This newsletter is a publication of the Mystical Order of the White Rose, a multi-faith devotional and spiritual support organization.  We support and share information about mystical, monastic, contemplative and creative ways of living.  We encourage prayer, the reading of sacred scripture(s), lectio divina, meditation, journaling, solitude, fasting, silence, kindness, hospitality, worship, simplicity, creativity,active involvement in spiritual and religious communities, and  loving service to others.  You can view past issues here and you can subscribe to it here .

This Month's Theme:  Marriage As A Spiritual Path and Sacred Romantic Partnerships

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 Table of Contents

-- "Marriage As a Spiritual Path" by Stephen Muse, Ph.D., LMFT, an Orthodox Christian View

--   Rumi's Love and Ecstasy Poems; a selection poems translated by Coleman Barks and Sharam Shiva

--  "The Hierosgamos Theme in the Images of the Rosarium Philosophorum," by Karen-Claire Voss, an Alchemical View

--    Two Kinds of Love, excerpt from an article by Mark Matousek

--    "Sacred Relationships:  A New Paradigm Unfolding" by Arttemis and Krystalle Keszainn

--  Multi-faith nd Multi-Media Daily Devotionals

--   Links of Interest

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Marriage As a Spiritual Path

by Stephen Muse, Ph.D. LMFT

       The purpose of life is not to resist it or indulge in it, but to live.    As St. Ireneaus in the early second century observed, "The glory of God is a human being fully alive," as we see  in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Marriage as a spiritual path moves along the 'narrow path" that leads to life between these two extreme energies where the divine energies and the vital sap of daily life in the world converge.

       You can read the complete 7-page essay here:  http://www.ocampr.org/marriageSpiritual.pdf   It is written from an Orthodox Christian Perspective.

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Rumi's Love and Ecstasy Poems

An Online Anthology

     Here is just one of Rumi's poems from the anthology:

The Hiierosgamos Theme in the Images of the Rosarium Philosophorum

         by Karen-Claire Voss (an Alchemical View)

   Both the texts and the iconography of the alchemical tradition of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are filled with allusions to ‘the chymical marriage, and some of the most beautiful and compelling images in the texts depict the conjunction of opposites as a royal marriage.These descriptions and images occur with sufficient frequency to warrant comparison with the hierosgamos (sacred marriage), as understood in the discipline of history of religions. 

      To read the complete essay click here. 

http://www.istanbul-yes-istanbul.co.uk/alchemy/Rosariumfinal.htm 

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Two Kinds of Love

excerpt from an article by Mark Matousek

     There are two forms of attchment, apparently, both of which are known by the L word but which, in fact, are very different.  "There's ego-based love," he tells me, using ego not to denote the Freudian sense of self that's indispensable to negotiating daily life but to refer to the illusory armor that suffocates and cuts us off,  the self-obsessed  me that renders us so unspeakably lonely, stripped of  the feelings of belonging and  connection. 
"That's the irony," Grayson says.   "First we imagine our separation from others, then we spend our precious lives trying, and failing, to bridge this false divide." 

       Spritual love works on an opposite principle, he continues.  Instead of the doomed attempt to "complete" ourselves through another person--the ego bing chronically hungry, unworthy, unsatisfied--spiritual relationships hinge on the knowledge that each of us alredy whole.  "We're complete," Grayson insists, joining his fingers to form a circle.  "We are made from the very same energy as the rest of creation--love, as it is called in the gospels--in its myriad forms.  Our essential nature is divine.  In other words, we are already this wholeness, this love, that we seek outside ourselves." 

           - excerpt from the article "Love:  It's All In Your Head" by Mark Matousek, published in Oprah Magazine in April, 2004. Matousek interviews Henry Grayson, a New York psychologist and author of Mindful Loving. 

Click here for a brief article by Henry Grayson, Ph.D. about Mindful Loving and Negative Thoughts.

Total Loving Kindness - Almost 7 minute long video with Buddhist perspective.

