Alumni Events
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Alumni Webinar
The Sophia Centre Alumni Association presents a webinar with
James Brockbank
The Responsive Cosmos: An Enquiry Into the Theoretical Foundation of Astrology
Wednesday 30th Oct 2024, 18.30 - 20.00 GMT/UT
The title of James Brockbank's PhD at the University of Kent was “The Responsive Cosmos: An Enquiry Into the Theoretical Foundation of Astrology.” It is concerned with what astrology is, what assumptions about the world astrologers necessarily hold, and whether the models for astrology that were being proposed at the time of writing were adequate.
Please also check out the Sophia Project Diary for full list of upcoming events.
Past Events
Alumni Webinar
The Sophia Centre Alumni Association presents a webinar with
Faye Blake
Astrology and Past Life Regression
Monday 24th Jun 2024, 18.30 - 20.00 BST
Edgar Cayce once said during one of his readings, that using astrology without taking account of past lives, gives an incomplete picture for some people. Astrologers are increasingly finding that clients are asking questions of a spiritual nature. Many astrologers are therefore turning to techniques that provide, in their view, a more spiritual dimension to their readings. There are many different ideas as to how past life patterns can be found in the horoscope and many different ways of using this information. Some use, for example, the ‘black lights’, others retrograde planets. Some Chiron and Pluto, while others look more at the houses.
Christmas Alumni Lecture
Donation fund-raiser
Dr Dawn H Collins
Becoming the Gods: Visualisation and Healing in Tibetan deity yoga
Wednesday 28th Feb 2024, 18.30 - 20.00 GMT/UT
This lecture will explore aspects of visualisation and healing practices found within Tibetan Tantric traditions of deity yoga, with particular focus on the deities Avalokiteśvara, Parṇaśavarī and Tārā. Some innovations and continuities between contemporary developments of these practices and their more ancient counterparts, rooted in ancient Tibetan religious traditions, will be examined through the lens of their use for healing.
Continue your education for free
With the Alumni Association's Wine and
Cheese evening
(BYO wine and cheese)
Three Alumni Talks
Thursday 28th Sept 2023
6.30 – 8.00pm BST (GMT/UT +1)
Sophia Graduate Lectures
Three graduates of the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology give presentations on their research work
Online via Zoom
Jonathan Jones: The Cosmos and our livelihood
Alex Trenoweth: Astrology and Education
Soledad Davies: States of Mind, Hermeneutics and Destiny
Continue your education for free
With the Alumni Association's Wine and
Cheese evening
(BYO wine and cheese)
Summer Alumni Event
Margarida Toscano Manarte
An investigation into the astrological symbols
present in two decorative paintings of
José de Almada Negreiros
Thursday 27th July 2023
Abstract
This research examines the astrological symbols used in two mural paintings by the twentieth-century Portuguese artist José Sobral de Almada Negreiros (1893–1970), known as Almada. Almada's interest in astrology is shown in his paintings as well as in some of his writings. However, although Almada is a widely studied artist, this particular subject in his art was less explored. This investigation also contributed to develop an understanding of the presence of astrology in Portuguese society in the 1930s and 1940s.
Continue your education for free
With the Alumni Association's Wine and Cheese evening
(BYO wine and cheese)
Thursday 18th May 2023
18:30 - 20:00 BST
Sophia Graduate Lectures
Four graduates of the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology give presentations on their research work
Online via Zoom
Tore Lomsdalen: Viewscapes and Cosmology in the Prehistoric Temples of Malta
Nicole Montag-Keller: Personal Cosmologies in Reincarnation
Alessandro Berio: Celestial Navigation Techniques of the Minoan Civilization
Natalia Sánchez: Synchronized Cycles? The Relationship Between Women and the Moon
Autumn Alumni Lecture
Donation fund-raiser
Tuesday 28th March 2023
18:30 - 20:00 GMT
Garry Phillipson
Disenchantment, Re-Enchantment and Astrology
Max Weber spoke of 'the disenchantment of the world', meaning the dominance of western culture by the conviction that life in its entirety can be understood and controlled by the calculation of physical forces.
Disenchantment, by definition, leaves no room for mystery or magic. It entails a particular view of the nature of ‘self’. This will be explored in the presentation, together with the possibilities for a re-enchanted world and self. Carl Jung’s theory of synchronicity, and Dane Rudhyar’s approach to astrology, will feature. Prior knowledge of astrology is not required; it will emerge during the talk that the dilemmas facing the astrologer are ubiquitous. There will be something here of interest to everyone in the Sophia family.
