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Metageum 07 

METAGEUM '09
EXPLORING THE MEGALITHIC MIND

CONFERENCE, TOUR AND WORKSHOPS:
Exploring the Consciousness of the Megalithic Temple Builders
Treadwell's Bookshop, Covent Garden, London
21st - 29th March 2009

An inter-disciplinary conference on the thinking and vision of the prehistoric people who built the megalithic temples.

A week-long conference in central London, comprising talks on two successive weekends, with some workshops on the weekdays in between. It will take place in the meeting room at Treadwell's Bookshop, Covent Garden, London (www.treadwells-london.com). Tickets can be bought online (see below) or by post, or from Treadwell's bookshop. The nearest Tube station is Covent Garden, and the talks are from 10 am to 5:30 pm. .

What is Metageum?

The aim of the Metageum events is to bridge different approaches to understanding the minds of prehistoric people. It seeks to bridge the gap between science and philosophy, between the objective and the subjective, between the exoteric and the esoteric. This theme is continued from the first Metageum conference (which took place in Malta, 3rd-11th November 2007). Metageum is not tied to any particular theory about our megalithic legacy. It aims to be an open space to debate different theories, approaches, and experiences.

The starting point of Metageum is the belief that academic archaeology is invaluable in uncovering objective facts about prehistory -- but, at the same time, it is systematically mistaken in interpreting the spiritual elements of prehistory because it is premised on materialism. Metageum’s guiding assumptions are: that a real 'spiritual realm' (in some sense of the term) exists and is actively engaged in the human world; and that a full understanding of the megalithic temples requires us somehow to comprehend that realm.

The formal conference will run on the two successive weekends, with associated workshops midweek and free book signings on some weekday lunchtimes. Each weekend talk lasts one hour and is followed by a half-hour break for formal questions and answers and then informal discussion.

Macrobiotic lunch snacks will be offered at the venue by Agurtzane Larranaga

Tickets

Each weekend talk costs £5, each half-day weekday workshop is £15, and each weekday lunch-time book-signing is free. You can purchase tickets by sending a cheque or postal order (payable to "Whole-Being Books") to Peter B Lloyd, Box 142, No 8 Shepherd Market, London W1J 7JY, or you can make a credit card payment via the PayPal system using the form below.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Paul Devereux
  Paul Devereux's main areas of interest are archaeo-acoustics (study of sound at ancient places), ancient and traditional lifeways, the anthropology and archaeology of consciousness, sacred sites and landscapes, general consciousness studies including psi phenomena, unusual geophysical events, and what are loosely termed 'earth mysteries'. This is work he has been involved with at a 'front line' level for almost four decades. Paul will be delivering two talks, on archaeo-acoustics and archaeo-psychedelics.
  See also Paul's web site, www.pauldevereux.co.uk
  Also: www.landscape-perception.com
  • Sounds at Sacred Places
    (Saturday 21st, 11:30 - 12:30)
    A unique audio-visual presentation in which we will visit numerous sacred sites worldwide where sound is a factor, and hear some of the old stones speak. From Africa to the Americas to the British Isles and more, we will seek the soundtracks of the past.

  • Ancient Sacred Sites and Altered Mind States (Saturday 28th, 11:30 - 12:30)
    An illustrated journey to a variety of ancient sites where activities in altered states of consciousness were definitely or probably conducted. From Delphi to the source area of the Stonehenge bluestones, by way of Native American vision quest sites. We will visit some of the least known, most secret sacred places on Earth.

• Dr David Luke
  Dr. David Luke is a parapsychologist with a special interest in altered states of consciousness and paranormal experiences. He has studied techniques of consciousness alteration from South America to India, from the perspective of scientists, shamans and shivaites, and he has written dozens of articles published in specialist journals on magic, psychedelics and parapsychology.
  See also Dr Luke's blog, psychopraxis.blogspot.com.
  • Prehistoric rock art and hallucinations (provisional title)
    (Saturday 28th, 10:00 - 11:00)
    This talk will consider form constants, entoptic phenomena and the physiological basis of megalithic rock art, arguing that although Lewis-Williams may be on to something with the notion of rock as mirrors of altered states, there's more to entoptic phenomena than meets the eye. Pooling material from psychedelic research, archaeology, cognitive science and parapsychology, as well as that garnered from several months spent studying the mycology found in Mexican ruins, this lecture will use the megalith to pop open some of the mysteries of the mind because, sometimes, it just needs a sledgehammer to crack a nut, especially when it comes to the hard problem of consciousness.

