Mythology

We're back - after a summer break - and we want more voices and more instruments for our workshops and for our next public performance (optional, no pressure - but I know you'll love it). Ideal entry for singers new to our workshops. Classic Soul songs in full vocal arrangements with live band. Let's bring the backgrounds to the foreground (where they belong) and put them on an equal footing with the lead vocals. Visit the "Thursday" page of our new spreadsheet to see vacancies, current members, current repertoire, and to make and see suggestions for new repertoire: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Zb1cMKrOMDvxacsw9AoRRstkx-M7r_NIrF4tZJIREU0/edit?usp=sharing This is for you if you are: • a backing vocalist • a lead vocalist • a backing vocalist who wants to develop their lead vocal skills • a lead vocalist who wants to develop their backing vocal skills • a singer who wants to develop their percussion skills • a musician who wants to accompany singers and support them • a musician who wants to develop their own vocal skills • a guitarist, keyboard player, bass player, drummer, horn player, string player, percussionist Use your existing skills and develop new ones. The Soul repertoire offers an incredibly rich variety of vocal combinations. We will be able to choose songs to suit whatever combination of leads and backing vocals we get. Have fun singing essential, but often neglected elements of the arrangements. Vocal backgrounds play an important role in Soul - using call-and-response; creating variety of texture; defining sections of the song; differentiating repeats of the same section; building excitement. The workshop will be led by Andy Dummett. Andy has been privileged to play with many of the great singers, songwriters and musicians from Stax, Atlantic, Motown and more The way we use the studio has changed. This should be reassuring for those who are hesitant or cautious. Husky is a very Covid-secure venue and it’s important that all our members are protected, especially the most vulnerable. I would not be starting up again if I wasn’t confident in their procedures. Full details are available on the studio’s website: https://www.huskystudios.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Husky-Studios-Coronavirus-COVID-19-customer-guide.pdf Please read it all. It’s too long for me to copy it all here, but I’d like to draw your attention to some of the main points. · Wear a mask when you come in · Use the hand sanitiser at the entrance · Bring your own hand sanitiser for use in the room · Bring spare masks if you need them (they are available from the office – but for £5 each!) · Let me know you’re coming. If I’m expecting you, let me know if you’re not coming. · Let me have your phone number AND postcode for NHS Test & Trace · Microphones will be available and will have been disinfected. There is a deposit of £5 per mic, refunded on return · Microphone cables are not available. If you need to use a mic, please bring your own cable These workshops can support what you do in your own bands and in band workshops run by the Institute of Rhythm & Blues (http://www.meetup.com/London-Institute-of-Rhythm-Blues-Meetup/) Please check the studio's website for the latest Covid procedures: https://www.huskystudios.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Husky-Studios-Coronavirus-COVID-19-customer-guide.pdf Fees: Per session (drop-in): £15 Your fees include the group's costs for rehearsal studio rental and hire of mic's, PA, bass amp, guitar amps and drum kit. We will work towards a public performance. See our Calendar (http://www.meetup.com/London-Institute-of-Rhythm-Blues-Meetup/events/) for all Events http://www.meetup.com/London-Institute-of-Rhythm-Blues-Meetup/events/ To see details of individual Events (past and future), you can click through from the Calendar

IN PERSON EVENT - POETRY EVENING WITH BARNABY TOBIAS AND IAIA CHIESA **Join us in the bookshop on the third Thursday of every month for the sharing of poems; either yours or another’s you admire. There will be some discussion around the poem and short tea break halfway through.** **Iaia is a poet and activist, who’s published several volumes of poetry.** **Barnaby is an actor and playwright, who’s worked for Netflix, RSC and written plays to critical acclaim.** **Drop in event with no need to book.** **Cash donations are welcome.** **More Information:** **rsh-bookshop@anth.org.uk** This group is run under the auspices of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain.

