Headstone Project: Rumi
I know it’s a cumbersome name but I can’t think of another one (any suggestions gratefully received) and the whole thing is a bit weird to be honest but for a number of years I have been visiting the tombs and graves of people who have had some resonance for me in my life - I thought it was about time to gather my photos and notes of these and get them in some sort of order so I’ll intermittently publish them here and write a bit about the people.
I should stress there is no element of ‘shrine-visiting’ in all this - it’s just that if I’m in Damascus then Ibn Arabi’s tomb is somewhere I like to visit because I’m interested in his work. It’s not a ‘looking for a miracle or blessing’ thing although a lot of that does go on and it is a useful opportunity to observe it.
In time I’m going to dig out some photos of Orage’s beautiful headstone, Sir Richard Burton’s Arab tent mausoleum at Mortlake and Gurdjieff’s dolmens in Fontainbleau. I also have some photos of Uwais al-Qarni’s alleged resting place stashed somewhere too but for now here are some of Rumi’s mausoleum in Konya. I didn’t take these but will dig mine out and write an update of several visits to Konya over the next week or so.
September 01 2005 in Headstone Project | Read More | Comments [3]
Mushkil Gusha Thursday
As I mentioned several posts ago I thought it might be good to designate Thursdays as ‘Mushkil Gusha’ day and post a story for consideration and comment.
It is possible that many people in the west do not know of Mushkil Gusha so perhaps it is best to start off with Mushkil Gusha’s own story. I post the whole story below but first reproduce some background info courtesy of Aaron Shephard. Note that in the historical Persian tradition Mushkil Gusha’s day is the Muslim Holy Day, Friday. I am, however, following Idries and Omar Ali Shah’s modern usage of Thursday as the day for the telling of Mushkil Gusha’s story. A bit of background from Aaron’s site:
The custom of invoking Mushkil Gusha is practiced in Iran especially among traditional Muslim women. The tale is told each week on Friday eve, the beginning of the Muslim holy day. Muslims measure their days from sunset to sunset, so ‘Friday eve’ would come before Friday morning just as ‘Christmas Eve’ comes before Christmas Day. Along with telling the story goes the sharing of a special snack food with the poor. Sometimes called aajeel and sometimes nokhod kishmish, it is a mixture of things like roasted chickpeas, raisins, dried dates, dried figs, nuts, and seeds.
The name Mushkil Gusha is Persian for “Remover of Difficulties”. But exactly who and what is he? If you ask Iranians, you get differing answers. Some say he is Ali, the prophet Muhammad’s cousin, son-in-law, and ‘true successor’ as he is considered by the Shiites, whose sect of Islam predominates in Iran. But one Iranian woman told me simply, ‘It is God, isn’t it?’.
Others say Mushkil Gusha is the prophet Khidr, the ‘Green One’, the patron saint of the Muslim holy men called dervishes. (Khidr is the Arabic name. In Iran he is called Khezr, and in Turkey, Hizir.) Khidr is portrayed in many Muslim tales as the bearer of fortune—a role he shares with the prophet Elijah, about whom many of the same stories are told by the Jews.
This tale was retold chiefly from ‘The Story of Mushkil Gusha’ in Persian Tales, collected and translated by D. L. R. and E. O. Lorimer, Macmillan, London, 1919. This was supplemented by my personal email correspondence with Kave Eshgi of Bristol, England, whose grandmother told him the tale every Friday eve as he grew up in the Iranian city of Kerman. Still another version is ‘The Tale of Mushkil Gusha’ in World Tales, collected by Idries Shah, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York and London, 1979, which first introduced me to the story.
September 01 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [4]
Cult Info
I think in these times it is more essential than ever to inform ourselves about cults - what a cult actually IS (and is not) and how we can recognize them. I think many rational people are familiar with the stereotypical image of the 1960’s Guru sect but we are moving into a different era and the typology of cults (if not the methodology) has moved with us.