• Peter Knight
  Peter lives in Dorset and is well known in the South for his lively and enthusiastic workshops, convention lectures and field trips about topics relating to our ancient heritage. He is co-founder of the Dorset Earth Mysteries Group, an active troupe of enthusiasts who hold meetings in Bournemouth as well as field trips to sacred sites. In 2005 he instigated the first ever Convention of Alternative Archaeology and Earth Mysteries, now held annually in October in Dorset, offering a platform to both new and established speakers and authors. He is an Honorary Member of the Antiquarian Society (www.theantiquariansociety.com, an Adult Education Tutor on archaeology and earth mysteries, and has held seminars at Bournemouth University. He is a freelance magazine writer, and has appeared on radio and TV, most notably on Channel 4 with Monty Don in Don Roamin’>. A video of his work appears on the BBC/Dorset website. He also hosts the Ancient Ambient Chill-Out, combining large-screen images of sacred sites and tribal cultures with funky music.
  See Peter Knight's web site, www.stoneseeker.net.
  • Book signing: The Wessex Astrum: Sacred Geometry in a Sacred Landscape
    (Wednesday 25th, 12:30-13:30)
    Peter Knight will signing copies of the book he has written with Toni Perrott.
  • Drumming Workshop
    (Thursday 26th, 10:00 - 12:30)
    
  • Neolithic Sites - Personal Interaction and Experience
    (Saturday 28th, 16:30 - 17:30)
    Peter will give an illustrated presentation on his personal and extensive experiences in interacting with sacred sites, often through his drumming, meditations and dowsing..
  • Dowsing - Feeling the Ancient Pulse of Mother Earth
    (Sunday 29th, 15:00 - 16:00)
    Peter Knight will give a short illustrated presentation about dowsing, its using in ancient times, how it was used to position ancient sites, and its practical purposes today. Then there will be a practical session, a chance for those present to try their hand at using dowsing rods and pendulums.

• Tom Graves
  Tom is probably best-known as a writer, mainly on subjects like dowsing (water-divining), 'earth-mysteries' research and the relationship between science, technology and magic, but also on other areas such as business models, personal development and gender-issues. His published books include Dowsing And Archaeology (a selection of articles on dowsing and archaeology, from the Journal of the British Society of Dowsers), Dowsing - Techniques and Applications (a teach-yourself book on dowsing, water-divining and related intuitive skills [aka 'The Diviner's Handbook']), The Dowser's Workbook (a self-teaching book on dowsing and related subjects, in a workbook format [aka 'Discover Dowsing']), The Elements of Pendulum Dowsing (a teach-yourself book on dowsing, specifically on the use of the pendulum), Inventing Reality (on the relationships between magic and technology [aka 'Towards a Magical Technology']), The Essential TC Lethbridge (selected extracts on dowsing and related subjects from a set of books by British author TC Lethbridge [ed. with Janet Hoult]), Needles of Stone (an exploration of concepts and research in the earth-mysteries field [later edition 'Needles of Stone Revisited']), Positively Wyrd (a book on personal development, using the nordic concept of 'wyrd' or fate to harness the chaos in our lives), Wyrd Allies.
  See his web site, www.tomgraves.org.
  • talk on dowsing and reality
    (Saturday 28th, 15:00 - 16:00)

• Gyrus
  Gyrus has been researching, writing and publishing material related to archaic consciousness, altered states, occult practices and alternative thought since the early 1990s. His writings have appeared in HEAD, The Ley Hunter, Dream Creation, Chaos International, Northern Earth, and Fortean Times. He has been involved in a host of publishing and broadcasting projects, including editing and publishing the acclaimed journals Towards 2012 and Dreamflesh. His first collection of essays, looking at rock art, shamanism, altered states and prehistory, is Archaeologies of Consciousness. See also his web site, dreamflesh.com
  • Violence, Visions & Evolution
    (Saturday 28th, 13:30 - 14:30)
    Commemorating this year’s double anniversary (of Darwin’s birth and the publication of The Origin of Species), this talk will delve into the complex influence of evolutionary theory on both the study of prehistoric rock art in particular, and modern attitudes to "primitive" man in general. From the surprising origins of the myth of "the noble savage" in Victorian ethnology to Stephen Pinker’s contentions about prehistoric violence; from Terence McKenna’s mycological speculations to recent archaeological controversies about shamans and visions. This will be a wide-ranging trip through our varying perspectives on the prehistoric mind, what it means to be an animal with imagination, and the bearing of these stories on the ecological crisis we find ourselves in.

