For more information about the White Rose Mandala above and its creator click here.
The Mystical Order of the White Rose offers members:
--- an emerging, online, ecumenical, multi-faith community;
--- an eclectic, uplifting collection of daily and seasonal multi-faith devotional resources;
--- access to people, writings, services, and products that offer spiritual and religious support, stimulation, and nourishment to members;
--- a free monthly newsletter that contains daily devotional readings, profiles of artists, healers, visionaries, news, views, and links of interest;
-- access to Cafe Press shop with images of the White Rose Mandala (above left) on a variety of objects, including t-shirts, greeting cards and posters.
Here are comments from members:
"I feel that I have found a sanctuary of sorts with the Mystical Order of the White Rose community. While it honors and shares wisdom teachings from many religious and spiritual traditions, it’s perfectly okay that I don’t have one particular religious or spiritual box that I fit neatly into. It’s rare and refreshing to connect with a spiritual community that doesn’t want or expect me to adopt a certain spiritual identity or way of thinking and doing things. The focus is more on universals–like prayer, meditation, mindfulness, kindness, inner peace and service–rather than particulars. Those are left to the individual." - Cliff Biel
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"A cyber-monastery is a weird concept in a way, but it’s cool too. And I like the White Rose symbol. It gets past the whole God, Goddess, Jesus, Buddha thing. You could be a total agnostic or a Jedi Knight and yet still be a true monk and spiritual warrior in the Mystical Order of the White Rose."
D.W.S.
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I know of no other site other than The Mystical Order of The White Rose that is so rich in materials for those interested in Interfaith Mysticism and Prayer. Cynthia Kiteley Lee has dedicated her Ministry
to Cyber Monasticism for those of us who spend so much of our working lives on computers yet find ourselves called to a life dedicated to exploring life as Mystics In The World.
What is my favorite aspect of The Mystical Order of The White Rose? I would have to say Cynthia's monthly Newsletter is an amazing resource for meditation, contemplation and prayerful reading. The newsletter expands the website with current informative and the latest videos, visual arts, poetry as well as articles by professionals, both past and present, in the fields of religion, science and anything else Cynthia's wonderful ability to collage interactive, intertextual materials finds appropriate.
The Mystical Order of The White Rose has created an on-line community: what Cynthia calls a Cyber-Monastery, we are called to pray for eachother and ourselves through a vast array of mediums that are both traditional and 21c. in origin. I was delighted to find information and ways to approach my journey from The Abrahamic Traditions to Paganism. Yet Cynthia always finds a way to bring everything back to what is most central: that The Mystical Traditions embrace and augment each other no matter what the exoteric institutions they stem from.
This month's Newsletter features The Kabbalah, for example, as well as the extensive archive of Newsletters that explore other aspects of Mysticism. I will be immersed in THE MYSTICAL ORDER OF THE WHITE ROSE this and every month... I am so grateful to have found a 'home' within the virtual petals of The Mystical White Rose.
All Blessings,
Cynthia Tedesco
Cyber-Monasticism
The Mystical Order of the White Rose is intended to serve as an online monastery (cyber-monastery) and sanctuary where people can refresh their spirits and find support for their spiritual journey and walk with God.
Models for Modern Times
Monastic ways have much to offer contemporary mystics, Christians and people of good will who follow a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional religious and spiritual paths.
In our Western culture, driven by consumerism, speed, technology, conspicuous achievement and a restless search for status, stimulation and distraction, monastic values and the monastic "lifestyle" offer a balm for the soul and a way of living that provides fertile ground for growing "the fruits of the Spirit" described in Galations 5:22-23 of the Bible (King James Version).
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
Key Components of the Monastic Life:
The core elements of traditional monastic life are:
-- regular and frequent periods of group prayer.
-- regular periods of worship and praise as a community. Christian monks (and nuns) are known for their singing of the psalms from the Bible in a style called Gregorian Chant that dates back to the Middle Ages in Europe.
-- individual reading of sacred texts (such as the Bible) and other inspirational materials. This is called lectio divina in the Catholic tradition, which means "divine reading."
-- meditation
-- journaling, especially with regard to spiritual reflections, concerns and insights.
-- manual labor as well as work required to maintain the smooth functioning of the community and to provide for the basic needs of its members.
-- offering hospitality to visitors and others associated with but not members of the community. This typically includes a warm welcome, food, lodging, and spiritual counseling upon request.
-- service to others through prayer, teaching, nursing or charitable activities or "ministries" intended to assist people who are in jail, homeless, hungry, sick, or otherwise in need of loving care and assistance as well as the use of creative talents such as painting, writing essays, books, devotionals, poetry, sculpture, photography and more.
-- regular and frequent periods of individual prayer.
-- simple, frugal living within a community of "like-minded" people.
A stunning photo of a white rose along with some of the meanings attributed to and groups affiliated with the white rose can be found by clicking here.
