Pilgrimage in London – The first of many celebrations for Sir Francis Bacon in 2026
2026-01-20 10:00 - 16:30 (Europe/London)
A pilgrimage to places connected with Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban.
A 2026 Bacon400 Celebration led by Peter Dawkins and Jonathan Tod.
Please come and join us for this special pilgrimage celebrating Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban. 2026 is the Quatercentenary of the death and burial of Francis Bacon, and this pilgrimage is the inner or more private beginning of the public celebrations which will unfold over the course of the year.
The 2026 Bacon400 London pilgrimage will start at St Martin-in-the-Fields, where Francis Bacon was baptised on 25 January 1561, then proceed to the site of York House, Bacon’s London home when growing up and then later when he was Lord Keeper and Lord Chancellor.
After this we will walk to the site of Essex House, where the Shakespeare Circle used to meet. Essex House (previously Leicester House) was built on the site of the Outer Temple of the Knights Templar.
Following this, we will walk through to Middle Temple Fountain Court, on the south side of which is Middle Temple Hall, where the Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night, was enacted.
We will then proceed to the Inner Temple, where we will visit Temple Church, the round church of the Knights Templar.
After this, we will have a celebratory lunch in the Luncheon Room of the Inner Temple, which has been reserved for our private use.
After lunch we will walk to the site of Temple Bar, marked by the Temple Bar Memorial, and then proceed eastwards along Fleet Street, crossing the River Fleet, and ascending Ludgate Hill to St Paul’s Cathedral and the relocated Temple Bar Archway designed by Sir Christopher Wren.
The Inner Temple Inn of Court twins Gray’s Inn of Court, where Francis Bacon had his lawyer’s chambers and of which he was Treasurer for many years. Twinship is the key to everything, and we aim to celebrate twinship!
Another example of twinship is that of government and people, wherein their friendship and judiciously balanced interdependence is crucial to democracy.
Temple Bar, as originally positioned, is where the Liberty of Westminster meets the Liberty of the City of London. Temple Bar is thus symbolic of the democratic judicial balance between the government and the people, which underlies our constitutional democracy.
Yet another twinship is that of the two eminent personages called St Alban – the 3rd/4th century Romano-British St Alban and the 16th/17th century English Viscount St Alban.
This pilgrimage is designed to inaugurate a St Alban II pilgrimage route, which will twin the St Alban I pilgrimage route.
The St Alban I pilgrimage route starts in London and ends at St Alban’s Cathedral, which marks the burial place of the Romano-British St Alban and contains the saint’s shrine.
The St Alban II pilgrimage route will also start in London (this pilgrimage marks the first steps on the route) and will end at St Michael’s Church, St Albans, where Viscount St Alban’s body was buried in the chancel vault, with an enigmatic sculpted memorial monument placed in the chancel above.
There will be a pre-pilgrimage talk on Zoom by Peter Dawkins at 5pm (GMT) on Sunday 18 January. This will be private, for those who participate in this pilgrimage.
For further information and booking, please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
Photo: Tilman2007. Wikimedia Commons: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Freemasonic Twinship and the Two Alban Saints
2026-01-25 17:00 - 18:30
A talk on Zoom by Peter Dawkins about the universal law of twinship, or friendship, and how it manifested in the foundational legends of Freemasonry concerning the two saints called Alban and the two types of Freemasonry, Craft and Speculative.
The two saints called Alban are the Romano-Celtic officer, whose name is veiled as ‘Alban’, and Sir Francis Bacon, who was given the title Viscount St Alban.
The first St Alban is reputed to be the founder and first Grand Master of Craft Freemasonry in England (Roman Britain), whilst the second St Alban is cryptically recognised as the founder and first Grand Master of Speculative Freemasonry in England c.1300 years later.
We shall also look at the meaning of the place or places associated with the St Alban legends, the shrines or monuments erected in their memory and how they connect with each other, and the Freemasonic and Rosicrucian wisdom knowledge underlying all this.
For those who attend this Zoom talk, there will be time for questions, answers and insights after the talk.

To book, please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
If booking accepted, on receipt of payment, the Zoom link will be sent to you.
A recording of the talk (but not of the sharing afterwards) can be made available for attendees if requested, as also for those who pay for the talk but do not attend it live on Zoom. Please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
The displayed picture is a coloured version of the AA-Gemini headpiece printed in the 1623 Shakespeare First Folio.

