Join us for the Ziraat Spring Series, Rewilding the Human Heart—Deepening Our Kinship with Nature, presented by Sharifa Oppenheimer. 

The material for this course is taken from her new book Rewilding the Human Heart, to be published by Red Elixir Press, Spring 2025. Each session is a deep dive into one of the Elements (earth, water, fire, air, or ether) and one of the Realms of Nature (mineral, plant, animal, human, or unseen beings.) Sharifa takes us beyond an appreciation of nature to a deeply personal sense of kinship with all beings:

• exploring how to make lasting heart-connections with the living breathing Earth, through song, movement, story, breathwork, visualization and deep internal inquiry; 
• observing the interplay of these beings within our own inner-sphere – heart, psyche, soul and spirit; and
• providing a variety of deepening practices and resources to broaden and more profoundly inform your understanding of the class material.

Dates & Themes

• February 14th—Introduction and Overview: Discover the arc of the program, gratitude offerings, rituals, and weekly deepening practices 
• February 28th—Earth Element and the Mineral Realm
• March 14th —Water Element and the Plant Realm
• March 28th —Fire Element and the Realm of Animals
• April 11th —Air Element and the Realm of Human Beings
• April 25th —Ether Element and the Realm of the Unseen Beings 
• May 9th—Integration and Reflection on the Journey

This series is in English only. Sessions are on the second and fourth Friday of the month from 5:00 – 6:30 pm New York Time, 11:00 pm – 12:30 am Central Europe Time. Saturday in Oceania – Times for February are 9:00 – 10:30 am (AEDT-Sydney); 11:00 am – 12:30 pm (NZDT-Auckland). Please check for daylight saving adjustments in both March and April.

There are two tuition options to meet all needs: $49 ($7/class) or $28 ($4/class). Scholarships are also available. If you miss a class, video will be made available a day or two after each session. 

If you have questions about Ziraat, or about this series, please email us at ziraat@inayatiyya.org. For registration and scholarship information, please email astana@inayatiyya.org. 

Biography

Sharifa 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. 

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: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children; The Heaven on Earth Workbook: Create Your Family Culture Star; What is a Waldorf Kindergarten; as well as With Star in Their Eyes: Brain Science and Your Child.  

Website: sharifaoppenheimer.org 
Substack: Rewilding the Human Heart  https://sharifaoppenheimer.substack.com  

Graphic:  Numinosity mandala – by Cristina Mcallister