SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: esoteric psychology

September 6, 2018 + #Silenti, Child of Light, Consciousness, enneagram, esoteric psychology, Gurdjieff, Mystery Schools, Silent Eye School, Spirit, Spirituality

Principles of Fire (5): A Tribe of One

by Steve Tanham

They who set out to discover the twin meanings of the word ‘self’ must walk a certain path. The route to the deeper, real self lies only in the journey through the everyday self. Without this study – and its consequent effects – there can be no personal transformation. We have to learn to look at ourselves with intensity if we are to begin … Read More Principles of Fire (5): A Tribe of One

August 30, 2018 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Silent Eye School, Spirituality, Stream of Consciousness

The Old Man and the Tower

by Steve Tanham

There was and is a tower, a tall, dark tower. One day, a fugitive – ragged but not lost – came to this tower. The tower stood beside a wild sea, which constantly washed its face with spray. Day after day the sea would send clouds of cold spray high into the air, where some of the droplets splashed onto the thick, crystal windows … Read More The Old Man and the Tower

August 23, 2018 + #Silenti, Child of Light, Consciousness, enneagram, esoteric psychology, Gurdjieff, Mystery Schools, Silent Eye School, Spirit, Spirituality

Principles of Fire (4): Essence and Reunion

by Steve Tanham

Continued from Part Two of this topic In previous posts, we have seen that how we view and interact with the world is conditioned by how our egoic self has developed; from oneness with Mother in the womb, through birth as an independent entity, to the reactive adult whose life mirrors that of a suit of armour, grown, protectively, over the real and eternally-new … Read More Principles of Fire (4): Essence and Reunion

August 16, 2018 + #Silenti, Child of Light, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Fear, Higher Mind, Spirituality

Principles of Fire (3) essence and origin

by Steve Tanham

Part One It is unusual to be able to say definite things in the teaching of spirituality, and yet, with essence, we can… We can say three definite things: that Essence is our life; and that everything that is not essence is reaction and the history of reaction. We can also say, as did the ancient alchemists, that essence is not an idea, not … Read More Principles of Fire (3) essence and origin

July 12, 2018 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Mystery Schools, Spirituality

The Feather

by Steve Tanham

There was a feather on his pillow when he settled down to sleep that last time. He had no idea where it had come from. If it was time to die, so be it… Always the same beginning to the dream; the swim to the hidden beach on the Greek island, the beautiful sun blazing down on his naked body–far from the world he … Read More The Feather

July 5, 2018 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Mystery Schools, Silent Eye Workshops, Spirituality

Castles of the Mind (2)

by Steve Tanham

Continued from Part One As the group walk through the arched entranceway to the interior of the castle, a new feeling emerges: one of ‘being in it, together’. The transition from outer to inner space of the newly considered ‘organism’ of the castle brings with it other changes of perspective. One of these is that a process – that of the weekend, itself, has … Read More Castles of the Mind (2)

June 28, 2018 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Mystery Schools, Silent Eye Workshops, Spirituality

Castles of the Mind (1)

by Steve Tanham

Like the best of ideas, it begins with a partly-seen ghost, the glimmer of an edge of something that will work…. Ideas are great, but, unless something is practical and consistent on the day, its value is limited to fuelling a ‘greater’ idea that will be. And then the right idea expands, filling out, not linearly, but with emotions that billow like a spinnaker on … Read More Castles of the Mind (1)

April 26, 2018 + #SE18Characters, #Silenti, esoteric psychology, Jewel in the Claw, Mystery Schools, Spirituality, The Jewel in the Claw

Jewels in the Claw (i)

by Steve Tanham

There is a moment when he stops, puts down his packing box, and looks at what remains of the Court Floor. It is the last vestige of a creative journey of twelve months, of twenty souls intent on giving their all to the rather unusual script, and of a Silent Eye spring weekend at the Nightingale Centre in the lovely Derbyshire hills… Do … Read More Jewels in the Claw (i)

April 5, 2018 + esoteric psychology, Spirituality, The Jewel in the Claw, Tudor Lifetimes

Esoteric shipbuilding

by Steve Tanham

It was a ‘stream of consciousness moment’; one of those that acts like a time machine. The flash of memories cut right back to my childhood – seven or eight years old. It included the sight and texture of the old bricks of our primary school playground, the beginnings of art at school, and learning about that most romantic of things – ships, or, … Read More Esoteric shipbuilding

March 22, 2018 + #Silenti, esoteric psychology, Jewel in the Claw, Spirituality

A Magical Roundabout

by Steve Tanham

I remember the moment, a few years ago, when Stuart – one of my co-directors of the Silent Eye – said to me: “And that’s it, vanished in an instant: all that work about to be packed up, filed away and forgotten…” He was referring to the hour at the end of our annual workshop during which we tear down the props, pack the … Read More A Magical Roundabout

March 8, 2018 + #Silenti, esoteric psychology, Mystery Schools, Silent Eye School, spiritual turning around, Spirituality

Candle in the mind

by Steve Tanham

If we wish to make a voyage into the self, we need a set of tools, with which to: a) Investigate, as objectively as possible, what this ‘me’ is doing. b) Create a space; a different part of us, that our growing and real consciousness can ‘live in’. These may initially sound somewhat forced, but that is only because western language, with its notional … Read More Candle in the mind

March 1, 2018 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Esoteric Meaning of Myth, esoteric psychology, Silent Eye School, Spirituality

Dwellers in Towers

by Steve Tanham

A recent trip to the beautiful Northumbrian coast threw up a chance visit to Preston Tower, one of a type known as a ‘Pele Tower’ – a fortified place of refuge for well-to-do families, built during the times of the ‘Border Reivers’ – armed family gangs who took the law into their own hands in these often un-policed borderlands between England and Scotland. In … Read More Dwellers in Towers