SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: Life and Death

December 17, 2020 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Life and Death, nature, Photography, Seasons of the year

Deepest Night

by Steve Tanham

We are creatures of cycles; the smaller fitting within the increasingly larger. We may have little conception of the very largest, but the effects of that level of creation trickle down to remind us of our true natures… (750 words, a five-minute read) We live in cycles within cycles. Every day, we wake up to a period of brightness which is essentially the same … Read More Deepest Night

July 15, 2020 + landscapes, Life and Death, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Spirituality, Travel and people, Travel and Photography

Dr Joy’s Garden

by Steve Tanham

A poignant return visit to Alnmouth, a beautiful coastal town in Northumberland. A memorial garden dedicated to a very special woman… Read Dr Joy’s garden here…

September 26, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Sacred Sites, Bakewell, Consciousness, Fear, Life and Death, Love, Spirituality, Travel and Photography, Understanding Fear

Fear and Love in the High Peak (2) – “I want a posset!”

by Steve Tanham

The first visit of the Silent Eye ‘Rites of Passage: Seeing Beyond Fear’ weekend was to the Derbyshire village of Eyam (pronounced Eem) – The Plague Village. Our family has a personal connection with Eyam and the terrible events of 1665-6, when bubonic plague, newly arrived in Derbyshire from London, took the lives of 260 of its occupants: over seven-tenths of its population. No-one … Read More Fear and Love in the High Peak (2) – “I want a posset!”

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 29, 2019 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Higher Mind, landscapes, Life and Death, Magic, Mindfulness, Self-help, Silent Eye School, soul in body, Spirit, spiritual turning around, Spirituality, Tarot, Tarot, The Fool,

Land of the Heart

by Steve Tanham

This is a self-help exercise I developed recently. I call it ‘Land of the Heart’ It’s an exercise that involves the surrender of the small self that feels so much pain and anguish, especially at a time of national division, such as we have on both sides of the Atlantic, today. It’s an exercise that addresses that feeling of helplessness that many of us … Read More Land of the Heart

August 22, 2019 + #Silenti, Consciousness, enneagram, esoteric psychology, Fear, Higher Mind, Life and Death, Love, meditation, Metanoia, Mindfulness, Mystery Schools, Photography, Politics, Powers of the Mind, Silent Eye School, Speaking truth to power, Spirituality, Travel and Photography

Vexed by the Tribe (part two) – the fabrication of complexity

by Steve Tanham

We’re visiting relatives. It’s friendly. We have a light meal and some cake to follow. But then someone mentions Brexit and a cold frost descends on the room… My wife and I bite our tongues, knowing our hosts are firm believers that Britain’s post-colonial destiny lies in a renewed ‘Little England’ reborn from some poster of decades ago. Until my wife’s uncle says, “Besides, … Read More Vexed by the Tribe (part two) – the fabrication of complexity

August 15, 2019 + #Silenti, Consciousness, enneagram, esoteric psychology, Fear, Higher Mind, Life and Death, Love, meditation, Metanoia, Mindfulness, Mystery Schools, Photography, Politics, Powers of the Mind, Silent Eye School, Speaking truth to power, Spirituality, Travel and Photography

Vexed by the Tribe (part one)

by Steve Tanham

I am vexed… It’s a word you don’t hear much, now. Old English, I believe. It describes an agitated state of mind – and possibly body – when something nagging can’t be solved. What I’m vexed about is the entrenchment of nationalistic opinion across the world, in the face of much more important issues – like the world’s climate problems and the undermining of … Read More Vexed by the Tribe (part one)

August 8, 2019 + #Silenti, Biology and mysticism, Child of Light, Consciousness, enneagram, esoteric psychology, Fear, Higher Mind, Life and Death, Life-sciences, Love, meditation, Metanoia, Mindfulness, Mystery Schools, Photography, Poetry, Powers of the Mind, Sexual Force, Silent Eye School, soul in body, Speaking truth to power, Spirituality, Travel and Photography

Primal screen

by Steve Tanham

Somewhere in the frontal cortex of our brains there’s a very special junction – a place where we learned to do something truly different with our minds… Let’s call it the Primal Screen… Our spines can be considered the highway of our historical evolution: the inherited paths of form and energy that developed from single cells in oceans, through fish, lizards and apes. At … Read More Primal screen

July 18, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Egypt, Astrophysics, Belief and Faith, Biology and mysticism, Child of Light, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, Egyptian Gods, enneagram, esoteric psychology, Fear, Incarnation, Life and Death, Love, Mindfulness, myths and spirituality, Photography, Solar Year, spiritual turning around, Spirituality, The Beloved, Understanding Fear

Death of a salesman

by Steve Tanham

In a few short weeks it will be September. We (the Silent Eye) have been invited to speak at the Unitarian Society of Psychical Studies annual conference at the Nightingale Centre in Derbyshire. We use this lovely place for our main annual event in April each year. We had our official ‘birth’ there in 2013. It is a very special place to us, and … Read More Death of a salesman

May 16, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Fear, Journey of the hero, Life and Death, Love, Lust, Mindfulness, Mystery Play, Mystery Schools, Mystical ritual drama, Myth, myths and spirituality, Sex, Sexual Force, Soul, soul in body, Spiritual use of sex force, Spirituality, Stream of Consciousness, Sumerian myths

Gilgamesh descending (9) – final part

by Steve Tanham

And now you will want an ending… Like day gives way to night, though there is no single point where we could all agree that it was either… Like the moment of sleep or awakening, though one drifts into the other and each knows little of its twin… Like the point in the play where the character releases the player from his undertaking and … Read More Gilgamesh descending (9) – final part

May 14, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Fear, Journey of the hero, Life and Death, Love, Lust, Mindfulness, Mystery Play, Mystery Schools, Mystical ritual drama, Myth, myths and spirituality, Sex, Sexual Force, Soul, soul in body, Spiritual use of sex force, Spirituality, Stream of Consciousness, Sumerian myths

Gilgamesh descending (8)

by Steve Tanham

The portal through which all the others have passed – except ghostly Enkidu and forlorn Gilgamesh – shimmers and fades. My brother – his twin – fades… And he and I… and then only I am left alone in the middle of the most threatening inner space I can imagine… There is the dominating sense of ‘nowhere else to go’; and yet I know … Read More Gilgamesh descending (8)