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Visions, Glimpses, Messages & Meanings

Roger Vlitos
 

This illustrated lecture will show how the earliest interpreters of Avebury perceived its stone circles and Silbury Hill as sacred monuments, encoding messages in the landscape. They saw these man-made structures as reflecting astrology, mathematics, magic, esoteric symbols, and lost wisdom.  Their pioneering legacy is still with us even if their methods and times seem very different from ours. 

This historical roller coaster takes us back into mists of time to the Druids and before, through to when John Aubrey was commanded by King Charles II to measure and sketch Avebury he tried to use an ancient system of Greek letters with numerological values called isopsephy, to unlock its meaning to an initiated few. Aubrey went on to hope that hidden knowledge would emerge from a secret Rosicrucian brotherhood he suspected survived in his time. As a free thinking Fellow of the Royal Society, he shared his research with mathematicians and astronomers such as Wren, Newton, and Haley. 

On to Stukley’s frenetic and ambitious field studies culminated in beguiling illustrations that conveyed sublime visions, many of which still have the power to inspire, convince and convert. 

Today, we have a new order of scientists and archaeologists, often unable to agree with each other over basic facts such as the exact measurements and dates of Avebury or Silbury Hill. 

For those interested in the links between the Wiltshire crop circle phenomenon and this key Ancient site, this lecture is a ‘must attend’! Put it in your 2009 diary and join us at Alton Barnes on the 4^th of August.

 

Biographical notes on Roger Vlitos. 

Roger Vlitos is a professional photographer, lecturer and freelance writer whose diverse work has appeared internationally for many years. For the past five years he has lectured regularly on a variety of subjects at the University of Bath and colleges of higher education in the West of England. Roger lives in Avebury where he has made an in-depth study of the landscape, which has inspired numerous artists and writers. His lectures are highly illustrated with examples of such work.

 

He has a small brown dog who rules his life.

Image Roger Vlitos Copyright 2009