Continue your education for free
With the Alumni Association's Wine and Cheese evening
(BYO wine and cheese)
Thursday 23rd February 2023
18:00 - 19:30 GMT
Nick Campion
A report on the recent Sophia Centre pilgrimage and field trip to the Navagraha - Nine-planet - temples of Tamil Nadu
Autumn Alumni Lecture
Donation fund-raiser
Dr Jack Hunter
Deep Weird: High Strangeness, Boggle Thresholds and Damned Data in Academic Research on Extraordinary Experience
Friday 3rd Sep (18.30 - 20.00 GMT) 2021
This presentation is about the stranger reaches of extraordinary experience research, and examines why some of the most unusual experiential reports come to be neglected in the scholarly discourse, even within this relatively fringe field of inquiry. Some of the reasons are methodological in nature, while others are rooted in deeper cultural and personal attitudes to anomalous data.
The academic aversion to the most unusual forms of extraordinary experience has resulted in a gulf between the kinds of experiences discussed in the scholarly literature - which often fall into distinctive types and categories (OBE, NDE, voice hearing, encounters with light, religious experience, and so on) - and the writings of popular paranormal researchers, who have more frequently been able to discuss a broader range of experiential accounts (from UFO encounters to Bigfoot and fairy sightings). Read more >>.
To register for this event, please click the "Read more" button below.
Continue your education for free
With the Alumni Association's Wine and Cheese evening
(BYO wine and cheese)
Friday 30th July 2021
18:30 - 20:00 GMT
Michelle Holgate
An Examination of Contemporary Indian Astrology (Jyotisa) in the West
This event with Michelle Holgate has been cancelled
Continue your education for free
With the Alumni Association's Wine and Cheese evening
(BYO wine and cheese)
Thursday 13th May 2021
18:30 - 20:00 GMT
Jessica Heim
Dark Sky Initiatives in Central Idaho: Community Experiences with Dark Skies and Dark Sky Advocacy
Throughout human history, people around the world were able to see dark, starry night skies. However, due to light pollution, a significant and increasing portion of our planet's inhabitants can no longer experience such skies. The rapid implementation of LED technology in outdoor lighting has generally increased rather than reduced human impact on the nighttime environment. However, 'dark sky friendly' LEDs are available, and some communities have decided to utilize them in their municipal lighting installations.
This presentation will discuss the experiences of dark sky advocates in the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve and will explore the process of implementing a 'dark sky friendly' LED streetlight retrofit in Stanley, Idaho. In addition, it will examine community responses to changes in lighting, starry night skies, and efforts to maintain the natural nighttime environment in the region.
To register for this event, please click the "Read more" button below.
Spring Alumni Lecture
A donation-based fund-raising lecture
Dr Garry Phillipson
What is Truth? A consideration of what 'truth' means in regard to alternative crafts and practices, particularly astrology
Wednesday 17th Mar (18.30 - 20.00 GMT) 2021
This talk will consider the ways in which truth has been characterised by philosophers, and how the deployment of three key theories can illuminate the existing discussion about astrology’s truth-status and bring much-needed perspective.
At the same time, the generally abstract world of philosophical discourse will (hopefully!) come to life when its ideas are used to excavate and articulate the real-world issues embodied in the debate about astrology’s truth-status. Whilst the focus will primarily be on the truth-status of astrology, the ideas that will be presented can easily be applied to other ‘fringe’ practices at which scientific orthodoxy looks askance.
To register for this event, please click the "Read more" button below.
2021 Alumni Short Course
£30 fund-raiser
Darrelyn Gunzburg
Giotto's Sky: The Cultural Astronomy of the fresco paintings of the first floor Salone of the Palazzo della Ragione, Padua, Italy
Thursday 14th Jan 2021 18:30 - 20:00 GDT
Thursday 21st Jan 2021 18:30 - 20:00 GDT
Thursday 28th Jan 2021 18:30 - 20:00 GDT
These three weeks will explore the world of the citizens of Padua in the medieval period, captured in images across three registers on the walls of the Palazzo della Ragione, the mighty medieval law courts that were in action until 1797. The three top registers of these medieval law courts show a diversity of imagery, from sky constellations, to Christian saints, labours associated with each month and the seasonal trades and skills exemplified by the Paduan workforce.
In approaching the scheme with knowledge of poetic astronomy and naked eye astronomy, this presentation offers original insights into that medieval world, rich with the ideas that the ruling Commune regarded as important between the order of the celestial realms and the order of life on earth.
To register for this event, please click the "Read more" button below.
