Sacred Pattern: Balancing the Feminine & Masculine, Kendal Nov 10-12

image by Irina Naji

SACRED PATTERN
Balancing the Feminine & Masculine
within ourselves, within our world

It seems evident that deep respect and harmony between the masculine and feminine principles of existence is necessary for the well-being of individuals and society as a whole. We recognise that our spiritual heritages offer much guidance as to how we might authentically manifest these principles, yet we recognise that cultural and socially mandated “norms” concerning gender can often hinder genuine self-discovery and expression. We trust that human beings can be free to discover and determine for themselves how to manifest and express the Divine Feminine and Masculine, and that what might generally be described as masculine can be within the realm of the feminine and vice versa.

Rumi’s Circle began this conversation in 2016 by honouring the feminine aspect of the Divine. We were driven by a concern both for the degradation of the Divine Feminine and the imbalance we perceive between the masculine and the feminine in the wider world. We are now continuing the conversation by exploring the Divine patterning of existence and how to integrate and balance the feminine and masculine principles within ourselves and within our interactions with all of creation.

Join us to experience diverse spiritual practices that bring us to balance and wholeness, including work with prayer, meditation, sound, breath, and movement.

The weekend begins on Friday at 7:30pm and ends Sunday at 5pm.
Quaker Meeting House, Stramongate, Kendal LA9 4BH.
Registration is £140.

Please book your place here.

Speakers include (see bios below):

Elizabeth Anne Hin
Kabir Helminski
Rahima McCullough
Mahmoud Mostafa
Naseem Khakoo
Selim Schaurer

Sacred Movement workshops by Jan Sandman and Naseem Khakoo.

SPEAKERS

Elizabeth Anne Hin, founding President of the White Rose Foundation, was conceived and born deeply awake, and experienced death in infancy from which she was brought back to life. Beth’s life has been aware of attention to the sacred in assistance to the spiritual, moral and humble development of all beings, including her own. Beth has studied the world’s spiritual traditions for over four decades. She was deeply mentored by many beloved Elders. Through The White Rose Foundation she has practiced her own contemplation and path, to date in fifty nations on all continents except Antarctica, offering lectures, classes, retreats, seminars, audio tapes and CD’s, scholarships for youth, honoraria for spiritual elders and spiritual leaders throughout the world, and service journeys of educational, medical and social support. Follow Beth’s work and listen to her podcasts: http://www.thewhiterose.org/

Kabir Helminski is a Shaikh in the Mevlevi lineage of Rumi, and co-director of The Threshold Society (sufism.org). In 2009 and subsequent years Kabir was named as one of the “500 Most Influential Muslims in the World” by the Royal Strategic Studies Center (Jordan). His translations of Rumi and books on spirituality, ‘Living Presence’ and ‘The Knowing Heart’, have been published in at least eight languages. In 2017 ‘Living Presence’ is being published in a commemorative 25th anniversary edition in the Spiritual Cornerstones series by Penguin Books. His newest book (2017) is ‘Holistic Islam: Sufism, Transformation, and The Challenge of Our Time’

Jan Sandman, author of ‘White Stones, Bones and Mist: Authentic Movement and Living Prayer’, returns to lead another workshop using Authentic Movement to deepen our relationship with the Sacred. Originally coming from a background of Counseling Psychology with a focus on BodyBased Therapies, Jan has studied with many masters over the years, always following the threads of where her heart, soul and intuition called her. Jan’s focus is on the wholeness of a person: Who are you within the context of your life? What is happening in your life today and how does it fit into the larger context? How does one stand in spiritual integrity and awareness? Find out more about Jan’s work: http://jansandman.com/

Naseem Khakoo will share a workshop on Conscious Relating using inner enquiry, group sharing, prayer, ritual and movement. We will explore how the depth of intimacy in relationship and application of radical love, can be a profound portal for inner alchemy and union of our masculine and feminine. Birthing the possibility of True Men and Women. Naseem is a woman committed to walking in Truth and bringing Radical Love to all angles of existence. Originally from a background of meditation and yoga, and having studied and travelled far and wide, she now focuses on birthing Truth through the journey of Human Wholeness and communing the personal and transpersonal as an embodiment of Love on Ground. Her own awakening and maturation process has laid the ground for her current sharing on Sacred Intimacy, Conscious Relating. Awakening as Woman, Womb Healing, Embodiment and Shadow/Trauma work. Find out more about Naseem’s work: http://theheartcentreyoga.co.uk/

Mahmoud Mostafa has been devoted to the study and practice of Tassawuf since 1995. In the course of his development, he received teachings from Sufi shaikhs in the USA, Turkey, Syria, South Africa, and Egypt and follows the Mevlevi path of Jalaluddin Rumi under the guidance of Shaikh Kabir Helminski. In addition to extensive study of the Quran and Hadith, he has also studied the works of Imam Ali, Rumi, Ibn Arabi, and other Sufi masters. He has facilitated Sufi circles, Quran study groups, and participated in inter-faith dialogues. He has been involved in the translation of several books, including The Book of Hadith, The Mevlevi Wird, The Light of Dawn, and Women of Sufism.

Rahima McCullough discovered Rumi and Sufism in 1991 and now facilitates an international online Sufi circle in the Mevlevi path. She works with refugees and is involved with a local interfaith group and the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom. Before retirement, she worked as a substance abuse counselor in a program for women in the criminal justice system, with Muslim women in prison, and as a family counselor in a program for families referred by Child Protective Services.

Selim Schaurer was introduced to the ideas of Sufism and particularly Jalaluddin Rumi in the Spring of 1968 and then took over 30 years to find his lineage. He had to travel through time with a Gurdjieff Institute in Paris and San Francisco; Native American Shamanism in California and Mexico; Jungian and World Work studies in Switzerland and Oregon; lead a dream interpretation group and is still a member of a men’s group (25+ years) before finding his Mevlevi Shaikh about 40 miles from his home. Beckoned by love, he now lives in Kendal.

Anna Rohleder is a writer, translator and journalist who has worked in Europe, the US and India, and is now based in Louisville, Kentucky. Her writing has appeared in publications such as the New York Times Sunday Book Review, Forbes and Art & Auction magazine, as well as LEO Weekly, Civil Eats and the Sustainable Food Trust. Along with several other members of Threshold Society, she is a contributor to The Living Tradition blog on Patheos.com dedicated to the exploration of Mevlevi Sufism.

Mothiur Rahman grew up wanting to be a poet but life led him to become a lawyer in London. A personal crises led him to veer off the path he was on and question his belief in reason as a way to the answers he began longing for again, leading him on a journey into different spiritual traditions to try to bring “love into law”. After reading a book by Buddhist Pema Chodron called “The Places that Scare you”, he began experimenting with poetry sourced from that place of hurt, leading him to hesitantly open up to his own ancestral heritage and in that process discover the Threshold Society. He feels blessed and honoured to be invited to be Writer in Residence for the Kendal Conference and is very much looking forward to it.

ACCOMMODATION

The retreat is non-residential but if you would like to stay with other friends who are attending, Aisha Niaz is coordinating Airbnb accommodation. If you are interested please contact her directly: docaisha@hotmail.com

Book your ticket.

Main image by Irina Naji.