Dunedin
Theosophical Society469 Moray Place
Dunedin
Phone 03 471 7132
Meditation
Group
Monday Nights 7.30pm
Speaker
Wednesday Night
7.30pm
Yoga
Friday Night
5.00pm
To apply for membership fill out a form available at the desk; $20 unwaged, $25 waged
Should you wish to subscribe to or unsubscribe from this newsletter just email us.
Monday Nights 7.30pm
Speaker
Wednesday Night
7.30pm
Yoga
Friday Night
5.00pm
To apply for membership fill out a form available at the desk; $20 unwaged, $25 waged
Should you wish to subscribe to or unsubscribe from this newsletter just email us.
The
Vahan The monthly newsletter
December 2008
Welcome
to our December issue. It is a busy time of year for
all of
us and so it is near the end of the month. As you will read below we
have a new committee that is eager to look at how we can
develop
our local Theosophical Society over the coming year. The committee has
a planning afternoon scheduled in January, which willl help us further
in laying down the direction in which we wish to head. We have such a
strong and varied number of speakers and programmes we are discussing
that our main problem is likely to be how we can possibily fit it all
in.
In order to give us time to plan properly our Wednesday night speakers will begin in February. Watchout for next month's newsletter.
As a committee we have a clear focus of moving towards joint leadership, so we wish to recognise all the talents and skills that we all have and encourage participation and contribution from as wide a range of interested people as possible. We wish to develop a vibrant community of like minded people sharing and supporting each other to truly bring alive the "fire in the spirit" that Warwick Keys, our national president spoke about when he visited us.
At
the AGM held this month the new committee was elected. Phil Philpot,
who had been the leading the society for the last eight years, decided
to take a break and did not stand. Victor MacGill steps into the
position and becomes the President. Tracey Crampton Smith was elected
again to the position of Vice President.
James Fox continues as our Treasurer and librarian and Marie Lloyd as our Secretary. The committee members are Debbie Pratt, Kerry Goodhew and Aelred Edmunds. This forms a vibrant committee looking to move forward during the coming year, developing our society into a strong, dynamic organisation. We will be meeting this month to work out a strategy for how we can best provide the best services to our members and those interested in what we do.
We extend our special thanks to Phil for his leadership for the last eight years and to Margaret van der Vis who also decided not to stand for the committe in the current year. They will continue to support us, so we still see them around.
The
National President, Warwick Keys, came and talked to our local group
this month. His message was about the fire of the spirit. We had a
lively discussion on how to spark the fire in the spirit to release the
potential we all have to face the challenges that are before us in this
new century. We discussed what the society needs to do nationally,
internationally and locally in order to thrive and grow.
We talked a lot about building a sense of community and what we need to do to make the society into a place people want to come and feel a part and feel as though they have a real contribution to make. Part of what needs to happenis to make our language appropiate for people living in today's world.
Warwick was also keen to look at shared leadership, rather than sticking to more traditional models. This allows an organisation to draw on a much larger pool of skills and abilities and allows people to have a stronger feeling of ownership. We generally agreed that this was a good model for us to develop.
We
are noticing quite an increase in the number of people visiting our
website. We have had over 30 people come to our site in one day. We
will be working hard to keep up the content to make it worth coming
back regularly. We appreciate anything you may have to offer
that we
could put on the site.
Victor
and Phil went to the National Council meeting in Auckland recently.
Phil went to say farewell as the outgoing president and Victor to meet
everyone and to try and gain an understanding of how things work at the
national level.
There is an updated booklet being produced giving an outline of theosophical beliefs that will be shortly available. The preview we saw looked very impressive. There are a number of new projects being looked at that could very exciting to be a part of.
In early January the national convention will be held in Wellington and our President and Vice-president will attend.
Dunedin
is only one of the groups of theosophists in our region. There are
groups in Invercargill, Gore and Oamaru. We are happy for this
newsletter to be used by other groups to send information to your
members by email. Just give us the email addresses of your members and
any information you would like to pass on.
We have heard that Oamaru is developing a "thrill seeker's guide to spirituality and science". It would be great to hear more of what the groups near us are doing and look at how we can support each other.
