Washington DC is not normally linked with shamen and megaliths who we associate with Peruvian medicine men and dolmens on Salisbury Plain. But they have more in common with the origins of modern cities than we realize. We mistakenly believe that cities grew out of farming. Instead, the ancient archetype of civilization that appeared in Mesopotamia over 6,000 years ago introduced farming. The Egyptians, Phoenicians and Mayans used knowledge gained from shamanic ritual to build cities. Pharaohs were initiated as shamen; and learnt the secrets of alchemy. There is evidence in Indo-European languages that confirms this archetype. The roots of their common language reveals that they had contact with the civilisers, even though early Indo-Europeans did not live in cities until several thousand years later and never learnt all their secrets. We now have the benefit of cities but not the secret knowledge.

Lucy Wyatt lives with her family on a small Suffolk farm that was still derelict in 2000. It was a rare chance to explore living in harmony with Nature. Lucy is interested in Earth energies and for over 10 years has led local Gatekeeper Trust pilgrimages at the equinoxes and solstices. In January 2010, O Books published her first book, Approaching Chaos - could an ancient archetype save C21st civilisation?

The RILKO AGM will be held from 6.45 to 7.15 prior to this lecture.

Described by poet and scholar Kathleen Raine as 'one of the most brilliant men in England', John Michell was a unique, multi-faceted personality and a writer who produced many flashes of genius. As a modern Merlin, he influenced a whole generation or more with his revelations and insights into ancient science - geometry, geodesy, and cosmology - and he stands as a twentieth-century giant in the stream of arithmosophy. However, John Michell dealt with many subjects. In this talk, Christine Rhone will survey his work as a whole, viewing his books over four decades and showing how each book contributed to his central vision.

Christine Rhone is a French American dual national living in London . She is the co-author, with John Michell, of Twelve-Tribe Nations and worked with him for three years on The Cereologist magazine. She is the translator of such titles as Sacred Geography of the Ancient Greeks by Jean Richer, and Youthfulness and Chivalry in Iranian Islam by Henry Corbin; forthcoming is Western Esotericism: A Concise History by Antoine Faivre (SUNY, 2010). She contributes to many small press publications.

Hearing is the first sense to develop and the last to leave at death. Ancient people recognized the importance of sound and sought out resonant caves to perform rituals. Later temples and churches were built to enhance sound and music for the purpose of expanding consciousness. In this lecture we will journey across space and time via images and sounds, including the cymatic cubes at Rosslyn Chapel; Chartres Cathedral; prehistoric painted caves; the Michael and Mary lines in Britain; and the world's most extraordinary sonic temples. We will discover the relationship of vocal structure with sacred architecture and explore the mysteries of the human voice. We will also listen to the sacred music of different cultures from swan bone whistle flutes played in the Neolithic, to a 3,000 year old lullaby, to pilgrim songs to the Black Madonna of Montserrat, to contemporary music recorded in sacred sites and finally with the sound of our own voices.

Susan Elizabeth Hale MA., is an internationally renowned music therapist, sound healer and author from America . Her latest book is Sacred Space, Sacred Sound: The Acoustic Mysteries of Holy Places . She is a seminar leader, teacher and guide, helping people to explore their sacred paths and find and free the natural voice. See www.songkeeper.net

In this illustrated talk, Paul Broadhurst will reveal the extraordinary discoveries in his new book The Secret Land. He will show that a series of gigantic landscape figures were created in the West Country to reflect important star constellations linked to Arthurian mythology. These include the Great Bear at Tintagel, the legendary birthplace of King Arthur. Since Arthur means Great Bear in the old British language the truth is shown to be derived from an impressive understanding of cosmology, for the constellation of the Great Bear is the guardian of heavenly order, which ancient kings sought to bring down to earth. These figures create a 'Round Table' of constellations, each reflecting the powers associated with certain star groups. Merlin was the originator of the Round Table, which became Arthur's property on his marriage to Guinevere, the King of Cornwall's daughter, and these discoveries are linked to the earliest known British legends. Here is proof that the megalith builders, Druids and early Celtic Christian Church, as well as the Knights Templar, understood the secrets of the landscape.