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Sacred Relationships: A New Paradigm Unfolding

by Arttemis and Krystalle Keszainn

     Years ago a couple who was celebrating their 50th anniversary shared their formula for success: "Relationships are ninety-ninety," Grandma Anderson said. To this day I still have no idea what that means, and at the time I couldn't help but notice that Grandma and Grandpa Anderson didn't really seem happy together. She did all of the talking and he sat silently at her side — until she left the room. Then he could speak freely without her interjecting or scolding him. When I looked at them I didn't see two people who were happy to be sharing their hearts and truths with each other. I saw two people who were living in the same house without physically harming each other.

     I've come to realize that there aren't many examples of sacred relationships on the planet — relationships where both partners genuinely love themselves and each other; relationships where both partners enjoy themselves, each other, and life together. Sacred relationships do exist, but they are so uncommon that the majority of us have yet to witness a true sacred relationship, let alone experience one. What is a sacred relationship? Why are we so challenged with finding our 'soul mate', our 'twin flame', or our 'true love'? Perhaps the answer lies in our perception of what true love is and what it means to be in a sacred relationship.

     The search for love often begins when a person realizes that he or she feels incomplete. Many people seek relationships to try to find love — to find their 'soul mate' or 'other half'. In other words, many seek to complete themselves through searching for love outside of themselves; love given to them by another person. Of course the missing piece that makes us whole is the discovery of our own infinite source of internal love, but we generally don't realize this at first.

     This search for love offers an opportunity to discover one of humanity's great spiritual truths: our most fulfilling and sacred relationship is the one we share with ourselves. Our first sacred relationship is with self and self-love is the basis for all sacred relationships.

     Does this make relationships with others a misguided distraction from developing an infinite love of self? Not at all. Relationships offer unlimited opportunities for self-growth, self-mastery, and self-love. When we enter a relationship we're forging a spiritual contract with our partner saying, "I'll be a mirror for you so you can see your divine reflection — all the attributes, light and shadow, that reveal who you are and who you are becoming — if you'll do the same for me."

      This spiritual contract allows relationships to act as catalysts for our spiritual growth and evolution. When another person acts as our mirror and reflects all of our attributes back to us so we can see ourselves more clearly, we enter the fast-track to finding true love in relationships — discovering our infinite potential to completely love ourselves. From this place of self-love we have a greater capacity to extend and share our love with others. The love shared in a sacred relationship is a gift reflecting the infinite self-love within each person.

     The view of relationships as a catalyst also reveals why many relationships seem to become more difficult over time. As partners act as mirrors for each other, they reveal aspects of each others' self that were previously hidden from them. The "shadows" of each partner are gradually revealed. Here's a classic example of how hidden aspects emerge through the process of mirroring:

     Partner 1: "Why do you (fill in the blank — become defensive, argue, close off, deny responsibility, etc.) when we discuss this subject?"

     Partner 2: "I don't do that!"

     At this point, a number of paths can be explored — from arguing to exploring the issue further and finding a piece of self that was previously hidden. Regardless of the outcome, an aspect of one or both partners has been revealed that they have yet to discover about themselves. Here is an opportunity for both partners to explore self and grow in their awareness and self-love through the reflection they see in each other.

     Often, spiritual contracts and mirroring in relationships occur on an unconscious level. Perhaps this explains why we find relationships so challenging. Not only do we look for love from our partner that we can only find within ourselves, but we also attempt to change aspects of our partners that we are unwilling to address in ourselves because we are unwilling to admit they may exist in us. Many of us find it much easier to blame our partner for any challenges or discomfort in the relationship than to look within ourselves and accept responsibility for the disharmony we may be creating.

     The mirroring of our light and shadow attributes continues until there is no duality or polarity within us; until we are truly heart-centered in all ways and at all times. This is the ultimate potential of a sacred relationship.

     Imagine the potential for personal growth, awareness, and self-love that exists when we enter into the spiritual contracts of relationships on a conscious level! Imagine the amount of growth and mastery both partners can achieve when they are aware of the process of mirroring and when they accept their roles as mirrors with love and grace. Imagine the power of a conscious catalyst for growth, mastery, and self-love. This is a sacred relationship; a relationship where two sovereign divine beings choose to walk along side each other, sharing and reflecting their unique beauty, without judgment or expectation.