• Dr Lydia Oukhaneva
  Dr Lydia Oukhaneva, a specialist in holistic medicine, studied allopathic (conventional) medicine at the Moscow Medical Academy. After several years’ practice in the conventional medical field she undertook training in the Academy of Onnury and Su Jok Therapy of Natural healing, under Professor Park Jae Woo. Over time, her Western knowledge of sexology developed following the practices of Mantak Chia, a traditional Tao master. Lydia’s professional and spiritual interest is to study human potential. In the field of psychotherapy and healing, she employs the transpersonal psychology techniques of Stan Grof, centring on holotropic breathwork, and the traditional Japanese Reiki system of Mikao Usui. In her practice, she combines the discoveries of modern medicine with the ancient sacred knowledge of longevity.
  • Unusual States of Mind and Prehistoric Religion: Breathwork as a Bridge into Archaic Memory
    (Saturday 21st March, 13:30 - 14:30)
    Breathwork provides a means to means to enter altered states of consciousness without the use of mind-altering plants or other substances. It naturally lends itself to helping one to connect with one's personal origin in the time of birth, and with ancestral consciousness. It is perfectly plausible that Neolithic people discovered comparable techniques and used them to explore what we would now call 'inner space'.

  • Sacred Sexuality and Prehistoric Religion
    (Sunday 22nd March, 11:30 - 12:30)
    The theme of this talk is the divinisation of the body, especially with regard to the body’s sexuality. In conjunction with breathwork, loving devotion and sexual ecstasy can lead to divine states of consciousness. In this talk, Lydia will review the recurring theme of sexuality in early religion, including the artefacts found in Neolithic temples, and discuss the altered states of consciousness and embodiment of the divine found in such systems as tantra.

  • An Introduction to Holotropic Breathing: Theory and Practice
    (Thursday 26th March, 13:30 - 17:30, Friday 27th, 10:00 - 22:00 with breaks) Holotropic Breathwork uses non-ordinary states of consciousness, evocative music, breathing sessions, focused energy release work, and group sharing for the purpose of integration. The name 'holotropic' means ‘moving toward wholeness’. The aim of the Work is to bring Wholeness, Healing and Wisdom. When the body and the mind enter a Holotropic state through controlled breathing, our inner wisdom takes the opportunity to lead us toward physical, mental, emotional and spiritual healing, and towards transformation and growth. Holotropic Breathwork operates under the principle that we are our own best healers and that the Inner Healer in each one of us can best do its work in non-ordinary states of consciousness. Stanislav Grof, one of the founders of Transpersonal Psychology in the mid-Seventies developed this natural but powerful technique. In one of his books ‘Psychology of the Future’, he writes: "In Holotropic states, we can transcend the narrow boundaries of the body ego and reclaim our full identity." The breathwork is usually done in a Group context and in a fairly open-ended session format. During a session the experiences are for the most part internal, largely non-verbal, and without interventions. Participants are not coached in any particular technique during a session but before the session they will be instructed and encouraged to amplify the existing symptoms.

• Donal Ruane
  Donal graduated from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 1984 with a BA(hons.) in Fine Art. He is an artist, film-maker, small publisher, teacher, and has had a life-long interest in folklore, shamanism and the occult. He moved to London in 1985. Donal has worked as an illustrator, art therapist, youth worker, painter and decorator, VJ and pop video director. He was a founder member and graphic artist for the legendary Exploding Cinema (1991-1994), a group of cine-activists and pranksters staging anarchic cinema/cabaret events in squatted buildings, bars, caés and nightclubs. Over the past 10 years Donal has made a number of trips to the Peruvian Amazon to work with and learn from various shamans, including the internationally renowned visionary painter Pablo Amaringo. During a year long stay in Peru in 2001, Donal started to shoot the feature documentary Talking to God on the Big White Telephone, which documents Donal's own healing and his experiences as an apprentice Ayahuasquero with Graziella Shuña, a first cousin of Amaringoâ's. At present he is trying to raise money to finish this project.
  See also his web site: headoverheels.org.uk.
  • Talking to God on the Big White Telephone
    (Sunday 29th March, 11:30 - 12:30) Donal will explore the science, psychic topography, mythology and dietary prescriptions of Amazonian shamanic initiation, and how, by following the prolonged ordeal of the diet the plants teach and give the initiate power. This talk is based on a decade of first hand experience following a traditional diet with Ayahuashca (Donal has drunk hundreds of times) and extensive interviews with many Peruvian Ayahuasqueros including the renowned Pablo Amaringo. It will explore authentic indigenous shamanism from the inside out.
  