The Immortalising Power of the Shakespeare Folio Preface – Part 2
2026-02-08 17:00 - 18:30
Part 2 of a 2-part series of talks on Zoom by Peter Dawkins about how the Preface of the 1623 Shakespeare Folio enshrines a deep Kabbalistic and Biblical wisdom, with cryptic wording and graphics, all with the potency and intention to immortalise the Shakespeare plays and William Shakespeare himself, as an example of the immortalising process described in the classical Gemini myth.
As we learnt in the previous talk, the Preface of the Shakespeare First Folio consists of ten printed pages that are designed to act as a Temple of the Mysteries, analogous to Solomon’s Temple, wherein the very first page of the Folio, the “To the Reader” portrait verse by “B.I.”, which precedes the ten-page Preface, has a dual purpose, acting as the twin Great Pillars, Boaz and Jachin, and as the guardian or doorkeeper, Ben Jonson.
The “To the Reader” portrait verse precedes the Shakespeare Folio title page that is the actual door to the Temple. This title page door contains, in a veiled way, a cryptic summary of what lies within. As the doorkeeper tells us, in order to open the door and enter the Temple, we have to learn how to see and to read both the text and the illustrations.
As explained in the previous talk, the ten pages of the Preface, which follow on from the Folio’s “To the Reader” page, represent the 10 Sephiroth or Emanations of the Tree of Life as experienced on the Middle Path through the Temple. The previous talk dealt with the doorway, doorkeeper, door, and first half of the Holy Place of the Temple.
In this talk we shall enter the second half of the Holy Place of the Shakespeare Folio Preface Temple, wherein lies the Altar of Incense marking the heart of the Temple. After this we shall enter the Holy of Holies, wherein lies the Ark of the Covenant and Oracle.
After 400 years, the immortalising effect can be readily seen, with the mortal actor William Shakspere from Stratford-upon-Avon raised up to be, in people’s minds, the immortal author William Shakespeare. In other words, the Gemini effect has been well proven in this grand scientific experiment.
Cost £15. To book, please contact the FBRT Secretary:
Email: sarah@fbrt.org.uk. Tel: 01295 678 623.
On receipt of payment, the Zoom link will be sent to you.
For those who attend this Part 2 talk, there will be time for questions, answers and insights after the talk. This post-talk sharing is usually full of extra information.
A recording of the talk (but not of the sharing afterwards) can be made available for attendees if requested, as also for those who pay for the talk but do not attend it live on Zoom. Please contact the FBRT Secretary.
A recording of Part 1 of this 2-part series is also available to those who book this Part 2 talk. The cost for a link to the recording of Part 1 is £15.
The cost for links to recordings of both talks, Part 1 and Part 2, is £30.
The headpiece is a coloured version of the Dionysus headpiece printed in the 1623 Shakespeare Folio.

Emerging from the Tunnel of Darkness
2026-03-08 17:00 - 19:00
2026: the Seventh Year in the 12-Year Jupiter-Kalki-Kali Cycle
Talk on Zoom by Peter Dawkins.
What are the challenges, opportunities and tasks for 2026? Indeed, what is 2026 in the 12-year Jupiter-Kalki-Kali cycle? What sound is it associated with? What creative energy will it produce? What response is likely to ensue? Are we indeed emerging from the tunnel of darkness?
Peter will give some of his insights about these questions.
The talk will be given in English, with German translation by Heidemarie Falldorf.
Time will be given after the talk for questions and answers.
Cost £25. To book, please contact the FBRT Secretary:
Email: sarah@fbrt.org.uk. Tel: 01295 678 623.
On receipt of payment, the Zoom link will be sent to you.

The New Atlantis Bensalem and Rosicrucian College of the Six Days Work
2026-03-22 17:00 - 18:30
A talk on Zoom by Peter Dawkins about the New Atlantis of Francis Bacon’s utopian novel, and what it really means and the places it cryptically points to in the world.
We shall also look at what all this means today, and how New Atlantis is not only an account of what took place 400+ years ago but also a prophecy for the times we live in now.
New Atlantis has a mystical relationship with the Old Atlantis, as referred to by Plato, and as described in myths and legends. The two stories contain the idea of death and resurrection, and the means by which this can happen.
To book, please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
If booking accepted, on receipt of payment, the Zoom link will be sent to you.
A recording of the talk (but not of the sharing afterwards) can be made available for attendees if requested, as also for those who pay for the talk but do not attend it live on Zoom. Please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
The displayed picture is a coloured version of the Gemini-Bacony-Bride headpiece printed in the 1609 Shake-speares Sonnets.

