The Francis Bacon Research Trust
Swan-Rose Seminars

Gateway to the Ageless Wisdom

The Secret World of Shakespeare and the Old Masters

‘The Hermetic Journey of the Soul’

Saturday 1st May 2010
(2:00 pm - 5:00 pm)
Compton Verney, Warwickshire

Afternoon Seminar
with
Peter Dawkins and Julia Cleave

This is the first of an innovative series of seminars revealing the hidden knowledge and initiatic mysteries that were passed on in the Platonic academies and mystery schools of the Renaissance through their paintings, sculptures, emblems and other works of art.

These truths found their expression in Italy and France in the works of great initiate artists like Verrocchio, Botticelli, Giorgione and, later, Poussin and Claude; and, in England, in the writings and associated artwork of Dee, Sydney, Spenser, Bacon and Shakespeare.

These truths, which are moral, psychological, spiritual and scientific, are pertinent to each human being and to society at large, and exist to guide us towards personal and universal peace, illumination and joy.

The Hermetic Journey of the Soul
The theme of this seminar is the Hermetic journey of the soul and will include two talks:-

1) Venus in her role as initiatrix
A study of Botticelli’s Primavera and Mars and Venus paintings. [Julia Cleave]

2) To love or not to love, that is the question
A study of Shakespeare’s opening theme and knowledge of the Mysteries as depicted in the artwork of his poem, Venus and Adonis. [Peter Dawkins]

‘Hermetic’ refers to the ancient wisdom teachings studied and further developed philosophically by the Greek neo-Platonists, which were then passed on into the European Renaissance largely via Marsilio Ficino, who translated the Greek Hermetic texts as well as the works of Plato at the request of his patron, Cosimo de’Medici. The teaching was said to derive from Hermes Trismegitus (‘Thrice-greatest Hermes’), a legendary figure representing both the divine Source of the wisdom and the succession of illumined masters who revealed the wisdom through their teachings and lives. The name for the Master was Hermes in Greece, Mercury in Rome, Thoth in Egypt, and Enoch or Atlas in Atlantis.

The Secret World of Shakespeare and the Old Masters
The first five seminars of the series are being given in 2010 at approx. 6-7 week intervals. Each seminar takes place on a Saturday afternoon and contains an introduction and two main talks.

The team of speakers, each with expert knowledge and experience of this initiatic and symbolic theme, comprises Peter Dawkins, Julia Cleave and Jill Line.

The dates and titles of the other seminars are:-

19 June 2010
The Pillars of Time & Eternity

31 July 2010
Hidden Truth

18 September 2010
Arcadia

30 October 2010
The Mysteries

Venue
The venue is at Compton Verney, the 18th century mansion and award-winning art gallery whose location in the ‘Shakespeare Country’ of Warwickshire is part of the secret knowledge and mystery.

Compton Verney houses six permanent collections and has a programme of changing exhibitions. Besides a seminar room and art gallery, the Grade 1 listed Robert Adam mansion also has a good cafe/restaurant. The mansion sits overlooking a lake in the midst of Grade 2 listed classical parkland, landscaped by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, the most eminent landscape architect of the eighteeth-century.

Why not make a day of it and visit the art galleries in the morning, have lunch at the cafe and then attend the seminar in the afternoon?

Compton Verney is situated 7 miles east of Stratford-upon-Avon on the B4086 between Wellesbourne and Kineton, and adjacent to the Fosse Way. It is 6 miles drive from the M40, Junction 12. [See map.]

Programme
Each seminar will begin at 2:00 pm and end at 5:00 pm.

Cost and Booking
Seminar fee = £25 per person, or £100 for all five seminars if booked in advance.
(The cost does not include include admission to the Compton Verney art gallery.)

	To book a place, please select button.
	For further information, please select button.

To go to the online bookshop, please select button.