Temenos Academy Newsletter November 2025

[Temenos Academy]

NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2025 Sunday 9 November 2025, 2.30-6pm A Symposium Celebrating Owen Barfield With Mark Vernon, Jeffrey Hipolito, Hilary Davies and Sir Ben Okri In collaboration with Rudolf Steiner House Meaning and imagination are two intertwined themes throughout the writing career of philosopher and poet Owen Barfield, whose ideas inspired the likes of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and T. S. Eliot. This symposium will explore these two central themes of Barfield's work, his debt to spiritual traditions from Neoplatonism to Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy, and his relevance to contemporary issues such as the meaning crisis and the secular age. Join authors Mark Vernon and Jeffrey Hipolito together with poets Sir Ben Okri and Hilary Davies for a lively mix of talks, poetry readings and conversations exploring Barfield’s lasting influence, the nature of the imagination and man's eternal quest for meaning. Venue & Admission Rudolf Steiner House London NW1 6XT £25 General Admission £15 for Temenos Academy Members/Full-time students with student ID card Book HERE E- temenos...@myfastmail.com T - 07513 883 335   Poussin’s Meditations on Time, Providence and Eternity JULIA CLEAVE Monday 17 November 2025 In the chair Christine Rhone This illustrated talk will focus on five exceptional paintings by Nicolas Poussin: A Dance to the Music of Time (Wallace Collection) and the final works which crowned his career: The Four Seasons (Musée du Louvre). In the case of Dance these themes are presented under the guise of classical mythology, whereas in The Four Seasons, they are framed in terms of Biblical eschatology, the cycles of nature and of human life. Though differing markedly in mode, and dating respectively from the 1630s and the 1660s, in both cases they explore the relationship between our mortal and immortal destinies. While the authority of these compositions derives from Poussin's subtle deployment of number, geometry and harmonics in their deep structure, what is immediately engaging to the viewer is his power to invoke human dramas and the beauties of nature, while haunting us with his often enigmatic symbolism. JULIA CLEAVE is an independent scholar with a special interest in the Pythagorean, Hermetic and Christian Mystery traditions as they are to be found, still largely unacknowledged, in Renaissance and Early Modern art and literature. Her previous lectures at Temenos, have included studies of works by Verrocchio, Leonardo, Botticelli, Giorgione and Poussin, and of three plays by Shakespeare. Her essay: ‘An alchemical reading of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra’ is available on the Temenos Academy website. She is a Fellow of the Academy and a member of the Council and Academic Board. Venue & Admission 18 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2A 3ED Doors open 6.10pm, Lecture starts 6.30pm £1o General Admission Free for Temenos Academy Members/Full-time students with student ID card Book HERE E- temenos...@myfastmail.com T - 07513 883 335   BECOME A MEMBER You can support the Temenos Academy by becoming a member for £60/year. Members benefits include free admission to our lecture programme, concessionary rates to seminars, study days and online courses, a free copy of Temenos Academy Review 27 and Ten Basic Principles that Inspire the Work of Temenos on joining, and complimentary copies of forthcoming Temenos Academy publications as they are issued. To become a member click HERE THE ARCHIVE Our website Archive hosts many audio and video recordings of lectures and the texts of many articles from Temenos Academy Review. New material is added regularly. https://www.temenosacademy.org/videoarchive https://www.temenosacademy.org/audioarchive https://www.temenosacademy.org/essay-archive Many of our audio recordings are available as PODCASTS. FURTHER INFORMATION EMAIL temenos...@myfastmail.com TELEPHONE 07513 883 335 PRIVACY POLICY https://temenosacademy.org/privacy-policy