I don’t intend to embark on any particular hobby-horse with this but I shall probably post some thoughts and examples in the not too distant future. Meanwhile I have added a link category, Cult Info to the sidebar and also a post category which is currently invisible because I haven’t posted anything yet.
A Bientot.
August 30 2005 in Fortean | Read More | Comments [3]
Tao of Gnosticism
Just discovered a great series of articles entitled The Tao of Gnosticism on the blog Sitting Still Doing Nothing which is a highly recommended read.
Part three on the alchemical relation to Gnosis is a must-read. Drop by and say hi!
August 30 2005 in Esoteric Christianity | Read More | Comments [0]
Enneagon
With all this talk of Gurdjieff floating around I was thinking a bit about the Sufi links with G’s ‘system’ and in particular the Enneagon (or enneagram as recently decaffeinated by the new-age steamroller) and its origins.
Many people have sought the origins of the mysterious symbol and not many have had much success. I can’t say I can solve the issue but there are a few interesting links to throw into the pot for anyone who wished to give it a go. Firstly, I suppose I would cite Idries Shah’s comments in his book the Commanding Self
This is obviously an issue to which Shah attaches a great deal of importance and he states as much in this brief section. Addressing the issue of whether the enneagon is ‘unknown in occult circles in the west’ he claims to have seen a drawing of it in a MS in the Library of Grenoble. I do not know which MS he refers to here but the following image is from the frontspiece of Athanasius Kircher’s
This apparent difference between the symbols is interesting. Shah continues in the ‘Commanding Self’ explaining that the symbol itself is often depicted in a coded fashion (it is noteworthy that G himself stated it was incomplete as he gave it) - as an example of this Shah cites the door symbol in the tour Hassan in Rabat, Morocco (see picture and enlargement below).
These hidden, coded or ‘obscured’ depictions of the symbol are not unusual - here is one used by Gurdjieff himself on the front of the prospectus of the Paris Institute.
Imo this is an interesting field of study and there really isn’t that much (sane) research on it available on the web. I shall post a few links in my usual fashion for those interested in investigating (incidentally, it’s come to my attention btw that some people believe that if I post a link it means I agree with what it says - if I get my head round that concept I may post on it soon), anyway.....
Here is a thread on a forum that discusses Oscar Izacho’s use of the enneagram and mentions Shah and Leila Bakhtiar’s ideas of origins. Another, possibly less interesting, thread is at metaco8nitron and also there is an interesting piece on the Kaballah of eight.
This last one may be more interesting than it appears at first glance as it takes in the Ikhwas as-Safa (of whom more in an upcoming post) and focuses on the Kaballah of eight which it regards as the Sufi Kaballah (see Shah’s comments in this regard in the Sufis). This may be significant in the light of Shah’s comments in the CS cited above that the enneagon is often coded as an eight-sided figure.
August 30 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [5]
Saints and Sinners
The ongoing Gurdjieff discussion at Conclave has got me thinking - which is good because that’s what it’s designed to do....err… anyway, I’ve been thinking about conceptions of ‘piety’ as opposed to the paradigm of traveling a path or ‘seeking’, however one frames that.
August 29 2005 in Esoteric Christianity | Read More | Comments [4]
Bits and Bobs….
Just a few updates on a chilled-out Sunday. Usually people here wash their cars but I don’t have one....
Found a blog with some nice Nasrudin stories on - some I hadn’t heard before (the goat one’s funny). Check it out at: Lawnorder.
Was thinking that it might be good to post a regular Sufi tale or story from Idries Shah and just leave it open for discussion - kind of like how Joe Katzman does it at Winds of Change although I think he has stopped for a while now.
I’ll make a new category for this discussion in a bit and nominate Thursday as the day - obviously, that being the case it will have to be called Mushkil Gusha. Stay tuned.
