The Milky Way Shakespeare Swans
September 25 @ 18:00 - September 28 @ 13:00
£548
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 this extended weekend, we will be based in Warwick and visiting Warwick Castle, Kenilworth Castle, and Stratford-upon-Avon with its Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The various talks and evening meals will take place in the Warwick Arms Hotel in Warwick, which will also provide accommodation for those who require it.
The ‘Shakespeare Country’ represents Cygnus (the Swan) in the landscape zodiac of Britain/England. It is composed of two Swans, twins, as per the Gemini myth. One Gemini Swan is born immortal, the other mortal, but by helping each other as loving friends they both become immortal-mortals. Warwick is the head of the ‘immortal’ Swan, with Kenilworth its beak and the Rollright Stone Circle its root or tail. Stratford-upon-Avon is the root/tail of the ‘mortal’ Swan – the Swan that is immortalised by means of the self-sacrifice of its immortal twin.
The Gemini are the spear-shaking Shakespeares. In the 16th/17th centuries, certain human beings acted out this ages-old mystery that lies enshrined in the landscape.
On the evening of Thursday 25 September, the event will start with a meal and talk in the Warwick Arms Hotel.
On Friday 26 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 the actor William Shakespeare and location of the Shakespeare Monument with its revealing esoteric message. In the evening we will visit the Royal Shakespeare Theatre for an RSC performance of the Shakespeare play, Measure for Measure.
On Sunday 28 September, after a concluding morning talk and sharing, there will be an optional visit to the Rollright Stones, wherein lies an even older ‘Shakespeare’ story.
The number of attendees for this event is limited (max.15).
Event Fee = £548 + accommodation (optional)
(Event fee includes ‘The Milky Way Shakespeare’ Zoom talk, talks in the Warwick Arms Hotel and on site, Fri/Sat lunches, Thu/Fri/Sat evening meals, entrance fees to Warwick and Kenilworth Castles, RSC ‘A’ ticket, and administration costs. The fee does not include travel, drink and accommodation.)
3 nights B&B accommodation at Warwick Arms Hotel (special rate) = £155.25 pp shared (double); £256.50 pp single.
To book, please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
On acceptance of the booking and payment made, a link to a recording of the Zoom talk, ‘The Milky Way Shakespeare’, will be sent to you. This talk is essential for understanding the reason for this event and the other two events in this Milky Way Shakespeare Mystery.
Details about the British landscape zodiac:
The displayed picture is a panoramic image of our Milky Way, by AstroAnthony. (Wikimedia Commons: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.)