SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: Ancient Sacred Sites

I remember being a child and considering the Yin-Yang figure for the first time. It fascinated me. I felt like I couldn’t ‘see it’ properly – as though something about it was hidden… For several days after spying it on a street poster, I tried to draw it, but without success. The best I could do was render it as ‘an eight with two … Read More The Eight with Two Dots

November 13, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, English Lake District, Photographic techniques, Photography

The shifting beach…

by Steve Tanham

What I love about the beaches around Morecambe Bay is the way you can go back a day later and find them completely changed. Heysham Beach, near Morecambe, is a wonderful example. In autumn, the tides get stronger, and the landscape upon which you walk – often a liminal zone between rock and sand – changes with each tide. Which is good news for … Read More The shifting beach…

October 18, 2022 + #Humour, #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, English Lake District, Lake District, Photographic techniques, Photography, Travel and people

Cartmel, anarchy and the perfect morning…

by Steve Tanham

The Cumbrian village of Cartmel is most famous for its racecourse, but it is difficult to find any part of it that is not also beautiful or at least interesting. There are also examples here of innovative responses to hard times… Something we all need to take note of. Cartmel lies two miles northwest of Grange-over-Sands, on the northern edge of Morecambe Bay, just … Read More Cartmel, anarchy and the perfect morning…

August 16, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, Silent Eye School, Silent Eye Workshops

Set in Stone

by Steve Tanham

The Silent Eye’s Landscape Weekends were born from a mad-cap day on Ilkley Moor and a number of subsequent events up there. Join us on Sue Vincent’s birthday (14th September) for lunch and a short walk to one of Ilkley Moor’s ancient monuments as we remember our former colleague and fellow director in the landscape she regarded as her home. Meet: Noon at The … Read More Set in Stone

June 23, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, Lake District, myths and spirituality, Photographic techniques, Photography

Heroes in a Landscape (7) End of the Quest

by Steve Tanham

Continued from Part Six… The final day of a weekend like ‘The Journey of the Hero’ has to serve many purposes. It has to reinforce what has been shared; it has to send people on their homeward journeys with a smile… and a desire to do it, again. In short, it needs to embrace the companions with a warm hug! It also needs to … Read More Heroes in a Landscape (7) End of the Quest

June 16, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, Lake District, myths and spirituality, Photographic techniques, Photography

Heroes in a Landscape (6) Fellowship of the Shepherd

by Steve Tanham

Continued from Part Five… There comes a moment in any weekend event when the carefully cultivated sense of order breaks down… no matter how good the plan. At that point one looks to ‘heaven’ knowing that the success is in the ‘laps of the Gods’. The man striding up the hill from Great Salkeld towards Long Meg Stone Circle possessed a brain whose capacity … Read More Heroes in a Landscape (6) Fellowship of the Shepherd

June 9, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Photography

Heroes in a Landscape (5) River and Cave

by Steve Tanham

It seemed we were learning anew, each day… The decision to abandon the walk along the long ridge path to Ashness Bridge had been forced upon us by time constraints. It would cost us the boat ride back to Keswick – something that had immense emotional appeal – but, instead, it had given us back… calmness. After a snack lunch by the lake shore … Read More Heroes in a Landscape (5) River and Cave

June 2, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Photography

Heroes in a Landscape (4) Two faces of the Labyrinth

by Steve Tanham

Each of our landscape weekends follows the same pattern: a socially-oriented Friday afternoon with a hint of what’s to come; a full Saturday which contains the main body of the ‘work’ and ends with an early evening pub meal out in the countryside; finally, a relaxed but meaningful Sunday morning, ending with an informal snack lunch and farewells. Saturday the 7th May dawned over … Read More Heroes in a Landscape (4) Two faces of the Labyrinth

May 26, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Photography

Heroes in a Landscape (3) Learning from Nature

by Steve Tanham

Continued from Part Two… My phone wasn’t dead – it looked perfectly bright against the dark landscape, but it wasn’t responding to any finger gestures. And it contained my copy of the script, now locked away by the storm. I reached into my ‘Fool’s’ kit bag, a sturdy old canvas friend that I’ve used for years. Often in the run up to workshops, I … Read More Heroes in a Landscape (3) Learning from Nature

May 19, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Photography

Heroes in a Landscape (2) Lessons in the deluge

by Steve Tanham

Those familiar with the attempt to hold any kind of drama in the open air will know the difficulties to be faced… The vagaries of the British climate are well documented but the severity of the rain as we travelled through the blinding spray along the last few miles of the A66 towards the Castlerigg Stone Circle was a thing to be seen. We … Read More Heroes in a Landscape (2) Lessons in the deluge

May 12, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Photography

Heroes in a Landscape (1) Arrival

by Steve Tanham

It’s a method for uniting a group of people to a common purpose. It’s a technique for ‘washing’ the immediate environment and dedicating your effort to the highest motive and energies. It’s a wonderful way to align yourself to your immediate surrounding, teasing out that sense of really ‘knowing’ what’s around you – especially in a landscape as beautiful and powerful as the English … Read More Heroes in a Landscape (1) Arrival

May 10, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, humour

Spirituality in Transition

by Steve Tanham

There are times when you know that a particular world is changing. By ‘world’ I mean a specific part of life, not the whole world, though that could be said to be in a state of apparently chaotic change, too… The ‘world’ I mean is that of spiritual teaching; and the challenges to its present methods come in various forms: The major one is … Read More Spirituality in Transition