"Sacred Activist:" Is There A Badge For That?

WildeRose Guest House

Rogers, KY

October 11, 2011

10:15 p.m.

“Sacred Activist:” Is There A Badge For That?

Andrew Harvey was so right.  This was not a “workshop.”  There was no “shop,” and there was no “work.”  It was neither a class nor a seminar.  Not a symposium, forum, or a salon.  It was not meant to be any of those.

For the week of October 1 - 7, 2011, at the Carlton Hotel in Oak, Park Illinois, a suburb of of Chicago, I was one of 33 who were privileged to share something very rare: an initiatory retreat.  In fact, it was so rare as to be almost mythical, for the impetus and intention was coming from another realm, deeply shrouded in history and mystery.  It had the air of an experiment; and the results were not guaranteed.  Success would depend upon an “X” factor, which would have to be supplied by each one of us individually.  “Worthiness” would be a key issue. 

The candidates wishing to become “Sacred Activists”  would be subject to an initiatory template.  They would be drawn into “a celebration of the integration of light and dark, chaos and order, rapture and agony, desolation and hope in a mysterious marriage of opposites that births the radiant and committed divine human being.”  No less!  (see   http://www.onespiritinterfaith.org/havrey_intensive.pdf  )

I knew I was supposed to be there because a few weeks before I had received a message from a trusted spirit guide -- (some of my readers will stop reading at this point -- and I cannot blame them) -- that it is time to re-enact the Eleusinian Mysteries, and that Viveka and I, as mother and daughter, representing Demeter and Persephone needed to take part.  http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/eleusinian_mysteries.html 

The Eleusinian mysteries, from ancient times, have been an initiation experience.  They involve a guided journey, originally inspired and led by the mother-daughter presence of Demeter and Persephone.  Initiates are ushered into the realms of the subconscious and the unconscious where we do the work of liberating energies that have been bound up in the psyche.  This is the shadow work, brought to light in modern times by C.J. Jung and others, and it is best accessed, we found, through radical forgiveness techniques.  I had the distinct conviction that we were all there by divine appointment, working out the next steps in our spiritual evolution.  

Although I did experience “an initiation,” I was also very aware that this is not a one-time pass or fail exam.  Rather it is a lifelong process and practice, to be undertaken with great care, patience and humility.  We were a roomful of “advanced beginners” approaching a distinct energy field, passing through it, and departing with every cell and atom and molecule of our being having been affected -- recharged and reoriented -- like iron filings passing through a magnetic field.

Don't get me wrong.  It was not as though we were encountering any of this material for the first time.  All of the participants were mature individuals who had clearly done extensive personal work prior to this experience.  What was unique about the opportunity was Andrew's ability to help us to understand the urgency of this work on the planet at this particular time.  He helped us to confront our levels of disbelief, denial, dread disillusionment and even our own death wishes.  It was not the nature of the work itself, but the way that he encouraged us to engage with it in a deeply feeling way that made the difference.  

The sacred marriage is the meeting and fusion of the divine masculine with the divine feminine within the individual:  head and heart, rationality and intuition, left and right hemispheres of the brain learning a new dance.  And all of this activity is offered and dedicated to the birth of a new humanity: divinely human, and humanly divine.

As a mentor, Andrew is absolutely unique and absolutely inspired.  There is no teacher on the planet like him today.  He is not a manipulator.  He is careful not to be idolized.  He is not someone who “jacks them up and glazes them over,” as are so many teachers in this age of feelgood new-age spirituality.  Andrew sees the need for individuals to be willing to confront their own shadows, which in all of us are legion.  This is messy work, which can involve coming face to face with extremes -- despair and grief, even madness.  And the reason Andrew is so effective in this work, in my opinion, is that he is constantly working on his own material; fiercely, and without compromise.  

Andrew’s work is about the celebration of the return of the Divine Feminine -- in consciousness, communication, culture, and community -- with compassion for the rejected aspects of the self.  It also integrates body mind and spirit by using a gentle, fulfilling yoga practice, which I have now incorporated into my daily routine.  Most importantly, however, I am enjoying an entirely new level of freedom having confronted new levels of darkness in myself, and having accessed the grace of self-forgiveness. 

Blessed by a mind immersed in the very highest levels of scholarship, and with the rarest gifts of poetic expression and the power of the spoken word, Andrew’s teachings are laced with humor and an endearing gift for self-mockery.  He and his expert female co-teachers, Karuna Erickson and Diane Burke, guided us from joyful mountaintop experiences, through the confusing straits of duality, plunging us into the realms of starkest horror and anguish as we viewed the current world situation, coming face to face with the specters of our own responsibility, abdication and powerlessness.

Miraculously, we all surfaced to breathe in new strength and hope for the individual and collective tasks in the challenging times that lie ahead.