September 2022 – Sun in Gemini

September 29, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Consciousness, Higher Mind, Initiation, Love, Metanoia, Mindfulness, Mystery Schools, Psychology

Eye, aye and I…

by Steve Tanham

One of the many paradoxes of modern mysticism is that there is no good word to describe the ‘sense of self’ that we all have, but which does not appear to be shareable as meaning. It is as though the real meaning of ‘me’ always slips away when we try to define it. We point to ourselves and say, “Well, it’s just me!” And … Read More Eye, aye and I…

September 27, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes, Mindfulness, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

Lines on Stone

by Steve Tanham

It’s amusing to watch your own progress with a pastime, hobby, or even a skill. I was new to creative photography a few years ago, and set about it with the usual Gemini enthusiasm. It doesn’t take long before you’ve taken hundreds of shots, some of them credible renderings of beautiful things – like our local River Kent, or buildings, or even skies – … Read More Lines on Stone

September 25, 2022 + #Silenti, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

Menace on the Pier…

by Steve Tanham

The afternoon sun was bright in the sky. We were walking back along Morecambe’s Stone Jetty – one of mum’s favourite short walks. We had just passed the half-way point by the old cafe, when I noticed we were approaching one of the tallest lamp posts – and the sun was very close to it’s line in the sky. I had been looking for … Read More Menace on the Pier…

September 22, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Esoteric Meaning of Myth, esoteric psychology, History, Journey of the hero, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose, Psychology

Theatre of the Mind

by Steve Tanham

Once a month, on the evening of the third Sunday, the Silent Eye hosts a zoom-based get-together on the internet. People join us from across the world. The purpose is to share our (and others’) explorations of the mystically-oriented life; hence its name: SE-Explorations. In the comfort of our own homes, those who might be curious and those who seem to have been curious … Read More Theatre of the Mind

September 18, 2022 + #Silenti, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

Organic ceilings…

by Steve Tanham

We know very little about King’s Cross Station. Our rail journeys to Cumbria always begin at Euston Station, a fifteen minute walk away. A journey via Leeds gave us the chance to pass through this venerable part of Britain’s infrastructure, and I immediately noticed the roof. My first thought was that it had been designed by the same architects as the roof of the … Read More Organic ceilings…

September 17, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes

The old pier and the birds of young wisdom

by Steve Tanham

There’s a strange object near the end of Morecambe’s long Stone Jetty pier. From a distance, it looks like a large piano… Beyond it is only the sea, so, really, it’s stuck out in the middle of Morecambe Bay. It’s actually one of two new radar stations designed for detailed analysis of the intense tidal flows of these parts – some of the largest … Read More The old pier and the birds of young wisdom

September 15, 2022 + #Silenti, Arthurian Legends, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Myth, myths and spirituality

An Ascent of Royalty

by Steve Tanham

I was born the year after Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, so it’s fair to say she has been ‘with me’ all my life. Like many of us, I have known no other monarch. The rarity of this situation is worthy of reflection, as is the very notion of royalty in our high-tech age. Are they simply symbolic figures, animated from our past? Or might there … Read More An Ascent of Royalty

September 13, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

City Sky Garden

by Steve Tanham

At the end of the summer each year, we try to spend a few days in London. The South Bank is our favourite haunt. The opening photos of the city’s financial district, above and below, were taken from a point adjacent to the Globe Theatre, overlooking the Thames, and looking northwards. This year the trip was set up by our goddaughter, Karen, who had … Read More City Sky Garden

September 11, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Consciousness, English Lake District, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography

Back lane to the river

by Steve Tanham

It is said by local historians that if Kendal had not fallen prey to the soulless developments of the 1960s, the town would now rival York in the historical interest offered by its venerable streets – and its living links with long-disappeared ways of life… There are numerous alleys that lead from the town centre to the River Kent. It’s fascinating to walk these … Read More Back lane to the river

September 8, 2022 + #Silenti

All the world’s a stage…

by Steve Tanham

We could imagine ourselves as a leading actor in a play. There are other actors, but we have something unique… The play is written around our character. We are the only performer who can describe the play from the inside – our ‘inside’. We infer that others can do this, but we have a unique perspective on our view of the play. We have … Read More All the world’s a stage…

September 6, 2022 + #Silenti, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography

The Endurance of St. Paul’s

by Steve Tanham

There was a time, not long ago, when my livelihood – and that of 25 other employees of the software company I established in the late 1980s – depended on our continued involvement with the plans of some large city institutions such as the Bank of England, Euroclear and various of the high street banks also headquartered in the (old) City. For a company … Read More The Endurance of St. Paul’s

September 4, 2022 + #Silenti, English Lake District, History, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography

Survivor in a landscape?

by Steve Tanham

A complete accident this, though it looks like the figure in the right hand aperture was staged… I have no idea who she was. Kendal Castle; home to prominent members of the Parr family, whose daughter, Katherine Parr, remarkably survived the Tudor monster – Henry VIII. Perhaps that’s her ghost, smiling in the late summer sun, reminding us that even the darkest fates can, … Read More Survivor in a landscape?