Creative Output
Each author and artist on this page has participated in one of the lines of work which arose from the initial Soho Tree of Life group. We have only included individuals who have participated in a long-term or in a significant way, and who acknowledge this connection. Some have amalgamated this knowledge with other practices, eg in the Buddhist or Christian traditions. As space permits only one image per entry, we invite you to follow other links given or check their profiles on the internet.
This list will be added to as the website progresses. However, it will remain selective, as it is not possible to include every single person who may be eligible. Please consider these authors and artists as representative of the flourishing of this particular Kabbalistic line.
This list will be added to as the website progresses. However, it will remain selective, as it is not possible to include every single person who may be eligible. Please consider these authors and artists as representative of the flourishing of this particular Kabbalistic line.
Lucy Oliver is Australian by birth, and studied sacred symbolism at Oxford University, as well as Kabbalah and meditation in private groups. She wrote The Meditator’s Guidebook before publishing Tessellations: Patterns of Life and Death in the Company of a Master, which is a memoir of her esoteric experience and development ‘under the guidance of an extraordinary Sage’. https://www.meaningbydesign.co.uk/
Glyn Davies, founder member of the Soho Group, wrote as W. G. Davies. The Phoenician Letters is a formulation of ancient Babylonian wisdom as told through a series of letters from a secret teacher to the king’s son. It reveals the mysteries of the different Gods and the Phoenician script. Circum: A Journey was published posthumously and is a semi-autobiographical novel about a young man making his way not only through the trials of life and love, but becoming initiated into an order of esoteric work. With his Israeli wife Gila Zur, Glyn has also produced a commentary and translation of the two early Kabbalistic texts, Sepher Yetzirah and the Bahir, which can be accessed here.
Gila Zur Davies, the wife of Glyn Davies, is an artist and illustrator. As well as paintings, icons and other artworks, she has produced illustrations for books (such as the Worm Dragon Angel seminar report available here. She has also created images and animations for Sareoso. Gila, who is originally from Israel, worked with Glyn on many projects, including the translation of two early Kabbalistic texts, Sepher Yetzirah and the Bahir, which can be accessed here. Some of Gila's artworks can be viewed at gilazur.co.uk.
Grevel Lindop is an acclaimed poet, author and former professor of English literature. The Third Inkling is a biography of Charles Williams - novelist, poet, theologian, and magician. https://grevel.co.uk/ He is currently working on a biography of W. B. Yeats in relation to Yeats’ interest in the magical tradition. Grevel teaches Samatha meditation.
Michael Grevis studied in the tradition of Christian Kabbalah as formulated by Alan Bain. Unlocking Reality aims to expand and update Alan Bain’s approach, while also uniting it with the more recent work of Leonora Leet and Ken Wilber. It is ‘designed as a practical tool to help us study and practise spirituality beyond the dogmas of religion’. He also runs ‘Stompy Relaxation’. https://www.facebook.com/stompyrelaxation
Warren Kenton (Z’ev Ben Shimon Halevi) (1933-2020) wrote a series of books about Kabbalah, which emphasise how it can be formulated on the Extended Tree, and in conjunction with contemporary science and psychology. Among these are Adam and The Extended Tree (dedicated to the Society of the Common Life), Kabbalah: School of the Soul, and his autobiography The Path of a Kabbalist. He taught study groups since the early 1970s, and founded the Toledano School of Kabbalah. (See Lines of Work)
Cherry Gilchrist has written various books about alchemy, mythology, divination, and feminine archetypes. www.cherrygilchrist.co.uk. She joined a Kabbalah group in 1970, and was a founding member of Saros. Her work is aimed at re-discovering old wisdom and passing this on through her writing. Tarot Triumphs is based on her research into the traditional Tarot images, and also reveals the ‘Fool’s Mirror’ layout inherited from her teacher. Alchemy: The Great Work has been in print in various editions since it was first published in 1984. Her recent book, The Circle of Nine, portrays the nine female archetypes which inspired the 'Nine Ladies' groups associated with Saros. Her new website at www.cherrycache.org features articles on a variety of topics, including Tarot, feminine spirituality and meditation.
John Pearce is a professional artist who initially studied at Hornsey College of Art in the 1960s. His work hangs in the Guildhall, London, and he specialises in ‘plantscapes’, which are ‘the outcome of a painter working from observation within a unique space-time capsule, in which the picture develops in parallel with seasonal changes’. He also paints portraits (see the 'Lines of work' page). John was a member of Tony Potter’s group in North London. https://johnnpearceartist.com/
https://johnnpearceartist.com/art-and-realityart-and-reality/
Lance Cousins (1942 – 2015) was a leading scholar in the field of Buddhist Studies, and a teacher of Samatha meditation. He was also instrumental in helping to set up Kabbalah groups and meetings run by the Society of the Common Life, and a close friend of Glyn Davies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._S._Cousins
https://oxford.academia.edu/LSCousins
Colin Low was born in Scotland in 1951 and at various times has been an astrophysicist, lecturer in Computer Science, and an industrial researcher. He studied Kabbalah and esotericism primarily under the aegis of Margaret Bain, and now helps to run the Rockwax foundation (http://rockwax.org.uk/) to preserve these teachings. His comprehensive book The Hermetic Kabbalah is a thorough study of the theory and dynamics of the Tree of Life.