We've got the songs, the charts, the enthusiasm and some of the people. All we need is more people and your enthusiasm and your song choices. All the standard elements of a Soul band plus orchestral instruments. Exploring the best Soul songs and the best arrangements - especially those featuring strings (violin, viola, cello), French horn, flute, brass, woodwinds, percussion, background vocals. Let's have fun learning and playing a bunch of great tunes from the Soul / R&B back catalogue. There will be well-known standards and lesser-known or even obscure gems chosen from anywhere in the entire history of R&B. This is for: lead vocals, backing vocals, guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, trumpet, trombone, French horn, flute, baritone sax, tenor sax, alto sax, woodwinds, violin, viola, cello, percussion. Visit the "Thursday" page of our new spreadsheet to see vacancies, current members, current repertoire, and to make and see suggestions for new repertoire: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Zb1cMKrOMDvxacsw9AoRRstkx-M7r_NIrF4tZJIREU0/edit?usp=sharing We'll learn some classic tunes by ear and play them. You do not need to be able to read music. Support is given in learning the parts (this may sometimes include written charts / tab). The workshop will be led by Andy Dummett. Andy has been privileged to play with a number of Soul legends including Stax, Atlantic and Motown recording artists - Eddie Floyd, Solomon Burke, Ben E King, Percy Sledge, Edwin Starr, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, the Memphis Horns, Steve Cropper, Teenie Hodges, Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), Leon Ware, Dorothy Moore. Please check the studio's website for the latest Covid procedures: https://www.huskystudios.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Husky-Studios-Coronavirus-COVID-19-customer-guide.pdf Fees: Per session (drop-in): £15 Your fees include the group's costs for rehearsal studio rental and hire of mic's, PA, bass amp, guitar amps and drum kit. We will work towards a public performance. See our Calendar (http://www.meetup.com/London-Institute-of-Rhythm-Blues-Meetup/events/) for all Events http://www.meetup.com/London-Institute-of-Rhythm-Blues-Meetup/events/ To see details of individual Events (past and future), you can click through from the Calendar

Join us for a relaxed social evening for our hiking community! Whether you’ve joined us on past walks, or are simply curious about coming along, this is a great chance to meet fellow hikers and group leaders in a friendly setting. Catch up with people you’ve shared the trail with, swap stories and welcome new faces who are thinking about joining future hikes. We’ve reserved a private area upstairs in a welcoming pub, just a short walk from Waterloo Station. Food and drinks will be available, with a special discount on food for our group, so come along, unwind and enjoy a sociable evening with like-minded outdoor enthusiasts. **Location**: Upstairs in The Thirsty Bear https://maps.app.goo.gl/2DSmSpnZy9Uu1m9s9 [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/AAAhiking) \| [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/AAAHikingUK/reviews) \| [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@aaahiking) \| [Trip Adviser](https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186338-d19994843-Reviews-AAA_Hiking_Outdoor_Group-London_England.html) \| [TicTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@aaahiking) \| [Website](https://www.aaahiking.co.uk/)

**Bookable via our website ➡️** [https://www.thegoodlifecentre.co.uk/events/intro-to-traditional-upholstery-evening-38/](https://www.thegoodlifecentre.co.uk/events/intro-to-traditional-upholstery-evening-38/) ⋆⋆⋆ **KEY PROJECT: TRADITIONALLY STITCHED AND SEWN EDGED FOOTSTOOL** *All of our upholstery classes are for absolute beginners. It doesn’t matter which one you choose to take first. Each technique that is offered is part of all the processes that every upholsterer has to learn.* 6-week workshop. Thursday nights. 6:30pm – 9pm. A perfect course for a beginner. Jumpstart your knowledge of traditional upholstery skills and methods. Over six Thursday evenings, experienced upholsterers will guide you through the wonderful world of upholstery and help you build a fabulous footstool using traditional methods. You can leave your project at the centre in between classes. Before the advent of foam in the middle of the twentieth century, the only way to make wooden seats more comfortable was to build up layers using available materials. Our small fabric footstool (above) is built from layers of woven webbing, hessian, vegetable fibre, animal hair and calico and is sewn with specialist needles and stitches. Although this method is more labour-intensive than the modern method of using foam, it is much longer lasting and preferred in more expensive pieces of furniture. This is the method used in many traditional chair seats, so once learned, you can apply this method to your own projects. We provide everything for the workshop, from the wood frame to the set of natural beech wood legs that are included for you to paint or stain as you wish. Choose from our selection of top fabrics, or bring your own. You will need about a metre of fabric and you will not need it until the final class. The use of all tools and materials is included. We also have a selection of specialist upholstery tools and all the materials that we use in our workshops for sale at the Goodlife Centre for you to continue your new hobby at home. Beginners welcome. This course is run on a Thursday evening over 6 consecutive weeks. 6:30pm – 9:00pm

