At our dance tomorrow (Wednesday October 30) , we will have an altar for anyone to bring a picture or remembrance of an ancestor or other loved one who has passed through the veil… Come and join us as we dance and sing in celebration of the cycles of life! 7:30 PM at Keystone church in Wallingford.
We look forward to sharing these precious moments with you,
Dear Friends, We are excited to facilitate another community meditation and discussion at the Mukilteo Library in the meeting room on Thursday, Oct. 24th from 6:45-7:45.
Meditation will be about 30 minutes with some introduction beforehand and a short discussion afterward. We are looking forward to being with you all. Feel free to invite friends.
Mukilteo Library- 4675 Harbour Pointe Blvd
In harmony, Kim and Paul Kramer
The Seattle Peace Chorus is proud to present our up-coming concerts, People of the Drum, in honor of Native Americans and their contributions to our nation, community, and environment. We wish to express our solidarity with them and with their struggle for identity and cultural preservation.
Our concert program represents a collaboration with our Native American communities and features music composed by Frederick N. West, the director of the Seattle Peace Chorus.
Native American singers, drummers, storytellers, and tribal elders will be an integral part of our concert.
Native American tribes in the United States have struggled for years to uphold treaties that protect their rights to fishing, hunting, and preservation of their sacred grounds. This work will include poetic renderings of these and other legacies, including the Navajo prayer “Beauty before us, beauty behind us, we walk in beauty; it is finished in beauty.”
We present this concert at two Native American sites in Seattle with limited seating: Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center, and the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center.
Featured Artists Frederick N. West, Director Seattle Peace Chorus and composer of the musical program Sondra Segundo, Haida singer Johnny Moses, Tulalip storyteller Kevin Locke, Lakota hoop dancer, storyteller, and Native American flute expert (Duwamish Longhouse only) Professional chamber orchestra Edie Loyer Nelson, Duwamish tribal elder
Thank you for your contribution and your support. Our goals of promoting peace and justice and making connections with justice-minded people of our Seattle community, our country, and the world is enhanced by your support both in attendance at our concerts and financially.
Your ticket for Sunday or Saturday is good for only the given date and venue. Seating is limited, so get your tickets as soon as possible from a chorus member, or on Brown Paper Tickets (see below).
Sunday 17 November 2019, 3:00 pm Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center 5011 Bernie Whitebear Way, Seattle, WA 98199
Saturday 23 November 2019, 7:00 pm Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center 4705 W Marginal Way SW, Seattle, WA 98106
Because of the limited number of seats available at these venues, ticket prices are $30 at the door; $25 in advance; $23 seniors, students, special needs.
Let the soul now sing that it become utterly triumphant,
Let the soul now sing that it become totally free, That murmurs and forebodings be dispersed,
And the Universal Light become known to all
~ Sufi Murshid SamuelLewis
Ballard IOOF, 1706 NW Market, Seattle, WA
with SUFI RUHANIAT INT’L
Pir Shabda Kahn Murshid Wali Ali • Murshida Leilah • Murshida Khadija Murshida Mariam • Murshid Saul-uddin • Murshida Darvesha Murshid Allaudin • Murshid Aslan • Murshida Rahimah
$20 Suggested Contribution (no one turned away for lack of funds)
INFORMATION: (206) 303-7968
Beloved Friends, Enroute to their annual retreat, the murshids/senior teachers of the Sufi Ruhaniat Int’l will stop in Seattle to share with the local extended Sufi and Dances of Universal Peace community. This group is responsible for carrying forward the spiritual transmission of Sufi Murshid Samuel Lewis, the first American Sufi Master; many have traveled and represented this lineage for 40-50 years.
ANCESTOR SUPPER AT HAWTHORN FARM
October 26, 4 p.m. arrival and preparation
Join us for this annual feast of feeding our ancestors. This is different from our usual casual Council, though similar in spirit–feasting together, sharing stories from the heart.
The idea is to bring a dish that honors your ancestors, whether a person you knew or a cultural dish. Don’t worry about cooking for a crowd–less is more when we have to eat all the food that night or give it to the fire. No giant pots of soup!
If you want to come or even think you want to, RSVP and Alexia will send you more details to help you feel oriented and prepared. It’s one of our favorite events of the year and we extend a hearty welcome.
Hawthorn Farm 17340 NE 195th St. Woodinville, WA 98072
This poignant prayer comes from a fellow Chaplaincy Institute graduate:
A MYSTIC’S CLIMATE PRAYER
REV DR JOHN ROBINSON
Divine Consciousness of Life, Earth and Cosmos, God of all names and none, holy Presence dwelling in every creature, we come to you on our knees, in guilt and shame, in sorrow and dread, admitting horrific crimes against Creation. Listening to the Earth’s dying cries, we acknowledge our sins of arrogance, apathy, selfishness, plunder and rape. Our “stewardship” of Creation has been a tragic joke. In failure and profound remorse, we humbly seek forgiveness and guidance – we have completely lost our way and stand to lose so much more.
We know you, Divine One. We share your Being and Consciousness. We are you when we cease pretending to be someone else, someone separate and superior, someone in charge. In abject surrender, in ego-shattering fear and grief, in naked helplessness, we seek the only path home: we return to you. As the fires and storms of human foolishness consume our grandiosity, we ask you to receive us, Divine One, help us return to Creation.
