Living Water: Celebration and Restoration
Second Fridays, February, March, and May, 2026
3:00 – 4:30 pm ET (New York) / 9:00 – 10:30 pm CET
Overview
Ziraat Council Members around the world collaborate to offer a variety of presentations and practices as we explore the Living Water. Themes include water as source and an attunement to different bodies of water and our relationships with them; a celebration of water as an expression of beauty through the creative arts—photography, dance, poetry, music; permaculture and restoration of water; and Murshid’s teachings on water as the living essence and sacred symbolism for the evolution of the soul.
Dates & Themes
Friday, February 13: Celebrating Water as the Source of our Physical and Spiritual Lives
Presenters: Zebunissa Pamela Overeynder, Sharifa Oppenheimer, and Tasnim Stupac
“The soul is a current which can only run rightly when it is in the stream of love.” – Hazrat Inayat Khan
We will explore the theme of water as it flows through our lives and our bodies as glaciers, wells, springs, rivers, and oceans. The session will include a singing zikr, a short discussion of the origins of water, personal stories, poetry, practices, readings, photographs, and a short, guided meditation. We offer witness to the ways in which the waters are threatened by climate change. Following the presentation, each participant will have the opportunity to express gratitude and appreciation for water, especially those bodies of water that are nearby.
Friday, March 13: Managing Water with Permaculture Design
Presenters: Ata’allah Bill Meacham and Alia Patricia Michael
Nothing defines the nature of a place more than water. Without water, we have deserts that are almost devoid of life, but with an abundance of water, we have rainforests that are hubs of Earth’s biodiversity.
Permaculture is a holistic design system for creating sustainable human habitats and food production systems by mimicking the patterns and relationships found in natural ecosystems. The term combines “permanent agriculture” and “permanent culture,” reflecting its goal of creating resilient, self-sufficient, and waste-free environments. It applies principles derived from observing nature to a variety of fields, including agriculture, community planning, and home design.
Water is always the number one priority for any permaculture system. No matter where you go and what mineral deficiencies you have, there are plants that can adapt to these conditions, but no plant can live without water! That’s why Permaculture design tries to harvest, retain, and rescue as much water as possible before it is lost from the system.
This session will present various permaculture design techniques for managing water.
Friday, May 8th: Holy Mysteries of Water
Presenters: Raqib Gerhard Kittel and Friends
“In the old scriptures such as the Vedanta and the Old Testament, spirit is symbolized as water. One wonders why something which is near to the earth, as water is, should be considered symbolically as spirit. The nature of water is to give life to the earth, and so the nature of spirit is to give life to the body.” – Hazrat Inayat Khan, The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Vol XIII, Sufi Teachings
This session will look at water from a sacred and mystical perspective, including Murshid’s teachings on water as the living essence and sacred symbolism for the evolution of the soul.
Details
Sessions are from 3-4:30 pm ET (New York Time). Times will vary by month in Europe and Oceania. Please use the Time and Date Converter to confirm your local time.
All are welcome to attend. This program has a sliding scale for payment—no payment is required to participate, but if you’re able to contribute, $49 ($7 per class) helps cover the cost of creating and offering it. Any amount is welcome.
Video recordings of each class will also be made available on the Ziraat website’s Recordings of Past Programs page.
If you have questions about Ziraat or this series, please email us at ziraat@inayatiyya.org. For registration and scholarship information, please email astana@inayatiyya.org.
Speakers
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Alia Patricia MichaelAlia is a long-time Sufi initiate, a Cherag and a Farmer in the Ziraat. She has gardened, farmed and designed landscapes her whole adult life. She has been a Permaculture teacher and mentor for nearly 40 years. She founded an earth-bonded church in Austin, Texas, and uses mystical insight to inform her work of land repair. She has advanced degrees in art, organic agriculture and sustainable systems design. She designs every landscape as an altar, with Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Ether woven into designs of lasting practicality and beauty. You can see her professional work at patriciamichaeldesign.com.
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Tasnim StupacTasnim Stupac graduated from the Suluk Tuba class and since January 2023, has served as Vice President of the Inayatiyya Ziraat Activity in Europe. She studied history of Eastern Europe and Slavistics and has been working with refugees and migrants for over 15 years. She is passionate about permaculture and is currently studying traditional European medicine. Tasnim was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is now living in Switzerland.
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Zebunissa OvereynderZebunissa Paméla is a long-time Murid, initiated in 1992 by Shahabuddin David Less, who continues to guide her. She currently serves as a Representative, Retreat Guide, Knight of Purity, Cherag and Farmer in the Ziraat Activity. She offers nature-based retreats grounded in Ziraat teachings and practices. She’s passionate about being of service to the Earth and the human and more-than-human beings who are our kin and, on whose existence our own lives are grounded. She is also an author with a new book: Sacred Kinship: Hearing the Call of the Earth published in the fall of 2024, available on Amazon or through her website: www.onesacredearth.com.
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Ata‘allah Bill MeachamAta’allah has been for many years a practitioner of meditation, yoga, chanting, Sufi Dances of Universal Peace and other spiritual disciplines. He credits those pursuits, along with emotional healing through ReEvaluation Counseling, good diet, good exercise and a positive outlook on life with his continuing good health. He finds great inspiration in the Ziraat ceremony and in spending time in nature. He is an independent scholar in philosophy and the author of the books How To Be An Excellent Human and How to Exert Free Will as well as numerous essays on philosophical topics as applied to everyday life. His work is available on his website, bmeacham.com.
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Sharifa OppenheimerSharifa Oppenheimer has been graced to be a student of Sufism for fifty years. The daughter of a midwestern farmer, she has always been drawn to Murshid’s Ziraat teachings on the Sacred Manuscript of Nature. Her book of poems A Litany of Wild Graces: Meditations on Sacred Ecology explores humanity’s biological and spiritual inter-being with our other-than-human relations. She offers Kinship with Nature: Sacred Earth ~ Sacred Self gatherings both online as well as amidst the leaf-litter at the foot of the hickory and poplars that bless her Virginia forest land. These classes are based on her most recent book Rewilding the Human Heart ~ A Journey of Reunion. She is interested not only in Nature’s growth, but also the growth of small human beings. She is the author of several books on Waldorf Education including Heaven on Earth and With Stars in Their Eyes: Brain Science and Your Child.
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Raqib Gerhard KittelRaqib Gerhard Kittel, is a long-time student of Pir Vilayat and Pir Zia. He is a current member of the General Assembly and Coordinator of Ziraat Europe. Former functions include serving on the German Board and 25 years serving as the “feet” of the Sufi Centre in Nuremberg, together with friends. Raqib is particularly enthusiastic about geomancy, humanism, and alchemy. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Nuremberg and works as a coach and therapist. Website: www.gerhard-kittel.de
