October 1, 2017
Dear Companions on the Path,
I am so glad to see the commencement of this new vehicle for communication. This monthly newsletter will help us all keep closer in touch. I plan to use it as an opportunity to share reflections on the wisdom of the Gayan, Vadan and Nirtan, under the title Music of the Spheres. You will find my first offering along these lines below.
The last few months have been eventful ones. In June we celebrated the graduation of the Jabalqa Suluk class at the Abode. Soon afterward the Abode hosted the North American Inayati Order annual gathering, Season of the Rose. At the end, my family and I said goodbye to our home of the last fifteen years, and set out for Richmond and a new chapter of Sufi service.
There was no time to get settled in Richmond, however. Within a few days we were off to Istanbul, where the Inayati Order is growing, and then to Switzerland, where the Zenith Camp remains an annual gathering place for longstanding murids and new seekers alike. Following the Camp we stayed at Fazal Manzil so that I could be with the Jabarsa Suluk class in Eperon, France, for its study of Contemplation.
We are now in Richmond and the Astana is beginning to take shape. We held our first gathering the evening of Hejirat Day. I hope you will come and visit us here soon. If you are unable to come in the near future, God willing we will meet closer to your home: while building up the new center here, I plan to keep traveling throughout the country and the world, and to keep webcasting. Meanwhile do be sure to keep in touch with your own local Sufi community and the teachers, guides, cherags, healing coordinators, kinship coordinators, farmers, and knights who are constantly convening circles of prayer, remembrance, and service in so many parts of the country and the world. Together we make one whole—a part of the larger whole of life, the unity of which we exist to serve.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