Continue your education for free
with the Alunni Association's Wine and Cheese
evening
(BYO wine and cheese)
Tuesday 27th October 2020
18:30 - 20:00 GMT
Maayan Medzini
The Venus Synodic cycle in the Canaanite myths and rituals
An Amulet from Tel Gezer (2016-7 season), courtesy of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (Photography: Klara Amit)
This lecture presents research into the presentation of the Venus synodic cycles in the Canaanite culture. Following the Goddesses Anat and Astarte as featured in ancient texts, iconography and adding a fresh investigation into archeological sites that may feature astro-alignments upon the planet Venus.
The lecture first suggests that Anat and Astarte may be considered as the personification of Venus morning and evening star respectively. It then explores rituals held in honor of the ancient Goddesses, in line with the visibility of the planet Venus. This leads to a fresh insight into the nature and role of the ancient Venus Goddesses.
To register for this event, please click the "Read more" button below.
Autumn 2020 Alumni Lecture
£10 fund-raiser
Tuesday 22nd Sept 2020
18:30 - 20:00 BST
Patrick Curry
Wonder, Place and Space
Enchantment is a profound human experience. When we encounter wonder, awe or amazement, that is enchantment. Enchantment can reveal profound truths, lead to deep values and become central to a life well-lived. Patrick Curry explores how enchantment plays out in a wide range of contexts -- in love, art, religion and learning, in food and drink, and perhaps most significantly in our relationship with the natural world.
Patrick Curry argues that modernist attempts to undermine or dismiss enchantment as a delusion are not only misguided but dangerous, potentially leading to a disengagement with our world that could have disastrous consequences for our future on this planet.
To register for this event, please click the "Read more" button below.
Summer 2020 Alumni Lecture
£10 fund-raiser
Monday 1st June 2020
18:30 - 20:00 BST
Frances Clynes
Gods, Heroes and Kings: The Cycles of Irish Mythology
In the great body of Irish myths that became part of an oral tradition and would, after the Christianisation of Ireland, be documented and preserved, we find immortal gods, superhuman warriors, supernatural women, and the beautiful bull over whom a great queen waged a war, and whose fate is the subject of the greatest myth of them all – Táin Bó Cúailnge.
Tonight we look at the four cycles of Irish mythology from the Tuatha Dé Daanan of the Mythological Cycle, who arrived in Ireland from the Northern skies, to the Christian kings of the Historical Cycle, who, alongside St. Patrick, fought a losing battle against the worship of the Sun.
To register for this event, please click the "Read more" button below.
Spring 2020 Alumni Lecture
£10 fund-raiser
Tuesday 21st April 2020
18:30 - 20:00 BST
Chris Mitchell
From astrolabes to zijes - how Arabic science
brought
horoscopes to the Latin West
After the decline of the Roman Empire, knowledge of astrology almost disappeared in Western Europe. In the ninth century, Latin-speaking scholars knew that Venus had something to do with love. By the twelfth century, they were drawing up accurate charts, knew about house systems, and could do sophisticated chart analysis, and a few decades later this was on the curriculum in the new universities. In this talk, Chris Mitchell will look at what caused this explosion of astrological knowledge.
To register for this event, please click the "Read more" button below.
Spring 2020 Alumni Short Course
£10 fund-raiser
Thursday 27th February 2020
18:30 - 20:00 GMT
Astrid B. Leimlehner
Johannes Kepler's Psychology and Astrology in relation to Private and Public Contexts
Johannes Kepler described Book IV of Harmonices Mundi as 'psychological' and 'astrological'. The joined appearance of these terms is common in our days, but rather unusual for the early 17th century. Moreover, it was only at the beginning of the 20th century that 'psychological' became a common expression, so Kepler was one of the first scholars who used this word. This talk will explore what he meant by 'psychological' and 'astrological' and possible connection between these two in his view. Kepler's work will be discussed in relation to biographical and public contexts that might have shaped his thinking. Bonus (time permitting): Kepler's astrology applied to his own nativity.
To register for this event, please click the "Read more" button below.
Continue your education for free
With the Alunni Association's Wine
and Cheese evening
(BYO wine and cheese)
Wednesday 22nd January 2020
18:30 - 20:00 GMT
Ilaria Cristofaro
A Journey to the Late Bronze Age Minoan Underworld: The Reflection of Sunlight on the Sea as an Axis Mundi
SHORT LISTED FOR THE 2019 MA DISSERTATION PRIZE
This is a story of a research process. The argument is that the psychopomp octopus depicted on Late Bronze Age III Minoan funerary pottery had solar connotations. In order to create analogies between the cultural and the natural world, in line with Colin Renfrew's theory, observations of the glitter path, or the long reflection of sunlight on the sea, were carried out. It follows that within Octopus Style pottery, similar shapes to that of the sunlight road can be found. It results in a solar Minoan eschatological narrative stretching beyond the seascape horizon.
To register for this event, please click the "Read more" button below.
