SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Tag: Synod of Whitby

The tiny fishing village of Staithes is a place of peaceful beauty. It lies part way between Whitby and Saltburn on the North Yorkshire coast. It’s geology is also one of the few breaks in the vast cliffs that define this region; and which are the main source of the famous Whitby Jet semi-precious stone. Staithes was our destination… and I was taking a … Read More Keys of Heaven (7): the path to gentle darkness

December 31, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, Photography, Spirituality

Keys of Heaven (6): the greater force

by Steve Tanham

The greater force… What did they know of it! Anyone could see it in the fall of boulders in the mountains; in the crashing of the seas on the rocks, in the burning of the forests when the wildfires took hold; in the legends of the earth boiling and glowing when the ground ruptured… But only a few could see it at work in … Read More Keys of Heaven (6): the greater force

December 24, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, Photography, Spirituality

Keys of Heaven (5): the will of the king – gathering

by Steve Tanham

We climb the steps to the Abbey at Whitby, aware that something different is happening; that the curtain of time is being drawn back… for as long as we can keep the critical mind at bay The years pass away. From the present keepers back through years of being a rich man’s possession… As – in a mist – we see the year 1539 … Read More Keys of Heaven (5): the will of the king – gathering

December 19, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, Photography, Spirituality

Keys of Heaven (4): through the bones of the whale

by Steve Tanham

The pale winter sun lies – to our symbolic view – just beyond the East Cliff horizon. Its lowness and lateness in the cold sky speaks of the approach of the winter solstice, a time of maximum darkness and minimum light…. but also a time of turning. History is made from a series of turning-points. Changes – some of them completely unforeseen and incapable … Read More Keys of Heaven (4): through the bones of the whale

December 10, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, Photography, Spirituality, Travel and Photography, Winter Solstice weekend

Keys of Heaven (1): Cod and Lobster

by Steve Tanham

Bright against the icy darkness, the Christmas lights of the Cod and Lobster pub greet the quiet sound of only two sets of winter boots, where, until a few hours ago, there were many… It’s quite a walk down from the car park above the lovely fishing village of Staithes – pronounced ‘Steas’ – just north of Whitby along the coast of Yorkshire’s beautiful … Read More Keys of Heaven (1): Cod and Lobster

November 21, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, esoteric psychology, spiritual turning around, Spirituality, Travel and Photography

Divide and be Conquered

by Steve Tanham

It’s a funny thing, division – its principles apply to many aspects of our lives. We can cut something up, but its original ‘wholeness’ persists in ways we may never have considered. Wholeness as a concept is worth some thought. Can we step back and consider why we think something is whole? Is it simply that ‘it works’ – in the way that a … Read More Divide and be Conquered

November 14, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, mystical travel, Silent Eye Workshops, Winter Solstice weekend

A prospect of Whitby (3) – Touching the Sun

by Steve Tanham

There’s something ‘monumental’ about planning to be high on the vast moorlands of the North Yorkshire National Park at the end of the first week in December. Yet that is exactly what we’ll be doing on the Sunday morning of the ‘Keys of Heaven’ workshop on the start of the workshop’s final day – weather permitting. If it doesn’t, there’s a plan B… Bridges … Read More A prospect of Whitby (3) – Touching the Sun

October 31, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, mystical travel, Silent Eye Workshops, Winter Solstice weekend

The Moment that Teaches

by Steve Tanham

Most people who venture into the mystical encounter it before too long – that momentary sense of the world dropping away and an intense silence taking centre stage. In that silence is a new perspective which does not belong to the subjective, reasoning consciousness. I think of it as the ‘moment that teaches’. It is to be sought after as though it were gold. … Read More The Moment that Teaches

October 29, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, mystical travel, Silent Eye Workshops, Winter Solstice weekend

The Landscape that Teaches

by Steve Tanham

When we were creating the Silent Eye’s mentored correspondence course, we envisaged a three-year journey through a mental, emotional and spiritual landscape which would evolve as the Companion’s learning and depth of ‘being’ increased. This landscape was to be internal – an active, meditative experience, whose presence would extend into the daily life as learning of true cause and effect deepened, and different aspects … Read More The Landscape that Teaches

October 17, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, mystical travel, Silent Eye Workshops, Winter Solstice weekend

A prospect of Whitby (1) The Abbey at the centre of time

by Steve Tanham

The title’s cheeky… Bram Stoker created Count Dracula of Transylvania and had him come ashore at Whitby in a ship named The Prospect of Whitby. We’ll not be talking much about Dracula in our coming weekend workshop; we’ve got enough to contend with considering the truth… There are many ways to approach the centre of Whitby, but only one to truly approach its heart… … Read More A prospect of Whitby (1) The Abbey at the centre of time

October 2, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Celtic Christianity, Spirituality

The 13th Moon of St Cedd

by Steve Tanham

He stopped at the door, knowing they were all inside. Waiting for him, waiting for his ability to listen, to gather, to make pointed the urgings, the reasoning, the demands, until there glinted in the tired firelight the position, the stance, upon which they would cast their choices. Beneath the cold stone where his sandalled feet stood were buried the bones of kings – … Read More The 13th Moon of St Cedd

March 5, 2019 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Celtic Christianity, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Mystery Schools, Silent Eye School, Spirituality

The Keys of Heaven

by Steve Tanham

The Keys of Heaven – The last journey of St Cedd It is the year AD 664. The coastal town of Whitby and its Abbey, under the control of the abbess who became St Hilda, are the setting for a Christian Synod – a court of doctrine established, on the face of it, to unify how priests cut their religious tonsure (gap in the hair) … Read More The Keys of Heaven