June's Book: What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea by Faramerz Dabhoiwala 'Eye-opening, thought-provoking and deeply enjoyable, What is Free Speech? is a work of great profundity and brilliance’ William Dalrymple A fresh and exciting approach to one of the most controversial subjects of our time ‘Free Speech!’ is a clarion call all over the world, yet what it means today is more contested than ever. Many cultures regard it as dangerous: in China, India, and across the Islamic world, unorthodox views about politics, sex, and religion are repressed and people are often punished for expressing them. Even in the western world, where it is held up as a core value, there is widespread discord and disagreement about what freedom of expression means. Amidst perennial imbalances of power, continually evolving cultural taboos, dramatic new technologies and a fast-changing global media landscape, where free speech comes from – and how we might think about it – are critical questions. Through the lens of history, What Is Free Speech? shows us that freedom of speech is not an absolute from which societies and regimes have drifted or dissented at different times, but something more complicated and interesting. Our modern conceptions of press and speech liberty, Dabhoiwala shows, were invented in Britain around 1700. The real history of freedom of expression is a story of countless fascinating men and women whose lives have shaped its principles and practices over the past 300 years – slaves and imperialists, poets and philosophers, plutocrats and revolutionaries. Ranging across Europe, North America and South Asia, and not neglecting other parts of the world, Dabhoiwala rejects celebratory platitudes about the past and present of free expression. Instead, his book explains how to think more deeply about free speech as a global as well as a local question ― by tracing how we got into our current predicaments, showing that history complicates our contemporary presumptions, and suggesting fresh possibilities for the future. The meeting starts at 7:30. Shortly after 7.30, we will break up into small groups. Those familiar with the CLH Book Group meeting know how this works: in each group we take turns introducing ourselves and giving our 1 minute thoughts on the book. It's important not to go over a minute and not to interrupt other people's minute so that everyone gets a chance to participate. After this first round, each group discusses for another 20 minutes or so. We then shuffle the groups so as to talk to as many different people as possible and in the new groups repeat our introductions and 1 minute thoughts. We'll do this a couple of times before coming all together at the end in one last big group. While we are very social and welcoming, the book group's primary focus is on discussing books. Feel free to turn up if you haven't managed to finish this month's book but note that the group works best when we have all read at least half of the book and are prepared to share our opinions. *** £3 per person to attend. If it's your first time, come and try us out for free! Pay at the event with cash or card. We encourage dialogue, debate and sharing of information on our site but ask people to keep their comments cordial. Any views expressed here are those of the individual posting them and may not reflect those of CLH.

Join us for a special solstice 5Rhythms dance with Flow Vulk and Dean Kayum. Together, we’ll create a ritual dance to celebrate the summer solstice, the turning point of the year. In the serene space of All Saints Church, we will move, reflect, and tap into the abundant energy of summer. No prior experience is needed - just bring yourself. The cost is a sliding scale of £20 or £15, paid on arrival. We can’t wait to share this special evening with you.

