Three times three

Our first workshop… Image by Matt Baldwin-Ives

In April we will be holding our fourth annual workshop, marking three full years since the Silent Eye officially came to birth, though there had been a full year of preparation before that, behind the scenes, and a far longer vision from which it had grown. As one of a triad of directors of the Silent Eye, it is my privilege to work with two extraordinary men. It was Steve who had the vision to found the school, basing the teachings around the enneagram, a nine pointed figure within a circle, better known for its applications in psychology than spirituality. Yet it was from the spiritual perspective that Steve saw the symbol, and the ‘psyche’ in psychology is, after all, the soul.  Within the symbol is a triangle, three equal points equidistant from the centre; a perfect glyph for the way in which we have learned to work together.

We all came to this point from different directions, all of us immersed in the spiritual and magical teachings of different schools and systems, finally meeting at a single point within the Servants of the Light. Events drew us together with a strange certainty until we were where we have come to believe we need to be. Here and Now.

Steve has a lifetime of esoteric knowledge behind him and a  real gift for sharing it, being able to explain a system with simplicity and clarity, without over-simplifying the concepts he is presenting. He is also a storyteller and uses this to craft the core of the monthly lessons of our correspondence course, which incorporate a strong element of imaginative journeying using characters designed  to personify aspects of human being at various levels of operation. The first three workshops under the Silent Eye were largely his work. The themes  have taken us, within the confines of a ritual drama that is, in fact, an exploration of the soul, back to ancient Egypt, into space and into a mountain sanctuary with a pair of troubadours…one of whom was not at all confident about singing in public! Not all of them are scenarios you would expect to find in a spiritual workshop, but they engage the imagination and illustrate the very serious point that spirituality doesn’t only belong in the serenity of a traditional Temple.

Spirituality isn’t for a specific time.. nor is it confined to a single space…it is an integral part of life, whether or not we choose to focus upon it. And although turning to look at the inner and greater life of the soul the most serious step we can take, it can be fun too. There should be laughter and lightness. If happiness is a state of mind, then joy is a state of being… and a state of grace.

This year, it is Stuart and I who are shaping the workshop, following an idea Stuart had been mulling over for a long time. This time we go back to the court of King Arthur, and myths that were old before the Round Table came into being. Stuart has a rare gift for ‘joining the dots’, seeing through the outer form of symbolism to its essence, allowing him to draw together strands from many mythologies and traditions into a single pool of understanding… and then condensing them into a single phrase that somehow and suddenly makes absolute sense.

Together the three of us work to serve the school… and that which lies  both behind it and at the heart of it. As April approaches and we move into the final phase of preparation for this year’s workshop, I realise that it will be the third year for the three of us… and three times three has always been a magical number.

 Weekend of 22-24 April, 2016.

Great Hucklow, Derbyshire Dales. England.

Click the image for further details of this weekend workshop with the Silent Eye

and a special appearance by Mister Fox.