A
number of our members attended the summer solstice celebrations at the
labyrinth of Dave and Linda Duff at Mosgiel. We had a great night
walking the labyrinth, chanting, singing, listening to poetry and
eating heartily. We also had a brief time to remember Ted Sommerville,
a past committee member and Treasurer, who died a year ago. Last year's
labyrtinth celebration was the last public event he went to before his
death.
The photo shows Aelred and Jonathon providing music while we walked the labyrinth.
In order to give us time to plan properly our Wednesday night speakers will begin in February. Watchout for next month's newsletter.
As a committee we have a clear focus of moving towards joint leadership, so we wish to recognise all the talents and skills that we all have and encourage participation and contribution from as wide a range of interested people as possible. We wish to develop a vibrant community of like minded people sharing and supporting each other to truly bring alive the "fire in the spirit" that Warwick Keys, our national president spoke about when he visited us.
Website Down for a couple of days
Our website is down for a couple of days (23 Dec) due to technical problems. We hope to have it back online in the next day or twoAnnual General Meeting
At
the AGM held this month the new committee was elected. Phil Philpot,
who had been the leading the society for the last eight years, decided
to take a break and did not stand. Victor MacGill steps into the
position and becomes the President. Tracey Crampton Smith was elected
again to the position of Vice President.James Fox continues as our Treasurer and librarian and Marie Lloyd as our Secretary. The committee members are Debbie Pratt, Kerry Goodhew and Aelred Edmunds. This forms a vibrant committee looking to move forward during the coming year, developing our society into a strong, dynamic organisation. We will be meeting this month to work out a strategy for how we can best provide the best services to our members and those interested in what we do.
We extend our special thanks to Phil for his leadership for the last eight years and to Margaret van der Vis who also decided not to stand for the committe in the current year. They will continue to support us, so we still see them around.
National President's Visit
The
National President, Warwick Keys, came and talked to our local group
this month. His message was about the fire of the spirit. We had a
lively discussion on how to spark the fire in the spirit to release the
potential we all have to face the challenges that are before us in this
new century. We discussed what the society needs to do nationally,
internationally and locally in order to thrive and grow.We talked a lot about building a sense of community and what we need to do to make the society into a place people want to come and feel a part and feel as though they have a real contribution to make. Part of what needs to happenis to make our language appropiate for people living in today's world.
Warwick was also keen to look at shared leadership, rather than sticking to more traditional models. This allows an organisation to draw on a much larger pool of skills and abilities and allows people to have a stronger feeling of ownership. We generally agreed that this was a good model for us to develop.
Website Visits
We
are noticing quite an increase in the number of people visiting our
website. We have had over 30 people come to our site in one day. We
will be working hard to keep up the content to make it worth coming
back regularly. We appreciate anything you may have to offer
that we
could put on the site.Personal Websites
Paid members can have their websites added to our list of links. So, if you have a webpage, let us know the web address and we will add your site.Receiving the Vahan by Post
For those of you that receive your copy of the Vahan by post, we have now decided against asking people to pay for the cost of postage as mentioned in the previous newsletter.National Council Meeting
Victor
and Phil went to the National Council meeting in Auckland recently.
Phil went to say farewell as the outgoing president and Victor to meet
everyone and to try and gain an understanding of how things work at the
national level.There is an updated booklet being produced giving an outline of theosophical beliefs that will be shortly available. The preview we saw looked very impressive. There are a number of new projects being looked at that could very exciting to be a part of.
In early January the national convention will be held in Wellington and our President and Vice-president will attend.
Theosophists of the Southern South Island
Dunedin
is only one of the groups of theosophists in our region. There are
groups in Invercargill, Gore and Oamaru. We are happy for this
newsletter to be used by other groups to send information to your
members by email. Just give us the email addresses of your members and
any information you would like to pass on.We have heard that Oamaru is developing a "thrill seeker's guide to spirituality and science". It would be great to hear more of what the groups near us are doing and look at how we can support each other.
Labyrinth
A
number of our members attended the summer solstice celebrations at the
labyrinth of Dave and Linda Duff at Mosgiel. We had a great night
walking the labyrinth, chanting, singing, listening to poetry and
eating heartily. We also had a brief time to remember Ted Sommerville,
a past committee member and Treasurer, who died a year ago. Last year's
labyrtinth celebration was the last public event he went to before his
death.The photo shows Aelred and Jonathon providing music while we walked the labyrinth.