Discover three powerful oracle decks with creator Letao Wang —exploring celestial deities, legendary figures, heroes, villains, and the stories that shape our inner worlds. ***Legends, Heroes, and Villains Oracle* bridges the gap between good and evil, past and present, offering profound guidance and timeless historical lessons against a backdrop of astrology to help you navigate life’s complexities.** Unveil the hidden spiritual and historical insights of some of the world’s most iconic figures! This stunningly crafted 36-card deck, accompanied by a comprehensive 152-page guidebook, brings to life the diverse stories of influential figures from ancient times to the modern era. Explore the lives of legends like Augustus Caesar and Eva Perón, heroes such as Nelson Mandela and Joan of Arc, and even villains like Fritz Haber and Joseph Stalin. Each card offers a unique perspective, blending their life experiences with astrological insights to guide you on your journey. Far more than a history lesson, this oracle deck is a powerful tool for spiritual growth and personal development. With every reading, you’ll gain a deeper appreciation of history—not just as a record of events, but as a wellspring of spiritual wisdom that transcends time. **The Oracle of the Mythic Heroes is an intuitive oracle deck with 40 cards and a 256-page guidebook that combines the ancient wisdom of the mortal heroes and heroines of Greek and Roman mythology with modern astrology and archetypes to guide you through your spiritual practice.** In a modern set of 40 illustrated oracle cards, 36 mortal heroes and heroines and 4 sacred creatures derived from Greek and Roman mythology come alive to share their wisdom. Instead of the more familiar gods and goddesses like Athena, Zeus, and Poseidon, you’ll find stories about humans like the beautiful Helen of Troy, the inventor Daedelus, and the musician Orpheus. Each hero connects to a zodiac sign, imbuing the myth with further archetypal and astrological meanings. Following each myth in the guidebook are real-life examples from the author’s spiritual counselling sessions and an exploration of the card’s teaching, helping you to interpret and apply the heroes’ historical lessons to your own life. Supplemental information such as the astrological planet, decan, and crystal are also included to give you more insight into each hero’s divine message. The beauty of this deck is how it moves beyond the worship of deities and offers a more humanistic approach to interpreting the guidance of the ancient realm. Take this as an invitation to expand your divination practice with Oracle of the Mythic Heroes and strengthen your connection to your inner hero or heroine. **The Oracle of the Celestial Deities 20-card deck and 152-page guidebook is an intuitive and inspirational oracular system that combines the ancient wisdom of the gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman mythology with modern astrology and archetypes to provide you daily cosmic guidance**. Journey beyond the spiritual wisdom of our earthly realm with the Oracle of the Celestial Deities, a deck of twenty cards depicting mythical deities derived from astrology, astronomy, and ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Designed in an art nouveau style, this oracle deck helps connect us with our higher selves and assists us in understanding the important lessons of life that are echoed in the ancient myths of old. This deck is unique in that it focuses on the astrological archetypes of planets, asteroids, and more, named for Greek and Roman gods and goddesses and a handful of creatures. From Venus, the goddess of love, and Saturn, the god of time, to Ceres, the goddess of harvests, and Vulcan, the god of the forge, readers of this oracle deck will learn and appreciate much from the gods’ choices and lives. Interpretations of the cards in the guidebook include a generalized reading as well as career and love readings for more specified questions. Oracle of the Celestial Deities is sure to appeal to fans of mythology retellings such as Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles and Rick Riodan’s Percy Jackson series.

**This is a paid event, tickets available [here via eventbrite](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/workshop-the-sacred-geometry-of-sound-tickets-1990188956744?aff=oddtdtcreator&_gl=1*6our0c*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTIzNzU4NTQxLjE3Nzk0ODUzNTk.*_ga_TQVES5V6SH*czE3Nzk0ODUzNTgkbzEkZzEkdDE3Nzk0ODYxMjUkajQxJGwwJGgw&keep_tld=true).** **3-hour workshop will explore how the harmonious intervals of music serve as a model for universal structural principles.** There is a long history of connection between music, mathematics, science and philosophy. From the ancient idea of the *music of the spheres* to the cosmological reflections of Kepler, Leibniz, Fludd, Newton and later thinkers such as Hans Kayser, sound and harmony have been understood not only as a musical phenomenon, but as a geometrical pattern inherent in nature. Myths across many cultures also express the concept that the universe was created by sound, and according to modern quantum field theory matter and energy fundamentally behave like vibrating waves. The aim of this workshop is to share these ideas with a wider audience and popularize the interdisciplinary field called *harmonic research* or *harmonics*, in which the harmonious intervals of music serve as a model for universal structural principles. **Content:** * Fundamental harmonic principles in music and mathematics, including practical demonstrations on the monochord * Harmonic proportions in nature and architecture * The concept of harmony as a universal organizing principle and how we can apply this to our individual and collective lives * The workshop leader, Sabine Leitner, has an MA in music and completed the 2-year course 'Fundamental Research into Harmonics' at the Hans Kayser Institute at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (1990-1992). She also has an MA in Philosophy and an MA in Leadership Coaching. She is the director of the New Acropolis School of Philosophy in London. This workshop has been organized to celebrate the International Day of Music and to promote the theme of 'Philosophy and Science'. **Admission:** £50 (concessions £30) There will be 2 breaks of 15 minutes (refreshments included in the price)

