Vision Cafe
Longing For The Deep Secrets Of The Heart?
“Why not become fresh from the gentleness of the heart-spring? Why not laugh like a rose? Why not spread perfume?” –Rumi, Sufi Poet
How can we tap into this sweetness Rumi talks about? How can we transform our heart’s pain of emptiness, loneliness and hopelessness into something that’s beautiful? Fortunately, the Sufis provide an answer: by washing it with the water of truth.
The mystic Sufis are masters of healing the heart, at guiding it to return to its original pure state of love. Today’s Sufis still utilize this ancient healing method, facilitating one to open and heal the heart and live from this place even in the face of difficulty. This healing technique is gentle yet powerful—connecting to the light of the Divine and bringing it to the places in the heart that are wounded, broken, and forgotten. As this happens, the pain from the past is washed away. As a result, we regain the beauty, gentleness and laughter of our inner child’s heart.
Imagine living life with the innocence of a child. Just for a moment, imagine how full of awe, wonder and joy your life would be if your heart were pure. That vision is possible through the deep love of the Sufis.
The ancient Sufi healing method comes to us from Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i as-Shadhuli, affectionately known as Sidi, Head of the Higher Sufi Council in the Holy Land and Teacher at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. He has devoted his life to enriching the physical and spiritual well-being of all people and to helping the poor, suffering, and sick. We here in America are hungry for real love, longing for the deep secrets of the heart, and thirsty for the water of truth.
If you find your soul being called, please join us to experience what the ancient Sufis were dancing about—the ecstatic state of unity.
For more information about the time and location of the free Sufi healing clinics in your area, please go to: www.suficentersandiego.org or call 760.815.0082 in San Diego, 805.987.7222 in No. LA, 562.965.7142 in So LA, 510.758.3222 in the Bay Area & Napa, or 520.399.5750 in Tucson.
Goddess Honoring Global Networks
Work Together to Heal Mother Earth
Virtual Goddess communities, thriving like never before, support each other across the globe via online discussion groups, websites and e-mail.
“Once I began promoting Gaia Festival in Los Angeles, I started receiving e-mail responses from women and men in Australia, England and Canada who wanted to lend support by promoting within their own groups,” says Kris Oster, the West Coast director of Gaia Festival.
Goddess, particularly in her form as Gaia, is crossing boundaries of ethnicity and geography over the Internet. The yearning to make personal contact is driving a current trend towards participation in spiritual festivals, workshops and travel.
“Women, standing together to help restore life affirming ideals of the Sacred Feminine must steer the world toward partnership, peace and oneness,” muses Karen Tate, Gaia Festival speaker and board member.
Tate supports other goddess advocates’ work on her Internet radio show “Voices of the Sacred Feminine.” Solidifying Tate’s mainstream status in goddess scholarship is her book Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations, endorsed by the Joseph Campbell Foundation.
“We’re now called to help heal our planet, Gaia. We knew this was an international phenomenon, but we were completely surprised by the outpouring of support from such far away places as Australia,” says Stephanie Hamberger, Gaia Festival creator.
Glenys Livingstone, Ph.D. and author of PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion, contacted Oster from Australia when she got word of the festival.
“Gaia Festival seems a great expression, and resonant with my own Earth-based religious practice and work,” says Livingston.
Margaret Starbird, Gaia Festival lecturer and preeminent Mary Magdalene scholar, is the author of The Woman with the Alabaster Jar, cited as a significant source for Dan Brown’s best-selling novel, The DaVinci Code.
“The first Christian heresy was the defamation of Mary Magdalene, the lost Bride and Sacred Complement of Jesus––with tragic consequences for Western civilization and the entire planet,” remarks Starbird.
Besides losing the Bride and Mary Magdalene, the ability to think with the heart and feel with intelligence has also vanished, leaving the earth in a dangerous state of epic proportions.
“Mary Magdalene is our own goddess of the Western world who returns the way of the heart to humanity,” says Jungian therapist and Gaia Festival presenter Joan Norton, author of The Mary Magdalene Within.
As Goddess communities continue to sprout around the globe, networks of reciprocal support connect to bring Gaia and Mother Earth back into the public’s minds and hearts.
Gaia Festival is an annual, non-denominational gathering of earth-honoring and ecologically-minded men and women based in Los Angeles, California. For passes and festival information of the Gaia Festival which takes place October 11-12, 2008. Call 323.363.1378 or visit www.gaiafestival.com.