by Mark Josephs (aka Mark the Mystic Activist) This is the most intimate article I've ever written. In it I describe my personal experience of awakening in an interconnected world in which everything is relating with everything. I MYSTIC Why do I define myself as a mystic? Because I look like one? Because I'm an … Continue reading The Erotic Life of a Mystic
by Paul Cudenec, who reads the article here "Druidic thinking is neither collectivist nor individualist, it is both at the same time", [1] writes Jean Markale in the book that I have been exploring in this series of essays. While I have found much in ancient Celtic spirituality that resonates with my own outlook, here … Continue reading Life: a sacred and heroic mission
by Paul Cudenec, who reads the article here The spirituality of the ancient Celts, like that of most pre-modern peoples, was deeply rooted in human belonging to nature. Jean Markale, in his very interesting 1985 book on druidism, explains that this was reflected in the fact that "before being conquered by the Romans or assimilated … Continue reading Through nature we can touch the divine
by Paul Cudenec, who reads the article here Religious (and indeed political) belief systems can be deceptive - behind the mask of one tradition we often find elements that have been absorbed from quite different sources. This is the case with the Celtic civilization that I recently suggested could provide us with spiritual inspiration for … Continue reading Spiritual roots entwined
by Paul Cudenec, who reads the article here We live in a society that generally lacks a spiritual dimension - everything revolves around money, possessions and power, with so-called "religions" often nothing more than systems of rules imposed on us by self-appointed authorities. While we cannot go back to a time when that was not … Continue reading For a future inspired by the past
by Paul Cudenec (who reads the article here) I have always found that physical and spiritual heights go hand in hand. As a boy, in the grey London suburbs, I had to make do with the top floor of the multi-storey car park over the road from my grandmother's house in order to experience this … Continue reading Great Pan and the gap into Elf-land
by Paul Cudenec (who reads the article here) We all know how faiths and ideologies can be corrupted and deliberately turned into a negation of what they were meant to represent. But, it strikes me, the opposite can also happen. In this instance, the change would not be brought about by external hostile action against … Continue reading Renewal from within and beyond
by Paul Cudenec (who reads the article here) "The birthing of humans by the Earth is a universally widespread belief. In numerous languages, we are named 'born of the Earth'". [1] So writes Mircea Eliade in Le sacré et le profane, a book to which I referred in 'Our sacred belonging'. [2] On the surface … Continue reading Gnosticism and the universal mother
by W.D. James For whatever reason, I was recently drawn to pull a book off the shelf I had not read in ten or fifteen years and go back through it. It is Rufus Matthew Jones’ The World Within (1918). Jones was an early twentieth century Quaker scholar who focused on mysticism, especially that of … Continue reading The Inner Light
winter oak 