The Zephyr, May 2023

17 May 2023

Dear Companions on the Path,

May these lines find you well. I am now back in Richmond, where classes have resumed at the Astana and angelica is cheerfully multiplying in the backyard of our little cottage.

My recent stay in Europe culminated with the Spring Retreat that convenes each year at Easter in the Rhön Mountains. Our theme this time was my father’s Cosmic Celebration, explored through a series of twelve contemplations: the universe as theater, the descent of souls, purification, ascent through the jinnic realm and the stars, encounters with angels, the archangels, bearing witness, transforming evil, coronation, sacrifice, the spiritual hierarchy, and resurrection. Pir Vilayat’s evocation of resurrection is striking: the heart reveals itself as “the seat of the transfiguration of cosmic pain into beatitude.” Our exploration was intensified by resonant readings of the original script and vivid recitals of sacred music.

From Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Shakuntala, Tansen, Amin, Una, The Bogey-Man, and The Living Dead to Pirzadi-Shahida Noor’s Aède and Pir Vilayat’s Parsifal and Cosmic Celebration, mystical drama has long been a central part of the artistic heritage of the Inayatiyya. Murshid foresaw a bright future for ritual theater, saying, “the development of drama will become a most important factor in the evolution of humanity.” At this summer’s Zenith Camp, we are looking forward to Jeremy Heiss’ adaptation of Parsifal. And surely there is still more to come, God willing.

After the Spring Retreat, our hosts Nura, Klaus, and Latifa took us to the original home of the Brothers Grimm, now a museum, in Steinau. This was actually my second visit, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were profoundly knowledgeable researchers committed to unearthing the old Naturpoesie of the people of Germany. Though best known for their endlessly influential fairy tale collection, they also produced a colossal German dictionary and Jacob Grimm wrote a groundbreaking study of Teutonic mythology. Jacob wrote: “God is near us everywhere, and consecrates for us every country… I liken heathenism to a strange plant whose brilliant fragrant blossom we regard with wonder; Christianity to the crop of nourishing grain that covers wide expanses. To the heathen too was germinating the true God, who to the Christians had matured into fruit.”

The Nazis nefariously pressed the universalist legacy of the Grimm brothers into the service of their hateful ideology. To challenge them, Pirzadi-Shahida Noor collected and retold folktales from many parts of the world, highlighting the ethical, aesthetic, and spiritual ideals they shared in common. In Gersfeld, I was moved to see the draft of a deluxe German edition of Noor’s Dream Flowers that Uta Marie and Josef of Verlag Heilbronn are currently producing, which is expected to appear in print next year. The flowers and fruits of the Grimm brothers and Noor have triumphed over the blight of ethnofascism – and still vigilance is needed, not only in Germany but everywhere in the world.

The Grimm brothers remind us that a beautiful world must find its roots in the minds and hearts of children. Wilhelm wrote: “Children’s fairy tales are told so that in the pure and gentle light of these stories the first thoughts and powers of the heart may awaken and grow.” If you had the ear of a child for half an hour, what noble legend would you recite?

Yours ever,
Pir Zia

Sufi Teachings & Suhbat
w/ Pir Zia Inayat Khan
May 25th – 28th, 2023 – The Astana & via Zoom

As we officially return to multi-day gatherings at the Astana, the Inayatiyya’s headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, we invite you to come together with Pir Zia and many friends for three days of teachings, practices, music, spiritual conversation, zikr, tea and sweets. There is no set theme—only where inner guidance might take us. We have space for 50 people in person in Richmond, and for the multitudes of us online. Click here for details and to register.

The Sufi Path of Immortality
Dying Before Death & Living in God w/ Pir Zia Inayat Khan
June 25th – 30th, 2023 – Omega Institute for Holistic Studies

Our physical existence is a transitory interval between the preexistence of the soul and the looming hereafter. For a person of foresight, it is never too soon to step into the worlds that lie beyond. These invisible worlds are the hidden dimensions of what is already before us here and now. Each step takes the soul further on the path of awakening and closer to the Eternal Beloved.

Though the soul is the essence of our consciousness, its life has been long forgotten in a world preoccupied with what is quantifiable. To each aspect of our being – the soul, the mind, and the body – something is due. We are whole only when the soul, mind, and body are present to each other and to the Great Soul, the Great Mind, and the Great Body of which we are a part. Before long the physical body will return to its elements. But the life of the mind and soul will continue. What will have mattered when we are on the point of leaving the physical world? What is our work here, and what remains yet on the horizon? Click here for details and to register.

Zenith Camp 2023
Ticino, Switzerland & via Zoom
July 23rd – August 19th, 2023

Zenith Camp returns to the Swiss Alps this year with four weeks planned, July 23rd to August 19th, 2023. The theme of this year’s Camp is Finding and Playing Your Note.
Pir Zia will lead programs for Week I: July 23rd – July 29th, and for Week II: July 30th – August 5th. Both of these weeks will be also streamed via Zoom.

Additional Inayatiyya teachers and guides offering programs include Cheikh Sufi, Robin Becker, Mehmet & Ali Ungan, Deepa Gulrukh Patel, Saki Lee, Latif Brinck, Zuleikha, Ophiel van Leer, Sarida Brown, Jacob Ellenberg, Aziz Dikeulias, Srinivas Reddy, Sinan Arat, Faz’l Stein, Malik Hirschberg & Batin Hermes, with more faculty and special guests soon to be announced. Click here for details and to register.

Inayatiyya International Board
Newsletter May 2023

Here is the newsletter from the Inayatiyya International Board (IIB) for May 2023. The IIB is leading on our global strategy, working closely with the World Wide Message Council, National Boards, the Astana, and Pir Zia. We have a few updates to share with you. Read more

The Zephyr is a monthly newsletter of Inayatiyya, an interfaith mystical fellowship with branches worldwide. For more gatherings, please visit our Inayatiyya Digital Programs Calendar for Spring 2023.