Bacon, Author of the Modern World?
2026-04-09 18:00 - 21:00 | St Michael’s Church, St Michael’s Street, St Albans, Herts., England, St Michael's Church, St Michael's Street,, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 4SL, United Kingdom
A discussion featuring Sir Mark Rylance & Peter Dawkins.
On this day of Sir Francis Bacon’s death, we meet in St Michael’s Church, St Albans, to discuss the legacy of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam of Verulam, Viscount St Alban; his impact on the modern world, the ongoing debate into his authorship of Shakespeare’s writing, and to hear readings from his work.
Tickets will be available from February 2026 via St Michaels’ Parish office:
Email: admin@parishofstmichaels.org.uk. Phone: 01727 835037.
See also: Bacon400 website.

The Mystery of the Two Johns, Baptist and Beloved
2026-06-21 17:00 - 18:30
A talk on Zoom by Peter Dawkins about the mystery of John the Baptist and John the Beloved, the different roles they played whilst sharing the same name, and the eternal wisdom and divine law of which they are manifestations – a law that involves all of us.
This mystery involves the Double Truth of polarity, twinship, and initiation, with its lesser and greater mysteries, and how their roles were adopted by the Bacon brothers, Francis and Anthony.
The mystery also involves Time, with its daily, annual, and larger cycles of time, such as a Great Age, and the poles of time and process of life – a process in which we are all engaged, all of the time.
To book, please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
If booking accepted, on receipt of payment, the Zoom link will be sent to you.
A recording of the talk (but not of the sharing afterwards) can be made available for attendees if requested, as also for those who pay for the talk but do not attend it live on Zoom. Please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
The displayed picture is a coloured version of the AA headpiece printed in the 1593 Shakespeare poem Venus and Adonis.

Francis Bacon’s Founding Role in the Democratic Constitution of the USA
2026-07-04 10:30 - 17:30 | St Michael’s Parish Centre, St Michael’s Street, St Albans, Herts, England.
Come and join us at St Michael’s Church Parish Centre, St Albans, for this day event celebrating the 46th Anniversary of the FBRT and the 250th Anniversary of the Independence of the USA.
During the day we will delve into Sir Francis Bacon’s inspirational, guiding and practical role in founding democracy in North America, wherein (ideally) all men and women are considered to be created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, with a guarantee of freedom of speech and faith, and the right of every citizen to vote.
We shall look at Bacon’s role in the Virginia Company and his writing of the 2nd and 3rd Charters of the Virginia Company which democratised the government of the settlers and their descendants.
We shall also look at Bacon’s New Atlantis utopia, wherein he outlined the kind of society he was envisaging, who were practising his Great Instauration and governed by a College of initiates – Freemasons and Rosicrucians – who always acted ethically, morally, charitably, and how freedom, properly understood, is an integral part of this.
We shall also investigate why Francis Bacon was created Viscount St Alban (i.e. St Alban II), and his connection as the founder and first Grand Master of Speculative Freemasonry in England, and how and why the Constitutions of Freemasonry are echoed in some way by the Constitution of the USA.
We shall also look at the symbolism of Francis Bacon’s Memorial Monument in St Michael’s Church, which stands in the chancel above the crypt in which his body was placed when he died, and how it links in a special way with St Alban’s Shrine (i.e. St Alban I) in St Alban’s Cathedral, and with Jamestown on the coast of Virginia, USA, where the first Virginia Company colonists settled.
For information and booking, please contact the FBRT Secretary:
Email: sarah@fbrt.org.uk. Tel: 01295 678 623.

The Hidden Foundation of Democracy in North America
2026-09-20 17:00 - 18:30
A talk on Zoom by Peter Dawkins about the role of Sir Francis Bacon and the Virginia and Newfoundland Companies in the colonisation of Newfoundland, Virginia, Nova Scotia and Oak Island, and in the foundation of democracy in North America.
Such a role involved the Freemasons and Rosicrucians – especially the latter, who practised the Hermetic-Magian science of “As above so below, as below so above, for the doing of the Great Work.”
Powerful signs in the starry heavens of the sky, which took place from 1572 to 1604, confirmed to the magi of the English Society of the Golden and Rosy Cross what should be done on earth, both in England and in the world, so as to suitably echo the heavenly signs.
The Shakespeare poetic works, Bacon’s philosophical works, and Bacon’s New Atlantis, are involved in all of this.

To book, please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
If booking accepted, on receipt of payment, the Zoom link will be sent to you.
A recording of the talk (but not of the sharing afterwards) can be made available for attendees if requested, as also for those who pay for the talk but do not attend it live on Zoom. Please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
The displayed picture is a coloured version of the AA-Gemini-Bride headpiece printed in the 1594 Shakespeare poem Venus and Adonis.

