SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: Ancient Landscapes

The high pass over the North York Moors is seventeen miles long and crosses the ‘roof of the world’ in the heart of the national park. You’d think twice about going there once the autumn has given way to winter. Local photos show the many times that groups of people have been stranded on the long line of its peak. In one case, in … Read More Keys of Heaven (8): crosses at heaven’s gate

January 2, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, Photography, Spirituality

Keys of Heaven (7): the path to gentle darkness

by Steve Tanham

The tiny fishing village of Staithes is a place of peaceful beauty. It lies part way between Whitby and Saltburn on the North Yorkshire coast. It’s geology is also one of the few breaks in the vast cliffs that define this region; and which are the main source of the famous Whitby Jet semi-precious stone. Staithes was our destination… and I was taking a … Read More Keys of Heaven (7): the path to gentle darkness

December 31, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, Photography, Spirituality

Keys of Heaven (6): the greater force

by Steve Tanham

The greater force… What did they know of it! Anyone could see it in the fall of boulders in the mountains; in the crashing of the seas on the rocks, in the burning of the forests when the wildfires took hold; in the legends of the earth boiling and glowing when the ground ruptured… But only a few could see it at work in … Read More Keys of Heaven (6): the greater force

December 24, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, Photography, Spirituality

Keys of Heaven (5): the will of the king – gathering

by Steve Tanham

We climb the steps to the Abbey at Whitby, aware that something different is happening; that the curtain of time is being drawn back… for as long as we can keep the critical mind at bay The years pass away. From the present keepers back through years of being a rich man’s possession… As – in a mist – we see the year 1539 … Read More Keys of Heaven (5): the will of the king – gathering

December 19, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, Photography, Spirituality

Keys of Heaven (4): through the bones of the whale

by Steve Tanham

The pale winter sun lies – to our symbolic view – just beyond the East Cliff horizon. Its lowness and lateness in the cold sky speaks of the approach of the winter solstice, a time of maximum darkness and minimum light…. but also a time of turning. History is made from a series of turning-points. Changes – some of them completely unforeseen and incapable … Read More Keys of Heaven (4): through the bones of the whale

December 17, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, Photography, Spirituality

Keys of Heaven (3): the synchronicity of kindness

by Steve Tanham

There’s a certain ‘presence’ about kindness. Like the spiritual – or, more likely, as a part of it – the act of unexpected kindness drops into our lives like a messenger from the ‘Gods’. So it was with our visit to the ancient church of Lythe in the middle of the Friday afternoon of the Keys of Heaven workshop. The village of Lythe lies … Read More Keys of Heaven (3): the synchronicity of kindness

December 10, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, Photography, Spirituality, Travel and Photography, Winter Solstice weekend

Keys of Heaven (1): Cod and Lobster

by Steve Tanham

Bright against the icy darkness, the Christmas lights of the Cod and Lobster pub greet the quiet sound of only two sets of winter boots, where, until a few hours ago, there were many… It’s quite a walk down from the car park above the lovely fishing village of Staithes – pronounced ‘Steas’ – just north of Whitby along the coast of Yorkshire’s beautiful … Read More Keys of Heaven (1): Cod and Lobster

October 10, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Anger, Consciousness, Hatred, Spirituality

The Whirlpool

by Steve Tanham

It begins with a feeling… A feeling that something has fallen: like a vital bridge being destroyed. As it develops, you sense the landscape being stretched, allowing forms of life alien to your own to enter the world. And then you become conscious that there is a velocity, here – that we are all going somewhere we didn’t ask for. After a while you … Read More The Whirlpool

October 2, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Celtic Christianity, Spirituality

The 13th Moon of St Cedd

by Steve Tanham

He stopped at the door, knowing they were all inside. Waiting for him, waiting for his ability to listen, to gather, to make pointed the urgings, the reasoning, the demands, until there glinted in the tired firelight the position, the stance, upon which they would cast their choices. Beneath the cold stone where his sandalled feet stood were buried the bones of kings – … Read More The 13th Moon of St Cedd

September 19, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Bakewell, Consciousness, Esoteric Meaning of Myth, esoteric psychology, guided mystical walks, Higher Mind, landscapes, Life and Death, Love, meditation, mystery, Mystery Schools, myths and spirituality, Photography, Silent Eye School, soul in body, Spirituality

Fear and Love in the High Peak – part one

by Steve Tanham

It’s not the best of photo resolutions, but the above image says it all. Briony saluting the Derbyshire landscape in her own way at the end of three days of the Silent Eye’s Tideswell-based workshop: Sue and Stuart’s creation; and a wonderful experience for the group of souls who braved the provocative title for the weekend… Rites of Passage: Seeing beyond Fear …and decided … Read More Fear and Love in the High Peak – part one

August 29, 2019 + #writephoto, Ancient Landscapes, Child of Light, Consciousness, Esoteric Meaning of Myth, Fiction, landscapes, Life and Death, Photography, Short stories, Silent Eye School, Spirituality

The Talking Darkness #writephoto

by Steve Tanham

This is in response to Sue Vincent’s #writephoto ‘Frozen’ and the photo above. He chose his moment to appear at the edge of the dark forest; the forest through which they had come on their murderous journey. The few that knew him used his ancient name: the Talking Darkness…. Anyone in the dark green shadows looking out to the approaching night would have seen … Read More The Talking Darkness #writephoto

August 19, 2019 + Ancient Landscapes, Collie dogs, Consciousness, English Lake District, Lake District, landscapes, nature, Photography, Places and Prose, Silent Eye School, Silent Eye Workshops, Travel and people, Travel and Photography, Your inner wolf

Above the Lion and the Lamb (part three)

by Steve Tanham

It was past four in the afternoon. We had been walking for over five hours. Despite our best smiles – and Joh’s chocolate – we were tired, very tired. We were desperately looking for something – a path that should have been climbing up towards us from the steep lower slopes of the glacial corrie below. But paths – this far into a landscape … Read More Above the Lion and the Lamb (part three)