My life seems full of apologies… of emailing ‘sorry’ to all the folks I haven’t replied to in months… and of journal posts in a similar vein. So here’s another opportunity to confess to having burnt out after a summer of festival work in 2012 and having slowly slipped into the Underworld over the Autumn and beyond. It’s taken a year to start to recover and what a relief it is to finally want to work and write again.
Open Spirit especially has taken the brunt on my exhaustion and of the three small ‘Mystery Schools’ within the wider Living Spirit umbrella, it has been Open Spirit that was placed firmly on the back burner last Christmas. Debbie also stepped back to focus on building her new retreat centre at Staverton and has latterly been laid low with illness, but will be opening now in October. Do check out her beautiful space on the link below
http://www.retreatbythedart.com/
As a new ‘academic’ year approaches, new courses and events are being planned and prepared for throughout Living Spirit. I’ll be mailing out soon to all who have been involved with Open Spirit in the past and new enquirers too, to find out what you want to be learning and exploring. Personally, at present I’m deep into the roots of Christianity in the Ancient Goddess traditions, Ancient Mesopotamia and Jewish Mysticism… along with lashings of Christian mystics from Meister Eckhart to Matthew Fox. And I really want to settle back into regular group study and meditation on the Gospels, to complement the ongoing Torah group that I facilitate through the Tree of Life School.
But before setting forth on another journey again, I want to take a little time to look back, as last year Open Spirit concluded with an autumn term of groups on Neil Douglas-Klotz’s book ‘Prayers of the Cosmos’.
I’ve been reviewing our notes and remembering with pleasure the small group of women and men who gathered to explore an aramaic version of the Lord’s prayer. I remember the honesty… of folks feeling free to say…’I never liked that bit, it never made sense’ and now being able to find a new meaning to words that had seemed worn out.
Time passes and I’ll not attempt any real overview at this distance, but perhaps just a personal highlight. The very first session was titled ‘our birth in unity’ – a very promising sounding start! What stood out for me was the aramaic word Abwoon usually translated from the Greek as simply Father. But Abwoon does not specify a gender. Klotz breaks it down as follows:
A – the Absolute, source of all
Bw – birthing, creation, blessing
Oo – the breath or spirit that carries this creative flow
N – the vibration of this creative breath as it touches form
So imagine for a moment starting to speak this prayer in the presence of a cosmic creativity that gives birth to us and all beings in every moment… to be present to and expressive of a vast and unifying love and power. This is not a prayer to be spoken carelessly, unconsciously, by rote. It’s a prayer to be spoken as if the words call worlds into being, call our deepest potential into being…
O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos
you create all that moves
in light.
O Thou! The Breathing Life of all,
Creator of the Shimmering Sound that
touches us.
Respiration of all worlds,
we hear you breathing – in and out-
in silence.
Sound of sound: in the roar and whisper
in the breeze and the whirlwind, we
hear your Name.
Radiant One: You shine within us,
outside us – even darkness shines – when
we remember.
Name of names, our small identity
unravels in you, you give it back
as a lesson.
Wordless Action, Silent Potency –
where ears and eyes awaken, there
heaven comes.
For the summer term Open Spirit has been working with Cynthia Bourgeault’s book ‘The Wisdom Way of Knowing… Reclaiming an Ancient Tradition to awaken the Heart’. In our meditation sessions on alternate Monday afternoons, we have reflected on each of the chapters and taken time to practise the spiritual exercises given, including centering prayer, Lectio Divina and sacred chanting.
We held our second day retreat at the Vicarage on a lovely sunny May day (and looking back from a soggy summer that was a delight in itself!). “The Wisdom Way” retreat day was a “taster” for the wisdom “tools” that Cynthia Bourgeault offered in her book. Drawing on her wisdom teaching of “three centred knowing” (head, body and heart) we started with some time of group reflection on one of the chapters in the book (intellectual centre), leading on to a session of body meditation in the garden (moving centre) and then a time of silent personal reflection (emotional centre).
Delicious home made nettle soup and scones on a beautiful hand made plate donated by Open Spirit, Claire
We then carried on the silent time whilst we prepared lunch silently together (drawing on the monastic tradition of prayer and work). It was a real pleasure to experience this shared silent work… and to tuck into the delicious nettle soup and scones that resulted from it!
After lunch Abigail led us into a very profound experience of sacred chanting using a Taize chant, after which we moved into a gentle and quiet closing ceremony. It was a day full of rich practice to help us deepen our spiritual path.
“It was very special to feel the synthesis of wildness, wilderness and the interior journeying into silence which is so much at the heart of what calls me to the christian story. It touched me to feel the gentleness and warmth and nourishment in the structure and content of the day. I thank you both for daring to bring all these elements together….It was a joy to feel the freedom and unfurling of spirit with us all at the lakeside”. (Abigail)
Open Spirit’s first retreat day was held at Debbie’s house deep in the Devon countryside. It was a fabulous day of poignant sharing, vibrant discussion, descending deeply through meditation into an extended period of silence. There were 10 of us including 3 canines, who weaved in and out, providing inspiration for at least one of us in her final sharing.
In our Open Spirit meditation sessions we’ve been studying Rowan William’s book “Silence and Honey Cakes”, which draws on the desert Mothers and Fathers, Ammas and Abbas, a short but wonderful distillation of four themes central to living the contemplative life: community, personhood, fleeing and staying. Through a spontaneous dialogue, aided by some notes, we dug into these themes together in our first session. Jeanne asked us all to speak about what community meant to each of us, Debbie and Sam dialogued about personhood: the difference between individualism and vocation, and we all shared in the challenge of “staying with” whatever life is presenting to us at this point in time.
Sam then led us in a guided meditation into the desert to engage with our inner source of Wisdom. Meditation enables us to “drop down” into a place of quiet and rest and from that place we each silently explored the themes that had emerged, through painting, writing, praying, and just being. After a silent lunch some stayed in the house to continue their explorations, and some of us went on a meditation walk to a hidden lake, deep in the woods nearby.
Silence was broken somewhat prematurely by our shouts of laughter and shock, as Abigail stripped off to swim in the lake, followed by Debbie and Sam, bravely but briefly. Yes it was cold!
Back at the house, with tea and cake, we gathered together for our final sharing and ritual. Sam instructed us in the art of lighting a floating candle (easier when you know how!), and as we each shared what insights the day had given us a lovely glow of purple candles floating in a pool of water marked the end of our time together. A very wondrous day, which we plan to repeat 3 more times this year (see website for details).
My life seems full of apologies… of emailing ‘sorry’ to all the folks I haven’t replied to in months… and of journal posts in a similar vein. So here’s another opportunity to confess to having burnt out after a summer of festival work in 2012 and having slowly slipped into the Underworld over the Autumn and beyond. It’s taken a year to start to recover and what a relief it is to finally want to work and write again.