Living the Beauty of Golden Friendship
2026-10-04 14:00 - 2026-10-10 12:00
Shakespeare Mystery in Sardinia
A hybrid event, led by Peter & Sarah Dawkins & Jonathon Tod – part pilgrimage and part talks, attunements and sharing on Zoom.
Sardinia was considered a sacred mountain prior to the last flood and the creation of the Mediterranean Sea. It was formerly joined with Corsica and mainland Europe. It is an island of beauty with 7000 ancient temples and sanctuaries. Many of the temples we will visit were built by ‘the Nuraghe’ (‘the shining ones’) between 2500-3000BC. The Nuraghe were navigators, mathematicians and astronomers.
This hybrid event is part of a sequence of events in which we are working with the Dionysian Mystery of Europe, wherein metaphorically the Bull (or Boar) becomes the Swan, which is a symbolic way of describing the transformation and transmutation of the mortal psyche into an immortal soul.
As Shakespeare says, “we are all actors performing on the stage of the world.” The stage for the Dionysian Mystery is Europe, and the stage for this particular pilgrimage is Sardinia, the root chakra of the Swan landscape temple of Europe.
So far we have pilgrimaged in all the Swan chakras except the root chakra. By performing this Sardinia pilgrimage, we will be bringing the heavenly love-wisdom energy right down to the root of the Swan, so that the kundalini earth energy of the Swan can be awoken, respond in love, and rise up the spine of the Swan to sound the Word and bring illumination.
In this, we work with the Hermetic wisdom, “As above so below, as below so above, for the doing of the Great Work”, and with the lemniscate life process movement of energy through the body, in this case the landscape body of the Swan of Europe. In doing all this, we make friends not only with other human beings but also with nature, including the landscape and the sky above.
The aim of this pilgrimage is to pilgrimage from the north to the south of the island of Sardinia, visiting various sites and temples used by the ancients who knew something of how to work with the energies of the land. We will link with and be supported by other friends who will be carrying out pilgrimages and attunements elsewhere. In this way, via pilgrimage, attunement, meditation, prayer and friendship, the aim of the Mystery event as expressed in its title can be achieved.
PROGRAMME (to be confirmed)

27 September 2026 – Zoom talk about Sardinia.
4-10 October 2026 – Sardinia pilgrimage, with Zoom meetings.
18 October 2026 – Zoom meeting – general sharing and conclusion.

TWO TYPES OF PARTICIPANTS

Virtual pilgrims: attendees of Zoom talk and event Zoom meetings, and who carry out a pilgrimage in their own chosen area.
Sardinia pilgrims: the travelling pilgrims who will pilgrimage in Sardinia and participate in the Zoom talk and all the Zoom meetings.

COST (to be confirmed)

Virtual pilgrims – £50 per person (inclusive of Sardinia meetings and Zoom talk).
Sardinia pilgrims sharing in twinned or double rooms – £2,150 per person
Sardinia pilgrims in single rooms – £2,600 per person

BOOKING
If you are interested in joining this pilgrimage, either as a Sardinia pilgrim or a virtual pilgrim, then please let us know: info@fbrt.org.uk.

The Mystery of the Christmas Saturnalia and Knights of the Helmet
2026-12-20 17:00 - 18:30
A talk on Zoom by Peter Dawkins about midwinter’s Saturnalia and Twelve Days of Christmas, including that of 1594/5 when Gray’s Inn hosted a grand entertainment during which the Shakespeare play, Comedy of Errors, was enacted, followed by the masque, The Order of the Knights of the Helmet.
This “Gesta Grayorum”, as it was called in Latin, announced and made public many things previously kept secret, including the hint that the Knights of the Helmet are the true Spearshakers, or Shakespeares, who, like St George, shake their spears of inspiration at the dragons of ignorance, so that the dragons might come to know the truth.

For those who attend the talk, there will be time for questions, answers and insights after the talk. This post-talk sharing is usually full of extra information.
To book, please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
If booking accepted, on receipt of payment, the Zoom link will be sent to you.
A recording of the talk (but not of the sharing afterwards) can be made available for attendees if requested, as also for those who pay for the talk but do not attend it live on Zoom. Please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
The displayed picture is a coloured version of the AA-Gemini-Spearshakers headpiece printed in Francis Bacon’s 1623 De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum and in the tributes to Francis Bacon, Manes Verulamiani, published in 1626.