Paul Broadhurst is one of the most original authors and researchers into the mysteries of ancient landscapes, their myths and their effects on human consciousness. Probably best known as the co-author of classics The Sun and the Serpent and The Dance of the Dragon , which have changed the way a whole generation relate to the land, he has also written a number of ground breaking books investigating subjects as diverse as Holy Wells, Arthurian mythology and the real meaning behind the myth of St George.

This is an event dedicated to the remarkable story of the oldest living things in Europe and their endangered future. The yew is one of the most versatile life forms on earth botanically rich and intriguing. The story of the yew has a rich cultural and historical background it was the Tree of Life, the tree in the Garden of Eden and the original Christmas Tree. Yet, the British obsession with using yew for the medieval longbow led to the destruction of yew forests across continental Europe because the wood was superior. Now, the mass destruction of yews overseas means that the UK is a Noah's Ark for the conservation of ancient yews worldwide. Eighty to eighty five per cent of these grow in British churchyards, where the Church is the guardian and custodian of this ancient heritage. Fred Hageneder is an authority on ethnobotany. His books include: The Spirit of Trees: Science, Symbiosis and Inspiration (2000) and The Living Wisdom of Trees: Natural History, Folklore, Symbolism, Healing (2005) and Yew - A History (2007). Fred is a founding member and the chairman of Friends of the Trees, a registered charity concerned with nature conservation, and a founder member of the AYG (Ancient Yew Group).

Paul Devereux is a research affiliate with the Royal College of Art, and Managing (and a founding) Editor of Time & Mind - The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture (Berg, Oxford ). He is a Senior Research Fellow of the Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL), Princeton , and the Director of the Dragon Project Trust. He edited the legendary Ley Hunter magazine 1977-1997. Besides much fieldwork in deserts, mountains and jungles, he has written a great many general articles and a string of peer-reviewed papers, plus 26 books dealing with the anthropologies of consciousness, archaeoacoustics and other aspects of ancient sites, landscapes and lifeways. He lectures in Europe, the UK and North America . His latest book is Sacred Geography ; a major work published this year by Gaia Books. www.pauldevereux.co.uk

Geomancy is the esoteric art of working with the living energies of the land. Geomancy today echoes ancient shamanic practices, with extra-sensory skills used to divine Earth spirit and read the twilight language of the soul of the landscape, its Dreamtime dimension. A renewal of interest in such mysteries and concern for Earth's well-being has spawned a new generation of geomancers who are championing the protection of sacred landscapes, in a world enmeshed with electro-magnetic pollution, a potential carcinogen. The 'Spirit of Place' looks at how people can access the Dreamtime dimensions of place, and avoid the impacts of noxious energies in the environment by using their dowsing abilities.

Alanna Moore is an Australian geomancer specialising in surveying the subtle energies of place, and in 1984 she co-founded the New South Wales Dowsing Society. For over 27 years she has advised on the selection of healthy living locations and warns against building on geopathic stress zones or 'fairy pathways'. Alanna, who has English and Irish heritage, is familiar with the ancient geomantic traditions of the Australian Aboriginals. She finds many parallels with the culture of Ireland where there is traditional respect for the land and its invisible forces. She is also a permaculture farmer and teacher, and currently spends summers in Ireland , where the Round Towers inspired the 'Power Towers' that she creates to enhance plant growth and well-being. Alanna is also a filmmaker and the author of seven books, including Sensitive Permaculture (2009), Divining Earth Spirit (2004) and Stone Age Farming (2001), which is about esoteric agriculture and Power Towers. She has an informative website at: www.geomantica.com

Recent articles in the RILKO Journal have renewed interest amongst members into ancient 'Portals' or 'Gateways', so perhaps the Time has come to explore such phenomena in detail. Originally they were predicted by Bertrand Russell the philosopher who said: "100 years from now it won't matter whether I died in 2012 or 2013 or even 2020. But I believe that some type of Cosmic Portal will be opening at that time and place and that an opportunity will present itself. I fully expect that it will either lead to the next level of this cosmic programme; freedom from an imprisoning time-loop; a Martian-like bubble; or something equally as exotic." Hence we can look more scientifically into the creation of Cosmic Portals, their potential for transformations into other dimensions and the discovery of many startling implications, which may enhance our daily lives through the inner workings of our DNA. This situation arises out of a series of articles published in Nature , whose unique encryptions when decoded, open up wider horizons and contain the Secrets of a Lost Science .

