The Queen of Wands from Opera Tarot by Linda Sutton

The same story which inspired Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and its recent TV adaptation, also inspired the Opera composer Donizetti in the 19th century. His ‘Anna Bolena’ is one of four operas he wrote about the Tudor period, and the duet between Henry VIII’s second and third wives, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, is full of high drama as you can hear in the Youtube clip shown below.

In opera, all of human relations – and our existential concerns – are emphasized and often highly coloured, making it an ideal medium in which to explore precisely those issues that concern the Tarot. For this reason, inspired by the beautiful paintings of artist Linda Sutton, Stephanie and I are working alongside Linda on a new Tarot deck: Opera Tarot.

Here is Linda’s image for the Queen of Wands, which depicts the soprano, Anna Netrebko as Anne Boleyn in Donizetti’s opera, in attire similar to that in her portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Over the coming months we’ll show more images from the collection as we work on it!

These are images of a megalithic structure in the village of Willong, Katak Tukhan in Mao Maram, Manipur. To read more about this fascinating Indian monument click here.

Interesting Q&A from the 2014 Future Now Spiritual Ecology Conference with Satish Kumar, Peter Owen-Jones, Tim Freke, Chloe Goodchild and Joe Hoare.

When you laugh a lot with someone it’s a good sign I reckon. When Stephanie and I met Linda Marson who runs Global Spiritual Studies in Australia we soon found ourselves in this position. Linda is indefatigable and full of good humour and energy. She skyped me the other day from Oz and here’s the result – an illustrated interview she’s titled ‘Tarot through Druid Eyes’ with an audio file part-way through. You can see it here

Re-blogged from Single Session Therapy.com:

If you are struggling with a problem there’s a good chance that it won’t go away in a hurry, so you can afford to take a week off from worrying about it.

Starting now (or at some pre-appointed time in the next couple of days), do nothing whatsoever to solve the problem. This includes thinking about it. If it comes to mind – as it surely will – distract yourself by focussing on another topic or getting involved in a task.

Maybe coincidence, luck or fate will do the job for you and the problem will go away, or maybe it won’t, in which case all you get is a week off.

Footnote 1: This only works if you’ve been trying to fix a problem. If you’ve been ignoring it hoping it’ll go away, reverse the exercise and get on with it.

Footnote 2: If you are part of a couple and you both agree you have a problem, you could both agree to avoid discussing or thinking about it for a week. It might help to know that 68% of problems that couples argue about have no solution, according to John Gottmann. (author of Why Marriages Succeed or Fail)

Barry Winbolt

A number of friends have got cancer and are bravely facing the challenges this poses. One of them recommended a book which he felt even those who aren’t ill should read. I bought it and I have to say I agree with him – I’m finding it fascinating, humbling and hopeful. It’s called Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds by Kelly Turner, and in it she looks at many of the cases of people who have survived against the odds, and simply asked “What did you do?” Have a look at the project she has started to research and record these cases: The Radical Remission Project. And here she is explaining her book:

Here in the UK we’ve been spellbound by Mark Rylance’s performance as Thomas Cromwell in the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall. How does he do it? With often very little or nothing said, he conveys vulnerability, cunning, amusement, surprise – all in the same moment – simply with his presence, in his look.

In his interview on Desert Island Discs yesterday he talks about how acting requires revealing and concealing at the same time, and that’s exactly what is happening in Wolf Hall – he seems so open and yet so utterly inscrutable at the same time.

On Desert Island Discs Mark Rylance comes across as delightfully playful and yet deeply serious, and he talks about James Hillman’s work, about how he used the I Ching to decide whether to take a Spielberg part or a theatrical role, and how following its advice led to him finding his wife. And he finishes by saying how on the island he will experience “all the joys of being an animist and a pagan.”

You can hear it on the BBC iplayer here.

Ring of Brodgar, Orkney

Maes Howe, Orkney, 1861

Did anyone see ‘Digging for Britain’ last night on BBC 4 TV? If you’re in the UK you can watch it here.

The programme featured the incredible site of the Ness of Brodgar on Orkney, which we’ll be visiting in July as part of Jamie George’s Sacred Scotland tour. The other day Linda Marson of Global Spiritual Studies interviewed me about the tour and about Orkney in particular.

Here’s the interview:

The Order of Bards Ovates & Druids was founded 50 years ago in 1964.

27 years ago – on February 14th 1988 – I was asked to revive the Order, which had gone into a kind of winter sleep. So today is an auspicious day, as well as a romantic one!

For the 50th Anniversary celebrations last year we asked an old friend, Kevin Redpath, to make a film for us, and now it’s almost ready for release – any day now. It’s 25 minutes long and we hope you will like it! Here’s a trailer Kevin has made for it: