Date: Monday, December 9, 2024
Time: 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Led by: The Seattle Circle of the Mevelvi Order of America
This event is In Person, Zoom
Join Zoom Gathering
ID: 895 9461 0201
Passcode: mevlevi
In-Person zikr every Monday evening!
All are welcome. Come, come, whoever you are!
The first Monday gathering each month features “Estağfurullah Zikr.”
Questions? Contact Seattle MOA teaching circle: seattlemoa@gmail.com
“Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love.”
~ Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi
Join lovers of Mevlana in this weekly gathering with
the Mevlevi Order of America Seattle Circle
~ a musical and prayerful evening.
Please do not attend in person if experiencing any symptoms(ie. fever, runny nose, sneezing, sore throat, respiratory illness, etc), or if you have had contact with anyone you believe could be infected. Masking at our indoor Mevlevi Monday gatherings is not required, and up to the individual’s preference. Let’s be mindful and protect each other.
OUR LINEAGE
Our transmission and tradition comes to us in an unbroken chain from the Sufi mystic and poet Mevlåna Jelaleddin Rumi. Rumi lived in 13th century Konya, Turkey, which was the capital of the Seljuk Empire. He was recognized as a scholar and a major religious and spiritual leader. He was already a renowned scholar and teacher when his encounters with the mystic, Shems-i-Tabriz, led to the blossoming of his full spiritual light. It was because of Shems that he started writing poetry.
His written legacy is contained in six texts. Three are poetry: the Divan-i Shams-i-Tabrizi – a collection of lyric poems, the Mathnawi Ma’nawi “Spiritual couplets”, and the Rubaliyyat. Three are prose: Fihi ma Fihi “It is what it is” his discourses, Makatib collected letters, and Maialis-i sablah seven sermons or lectures.
*Suleyman Hayati Dede
Sheikh of Konya, Suleyman Hayati DedeOur Dede was appointed Sheikh of Konya by Celaleddin Bakir Celebi, head of the Order and the 21st lineal descendant of Rumi. Dede visited Europe and America many times, planting the seeds of Mevlana wherever he went. He brought inspiration, compassion, and love to those who met him. In 1978 he sent his son, Jelaleddin Loras, to America to continue the Mevlevi Tradition in the west.
Jelaleddin Loras
Maqam Postneshin Jelaleddin Loras Effendi was raised and trained in the Mevlevi community of Konya. Under his father’s instruction he came to America with the tasks of creating centers and training western students. He has spent more than thirty years in this service, exploring and refining how to present the Mevlevi path to the western heart. Today there are Mevlevi Order of America centers across the United States and in Europe.
We are sincere seekers on a perennially modern, and centuries old path into the Divine Mystery. We are concerned with developing ourselves through emotional, intellectual, and physical practices. We respect all traditions which seek to accept the responsibility of humanity to care for each other and our world. We do not condone the use of sacred teachings to justify violence or to further political ends.
OUR PRACTICES
“For more than seven centuries, the Mevlevi Order has represented Spiritual Civilization on the vast and bountiful earth. Its aesthetic and intellectual achievements have been of enduring importance; it has produced magnificent works of music, poetry, and art.
Wherever Mevlevis have established themselves they have made profound contributions and have nurtured and developed the most human sentiments. As much as the Mevlevi Order has cultivated the mystical appreciation of life, it has also added to the fully human pleasure of living. Mevlevihood is like a the raw material thrown transformed according to its crucible: into it is potential.” — Abdülbåki Gölpınarlı (1900-1982) Mevlevi scholar
Ripening
Maturing physically is automatic. Maturing emotionally, intellectually and spiritually requires commitment, guidance, culture, a spiritual community and Grace. The Mevlevi path is a journey toward maturity.
Study
Study is the first, primary and lasting practice. We study:
• Rumi’s writings, his poetry and discourses – ultimately his magnum opus and most mature teaching – The Mesnevi.
• Sacred and instructive texts
• Those with more experience – their manners, attitudes, behavior and what they attend to.
• Nature, the world around us and the miracles in the creation
• Ourselves – our attitudes, reactions, behavior, states, our real needs and our deeper nature.
Service
Everything we do aims toward service. There is always a way to serve, from making a small gesture of consideration to traveling across the globe helping those in need. The commitment to serve teaches us freedom through humility and honors the connection between us all.
Sema
The whirling ceremony is a formal ritual. Every part has meaning. It is a teaching linking to the infinite and transmitting a blessing to the world. A semazen is one who whirls.
Zikr
Zikr is Remembrance through repetition. It raises one to a deeper contact with our True Nature. A zikr can be a beautiful ceremony with music and gestures, or an invisible prayer of the heart.
Sohbet
In sohbet we open our hearts to each other in discussion and deep listening. The oral tradition is passed through stories and teachings. We share our experiences and explore questions.
Refinement
Subtlety and discrimination are cultivated through music, calligraphy, poetry, cooking and all the arts and civilized forms. We appreciate and contribute to the richness of both the spiritual and the cultural.
Adab
The Mevlevi path embodies respect for the whole of creation and for every individual, including ourselves.
Grace and consideration polish the heart and clear a space in us where something extraordinary can enter...