  

• Hugh Newman
  Hugh runs the well known and highly respected Megalithomania conference on stone circles and ancient mysteries, organises talks and areas at festivals, focusing on earth mysteries, consciousness, sacred Geometry and megalithics. He also studies naturopathic nutrition and researches how the ancients may have worked with this in neolithic times. He is currently organising Megalithomania 2009 & has just authored a new book Earth Grids: The Secret Patterns of Gaia's Sacred Sites. His talk will be about new scientific research into earth energies, tellutic currents and how the ancients may have worked with these subtle energies.
  See Hugh's webs sites www.avalonrising.co.uk and www.megalithomania.co.uk.
  • Energy paths, the global grid, and Neolithic lifestyle
    (Sun 29th, 4:30 - 5:30)

• Deborah Marshall-Warren
  Deborah has been a practising hypnotherapist for more than a decade, and specialises in Interactive Hypnotherapy. She a an Vice Chair, and an Emeritus Fellow of the Hypnotherapy Society in the UK. Over the years, Deborah has help thousands of cients to transform their lives, has trained people in hypnotherapy in London and Malta, and has published three books (Mind Detox, I'm Afraid of Hypnosis but I don't Know Why, and Consultancy in the Sun! and four audio recordings.
  See her web site, www.marshall-warren.com
  • Visualisation and ancient energy paths
    (Sunday 29th, 13:30-14:30)
    In the hypnotic state, the liminal barrier between the conscious mind and subconsious relaxes and becomes permeable. We have easy access to information and opportunities for change that are difficult or impossible in the normal waking state. The therapist's role is like a choreographer, guiding us in a tango with the subconscious mind, leading us down into forgotten memories in the antechamber of consciousness. In this session, Deborah will talk briefly about the hypnotic state, dispelling some of the myths about hypnosis, and then lead us through a visualisation of energy paths passing through the meeting room. As an experiment at the end of the talk, we will then try to dowse the visualised paths. There are different theories in circulation about whether 'energy paths' are a novel physical phenomenon or whether they exist only in consciousness. If we can create dowsable energy paths by the power of imagination, this suggests that they have a strong link with consciousness.

• Peter B Lloyd
  Peter B Lloyd has been researching the philosophy of consciousness since the 1980s. In a number of published books, chapters, articles, and conference papers, he has promoted the ancient concept that consciousness is the fundamental ground of existence. Trained in mathematics and science, Peter seeks to form bridges between the rigorous approach that has served science well for three centuries, and the vast realm of consciousness that is wholly ignored by the scientific enterprise and which is usually approached through introspective and esoteric disciplines. He will give an introduction to the conference, and will later give two talks about his own philosophical studies, which challenge conventional thinking both in mainstream science and in the 'earth mysteries' circles.
  • Introduction to Metageum
    (Saturday 21st, 10:00 - 11:00)
    Welcome to Metageum 09: a tour around the several connected topics of these two linked weekends, and a review of Metageum 07. Peter will be talking about the lacuna in conventional archaeology, a blindspot which ignores altered states of consciousness as a significant factor in understanding the prehistoric mindset; and which a fortiori fails to address the question of the veridical content of visions and the possible practical use of psi phenomena in prehistoric times. There is a gap in the 'market-place of ideas', which is situated between coventional materialistic archaeology on the one side and undisciplined speculation on the other. The speakers at this conference are all making significant contributions in this emerging field: they are bravely creating a new stall in the market-place of ideas.