Peter Welsford FCA is a researcher and writer into Hidden Harmonics (The HH Factor) and a past Treasurer of The Scientific & Medical Network, England

Hearing is the first sense to develop and the last to leave at death. Ancient people recognized the importance of sound and sought out resonant caves to perform rituals. Later temples and churches were built to enhance sound and music for the purpose of expanding consciousness. In this lecture we will journey across space and time via images and sounds, including the cymatic cubes at Rosslyn Chapel; Chartres Cathedral; prehistoric painted caves; the Michael and Mary lines in Britain; and the world's most extraordinary sonic temples. We will discover the relationship of vocal structure with sacred architecture and explore the mysteries of the human voice. We will also listen to the sacred music of different cultures from swan bone whistle flutes played in the Neolithic, to a 3,000 year old lullaby, to pilgrim songs to the Black Madonna of Montserrat, to contemporary music recorded in sacred sites and finally with the sound of our own voices.

What has long been the connection between music and sound and the ancient belief that it often serves as a powerful catalyst for the alteration of consciousness - i.e., mind expansion? Why do certain temple rituals feature sound? Why did many ancient civilisations highly value certain musical intervals, specific rhythms, and acoustic properties? And what are the recent discoveries by modern scientists and medical experts? Join historian Dr Karen Ralls, musician and author of Music and the Celtic Otherworld, Indigenous Religious Music (shamanic), to learn more about certain megalithic sites, Pythagorean theory and Greek sites, early mystery schools, Egyptian temples and sound, and Rosslyn Chapel today, exploring their relationship to sound, geometric proportion, and other key correspondences - many of which have, for centuries, been believed to enhance human consciousness and greater awareness of a spiritual, expansive dimension to the mind. While ancient shamanic or priesthood's concept of an Otherworld(s) dimension - and its vibrational/sound aspects as used in many mystery schools - is well-known to us today from anthropology, what is now emerging is growing confirmation from scientific and medical studies in our own time about the effects of sound/music, rhythms, and mantic incantation(s) on the human mind and consciousness. From Plato's quote that "Music gives..wings to the mind" to 1960s Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's comment that music takes "the mind and spirit to places unknown...and nothing is too weird for the muse". What will your quest reveal?

Karen Ralls, PhD, historian and musicologist, was postdoctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh and is author of The Templars and the Grail, Music and the Celtic Otherworld , Indigenous Religious Music (SOAS), and more

'Mary Countess of Pembroke, Delia born of a laurel-crowned race, true sister of Sidney the bard of Apollo, fostering parent of letters, Muse of the Poets of our time' (C. Marlowe). Mary Sidney was a phenomenon, a remarkable Renaissance woman who played a considerable role in what can be called the 'Shakespeare Enigma'. In this talk Susan will consider the controversial notion that Sidney's Wilton Academy, with its team of Renaissance writers and promoters, was involved in sponsoring, creating, and printing, what became known in 1623 as 'The Workes of William Shakespeare'. The first known plays of Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus , Richard III and 3 Henry VI were actually brought onto the world stage in 1592 through her own theatrical company, Pembroke's Men. Marlowe, Daniel, Jonson, and many other great Elizabethan and Jacobean writers sang her praises, and after her death, the compilers of the Folio dedicated it to her sons, 'the incomparable brethren.'

Susan Sheridan wrote and performed her one woman show The Merry Wife of Wilton , which prompted her to follow the academic trail into Shakespeare Authorship Studies resulting in an MA in July 2009. Her varied acting career has taken her from Clacton to Hollywood, and her specialist voice work has led to a further career in voice coaching. Susan has given talks for the Gatekeeper Trust, the London Earth Mysteries Circle, Surrey Dowsers and the Wiltshire Crop Circle Conferences.

Landscape Zodiacs continue to be seen, particularly by the sceptically inclined, as more imagination than objective reality. Following in the footsteps of Katharine Maltwood, Elizabeth Leader and Mary Caine, Anthony Thorley has for many years been researching into the origins and continuance of the landscape zodiac phenomenon which includes not only the famed Glastonbury Zodiac, but over forty other zodiacs in the English countryside. The emerging picture from this research is that the reality of zodiacs, and the related phenomenon of crop circles, is somehow related to human consciousness and imagination interacting with a living, enchanted landscape, a tradition recognised in many indigenous cultures as the song of the earth.

