LECTURES & WORKSHOPS

EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS LECTURE VENUES

In the UK lecture venues have included:

Photo courtesy of Channel 4 TV

Emmanuel College, Cambridge; The National Trust; the Physical Society of Sussex University; Rosicrucians (AMORC); many UK colleges and universities; the Festival of Mind, Body and Spirit, London and Bristol; The British UFO Research Association; various adult education institutes in London; the Astrological Association, London; the World Archaeological Congress, Southampton; The Findhorn Foundation, Scotland; the College of Psychic Studies, London; the Archaeological Society, Cambridge; Society for Psychical Research, London; Society for Scientific Exploration, Glasgow; Research into Lost Knowledge Organisation (RILKO), London; the Scientific and Medical Network, Totnes; Mystics and Scientists (Scientific & Medical Network conference), Winchester; 7th Brain/Mind Symposium, London, Fortean Times Unconvention, and has addressed many other audiences of all kinds, ranging from academic to popular, and across disciplines.

Non-UK venues have included:

The National Audubon Society's "Is the Earth a Living Organism?" symposium, University of Massachussetts, Amherst; Festival of Mind, Body and Spirit, New York; The New York Open Center (on several occasions between 1985 - 1997); the Ojai Foundation, California; The Omega Institute, NY; the Oasis Center, Chicago; Lawrence Institute of Technology, Detroit; University of Indiana at South Bend; Le Beffroi, Tours, France; Auburn University, Alabama; "Spirit of Place" geomancy symposium, Davis, California; The California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco; "The UFO Experience" conference, North Haven, Connecticut; Gaia Conference, Todtmoos, Germany; Basler Psi-tage, Switzerland; SSE Conference, Princeton University, New Jersey; Wainwright House, New York; Interface, Boston; VIBA, Den Bosch, Holland; the International Transpersonal Psychology Conference, Killarney, Ireland; 'Return to the Source' conference at the University of Delaware; 'Wege Des Geistes, Wege Der Kraft' conference, Munich, and many others. Paper on "Mind and Place" accepted for the major "Tucson II" conference on consciousness, 1996. Has conducted many workshops in the USA.

LECTURES

Devereux presents lively lectures on all the topics he covers in his books, and more. Where appropriate and facilities allow, they are usually richly illustrated with slides. Lectures can range in length from 40 minutes to 3 hours, but 60-90 minutes is the norm. He speaks to general audiences at festivals and other public events, to special interest audiences at conferences, and to specialist groups in university departments. The fee arrangement depends on the nature and financing of the venue and is negotiable, but expenses (travel, accommodation) are always required.

Lecture topics are always updated, so even the same lecture presented a year later can be substantially different. Also, subjects are simplified or content-enriched depending on the nature of the audience or the purpose of the presentation. Furthere, the mode of Devereux's presentations can vary markedly depending on the requirements, ranging from dense, fact-packed papers, to poetic and evocative presentations. But he shuns overly-soft, "New Age" material - even his most mood-modulated performances contain a spine of objective steel. He is also not afraid to challenge orthodox thinking, whether academic or New Age - for both extremes have their orthodoxies. Anyone who listens to a Devereux lecture, in whatever mode, knows that they have heard something different, however familiar the title may seem, and that it is soundly-based.

Samples of lecture synopses:

ANCIENT ASTRONOMY

A brief look at how the sun or moon interacted with some ancient monuments, and how this expressed ancient cosmology rather than early science. A look at examples from Ireland, the British Isles, Egypt, the Americas, France, and finally the Externsteine.

Slides throughout. Length: approximately 45 minutes.

THE POWER OF ANCIENT SACRED PLACES

A journey from the "energies" of sacred sites to their "numinosity" (spiritual power).

  • The nature, origins and variety of ancient sacred sites; their folklore;
  • Ancient astronomy (a very brief look);
  • Rumours of strange "energies" at ancient monuments: the Dragon Project's study of magnetism, radiation, strange light phenomena and other energy manifestations at such places;
  • Geomancy (or sacred geography) of prehistoric landscapes, from Feng shui and the omphalos to a personal experience with the Avebury complex in southern England
  • The sounds of silence: the acoustics of ancient stone chambers;
  • Sacred and healing sleep temples, from ancient Greece to the modern Dragon Project dreamwork program at sacred sites;
  • Numinosity -- the psychological effect and spiritual power of old sacred sites; the work of Rudolf Otto; how the Greeks had different words and meanings for "place" -- the meaning of Chora and how it helps us approach the full significance of ancient sacred places.

 Many slides throughout. Length: approx 90 minutes with questions.

DREAMTIME SITES & MYTH IN THE LANDSCAPE

How ancient peoples saw the images of gods, goddesses and divine beings in the physical landscape -- the archaic, mythic mind. Examples from the Australian Aborigines, Native Americans, ancient Greeks and Celts, and exciting new discoveries from ancient Egypt.

Selected slides throughout. Length: approximately 45 minutes.

