SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: Celtic Christianity

April 4, 2023 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Celtic Christianity, Consciousness, English Lake District, History, Lake District, landscapes, Photography, Travel and Photography

Treachery and Morecambe Bay

by Steve Tanham

The treachery of Morecambe Bay has been well-documented throughout its history. Volatile, unpredictable and downright dangerous are words often used to describe it by those in the know. A ‘sister’ resort to Blackpool, forty miles to the South – Morecambe has managed to cling to a little of its former Victorian glamour partly due to such iconic buildings as the renowned Art Deco Midland … Read More Treachery and Morecambe Bay

February 9, 2023 + #Silenti, Celtic Christianity, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Love, Metanoia, Mindfulness, Mystery Schools, Soul, spiritual turning around, Sufi Poetry, The Beloved

Barriers to Love

by Steve Tanham

Eight hundred years is a long way to look back and extract meaningful guidance about ‘today’s world’, and yet I can say with honesty that the historical figure whose wisdom made one of the most important differences to my spiritual life lived in the 13th century… Generally known by the short-form of his last name: Rumi, the Sufi mystic and poet Jalal al-Din Muhammad … Read More Barriers to Love

February 20, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Celtic Christianity, Consciousness, myths and spirituality, Photography

Green Man in the Stumpery

by Steve Tanham

It’s a large rendering of the Green Man. I have no idea whether it’s new or whether it has been on that wall for five years – back to the time when the ‘new’ stumpery was added to the promenade at Grange-over-Sands. The Green Man is hidden from general view, which, I suspect may be deliberate, and in tune with the wisdom it represents. … Read More Green Man in the Stumpery

June 3, 2021 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness

The Mysterious Road to Tain (4): a simple man

by Steve Tanham

The young missionary – a peregrini, meaning one on a life-pilgrimage – wore two crosses; but not around his neck nor on his simple, woven robe. The Celtic designs were tattooed onto his eyelids so that, when he slept, the original Cross of Christ was projected from both his sleeping eyes into the world… Truth never sleeps. A Christ that he had reached out … Read More The Mysterious Road to Tain (4): a simple man

May 27, 2021 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness

The Mysterious Road to Tain (3): the protectors

by Steve Tanham

“Saints don’t just disappear!” Bernie was getting a little exasperated with my poor attempt at stringing together a viable theory to account for the cultural disappearance of St Duthac. “There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation… we just have to find it.” I’d already found it, But I wasn’t letting on. It’s not that I’m cleverer than she is, but one of the sources I’d been … Read More The Mysterious Road to Tain (3): the protectors

May 20, 2021 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness

The Mysterious Road to Tain (2): the demi-god of Ross

by Steve Tanham

“You’d have thought they would have looked after it, better!’ Bernie can be highly critical on these occasions. Mind you, we had trudged all the way around the small town of Tain to find it. The original chapel of St Duthac. The priest to whose church three Scottish kings travelled to pay their respects, sits as an unmarked ruin in the middle of the … Read More The Mysterious Road to Tain (2): the demi-god of Ross

December 10, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Consciousness

The City and the Stars (9-end) : the most peaceful place in the world

by Steve Tanham

The conclusion of the Silent Eye’s extended workshop to Orkney. A visit to the neighbouring island of Rousay. A sad disappointment and a wonderful surprise. (1500 words, a twelve-minute read) (Above: a modern reconstruction of a Neolithic farmer felling a tree with a hand-made stone axe) For our final day, we were off to the Island of Rousay.. I’ve written, elsewhere, about what it’s … Read More The City and the Stars (9-end) : the most peaceful place in the world

December 8, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Consciousness

The City and the Stars (8) : Longships

by Steve Tanham

The traditional picture of the Vikings – looting, marauding, raping invaders – may not be entirely true of their time on Orkney, though they did rule this gentle archipelago with an iron fist for five hundred years… (1300 words, a ten-minute read) (Above: the glory of St Magnus (Viking) Cathedral, Kirkwall) History can be complex. Patterns of events that fit in one situation may … Read More The City and the Stars (8) : Longships

April 12, 2020 + Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, Egyptian Myth, Goddess Isis, Osiris, Spirituality

The Sacrificed King

by Steve Tanham

Easter is symbolically the time of the celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ. This thread of story and principle runs through our civilisation very deeply; and Easter Sunday is the most important day in the Christian calendar. Jesus (the) Christ did not proclaim himself king, despite being labelled ‘King of the Jews’ – quite the opposite. He said he came ‘from the … Read More The Sacrificed King

January 16, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, Photography, Spirituality

Keys of Heaven (10): final resting place…

by Steve Tanham

continued from Part 9 The village of Lastingham, of the southern edge of the North York Moors, was a fitting place to end our weekend – both for its mysterious wells and also on the basis that the crypt of St Mary’s Church marks the final resting place of St Cedd. Following the fateful Synod of Whitby in AD 664, Bishop Cedd returned to … Read More Keys of Heaven (10): final resting place…

January 9, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, Photography, Spirituality

Keys of Heaven (9): blown down the mountain

by Steve Tanham

continued from Part 8 My companions of the Silent Eye’s ‘Keys of Heaven’ weekend were waiting when I arrived at the Lion Inn. We had coffee and biscuits and we discussed the options for our last day of the workshop. Everyone was looking forward to the visit to the celebrated St Mary’s church at Lastingham – the final resting place of St Cedd. There … Read More Keys of Heaven (9): blown down the mountain

January 7, 2020 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, Photography, Spirituality

Keys of Heaven (8): crosses at heaven’s gate

by Steve Tanham

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