SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: Magic

August 4, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Magic, Mystery Schools, Powers of the Mind

Defining Relationships (1)

We treat the word ‘relationship’ casually. We don’t mean to – we probably don’t know we are dealing with one of the most fundamental parts of our existence. If we could see the full implications of the idea of relationships, we might be better equipped to see how much symbolic ‘gold’ there is in them. To consider this, we should step back and examine … Read More Defining Relationships (1)

January 13, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Magic, Politics, Politics and Power

Listening – an active magic

by Steve Tanham

We were having dinner at the end of one of our business trips to California. On the next table at the small restaurant were an American couple from Arizona. We struck up a friendly conversation, during which the subject of armed burglary came up. The man expressed surprise that so few of the UK’s homes had guns. He was astonished when I said it … Read More Listening – an active magic

December 23, 2021 + #Silenti, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, Esoteric Meaning of Myth, Magic, meditation, Mystery Schools, Silent Eye School

The nothing of tasted darkness

by Steve Tanham

“It’s a good time to meet nothing at the darkness cafe,” she said. It was many years ago and I had no idea what she was talking about… It was nearly Christmas and we were working on some of the initial Silent Eye lessons. Our topic of conversation was the power of the winter solstice to invoke new feelings, new experiences… and new ways … Read More The nothing of tasted darkness

July 29, 2021 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Magic, Mystery Schools

A Union of Opposites (4-final) breathing with Pythagoras

by Steve Tanham

So… how are we going to ‘breathe with Pythagoras’? We will use the 3-4-5 properties of a right-angled triangle, translated into a breathing pattern. As we saw in the previous post, we know these are harmonic, and represent squares. If you followed the symbolism, you will remember that the sequence point-line-surface represents the emergence of the physical world; which is continued by the cubes … Read More A Union of Opposites (4-final) breathing with Pythagoras

July 22, 2021 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Magic, Mystery Schools

A Union of Opposites (3) breathing with Pythagorus

by Steve Tanham

As a schoolboy, struggling with mathematics, the name Pythagoras struck terror in me. I remember staring at the hated formula below and thinking I’d never get it… In non-gobbledegook, the equation reads: (a squared equals b squared plus c squared). I can hear the teacher’s voice now, confident that everyone would find it intuitive! Outside, the summer was passing, yet there we were in … Read More A Union of Opposites (3) breathing with Pythagorus

July 15, 2021 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Magic, Mystery Schools, Yoga

A Union of Opposites (2)

by Steve Tanham

In Part One, we looked at the subtle meaning of the word ‘elements’, and how spiritual paths like Yoga and the Western Mystery Tradition (WMT) view them as essential components of our being. If these energy states are the foundations of our conscious existence, why do they not arrange themselves in a harmonic way? The answers lie in knowing which part of us has … Read More A Union of Opposites (2)

July 8, 2021 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Magic, Mystery Schools, Yoga

A Union of Opposites

by Steve Tanham

Anyone having a basic knowledge of the history of philosophical thought will be familiar with the ‘quaint notion’ that the world is made of a mixture of four ‘elements’ – Earth, Air, Fire and Water; with possibly a fifth, the Quintessence. Given to us by the Greeks, from probably older sources, this idea was seen to be displaced by the advance of science into … Read More A Union of Opposites

August 18, 2020 + #Silenti, esoteric psychology, Magic, Mystery Schools, Powers of the Mind, Silent Eye School, Silent Eye Workshops, spiritual turning around, Spirituality

My Own Trumpet

by Steve Tanham

I’m not very good, nor comfortable, blowing my own trumpet… Writers on the internet know this feeling well: we are urged to promote our presence, yet our inner nature knows what sort of people talk about themselves all the time… This is particularly true if your main activity is of a teaching nature within a spiritual discipline. The road to understanding the ego – … Read More My Own Trumpet

September 5, 2019 + #Silenti, #writingprompt, Consciousness, Fear, humour, Magic, myths and spirituality, Photography, Short stories, Silent Eye School, Speculative fiction, Spirituality

The Stump and the Ring

by Steve Tanham

Image from Pixabay This is in response to the September Speculative Fiction Prompt from Carol Forester of Writing and Works, who has taken over from Diana Wallace Peach of Myths of the Mirror Diana has caregiving commitments that have prevented her continuing with a prompt she clearly loved. I would like to add my thanks to Diana for her personal responses to the writers … Read More The Stump and the Ring

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

July 11, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Highlands of Scotland, landscapes, Magic, Mindfulness, Mystery Schools, Mystical ritual drama, myths and spirituality, Neolithic, Pentagram, Scotland, Silent Eye School, Spirituality

Three Days of the Oyster-Catcher (Part 7, Final) – Face to Face with Macbeth

by Steve Tanham

We were standing in the car park near Drumin Castle. Dean was using the visitor map of the Glenlivet Estate to describe the day ahead. We were to begin by exploring an ancient and little visited stone circle on the nearby slope above the river Livet – The Doune of Dalmore. After this we would cross the river to the nearby ruin of Drumin … Read More Three Days of the Oyster-Catcher (Part 7, Final) – Face to Face with Macbeth

July 9, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Highlands of Scotland, landscapes, Magic, Mindfulness, Mystery Schools, Mystical ritual drama, myths and spirituality, Neolithic, Pentagram, Scotland, Silent Eye School, Spirituality

Three Days of the Oyster-Catcher (Part 6) Beyond the Blasted Heath

by Steve Tanham

We were all tired; it had been a wonderful day, and the weather had been kind – which is not always assured in Scotland… The brain tends to switch off, which is no bad thing when you are in a ‘holding’ group and the whole idea is to engage a different (deeper, gentler, non-analytical) layer of consciousness. The path was very straight and shaded … Read More Three Days of the Oyster-Catcher (Part 6) Beyond the Blasted Heath