1st. Peace Chaplaincy; Interfaith Mission and Eco Spirituality Chaplaincy celebrated 40 years of service in 2022. The Ministry, benefits co-operative communities, encouraging an increase in thoughtful, mindful and compassionate attitudes. In the diverse society in which we all live, understanding of justice, citizenship and democracy is offered. We work with the spirit whatever the faith. We foster interfaith dialogue between people of different religious traditions and multifaith affinity with aspects of the beliefs and philosophies of Pagan, Heathen, Druid, 1st. Nations, African Animist, Celtic and Saxon Christian and Spiritualist paths. The Chaplaincy offers expertise in spiritual ecology and wider well being programmes, alongside traditional ministry, worship and mysticism. We have found ourselves more in demand than ever, as people report feeling anxious about the social and political turmoil, fighting and war around the world and lack of action on climate change, nature loss, human and animal suffering.#
William Nicholson designed and cut the first printing block for his alphabet of people in society and titled it: “A Was An Artist”.
At First Peace Chaplaincy we promote the use of creative energy for positive good.
This may be in the arts, society or in spiritual or magical matters.
Creative energy is a fundamental tool to the artist, practitioner of magic or in meditation or prayer. We explore our own perceptions of energy and its relationship in creative processes within our mind, becoming aware of intuitive feelings, empathy and emotions. Sensitive seekers attune to the spiritual, magical and psychic energy stream. Physical energy, of interest to science, can be more easily measured and quantified. To which stream are people responding, when they find peace watching a swan on calm rippling water?
Below: a golden swan in the folk art collection at Compton Verney.
Art can be one way in which we can see what these energy presences have in common. A sculptor can contrast smooth, soft warm wood with hard, cold steel to convey two distinct impressions.
Below: perhaps your response is to smile at this mosaic Owl.
Some people feel communion with spirit energies or elemental powers; they sense spiritual vibrations, they claim that these vibrations can imprint a place.
Animism & Celtic Christianity see spirit in all things, each with specific nature, emanating distinct energy. Those who practice sympathetic magic, state that energy connects to a universal web flowing between empathetic entities.
Below: a traditional bread harvest sheaf, made for a church harvest festival. Crompton Verney Folk Collection.
For forty three years, we have worked with the the ideas of Kandinsky, outlined in his work: Concerning the Spiritual in Art. In this work, the artist states: "The deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural... The brighter it becomes, the more it loses its sound, until it turns into silent stillness.” He talks of: “...the spiritual turning-point”; “...vibration of the human soul." and ”the beauty of pure color and pure shape. the epoch of great spirituality."
In his earlier writing, Point & Line to Plane, Kandinsky talks of the interaction of nature, the arts and the human. He explores the ideas that geometrical, physical, aesthetic and spiritual concepts coexist naturally, talking about external and internal worlds; he found it: “impossible to incorporate completely the inner of one realm into the outer of another”.
Energy can flow, radiate, create patterns or it can be directed or compressed.
Our arts team includes has been following the research in the development of sustainable ceramics techniques, taking place in the USA.
Our own expertise in British heritage rustic ceramics & Victorian and Edwardian rural art ceramics, complements the new knowledge in the field of sustainable ceramics. Many sustainable models are offered by the examples of the small, local production processes, from locally dug clay to the experiments that rural artist potters made, using the addition of sustainable organic materials to glazing process.
Our expertise extends to all aspects of ceramic history, including Wedgewood. Our Communities of Learning Groups find Wedgewood inspirational. Wedgewood was the master of combining the arts with culture and social concerns. he introduced division of labour into his Etruria factory, initially to prevent cross contamination between creamware from black basalt ware. However, along with his development of the Staffordshire canal system and his scientific developments in areas such as pyrometer rings, this contributed greatly to progress during the industrial revolution. His greatest social achievement was surely his campaigning in opposition to the slave trade and his founding of the antislavery medal. Coffee shop talk in the age of reason. His involvement in the societies of the day made him a significant player in the age of reason. Wedgewood delivered goods from Staffordshire, to the crowned heads of Europe, combining in his ceramics classical culture and the epitome of craft skills.
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