th October, 1939, a German U-boat, U-47, passed unseen into the vast and hitherto safe waters of Orkney’s Scapa Flow, the base of the … Read More Bridges of Stone and Heart

October 18, 2020 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Mindfulness, Photographic techniques, Photography

Mellow Moods for Autumn (3): Heysham shadows

by Steve Tanham

Heysham village is a delightful outlier of old Lancashire… Its main street curls up from a one-alley access road for a stony shoreline to become a row of beautiful stone cottages that have stood there for hundreds of years. Near St Peter‘s Church – there since Anglo-Saxon times, the road bends and climbs. This cottage dominates the corner; and today, the light and the … Read More Mellow Moods for Autumn (3): Heysham shadows

October 15, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Sacred Sites, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, mystical travel, Photography

Two journeys, one destination (6) : a Pictish horizon

by Steve Tanham

With the wonderful Portmahomack behind us, it was time to meet the three Pictish stones that marked the horizon line of the Tarbat Peninsula. These would originally have been visible from the sea, and boats approaching from the Moray Firth would have known they were approaching sacred Pictish land – centred on the monastery at Portmahomack. On this second day of the Silent Eye’s … Read More Two journeys, one destination (6) : a Pictish horizon

October 13, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, myths and spirituality, Photography, Silent Eye School, Vikings

Stromness by night

by Steve Tanham

A series of short ‘betweens’ from the Silent Eye’s ‘Pictish Trail’ and ‘Ancient Orkney’ workshops. We’re having an after dinner walk along the night streets of Stromness, Orkney’s main ferry port and link with Scotland. My wife and I have stayed here once before. The ‘Ancient Orkney’ part of this Silent Eye trip has been so packed with exploring that this may be our … Read More Stromness by night

October 11, 2020 + #Silenti, Lake District, landscapes, Mystery Schools, myths and spirituality, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography

Mellow moods for Autumn (2) The Secret Path

by Steve Tanham

There are three ways back from the centre of Kirkby Lonsdale to Devil’s Bridge, where most visitors park their cars, if they’re just there for the views and, possibly, a coffee. There’s the river path, itself, with the steep descent down Mill Brow to the Lune Valley; there’s the main street out of the town to the south; and there’s this – the tree-lined … Read More Mellow moods for Autumn (2) The Secret Path

October 8, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Sacred Sites, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, mystical travel, Photography

Two journeys, one destination (5) : blood and stone

by Steve Tanham

Writing without the other hand to steady him was hard, but the other was clamped on his thigh, holding back the flow of blood. The words on the vellum were like the wanderings of a dying bird… he smiled at the thought, despite the pain. Through eyes filled with hot and salty water he read what he had written: ‘They came at the end … Read More Two journeys, one destination (5) : blood and stone

October 6, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Mystery Schools, Photography

The Old Men of Hoy

by Steve Tanham

I remember the ferry poster. May 2018 and we were on our way to Orkney for the first time. Four of us had travelled by ScotRail up from Glasgow to Thurso, a few miles west of John O’ Groats, the most northerly point on the British mainland. From Thurso, we were booked onto the evening ferry to Orkney, landing in Stromness around ninety minutes … Read More The Old Men of Hoy

October 4, 2020 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Seasons of the year

Mellow Moods for Autumn (1)

by Steve Tanham

A series of seasonal shots for Sunday, in either monochrome or with the colour reduced to give that mellow mood… The mists and the lane. The first mists gently fill the spaces between the trees at the end of the lane. So ‘soft and special’ you want to run out and take the shot before the shafts of sunlight disappear… ©Stephen Tanham, 2020. Stephen … Read More Mellow Moods for Autumn (1)