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The Milky Way Shakespeare Swans

September 24 @ 18:00 - September 28 @ 13:00

This extended weekend event, led by Peter and Sarah Dawkins, will take place in England’s ‘Shakespeare Country’, the Cygnus (Swan) area of the British landscape zodiac, during which we will be based in Warwick, the head of the elder Gemini Swan, and visiting Kenilworth, the beak of the elder Swan, and Stratford-upon-Avon, the tail of the younger Gemini Swan. The various talks and evening meals will take place in the Warwick Arms Hotel, which will provide accommodation for those who need it.

On the evening of Thursday 24 September, the event will start with a meal and talk in the Warwick Arms Hotel.

On Friday 25 September we will visit Warwick Castle, home of the Dudley earls of Warwick in Tudor times and of Fulke Greville in Jacobean times. We will also visit the Collegiate Church of St Mary, the resting place of Fulke Greville and the earls of Warwick, and Kenilworth Castle, the once-palatial residence of the Earl of Leicester.

In the time of Queen Elizabeth I, the Earl of Warwick was Ambrose Dudley, the elder brother of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the Queen’s favourite, to whom the Queen granted Kenilworth Castle. The Dudley brothers and Fulke Greville were intricately involved in the Rosicrucian Shakespeare project.

In 1575 the lavish Kenilworth Entertainment took place, with both theatrical entertainment and jousting on a grand scale that echoed Edward I’s revival of the Arthurian Knights of the Round Table. It was this grand entertainment, followed by its twin, the Woodstock Entertainment, which raised the annual Accession Day Tournaments of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign to a highly elaborate theatrical level as part of the Rosicrucian Shakespeare project. It was at the Woodstock Entertainment that the Faerie Queen made her first publicly recorded appearance in English literature and drama. Spenser’s Faerie Queene, and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Midsummer Night’s Dream, derive inspiration and elements from these two entertainments.

On Saturday 27 September we will visit Stratford-upon-Avon, home of the actor William Shakespeare and the Royal Shakespeare Company, where we will explore the geomantic arrangement of the town, visiting Holy Trinity Church, burial place of William Shakespeare and location of the Shakespeare Monument with its revealing esoteric message, and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre for a performance of a Shakespeare play.

On Sunday 28 September, after a concluding morning talk and sharing, there will be an optional visit to the Rollright Stones, the tail of the elder Gemini Swan, wherein lies an even older ‘Shakespeare’ story.

The number of attendees for this event is limited (max.15).

Cost (including ‘The Milky Way Shakespeare’ Zoom talk) = £TBA

To book, please contact the Organiser (FBRT).

On acceptance of the booking, a link to the Zoom talk, ‘The Milky Way Shakespeare’, on 23 March 2025 will be sent to you. In addition, a  recording of the talk (but not of the sharing afterwards) will be made available to you. (If your booking is made after 22 March 2025, only the recording will be available). This talk is essential for understanding the reason for this event and the other two events in this triple Shakespeare Mystery.

The displayed picture is a panoramic image of our Milky Way, by AstroAnthony. (Wikimedia Commons: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.)

Details

Start:
September 24 @ 18:00
End:
September 28 @ 13:00
Event Category:
Website:
www.fbrt.org.uk

Organiser

FBRT
Phone
01295 678 623
Email
info@fbrt.org.uk
View Organiser Website