Anthony Thorley is a retired psychiatrist who has been researching landscape energies and traditions for over thirty years. Together with his wife Celia Gunn he has recently completed a major world overview of sacred sites and their protection. He has just published his first novel , Well Below Average , is working on a book on the Masonic vision of eighteenth-century Bath, and is developing a PhD on the conceptual basis of landscape zodiacs as sacred space.

The 516 drawings in the Byrom Collection cover a wide range of different but interrelated disciplines. Joy Hancox had spent 25 years pursuing the provenance of this unique resource and will this evening unravel the latest findings about these drawings that she has identified with Elizabethan playhouse and their aristocratic patrons. The trail of her investigations has led her to hitherto unknown connections with Elizabethan industrial monopolies, people and places in Wales. The recent findings at the site of the original playhouse in Shoreditch, London, have prompted her to include a practical demonstration of how the design concept of the theatres in the drawings can be interpreted with the help of the number symbolism associated with the Cabbala and the Rosicrucian philosophies.

oy Hancox is an Associate of the Royal College of Music who gave up her work in education to research the life of John Byrom, a member of the Royal Society. Studying his phonetic shorthand and interest in codes led her to discover his collection of remarkable mathematical drawings. Their relevance to the Elizabethan theatre opened up wider areas of knowledge. The latest stage in this odyssey is now complete and ready for publication

Why do secret societies have such an appeal? What do they believe, and where do their beliefs come from? Freemasonry, Rosicrucian and Neo-Templar organisations, the various offshoots of the Golden Dawn and the OTO - do any of them have any genuine claim to be the true successors to historical movements? Does it matter if they make up their own histories, as well as their myths and rituals? What are the connections, if any, between John Dee, the Royal Society, Aleister Crowley and Wicca? And does the Priory of Sion, star of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and a best-selling thriller, actually exist? Can David Barrett possibly answer all these questions and more in just an hour?

David V Barrett is the author of, amongst others, The New Believers: A Survey of Sects , "Cults" & Alternative Religions , A Brief History of Secret Societies, and the Atlas of Secret Societies . He is a frequent contributor to Fortean Times magazine, and has written for many other newspapers and magazines, mainly on esoteric religion and history

Are stars sentient? What are their connections to UFOs, crop circles, fairy encounters, alien abductions and prehistoric sites? Are they related to plasma life, and fifth dimensional environments? Andrew Collins, no stranger to RILKO, seems to think so, and will reveal all in a fascinating new talk to tie in with the publication of his book THE NEW CIRCLEMAKERS. He shows that plasma might well be the key to understanding our relationship to contact with non-terrestrial intelligences, and the transference of thought and matter across time and space.

Andrew Collins has enlisted the aid of psychics from the time he became a journalist for Strange Phenomena magazine in 1979, with a view to a better understanding of the relationship between UFOs, prehistoric sites, earth energies and the human mind. This has resulted in two books The Circlemakers (1992) and Alien Energy (1994). Since then he has written several alternative-history'books including: From the Ashes of Angels (1996); Gods of Eden (1998); Gateway to Atlantis (2000), and The Cygnus Mystery (2006). He lives in Wiltshire at the heart of crop circle country and his most recent book, The New Circlemakers, uses cutting edge science on fifth dimensional environments and plasma life to answer age-old questions about UFOs, alien abductions and fairy encounters. andrewcollins. com.

Tonight's speaker will explore aspects of his new book looking at the history and new research on a global grid that involves ancient maps, sacred geography, great earth circles, ancient metrology, earth energies, geomathematics and leys, and how the ancient megalithic sites around the world were carefully located by an as yet unknown sophisticated maritime civilisation with a plan. Clues in the sites themselves hold the key to this mystery. Also many global sites have unusual alignments that cannot be explained by archaeo-astronomy or leys. He has also found evidence in South America that the Michael and Mary energy lines are a global phenomenon and will explore all these possibilities in this Power Point presentation.