  • Subtle energy and the magickal manipulation of metaphors
    (Sunday 22nd, 10:00 - 11:00)
    A commonly used concept in earth mysteries as well as alternative medicine is that of 'subtle energy', a form of energy that flows around the Earth in ley-lines and dowsable energy paths, is anchored at megalithic temples and other sacred sites, and also flows along meridians of the body. But what is 'subtle energy'? Peter will argue that people have hi-jacked 'energy' as an explanatory concept from physics, and have been playing fast and loose with it ever since. He advocates that 'subtle energy' is actually an inadequate for the transcendent phenomena that are at work in psi and in sacred sites. He suggests that we should migrate our terms of reference away from the limiting ideas of physics and explore a brave, new world of ideas based on consciousness existing outside physical space.

  • Environmental consciousness and the philosophy of immaterialism
    (Sunday 29th, 10:00 - 11:00)
    In the Vedic scriptures, and especially the Upanishads, we find the philosophical doctrine that the supposedly solid world around us is ultimately illusory and that the ground of all being the consciousness of a world-soul. It is a concept of reality that also pervades Buddhism. In the West, we find echoes of it in Neo-Platonism, but the only clear articulation of it in the writings of George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne. In modern times, studies of earth mysteries and parapsychology have led to the notion of a landscape alive with a consciousness that manifests through forests and psychoactive plants, and which can be engaged with through standing stones and stone circles. It is a notion that flatly contradicts the materialistic world-view but finds its home in the immaterialism of the Upanishads and Bishop Berkeley.

• Agurtzane Larranaga
  Agur is an accomplished provider of macrobiotic meals, who works on a freelance, as well as working in catering for Saf, the celebrate vegan restaurant in London. She began a serious interest in macrobiotics in 1999. A member of the group she was living with in her hometown had a very serious kidney condition; doctors gave him a year and no solution for it; desperately, he tried all different kinds of things without improving at all. He found a macrobiotic counsellor who gave him a very strict macrobiotic diet to follow. In a year he was the healthiest of the whole group. This prompted Agur to study macrobiotics. She lived and worked at the Kushi institute of Amsterdam, and is currently studyng a three-year course at the Holistic Cooking School of Devon.
  • Lunch at the conference venue
    (each day, 12:30 - 13:30, price TBD)

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  Further contributions are sought for all parts of the event. The three, inter-related key subject areas are as follows:

  • Altered states of consciousness: The different ways of entering altered states (sound, breathwork, sensory deprivation, sexual ecstasy, psychedelic plants), and the shamanic uses of those states of consciousness -- especially in the context of prehistory and the early development of creativity and religion.

  • Geomancy: The relationship between megalithic structures and the entity that is the Earth itself, the use of dowsing to engage with the Earth. What exactly is it in the environment that dowsing detects? What degree of intelligence and intentionality can be ascribed to the geomantic realm?

  • Archaeo-astronomy and metrology: It is evident that spatio-temporal alignments between megalithic tenples and celestial bodies (essentially the rising and setting of the Sun, the Moon, and certain stars) were of central importance to the neolithic architects throughout the world. What was the intention and function of such alignments? What connection do they have with geomancy and human consciousness?

  If you would be interested in making a contribution, please click through to the Contact page.

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  Archive for Metageum 07

  

  Metageum 07 was held in Malta from 3rd to 11th November 2007. About seventy-five people took part in various capacities. The original web site, with some updates, is mothballed here. This will, at some point, be updated with information and pictures.

  

  See also these two reviews which have appeared online:

  • Gyrus, who includes some audio and video recordings on his web site: dreamflesh.com. "It was also one of the most inspiring pools of people I’ve swum in, and it was great to have such a leisurely dip."

  • Renate Haupt had a mixed experience but found it worth-while: www.desertfoxoverland.co.uk. "I believe the conference had its successes it also had its failures too; and I console myself by saying that the conference happened against the odds and as such, the attempt should be lauded as a platform to build upon for the next Metageum Conference."

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  At Megalithomania
  

  During 2007, the principal organiser, Peter B Lloyd, gave a number of promotional talks about the Neolithic temples of Malta, and the background ideas of Metageum. One of these talks, given at the Megalithomania conference (www.megalithomania.co.uk) in Glastonbury, May 2007, is available on audio CD from the organisers of Megalithomania (as indeed are all the talks from the 2006 and 2007 Megalithomania events, and DVDs for the 2008 event), and can be purchased online.

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