The 5Rhythms® is a simple movement meditation practice designed to release the dancer that lives in everybody, no matter what shape, size, age, limitation and experience. The 5Rhythms® are Flow, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness. They come together to create a Wave, a movement meditation practice. There are no steps to follow. Bring your friends, your heart, willingness to move and bottle of water. Cash / card / PayPall/ bank transfer at the door or pre register: info@5rhythmswithkat.com >  £20 regular / £22 abundance for those in position to support our community / £16 concession for unemployed www.5Rhythms.com (http://www.5rhythms.com/classes/BareSoulsRhythmsclass-136) we are on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/BareSouls.5Rhythsm.withKat/) http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/d/d/600_437763293.jpeg

In June, we celebrate the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. Historically the beginning of agricultural harvest season, humans across the world have been celebrating this day for millenia. This year the Museum of the Home are running week-long folklore exhibition What the Folk? with a variety of events and we will be joining them for their Solstice Late! We will meet beforehand in nearby St Mary's Secret Garden (check comments on the day for exact location within the park) for a picnic and to soak up the midsummer rays, so bring whatever food and drink you like (plus sunscreen!) and we'll mosey over to the museum for the event at 5pm! (This is a free event, so we ask that you please keep RSVPs updated to ensure that as many people as possible who want to come are able to. Cancellations with less than three days’ notice may be removed from the group to prevent wasted spaces in future. Many thanks for your understanding!)

**5Rhythms Body Prayer with Ruth Hirst** 🌀 **🕒 11.30am–1.30pm** \| Doors 11\.20am 📍 Copin Hall, **La Sainte Union School**, Croftdown Road NW5 1RP 🚪 **Entrance** opposite No's 12/14 Croftdown Road 🚗 Free parking - on road or on site \| Nearest tubes: Gospel Oak 8 min walk \| Tufnell Park 15 min walk 💚 This is a paid event - we offer a sliding scale to make it accessible to all **Sliding scale** from £16 \| Children £3 \| Trial class — New to Body Prayer £10.50 🎟️ [Book Tickets Here](https://soullinkhub.com/soulspace/ruth-hirst) soullinkhub\.com/soulspace/ruth\-hirst \| or on the door *** **New to 5Rhythms?** It's a dynamic form of moving meditation. No steps, no choreography, no experience needed. Just you, the music and your body moving freely. 🌱 Eclectic, soulful, tribal, electronic and world music and much more. 🎶 However you are. Whatever is moving in you... bring it to the dance floor. We come together — moving, expressing, releasing, weaving, belonging. 🌿 Whether this is your first time, your 100th or anything in between — each time we begin again. You are welcome here. A warm, safe community. 💚 Your dance. Your way of expressing. Shapeshifting from moment to moment. 🌀 Bring loose clothing to move with ease and a water bottle. Bring yourself as you are. Let's DANCE! 🌀 Looking forward to moving and a groovin' with you soon! ❤️👣🎶 Love Ruth & the crew 🌱 🎟️ soullinkhub.com/soulspace/ruth-hirst facebook.com/groups/133636983394849