     We can enter into all relationships fully conscious and aware that they are catalysts for us to rediscover who we are. We can enter into relationships knowing that our partner does not complete us by giving us the love we think we're missing, but that our partner acts as a catalyst to help us find the love that already exists within us. And we do the same for our partner! We can even transform relationships we're currently in by agreeing to consciously acknowledge their true function of propelling our spiritual growth and self-love.

      Sacred relationships create no need and no dependency. Both partners simultaneously grow into higher and higher states of self-love. In a sacred relationship, partners grow along side each other while mirroring and reflecting each other's divine qualities.

       This is our potential now — today. On Earth we are creating a new paradigm of sacred relationships. Every relationship in our world may not be a sacred one, yet all relationships have the potential to evolve and grow into sacred ones. Imagine a world where all relationships are sacred relationships — from our most intimate partner, to friends, family, acquaintances, and even strangers!

  -- from The Spirit of M'aat, an online community and webzine presented by Drunvalo Melchizedek

paganismwicca.suite101.com/article.cfm/litha_celebrations*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Daily Multi-Faith, Multi-Media Devotionals

Each day we should expose ourselves to the inspiration of others.  Thousands of saints and wise men and women have left us messages of hope and encouragement.  Read what is honest.  Read the scriptures and the commentaries.  Read great literature and poetry.  Read the psalms.  Read that which expresses the anguish and the exhilaration of experience, and teaches us that we are not alone.

                    -  John McQuiston II,  p. 88, Always We Begin Again--The Benedictine Way of Living 

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June 1

  We are light going through a prism.  The light is always there, but only we can act as its prism, concentrate and filter it.  We make of the light of the cosmos, a rainbow with a mouth and arms.

                                                            - Jarrett Smith

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June 2

Always begin right here where you are

And work out from here:

If adrift, feel the feel of the oar in the oarlock first,

If saddling a horse let your right knee slug

The belly of the horse like an uppercut,

Then cinch his suck,

Then mount and ride away

To any dream deserving the sensible world.

       - Thomas Hornsby Ferri

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June 3

     All the great traditons talk about this idea that somehow the ideal thing would be for every moment to be a revelation, every moment to be a mystical experience--but not because you're having visions, but because of the beauty of the momenbt.  The beauty of this moment is very, very great.  This is a very great opening.  Every microsecond of the conversation has the temptation for us to almost get lost in it.  So these are tgood things ... hugging the dog, walking outside, or seeing the the real mysticism is here.

                 - Father Frances Tiso, Catholic Priest (2002)

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June 4

     Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.  Commend all to God, and then lie still and be at rest in God's bosom ....  Whatever happens, abide steadfast in a determination to cling simply to God's eternal love for you. 

                - St. Francis de Sales

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June 5

     In the place where I live in Mongolia there is much eternal power and information on our land.  To find this eternal power I lived with my master, a very powerful Mongolian shaman, in a cave in the mountains for thirteen years, studying shamanism.  If people can find the power of this eternal power and the power of their own body they can live happily.  They can find the real meaning of their life and what they need.  Patience overcomes all difficulties, all pain, all suffering in our life.  If you have great patience, then very positive results are waiting for you. 

     The most important thing for you is to know yourself.  You are a very precious and sacred person.  You are a god for yourself and you are a heaven for yourself.  So you need to open yourself.  We need to communicate with our sacred treasure.  After we inow ourselves and each other very completely, this eternal love blossoms and becomes stronger.

       - Zorigtbaatar Banzar, leader of the Center of Shaman and Eternal Heavenly Sophistication  (2006)

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June 6

     Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by side can grown up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.

                                      - Rainer Maria Rilke

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June 7 - Trinity Sunday (Christian) - Full Moon

 One of the more abstract and controversial festivals celebrated by members of the Roman Catholic Church, Trinity Sunday honors the three-in-one; the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

You can get a full scoop here. 

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June 8

    One thing that gets people in trouble in relationships is the concept of fair exchange.  In the first place, it is my experience of relationships that people always feel they are giving more in the relationship than the other person.  Ask the other person in such a pair, and we will hear the same thing, the opposite way.  We all are very aware of how much we are working to help things out, and we are all very quick to judge the generosity fo the attempts of the other.  It is a human trait apparently as deep as our bones.  It is seldom clear to us that we are biased.  But I believe we can assume we are all biased when ti comes to relationships.  We always think we are doing more!  In the second place, relationships are often unfair for various reasons, and this does not stop them from being  good learning and serving opportunities.  Love cannot be denied.  However, sometimes, for all our awareness and hard work, relationships fail.