Also found some other links which people may find interesting (or not): there’s a Rumi/Sufism Forum here and an associated Rumi site which has some interesting older academic articles as well as some Shah stories. Also discovered an interesting Catholic blog with a great article by Hans Urs von Balthasar at North Western Winds which is definitely worth a look.
Have added Enormous Fictions, Weird Events and Indigo Jo to the blogroll.
That should be enough tinkering for now......
August 28 2005 in General Stuff | Read More | Comments [2]
Patricia Cornwell
I have been a student of the Ripper murders for a number of years - just don’t use the word ‘Ripperologist’ - and there are many anomalous facets to the crimes which I may (or may not) get round to posting on eventually. But as it so often does, something else odd has happened in our twee Victorian-wannabe (yes) world.
I see that Patricia Cornwell, who wrote a rather ludicrous book
Now this is funny and could almost be an esoteric teaching story! She apparently spent 10K (GBP) on each ad and all too prove she doesn’t have an obsession! And this in addition to $6M so far alleged to have gone into research into the Whitechapel murders - whether or not this includes the $1M which she is alleged to have spent on a Sickert painting which she then destroyed in a hunt for clues is unclear - as is whether or not that story is actually true.
But this seems more like a cynical publicity stunt (or is it me that’s the cynic?) as it turns out (please God no) that she has a sequel to the Sickert book due out shortly. The worst part is that I know I’m going to have to read it.
August 27 2005 in Literature | Read More | Comments [3]
Gurdjieff Links
Looks like Tim Boucher is getting into Gurdjieff and there are what potentially promise to be some great discussions developing over there on Gurdjieff’s ideas.
August 27 2005 in Esoteric Christianity | Read More | Comments [0]
Jesus in Afghanistan
Reading the comments on the Christological aspects of the Dome of the Rock below, I was reminded of the various Middle Eastern, Indian and Japanese (!) traditions that Jesus survived crucifixion and went on to travel, live and teach in the East for around 30 years or so.
The specific example I was thinking of was of an Afghani sect that practiced a ‘ring-dance’ they claimed was taught by Jesus and I know have found the source of this info. It is from O M Burke’s Among the Dervishes
Another good source is the work of Holger Kersten which lists many fascinating avenues for potential research. There is also a great Fortean Times Article from their archives.
August 26 2005 in Esoteric Christianity | Read More | Comments [2]
Saviors of God
It’s a day of synchronicity for me - always a good sign - I posted below about Corlett and Moore’s book which is essentially a commentary on Attar’s The Conference of the Birds
I post this as a resource for readers as it is kind of rare - please post any comments on Jp’s site as it is his discussion.
August 26 2005 in Esoteric Christianity | Read More | Comments [1]
The Islamic Space
A few days ago I felt an urge to read a book that I have not read for about 20 years. This was a bit odd because I have thousands of books and I didn’t really ever like this book so I hadn’t thought so much about it - although at the time I read it I was very into ‘ecstatic’ aspects of Sufism and felt in the over-imaginative way that one sometimes can that it had engendered some sort of ‘mystical experience’.
Anyway, this book, The Islamic Space
August 26 2005 in Reviews | Read More | Comments [2]
More Dome Stuff
I was looking around for some photos of the Dome of the Rock decorations and also some other palm-tree info and I found some interesting (to me) stuff. Firstly there is a great article by William Dalrymple (again) entitled A Christmas Palm Tree.
August 24 2005 in Articles | Read More | Comments [2]
Gnostic Elements in the Dome of the Rock
I’ve been reading a lot of Gnostic stuff recently and also many of the Gnostic blogs that are springing up in the Palm Tree Garden - as regular readers will know, my main focus is on interfaces with Islam and Christianity (in terms to the esoteric aspects of each rather than the orthodox) and I’ve been thinking a bit about the Palm Tree symbolism and Gnosticism in an Islamo-Christian context - specifically in relation to the building known as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
August 23 2005 in Articles | Read More | Comments [4]
Starlets in Chodors…..
August 22 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [0]