You are warmly invited to join us for our Summer Solstice Gathering - MEDICINA: Dancing with Trees + Conscious Connection + Ecstatic Dance & Cacao! **✨ MEDICINA: A Summer Solstice Portal ✨** Open Air Ecstatic Dance Gathering *"And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair" - Kahlil Gibran* Join us for a magical Summer Solstice celebration of movement, music, ritual, cacao, breath, connection and community. **📍 Central London Park** (full location given 24 hours before the event begins) **🗓️ Saturday, June 20th** \- 11:45am\-8:30pm Come for the whole day, or drop into individual sessions. **All are welcome.** No experience needed. **More info & booking:** [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1990374855773?aff=oddtdtcreator](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1990374855773?aff=oddtdtcreator) **🌞 MEDICINA: A Summer Solstice Portal** The Summer Solstice is the sacred turning of the wheel… the moment when the light reaches its peak, the Earth pulses with life, and something ancient within us is invited to awaken. **MEDICINA** is a full-day alchemical journey of dance, breath, meditation and embodied celebration… a space to ground, release, open, activate and remember the medicine of our own body, heart and spirit. Through bioenergetics, chi gong, conscious connection, cacao, ecstatic dance, medicine music and a nourishing fruit social, we gather to honour the Sun, the Earth, and the wild aliveness within. **🌿 SCHEDULE** **🌍 11:45am–1:45pm** **DANCING WITH TREES:** Bioenergetics, Chi-gong & Ecotherapy A transformational Nature-Connection workshop blending Bioenergetics, Chi Gong & Eco-Therapy Our video: https://youtu.be/kmshJsWxb9U?si=8pJ7KQMfm6SQaiJn **🧘 2:30pm–4:30pm** **CONSCIOUS CONNECTIONS: Boundaries, Platonic Healing Touch & the MUSH** A heart-opening session of relational practices, conscious connection and ritual space to deepen presence, trust and authentic expression. **✨ 6:00pm–8:30pm** **MEDICINA: Ecstatic Dance & Cacao Ceremony** An open-air Summer Solstice ecstatic dance journey with cacao ceremony, Global Bass, Folktronica, Shamanic Soundscapes, Medicine Music and community celebration. **🍉 8:30pm onwards** **Fruit Social** Ground, nourish, connect and integrate with fresh fruit and community vibes after the dance. **🜂 🜄 🜁 🜃 THE MEDICINA JOURNEY** **🜂 Ground** into the Body **🜄 Release** through the Earth **🜁 Activate** Imagination **🜃 Reclaim** yourself through wild, embodied, free-form movement and sound **🍓 Integrate** it all with a nourishing fruit social This is more than another dance event. It’s our Summer Solstice portal. A ritual of light. A celebration of life. A remembering of the medicine within. **✨ THE EVENING EXPERIENCE** Our all-day Summer Solstice event culminates in an open-air Ecstatic Dance & Cacao Ceremony featuring: 🌿 Ceremonial-grade cacao 🎧 Deep ecstatic dance journey 🌍 Global Bass/ Folktronica/Shamanic Soundscapes/Medicine Music 🍉 Fruit social & community connection Come dance on the Earth, beneath the Summer sky, and celebrate the longest day of the year in movement, music, ritual and joy. **PLEASE NOTE:** All sessions are weather permitting. In case of the rain forecast being 45% or more, we will cancel the dance at least 4h prior to the start, email all attendees and issue a full refund.

This month we’ll be reading Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel. Feel free to come even if you don’t finish the book!

**Latest Dojo Location!** **Knotty Pine Brewing** 1765 W 3rd Ave, Columbus, OH 43212 We're going to try a new dojo location for a few weeks and see how it works Dojos are informal Python group study sessions where everyone interested in Python gathers to learn about Python, help others with Python, or just hang out. Everyone is welcome from Python beginners to experts. Bringing a laptop is encouraged (we'll have extension cords and power strips). If there's something you want to learn leave a comment on this invite so we can plan ahead. We're looking for speakers for our Monthly Meetups! Fill out the form if you are interested in presenting to the Python Community. https://forms.gle/ehSfUAC2WgR34Crq9

