What’s On

We will be holding a regular storytime every Saturday at 11:00 in the shop, with a reading from a selection of children’s picture books.

It’s free to join, and the reading will last half an hour maximum.

Malcolm wrote about wine for 30 years, as the Guardian's wine correspondent and best-selling Superplonk author. He has authored 47 books on wine (and food). His debut novels, four being published by The Glassfull Press this month, carry a spiritual dimension entirely the result of his association with Rudolf Steiner House.

Donation of £5 welcome, payable in the Bookshop.

From September, we will be holding a regular monthly book club in which we will discuss a novel that has been nominated by the group.

This will take place on every second Monday of the month in the bookshop at 19:00.

It’s free to join, and the first meeting will be on Monday 14th September when we will have a general discussion and nominate the first book.

A Talk with Julie R. Petre

“I have purposely kept all allusions to the highest matters down to mere hints, perceptible only by the most attentive, or kept them under unexplained symbolic forms.” (Letter 156)

Arwen Undómiel makes few appearances in Tolkien’s legendarium, barely speaks, and is underrepresented in the literature. Yet she captures the imagination. And she is Queen of the Reunited Kingdom and the New Age. Tolkien thought her love story ‘the highest,’ and thought the story of Arwen and Aragorn the most important Appendix in the Red Book.

This talk considers the following strands:

• The unfinished nature of the myth, and its ‘hints’ of something more.
• The veiled but pivotal importance of Arwen.
• The Stars, the Tree, & the Priestess.
• The feminine in Tolkien’s myth.
• Cerin Amroth.

Julie R. Petre worked for many years as an NHS Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Psychotherapist. On retiring, she earned a Masters degree in ‘Myth, Cosmology & the Sacred,’ focussing on Tolkien’s work. She leads an esoteric group with roots in the ancient wisdom traditions of the west, which is devoted to the living interior of the myth brought to us by Tolkien.

www.companyofcerinamroth.com

Donation of £5 welcome, payable in the Bookshop.

Art by Stuart Gilbert

Activist, Ecologist and Transpersonal Counsellor Paul Maitenay will be in conversation with Mark Jackson-Hancock.

Seminal experiences and questions starting at seven years old set the trajectory for Paul’s 50+ year inquiry into the dynamics of how Earth’s Life works: how do all the layers and pieces fit together as one ecosystemic whole, including accepting what could be our human niche within it? How come we so belligerently resist seeing and or being what we have needed to in order to realise our participation? Paul’s main learning has been from observing the Book of Nature, both within and without. At a similarly early age, he discovered that esoteric wisdoms and practice, of western and eastern alchemical traditions, described what he had been seeing. These have been a thread running throughout his life and work. He will share these things and discuss them in conversation.

Paul’s questions led him to work across conservation ecology, ecological and cultural anthropology, and transpersonal psychotherapy. He has worked with conservation organisations, the Open University, Oxford University and UCL, and now works independently. His publications include Yearning for Our Niche, Longing to be Human and Trees of Knowledge. He currently teaches Ecology, Meaning, Survival: Transpersonal Ecopsychology.

Suggested Donation £5 on the door

A talk with Mike Bais

Mike Bais will be at the bookshop talking about his new book “Kabbalah, the Round Table and the Grail”.

A book for the contemporary seeker who wishes to learn about Kabbalah and for those who are also fascinated by the mythology of the Round Table. Both these spiritual traditions come together in this unique book where theory and practice guide the reader, bringing one to a greater understanding of the Tree of Life, the Round Table and the Grail. A book for the beginner and the advanced student alike.

Mike Bais is the founder of the Mystery School, the Circle of Avalon. His esoteric training comes from the Western Esoteric Tradition and the Toledano Kabbalah. Living in the Netherlands (Utrecht) he extensively worked with esoteric teachers and groups in the UK. His professional background is working as a physiotherapist, counsellor, teacher in university and he had his own practice for many years. He is a trained priest and bishop in the mystical tradition of Christ, which is known as the lineage called the A.S.A. He believes that the Teachings of Christ are universal and should not be limited to a religious structure.

Suggested donation £5 on the door