GEOMANCY IN ACTION: A Personal Story

A visual account of Paul Devereux's own voyage of discovery within the Neolithic complex of Avebury in southern England (about 20 miles north of Stonehenge, but much larger and much more important a site). How it binds all the themes in cognitive archaeology. Important new discoveries with a stunning, remarkable finale.

Slides throughout. Length: approximately 30 minutes.

SHAMANIC LANDSCAPES

Uncovering the mystery of straight landscape lines on ancient landscapes, such as the Nazca lines in Peru. Revolutionary new work that gives important new insights into the ancient mind, and, ultimately, into the nature of consciousness itself.

  • A rock-art message from the ancient Bushmen of the Kalahari... What does it mean?
  • A visual overview of mystery lines in many lands, but primarily the Americas;
  • The implications for "leylines" (brief);
  • The link with shamanism; the nature of shamanism;
  • What the lines represent -- the shaman's journey or 'flight';
  • The ecstasy of trance -- the out-of-body experience; examples of spirit flight from the Kalahari to South America;
  • Evidence from the Kogi Indians of Colombia;
  • Spirit paths and the roads of the dead; Dutch Doodwegen, German Geisterwege; Viking cult roads; death paths of the Costa Rica Indians; the basis of Feng shui; the Steinweg in the Harz mountains, and much more;
  • Secrets of the labyrinth: the binding of spirits;
  • Patterns of the mind: the "entoptic" images of trance -- rock art as the small scale version of the entoptic straight landscape lines;
  • Eurasian shamanism; witchcraft in Europe; the tradition of the Myrkrida; the goddess Hel/Holda, Hel-ways and God-ways; Old Mother Goose;
  • The meaning of the Bushman's rock-art "message" with which we began the presentaation: the mysteries of the out-of-body experience, the nature of the Otherworld, or the "imaginal" state.

A major presentation: many slides throughout. Length: approximately 2 hours

Other lecture titles have included:

  • MINDSCAPES
  • THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
  • COGNITIVE ARCHAEOLOGY
  • VISIONARY PLANTS IN PREHISTORY
  • MYTHIC PERCEPTION
  • THE LEY STORY
  • ROCK ART AND ALTERED STATES
  • AN INTRODUCTION TO EARTH MYSTERIES
  • UNDERSTANDING GEOMANCY
  • FENG SHUI AND OTHER DIVINATORY TRADITIONS
  • LUCID DREAMING AND OTHER ALTERED STATES
  • THE REAL NATURE OF UFO ABDUCTIONS
  • THE DRAGON PROJECT
  • TEMPLE SLEEP & DREAMWORK AT ANCIENT SACRED SITES
  • MEDITATIONS ON NATURE, PLACE, AND MIND
  • EARTHLIGHTS: HISTORY AND LATEST RESEARCH
  • THE RE-INVENTION OF UFOLOGY

And many, many more, including presentations on specific ancient sacred sites.

Workshops

Devereux's workshops can range from one-day events to five-day courses. The format usually takes the form of selecting a range of topics, or a range of aspects of a given topic (be that ancient mysteries/earth mysteries, consciousness work, UFOs and ufology, the power of place, etc.) and an opening illustrated presentation given to explain and inform. This is followed by practical work suitable to the topic in hand. He has developed a range of practical exercises for earth mysteries that is unique. His workshops underline a remarkable fact about Devereux's work: whether ufology, earth mysteries or ancient sites and landscapes are the subject, the common denominator comes down to consciousness study. Thus many of his workshops encourage altering perceptions, psychological states and actual levels of consciousness in some cases that relate directly to the topic in hand. Devereux feels that by "framing" subjects too rigourously, by literalising them, their actual nature can be overlooked or misunderstood, and wider connections are lost. Only a day spent with Devereux makes clear that all his work is linked. He deals with connecting patterns. Some samples of workshop events have included:

LEYLINES AND DOWSING: Facts and Fallacies

A brief look at the misunderstandings about leys as "energy lines", from the man who, as editor of "The Ley Hunter" journal for 20 years, has studied the subject of "leylines" the most intensively of anyone in the whole world! A unique practical experiment in which all participants can test their own energy dowsing ability.

A few slides. Total length: approx 1.5 hours. Pendulums provided for those who do not bring their own dowsing tool.

DEVELOPING THE MYTHIC MIND

Ancient peoples of the world could see not only with their physical eyes, but also with a mythic vision. We moderns have lost that ability to see mythically. In a series of readings from his book, "ReVisioning the Earth", Paul Devereux will give a selection of ideas for ways to enhance the modern perception of mythic reality.

This way of seeing is not to be seen as being in opposition to modern rational thought, but as an addition to it. Workshop participants can take these readings simply as ideas, or they can use them as practical exercises as they wish. The readings will end with a series of prepared exercises guaranteed to modify the way participants perceive the world around them.

A few slides used for the practical exercise. Total length: 2 hours.

 

Devereux's workshops range through many activities, from building labyrinths and learning multi-sensory techniques for visiting ancient sites methods designed to promote lucid dreaming (sometimes using everyday and legal herbs).

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