At the start of the New Year, I had the pleasure of attending a traditional fire ritual known as 'The Burning of the Clavie'. The burning is an ancient Scottish custom still observed in the village of Burghead, a fishing village on the Moray Firth. The clavie is a collection of casks split in two, …
Teaching RE to Refugees: Hot-pants and Headscarves – The Dialectics of Identity.
The ‘Othering’ phenomena is something that is clearly reproduced, reinforced, and experienced by people all around the world, regardless of their race, language, gender, class, nationality, or religion. In classrooms made up of truly diverse groups of children, what are the challenges faced by RE teachers and how do they tackle the ‘Othering’ impulse? With …
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The Many Sacred Veils: Language, Text and Esotericism in Initiation
Abstract: In the following paper I intend to illustrate the inherent importance of Plato’s 'Allegory of the Cave' in the Western Esoteric Tradition. Plato's Allegory has for centuries been read as representing the idea of a process in increased hermeneutical understanding; as a turn towards to the Sun, to the alchemical 'unus mundus', as it were - in other words, …
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Jerusalem: Photographic Essay
'And did those feet in ancient time'..... A photographic essay from a recent trip to Jerusalem, Israel. These pictures were taken days before the escalating Israeli-Palestinian tensions turned into violence that killed six people: three Palestinians in street clashes in Jerusalem and three Israelis in a stabbing attack at a West Bank settlement. Three Palestinians …