Maggy Whitehouse
Rev. Maggy Whitehouse is a former BBC television journalist, and currently a stand-up comedian, as well as an independent Christian minister. She has studied with Warren Kenton for 15 years and taught Kabbalah and Bible Metaphysics across the UK, USA and Europe for more than 20 years. She is the author of 19 published books including The Miracle Man, Total Kabbalah, A Woman’s Worth and The Book of Deborah. https://maggywhitehouse.com/ https://treeofsapphires.com
Bernard Carr is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary University of London, and his research interests include the early universe, dark matter, black holes and the anthropic principle. Bernard has a longstanding interest in psychical research, and the relationship between religion and science, and has been President of the Society for Psychical Research and Chairman of the Scientific and Medical Network. He studied in Kabbalah groups in the 1970s and later with Saros. Universe or Multiverse? investigates cosmology from a scientific perspective; selected articles and videos covering his broader range of interests are listed here. He is currently working on a book linking physics, psychical research and mysticism.
Lyn Webster Wilde has worked as a television director and producer, and as an author and screenwriter. She has a long-standing engagement with the British Mysteries, and has written about the history of the Amazons and women warriors, as well as the Celtic mysteries. Becoming the Enchanter is a magical, semi-autobiographical account of encountering those mysteries.
Charles Tetworth Little is publicly known about this author, except he is said to have been a core member of one of the groups within these lines of work. His book Wielding Power is a guide to ‘the essence of ritual practice’, and the art of ‘bootstrapping’, by starting with whatever raw materials you have at your disposal. He is described as ‘a British adept’.
Robin Waterfield is a writer and translator, and a small-time olive farmer, living in rural southern Greece. He studied and practised Kabbalah and then its manifestation as Saros Philosophy from the early 1970s to the mid-1990s. He has written over fifty books, including a biography of Kahlil Gibran, and Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis. Most of them, lately, have been on ancient Greek history and philosophy. www.robinwaterfield.com
Sarah Shaw first studied Kabbalah in a group in Manchester, and was a long-term member of Saros. She is principally a Buddhist scholar, and now teaches and writes extensively in this field. Her recent book, The Spirit of Buddhist Meditation, includes key writings from that tradition, with a guide to what they reveal about the history and practice of meditation. Sarah is a practitioner of Samatha meditation.
Richard Smoley is a philosopher and classics scholar from the USA, and currently editor of ‘Quest’ magazine. He initially joined an active Kabbalah group while on a study visit to Oxford, and has since himself become a teacher in the field. His many books and articles cover themes of the nature of God, inner Christianity, and the esoteric Western tradition. In The Dice Game of Shiva, he shows that consciousness is the reality underlying everything in the universe. In the Spring 2015 Issue of Quest Magazine, Richard writes about his first meeting with Glyn.
Walter Lassally (1926-2017) was a committed member of the Soho Cabbala Group. He became a celebrated cinematographer, especially known for the films ‘Tom Jones’ and ‘Zorba the Greek’. He was a keen user of the I-Ching, and recorded his experiments with divination. The authors of this website were fortunate enough to record Walter’s impressions of these experiences before he died in Crete in 2017. See accounts at Cherry's Cache and the blog on Soho Tree plus many videos on YouTube.
Brian L. Lancaster was formerly a professor of transpersonal psychology and is now the founding director of the Alef Trust graduate education programme. (see Lines of Work) https://www.aleftrust.org/ He has studied Kabbalah since the 1970s, often from a Jewish perspective, and written other innovatory books such as The Essence of Kabbalah, and Mind, Brain and Human Potential. Approaches to Consciousness: The Marriage of Science and Mysticism was published in 2004.
Chet Alexander studied Kabbalah in the school of Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi, and Martial Arts with Grand Master Chang for decades in the UK. In 1990 he moved to the USA. Chet and his wife Ana opened the Nityananda Center in Miami in 2009. He authored and published two books in the USA, John Crow Speaks, the Earth Teachings of the Jamaican Elders (Monkfish Press) and For the Noble Ones (Lulu Press).
Alan Bain’s book The Keys to Kabbalah is currently available on the internet. Part One is an introduction to the Tree of Life. Part Two looks at 21 stages depicted by the Tarot trumps as allocated to the lower seven sephiroth and their paths. These are related to Seven Steps of the Way which we can take in our development. Part 3 is about the 32 Paths of Wisdom and Jacob’s ladder. Alan has an unusual and interesting take on this, summarised here.
Robin Amis studied Kabbalah with the early Soho groups, and also Ouspensky and Gurdjieff teachings before he converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity in 1983. (See Lines of Work). He published poetry, as well books on mysticism. In Views from Mount Athos, he reflects on his experiences as a regular visitor to Athos, which was his last work before he died in 2014. He has also written A Different Christianity and translated the three volumes of Gnosis by Boris Mouravieff.