(A letter from Portugal)

My name is Carlos Oliveira and I’m writing to you in the name of Maria Flávia Monsaraz, founder of Quiron – Portuguese Centre of Astrology in Lisbon. I believe you and Maria Flávia met in the International Astrological Congress in Venice some time ago.

We, Maria Flávia and a group of people that include amateur and professional actors, and other people in some way dedicated to the active and conscious participation of the construction of this new age that has emerged, are in the process of creating the “Theatre of Peace” – a Symbolic Theatre with the aim of bringing back the Sacred to the big audiences.

We have a play to start our first work, based on a book written by Maria Flávia. It regards the planets of our Solar system and their symbolic meaning. This is where we come to you so that you might possibly help us. We are looking to inspire ourselves in the Symbolism from the Greek Theatre.

We would deeply appreciate if you could in light us, in what ever ways you find best, with your vision and knowledge on this subject.

All the Best,
Carlos (carlosol@clix.pt)

and my reply:

Dear Carlos,

I have been interested in theaters for decades and have written and lectured about the “memory theater” that is based on astrology. I include an image of a memory theater painting I made in 1975 here, based on Palladio’s design. It allows the stage to be where the “aspects” take place, the interaction between the planets, which also allows one to place actors in particular symbolic places during a play. The stage entrances are spirit, soul and mind; and the balcony onstage is the “higher level” of entrance and exit.

In the early 1980s I gave a talk about the “Astrological Memory Theater” in Amsterdam and we actually made a theater in this form as I did some few lines from MacBeth to illustrate how it worked. It was a great success. The audience was seated by their “Sun signs” and that was also very interesting.