SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: Places and Prose

September 22, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Esoteric Meaning of Myth, esoteric psychology, History, Journey of the hero, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose, Psychology

Theatre of the Mind

by Steve Tanham

Once a month, on the evening of the third Sunday, the Silent Eye hosts a zoom-based get-together on the internet. People join us from across the world. The purpose is to share our (and others’) explorations of the mystically-oriented life; hence its name: SE-Explorations. In the comfort of our own homes, those who might be curious and those who seem to have been curious … Read More Theatre of the Mind

September 18, 2022 + #Silenti, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

Organic ceilings…

by Steve Tanham

We know very little about King’s Cross Station. Our rail journeys to Cumbria always begin at Euston Station, a fifteen minute walk away. A journey via Leeds gave us the chance to pass through this venerable part of Britain’s infrastructure, and I immediately noticed the roof. My first thought was that it had been designed by the same architects as the roof of the … Read More Organic ceilings…

September 13, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

City Sky Garden

by Steve Tanham

At the end of the summer each year, we try to spend a few days in London. The South Bank is our favourite haunt. The opening photos of the city’s financial district, above and below, were taken from a point adjacent to the Globe Theatre, overlooking the Thames, and looking northwards. This year the trip was set up by our goddaughter, Karen, who had … Read More City Sky Garden

August 28, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, English Lake District, Lake District, landscapes, Photography, Places and Prose

Fading summer wine

by Steve Tanham

One of the most poignant moments of the year is the last week of August. There comes that first sense of ‘chill’, plus the heavy dew on the morning grass. We find the best way to deal with this is a bottle of white wine, taken just as the warmth of the afternoon has begun to ebb. We spend the time it takes to … Read More Fading summer wine

August 2, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, History, landscapes, Photography, Places and Prose

In the gardens of Coughton Court…

by Steve Tanham

Coughton Court in Warwickshire, fifteen miles from Stratford-on-Avon, is the ancestral home of the Throckmortons, one of the UK’s oldest catholic families and a place of great intrigue during the time of religious persecution. It still possesses some of the best concealed ‘priest holes’ in the country. It also boasts a beautiful walled garden, worth visiting in its own right… The name Coughton (pronounce … Read More In the gardens of Coughton Court…

May 5, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, English Lake District, humour, mystical travel, myths and spirituality, Photography, Places and Prose

Orderly and Aligned?

by Steve Tanham

There’s an old aphorism in the field of teaching mysticism: that if you endeavour to do something of significance; something that requires careful planning and even more careful resourcing, then you will be surprised how ‘testing’ the ‘final approach to the event will be. Moreover, the difficulties thrown at one may- humorously – be taken as a reflection of the event’s importance. The word’s … Read More Orderly and Aligned?

April 26, 2022 + #Silenti, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

Enduring Magic of the Stone Jetty

by Steve Tanham

The great Victorian steamers that used to take excited day-trippers across Morecambe Bay to glimpse the still distant splendour of the Lakeland fells are gone. Much later, old and tired ships would be chained to the north side of the industrial dock and broken up for valuable iron; to be re-smelted and given new life via giant and ‘satanic’ furnaces in Salford and Sheffield. … Read More Enduring Magic of the Stone Jetty

April 24, 2022 + #Silenti, Lake District, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose, Silent Eye School

Light in the Park

by Steve Tanham

It’s not a park in the usual sense of the word. Levens Park is the ancestral home of the Bagot Family who maintain a footpath along both sides of the often turbulent River Kent as it winds its last mile out to join the vast expanse of Morecambe Bay. The ‘park’ is the perfect place to walk the collie. A round trip from Sedgwick … Read More Light in the Park

April 17, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

Blossom in the Park

by Steve Tanham

We all love blossom, and the time of year with which it is associated. That visceral feeling of renewal is a deeply tangible thing. It’s difficult to photograph, in my experience. Ideally, you get yourself beneath the tree and point the camera upwards – becoming wrapped in the soft light beneath the floral canopy. No such luck with this one, taken at Grange-over-Sands, yesterday. … Read More Blossom in the Park

March 27, 2022 + #ButWhatIsIt?, #Humour, #Silenti, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

ButWhatIsIt? #5

by Steve Tanham

Badly out of pocket in Limoncello after the eagle-eyed spotters of last week’s ‘groyne’ image cut through my deviousness, I’ve upped the ante with this one… The cunning clue: you wouldn’t want to get caught the wrong side of it! ++++++++++++++++++++ Answer Time ++++++++++++++++++++++ There were no fully correct answers. Audrey Driscoll came the closest, but I’m going to be magnanimous with this one … Read More ButWhatIsIt? #5

March 1, 2022 + #Silenti, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose

Dictators way

by Steve Tanham

Devoid of real feeling, the Dictator treads his lonely way along his chosen, barren path. All around him is life, in its shared love and simplicity, but he stays true to the vastness of his egoic channel, long baked by hate into clay that will not sustain growing things. Behind him, the mountains of ambition keep him focussed on the goal, which he thinks … Read More Dictators way

January 9, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes, Photography, Places and Prose, Seasons of the year, Silent Eye School, Travel and Photography

That early January feeling…

by Steve Tanham

It was the Christmas tree outside the Booths supermarket that triggered the thoughts… Now pale against the bright January sun and the crisp cold, its icy beauty was somehow less than the real thing, a warming image of a Christmas now gone and packed up into the storage boxes under the eaves. Ahead of me, the Kendal district of Fellside climbed up in the … Read More That early January feeling…