The Somerset West Unitarian Fellowship is meeting on Saturday April 6, at 10am, in the Vonke meeting room of Vonke House, 121 Lourensford Road.
The guest speaker will be Joseph Koetsier. Joseph is a published poet and a committee member of TESSA (The Egyptian Society of South Africa).
He specialised in Ancient Egypt as a source of inspiration for classical composers and Egyptology in Eastern Europe.
The title of his talk is “From the Cape to Cairo: Exploring the cultural and spiritual heart of Africa”.
The project “From the Cape to Cairo” is part of a growing research and exploration initiated by The Egyptian Society of South Africa.
Joseph curated a course at the Summer School of UCT in January 2024. This course covered inspirations from Egypt in South Africa in archaeology, architecture, medicine, esoteric traditions and poetry.
Joseph started his exploration of the cultural and spiritual heart of the continent during two visits to Egypt in December 2020 and October 2023.
The poetry he created in December 2020 was published in the Odyssey Magazine (2021) and presented at a conference in Luxor (2023).
His visits raised many questions about the ancient and present cultural and spiritual traditions in Africa. What role did Ancient Egypt play in the spread of these traditions in the region?
What role do these traditions currently play? Will they create a base for a stabilizing interfaith community in the continent and the middle East? What will South Africa contribute to these developments?
Entry is free, and light refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Dave Mayes at 021 850 0863 or davidjeanmayes@gmail.com
