Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

The Apprentice and Master pillars Thought and doing and the interplay between them It has been quite an Easter. It began with the Dawn Chorus, followed by the Easter Conference then the trip to Scotland with the family. Through most of Lent i read Steiner's lectures on the Gospel of St John, the gospel of revelation. There were many memories which flooded up, and many observations i made about people and observations i made about myself making observations of people. There was much opportunity to practise Steiner's Six Basic Exercises, and to converse with so many new people, everyone fascinating and wonderful. To be with family again, to be with people who have known me all my life, also fascinating and wonderful. I was also thinking about esoteric Christianity and what that word esoteric means. What is hidden in plain sight is ourselves knowing who we are. I was also thinking about the symbolism and how using some of it i have come to an understanding which i am comfor...

Weird Glamis castle Glamis castle appeared to be a renovation job which had gotten out of hand. It was never a fort or a stronghold, so why it was built like one i do not know. We toured ten rooms and the guide told us that each room seemd to be added on. They added on this and that and the other. There was even a fake armoury room. It would appear that it was sort of a drop inn centre for nobility when they needed a bed or like a place to stay for the night or to go hunting. They also seemed to like raising their children in there. The Queen Mother i think had some kind of connection to it.   At the end of the tour i felt a bit stupid. Unlike the Rosslyn Chapel where i felt edified and wonderful, i felt sort of swindled. We had been charged an arm and a leg to take a tour of the Earl of Strathmore's home - just a few rooms - so that we could listen to how wonderful they all were. I have to say it did raise a few Republican feelings in my chest and Oisin at some point aske...

And in fact we loved St Andrews so much that we went back there the following day. We hung about as my dad messed about on the course and then in the afternoon we headed for the Rosslyn Chapel. Pa and Oisin outside the chapel The Rosslyn Chapel is so fascinating - of course it is. It is filled with the most weird carvings and was clearly a shrine to esoteric Christianity. Whether or not the Knights Templar were involved, or if the Holy Grail lives there, what is evident is that the people who built it were adherents of the heretical stream of Christianity which was even more far out than Catholicism. Evidence of this can be seen in the two main pillars which support the roof - they represent the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life (completed in the 15th century but with spiralling DNA around it), the numerous Green Men, and the affirmation written on one of the walls - Wine is strong, Kings are stronger but Women are strongest. Now this could be all rather odd, and it may sou...

St Salvator, the highest point in St Andrews So, St Andrews is a really old little town which has come straight out of some Harry Potter film, or some film with Hugh Grant and Kirstin Scott Thomas acting in it. It is immaculate, perfectly preserved, full of old buildings and stories of people having been causally burnt and slaughtered because they were the wrong religion at the wrong time. But more of that anon. St Andrews is of course a university town as well and it is where William and Kate famously studied and met each other. We were told that after they had done art history there, there was such a massive increase in people wanting to study art history at the university that they had to move the department to a bigger building. This is celebrity culture working for an ancient university. Richard Falconer and Oisin To see St Andrews, Oisin and I decided we would take a ghost tour of the place. Can i recommend that if you want to see the history of a town, the best way to...

My dad loves golf and he had never been to St Andrews, so i thoguht if they dont mind pushing through the jetlag, we should all go to Scotland...they didnt and so we did... Ferry ride... The Stenaline ferry is not really a ferry, it is more like a moving town. It does not feel as if you are not a boat, it feels like part of the pier has taken leave of the harbour and is drifting with purpose out to sea. What like of town would it be like, you may ask? Not Stratford Upon Avon anyway... Well it would be like Portrush if it could move. Between the cinema and amusements and casino machines and kinect and bikers, bars and designer perfume and discounted alcohol for sale, yep it was Portrush. The only thing it was missing was a rollercoaster.  Evidence that the ferry is not Portrush, although admittedly that would be possible to take that shot in Portrush. I have to say that it was lovely just going on an impromptu trip... On a mode of transport i had never really experi...