Welcome to Drunken Philosophy, a casual, curious, social discussion club. Come grab a drink and a seat at The Oracle. **Optional topic for this meetup: Where is everybody?** In 1950 the physicist Enrico Fermi was talking about aliens over lunch and asked a question that still has not gone away: if the universe is so vast and so old, and even a fraction of those billions of stars have planets, where is everyone? By the numbers the galaxy should be crowded with civilizations. Instead we look up and hear silence. That gap between "they should be everywhere" and "we see no one" is the Fermi Paradox. One of the most unsettling answers is the idea of a **Great Filter**: somewhere on the road from dead chemistry to a galaxy-spanning civilization, there is at least one step that is almost impossible to get past. Maybe the filter is behind us. Maybe life starting at all, or simple cells becoming complex, or intelligence ever evolving, is the freak accident, and we already cleared the hard part. Or maybe the filter is ahead of us, and advanced civilizations reliably wipe themselves out before they spread. Here is the part that messes with people. If we ever found life somewhere else, even pond scum on Mars, most people would call it the greatest discovery in history. But it might be the worst possible news. It would mean life is common, the early steps are easy, and the hard step is still in front of us. So the eerie silence overhead might actually be the best sign we could ask for. **Questions to wrestle with:** * Is it better to be alone? Would you rather we find alien life and learn we are not special, or find nothing and quietly improve our odds of surviving? * Where do you bet the filter sits, behind us or ahead of us, and why? * If it is ahead of us, what is it? Nuclear war, climate collapse, AI, something we cannot even picture yet? And can we do anything about a filter we cannot see coming? * Two principles pull opposite ways here. The principle of mediocrity (the Copernican principle, Sagan's "no privileged place in the universe") says we are ordinary, so what happened on Earth probably happened everywhere, which makes the silence scream louder. The anthropic principle says of course we find ourselves somewhere life was possible, since we could not observe anything else, so our being here may say almost nothing about how common life is. Which lens do you trust, and does the silence still demand an answer once you account for observer selection? * And if we did confirm life out there and had to accept we are not special, what would that do to belief in a higher power, and would shedding (or keeping) that belief help or hurt our odds of pulling together as one species? * Does any of this change how you live, or how humanity should be spending its time and money right now? As always the prompt is optional. Come for the conversation, stay for the drinks, and bring your own questions.

**Talk Description** Coming soon **Agenda:** 7:00pm - Opening announcements 7:10pm - Main Topic 7:50pm - Q&A

Private Group. Closed to the Public Knowing ourselves and understanding our abilities is the first step toward wielding our gifts with control and accuracy. In subsequent classes we will verify and hone our talents with activities and discussion. These are hands-on workshops and participation is expected. The goal of our series will be to develop expertise in areas of particular interest such as mediumship, channeling, divination, healing and, etc.. Our ultimate directions will be determined by class members as we evolve. I look forward to sharing and discovering with you. - Cynthia

**Improving Office in Franklinton** Physical location: Improving Office 330 Rush Alley Suite #150 Columbus, OH 43215 Schedule: 6:00 p.m.: Socialize, eat, and drink. Improving will be providing pizza and beverages. 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Main meeting and presentation(s). Topic: This month Chris Pazsint will be talking about Agentic Coding. How does one use CLI Based Agents, and Agentic IDEs such as Cursor, Kiro, Antigravity? How to include agentic coding plugins for IDEs you already love such as Visual Studio Code. We meet on the last Monday of each Month. Presentations are given by members and friends of this group. If you would like to do a presentation (small or large) on a python topic, please contact Central OH Python at centralohpython@gmail.com

Join us for an Opening Night showing of the super-hero action-adventure, SUPERGIRL! Get in early because this series is just getting started! Hot on the heels of last year’s excellent SUPERMAN comes what should be another fun adventure! Here’s a description, trailer and plan for this event: DESCRIPTION: Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, joins forces with an unlikely companion on an interstellar journey of vengeance and justice when an unexpected adversary strikes too close to home. The film is directed by Craig Gillespie, written by Ana Nogueira, and stars Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet and Jason Momoa. TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1-pfiVMKAs PLAN: Please purchase your ticket for the 7:00pm showing and meet in the lobby area between 6:40 and 6:50pm! It’s in their largest theater on their biggest screen but advance ticket purchase is advised for this Opening Night showing! Once you have yours, please list your seat number in the Comments below. Possible pre-show bite. That part will be confirmed/announced as the date gets closer. Look forward to seeing you there, Dan