"Whom should I turn to,

if not the One whose darkness

is darker than night,

the only one who keeps

vigil with no candle,

and is not afraid --

the Deep One, whose

being I trust ..."

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~Rilke

 

From time immemorial our mystics and prophets have taught that to approach the Mystery we must move through Holy Darkness. In fact it is this capacity to enter the realm of divine unknowing, terrifying uncertainty, radical discontinuity with business as usual that is traditionally seen as a sign of spiritual leadership. Moses must enter the “thick darkness” of the Cloud, Christ consent to the kenosis of the Cross, the tantric masters become intimate with the mandalas of loss in the messy, hopeless, initiatic darkness of the charnel grounds.

 

Today we all are called to step bravely into the darkness of our times. The uncertain, unsettled, un-mapable disruption of the poly-crisis. This is no cheap calamity, it is sacred collective initiation. Intuitively humans have always known that there is an aspect of Reality that emerges to mercifully guide and protect us through the Dark Night the moment we consent to our holy ordeal. And in every tradition we look, it is the Eternal Feminine, the Great Mother, the very ground of the Being, Herself Darker than night, that emerges to harness our spiritual crisis, assist our spiritual evolution, initiate and transfigure the soul.

The poet Rumi says:

​

"Be ground.

Be crumbled.

So wild flowers will come up

Where you are."

​

Don't rush in to fix it. Let life have you. Let the Mother have your bones for her holy Stew. She knows how to turn our hungry ghosts into allies. Our psychic lead into gold. Crumble and let Her transfigure. Invite the truth you have been keeping at bay. Feel what you don't want to feel. Hold fast to your tenderness. Let your brokenness shine. How else will you know that Love has already swallowed you, even if you fail, even when you struggle, even as you cry out into the dark. Darkness is Holy. Darkness is medicine. Do not discard this doorway into grace. Our wounds are holy passages. Our darkest, most desperate nights, ways to wholeness. The Poet Rilke said, "I have faith in Nights." We can trust the Mystery, it will not fail us.

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This retreat is my heart offering, a time to bask in the Mystery with kindred souls through these darkest, longest, holiest nights, see what wisdom the mystics of the world have to offer about such times when we are moving through Dark Night of the Soul, receive the transmissions of Holy Darkness through meditation and poetry, invoke Mercy, share blessing, practice listening to the Deep. Whatever burden you carry, come lay it down, whatever night is yours, come rest.

​

 

This 3-part course includes three 1.5 hour audio sessions recorded during the live class.

The course offers meditations, sacred poetry, and spiritual teachings that seek to illuminate the sacred territory of the Dark Night of the Soul through the eyes of the mystics and the scriptures of the worlds great wisdom traditions.