Born of Earth, we can live nowhere else. We are the latest blossom of your enchantingly beautiful, infinitely mysterious, love-drenched creativity – the 14-billion-year evolution of yourself – and our home is here. Can a fish live out of water? Can a bird fly with no air? Can humans survive the cold toxic radiation of space? Desperate plans, false solutions, more foolishness.
But what can we do? Divine One, what do you need from us? Even as we ask, words burst from sacred consciousness:
“Be still. Be silent. Stop talking. Turn off TV and cell phone. Go outside. Open wide your eyes. I shine before you as Creation: vibrant, colorful, alive; the symphony of your life and destiny. Look intensely. Look without thought. Open your senses: seasons of Earth, power of wind, greenness of plant, wetness of rain, warmth of sun, smell of soil, abundance of life, chatter of bird and squirrel, busyness of ant and worm, darkness of night, love-making everywhere, all rising in the holiness of Creation. You don’t have to figure this out because you are Creation. Let the one you were born to be take you home. Creation will heal you, then your tenderness, joy, and adoration will heal Creation.”
May the Earth bless and keep us, May truth lead the way, May the ancestors see our efforts, May peace finally stay.
May the heart inform our journey, May Creation bring us home, May our lives be deeply planted, And may we know we’re not alone.
As we move through transitions, this is a reminder to be present for and mindful of the inner, the outer, the heaven, the earth, the star, and the stone. (from Panhala – To subscribe to Panhala, send a blank email to Panhala-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )
Evening
The sky puts on the darkening blue coat held for it by a row of ancient trees; you watch: and the lands grow distant in your sight, one journeying to heaven, one that falls;
and leave you, not at home in either one, not quite so still and dark as the darkened houses, not calling to eternity with the passion of what becomes a star each night, and rises;
and leave you (inexpressibly to unravel) your life, with its immensity and fear, so that, now bounded, now immeasurable, it is alternatively stone in you and star.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~ (The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Stephen Mitchell)
October 13th Monthly Whidbey Zikr Circle Unity of Whidbey 5671 Crawford Rd, Langley, WA
6:00 p.m. Community Potluck 7:30 p.m. Zikr Allah (425) 788-1617
Beloveds,
Please join us for our monthly zikr circle and community potluck gathering. We will be accompanied by Khalid Ron Ward on drums and Krishnapriya on keyboards.
Apologies for the late notice. My 95 year old mother died last Sunday and much of this week has been taken up with that.
Autumn is a rich time to let go of what no longer serves.
Just watch those leaves!
Why not invite Shiva’s momentum? Shambo Shankara (sing happiness for Shiva’s gifts)
And the omnipresent strength and beneficence of Tara? Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha!
And prepare with DELIGHT in Equanimity and updraft of Peace? Om SHANTI Om. Metta, Karuna, Mudita, UPEKKHA
Zarifah and Hayra will be leading this month, with more drumming and guitar from Murad! ~ ~ < ! > ~ ~
These are simple circle movements to live music, inspired by wisdom traditions from around the globe. Each Dance is taught, no need to bring a partner, no experience necessary. Come as you are or dress elegantly. Comfortable shoes or bare feet recommended.
Shoreline Peace Dance
Friday, October 11, 2019, 7:30-9:30pm. and every 2nd Friday. ~NAMASTE YOGA STUDIO. The Evergreen Building. 18021 15th Ave NE, Suite 101 Shoreline, WA 98155. map- Namaste Yoga Studio. Ample Parking ADA accessible~
Suggested donation $5-15. You are welcome regardless of funds.
Inspired from his essay The Voices of Birds and the Language of Belonging, David G. Haskell created this five-part practice for listening to the language of birds. The human capacity to take in sound evolved over thousands of years, in direct relationship to the sensory, living world. Our attentiveness to the voices of other species provided us with vital information. In today’s age of ecological crisis, we again find ourselves in a situation where attentive listening is required for a mutual thriving, even survival. Bird sounds offer an opportunity to reclaim this ancient connection.
Step outside and listen.
Follow the link below to see the practices he offers:
In a practice for one of my Master’s program classes this week, I noticed that I felt a sense of shame at not being adequate to the immense needs of our planet and our children.
I felt a deep sense of desperation that nothing I am doing or will do will ever be enough.
Have any of you ever felt those feelings?
Yesterday, I was blessed to spend time in the forest at Hawthorn Farm, and as I sat with those feelings, I found myself weeping with pain and sadness.
After some time with those deep feelings and their expression in tears, this poem arose:
Weeping in frustration and sorrow – finally drained of tears (for now).
I open my eyes and breathe in the scent of mushrooms exploding in slow motion out of the moist earth.
Breezes stirring in the trees and freeing the many-colored leaves to do their final dance to the welcoming forest floor.
Clouds of so many shapes scuttering across the deep blue creating moving fake mountains over the newly snow-dusted Olympic range.
Out of sorrow, joy. Out of tears, prayers. Out of suffering, gladness. Out of darkness, light.
I hold sorrow, tears, suffering, darkness In my left hand. I hold joy, prayer, gladness, light In my right.
Together they make me whole. Together they fill my soul.