                - Carla Lisbeth Rueckert, p. 287, A Wanderer's Handbook, published by L/L Research

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June 9

     Service is my practice.  Service is one of the most powerful of the [spiritual] practices.  As you watch someone being taken unaware by something like cancer, they go through a process of healing.  It's a process of the evolution of the self towards wholeness.  There are steps in the process, and people go through them in different ways.  I believe the final step is service.

     People who are able to use and experience crisis, suffering, and loss in a way that evolves their unique being, will, in the end, use that unique being in service to others, because service has become natural to them.  The experience they've just been through--of suffering and loss--is, in some sense, the universal experience.  It's the human condition.  Having been through it, they don't hold themselves separate from the suffering of other people.  They don't protect themselveds in the way that most people do.

     Often they stay in the lives they've been in.  They're a CEO or they're a real estate agent, or whatever, but they do it now from a different place and for a different purpose.  They do it from a place of deep connection to others.  And for me, that's the sign of true practice.  I think that a lot of people speak of the web of connection as an intellectual thing.  That's very different from knowing it in every cell of your body as the ground of being.

                  - Rachel Naomi Remen, physician

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June 10

     As we grow more intimate with things as they are, we begin to notice the glory of God in each one.  Meditation just makes it easier to remember what God, your self, and all of life are about.  Love the Lord your God, your heart, mind, and soul and your neighbor as yourself.  It's all right there, there's nothing else really.  That's why we are here. ....  Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, or whatever, that's why people gather to worship and practice--the abundant life wants to be known!  It's the way we need to live together, to weave a tapestry of life that allows the universe to express itself.

                       -  Pastor David Parks-Ramage

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June 11 Corpus Christi Day (Christian) a.k.a. the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Roman Catholic)

      Corpus Christi means "the body of Christ" in Latin.  It is celebrated on the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday.  This Roman Catholic Church festival honors the transubstantiation of the eucharistic bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ during mass.  It was customary to have a procession through the streets after celebrating the mass. 

      Here is a video showing a Corpus Christi procession from Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral with background music sung  by the Daughters of St. Paul. 

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June 12

    You be perfectly you, let me be perfectly me:  uniquely and mutually flawed.  And together we can discover what it is to be human, and what two humans might be capable of being together.

                                                     - Joy Houghton

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June 13

     Most people learn never to be vulnerable, never to open.   Even in the most intimate relationships, they remain guarded, closed, afraid.  We treat the heart as though it's a skittery creature, peering out from under a rock, that should never come into the sunlight for fear of predators.  The truth is, the heart is a powerful, awe-inspiring force to be reckoned with in the world.  When we see this energy fully revealed, when someone stands before us openhearted, we are moved to great calm, not violence.  We want to bask in the heart's light, want to portect and align ourselves with this energy we recognize as also our own.

      - Christina Baldwin, p. 189, Life's Companion--Journal Writing as a Spritual Quest

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June 14

     The mystery of sacramental life is not that we can hold onto their holy, life-giving moments, these mountaintop experiences forever--but rather that we are changed by them, and the world becomes a different place for us--a safer, more loving, more remarkable place.  We undergo transfiguration, and our ives are molded and re-created by the power of God's love.

                                      - Todd Smelser

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June 15 - Birthday of William Butler Yeats, June 13, 1865-1935

The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

   - W. B. Yeats

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June 21    Summer Solstice (Pagan and Secular) -  First Day of Summer - Father's Day

The summer and winter solstices, along with the spring and autumn equinoxes are the four cardinal points of the solar and Pagan calendar. 

Additional info can be found here. 

Also called Litha, more information about Pagan/Wiccan summer solstice celebrations can be found here. This video is a lyrical honoring of Litha/Summer Solstice and also provides interesting information.

Summer Solstice Celebrations Ancient and Modern; a comprehensive guide to multi-faith, multi-cultural traditions. www.religioustolerance.org/summer_solstice.htm

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