Hugh Newman is an earth mysteries and esoteric science researcher. He organises the Megalithomania Conferences (www.megalithomania.co.uk). co-edits Avalon Rising magazine and is the Earth Energies and Divinatory Arts coordinator at the Big Green Gathering. He has researched the Indigo child phenomenon and published a book on the subject. His most recent book, Earth Grids - The Secret Patterns of Gaia's Sacred Sites, has been published by Wooden Books. He is an honorary member of The Antiquarian Society and has spoken at conferences in the UK, Malta and America

Over many years the speaker became impressed by allusions to the possibility of a World-wide network of ley-lines, possibly dating back to Atlantis. Then in 2005 he intuitively sawwhat was powering our Planet - there were huge psychic crystals embedded within the etheric or spiritual body of the Planet whose energies radiated upwards from their apices and edges onto the surface of the Earth thereby producing the primary ley-line network or matrix of the Earth. These are in the form of the interlocking Platonic solids and represent the five elements known to the ancients. They are anchored onto important sacred sites on the Earth, such as the Great Pyramid of Giza, and embody the Golden-Ratio. This revolutionary concept opens the way for geomancers around the World to make more meaningful studies of their areas and removes much of the guesswork that can lead into blind alleys.

Roy Snelling became fascinated by maps, geography and topography during his career as a Town Planner, and from a life-long study of mysticism, which involved absorbing the works of Watkins, Maltwood, Michell and Critchlow, he developed an interest in earth-energies, ley-lines and sacred sites. He has had articles published in the Gatekeeper Trust Newsletter and the RILKO Journal and is currently preparing four books on New Age Spirituality. One deals with the possibility of expanding his Planetary Matrix theory to encompass Chartres Cathedral and its importance in the sacred destiny of Europe

Chiswick House is recognised internationally as a masterpiece of Neo-Classical architecture. Built by Lord Burlington from 1728, the purpose of the villa has always remained a mystery. This lecture will concentrate on the interesting possibility that the villa and its gardens were conceived and functioned as active Masonic lodges. Particular emphasis will be placed on the highly symbolic evidence within william Kent's cell paintings and artitecture. When these various elements are evaluated together, the true meaning of Lord Burlington's villa is finally revealed.

Ricky Pound is the Visitor Operations Site Supervisor at Chiswick House (English Heritage) in west London. He has studied the Masonic symbolism at Chiswick House for ten years and in 2007 conducted an in-depth tour of the house on this theme for RILKO members. He is the author of several related papers and has been interviewed on television and radio about his fascinating theories.

Inspired, originally, by Henry Lincoln's study of the patterns created by the positions of churches around Rennes-le-Chateau, and his proposal that a line nearly equal to 188mm on a map at scale 1:25000 was the key to these patterns, Jonathan Harwood has spent several years examining the positions of churches in Dorset. This has culminated in the discovery of an extraordinary figure, a square overlaid by a rectangle, marked clearly by eight churches, that he has called "The Golden Fish". This incorporates the "key" 188mm measure that is shown to be an exact and significant distance in Roman feet. This figure provides new evidence that the positions of churches mark deliberate patterns in a landscape that has been enchanted by sacred geometry.

Jonathan Harwood enjoys mysteries but also likes to draw conclusions from evidence rather than from belief. He has lived and worked in South Dorset for 28 years with his wife and four (now grown up) children. He has a degree in Social Anthropology, a passion for history, antiques and playing the guitar, and a liking for old churches.

Why do secret societies have such an appeal? What do they believe, and where do their beliefs come from? Freemasonry, Rosicrucian and Neo-Templar organisations, the various offshoots of the Golden Dawn and the OTO -- do any of them have any genuine claim to be the true successors to historical movements? Does it matter if they make up their own histories, as well as their myths and rituals? What are the connections, if any, between John Dee, the Royal Society, Aleister Crowley and Wicca? And does the Priory of Sion, star of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and a certain third-rate thriller, actually exist? David Barrett will attempt to answer all these questions and more in an hour.

David V Barrett is the author of, amongst others, The New Believers: A Survey of Sects, "Cults" & Alternative Religions, A Brief History of Secret Societies , and the forthcoming Atlas of Secret Societies . He is a frequent contributor to Fortean Times magazine, and has written for many other newspapers and magazines, mainly on esoteric religion and history. For the last five years he has organised the fortnightly esoteric pub meeting called The Moot With No Name