Julian of Norwich was a mystic and anchoress of the 14th century and wrote Revelations of Divine Love, the first book to be written in English by a woman. Not much is known about her life, but she was born in about 1342 and may have been from a wealthy family that lived in Norwich.… Continue reading Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love
This week I’m reading Riding the Dragon: 10 lessons for inner strength in challenging times by Robert J. Wicks. The book is a spiritual and psychological guide to dealing with adversity and spiritual crisis. It’s aimed at people who work as therapists and counsellors, but anyone struggling to cope with overwhelming problems will find it… Continue reading Review: Riding the Dragon
A perfect example of the Cancer archetype on film is mother! – a mind-bending Gnostic creation myth stuffed with Biblical metaphors and Kabbalistic symbolism. It’s a home invasion story told from the perspective of Mother Earth and was inspired by the children’s book The Giving Tree. The film was marketed as a horror movie but… Continue reading mother! – God, Creativity, and Pesky Humans
This week I’m reading The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald May, subtitled: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection between Darkness and Spiritual Growth. The book explores the dark night through the writings of two of the best known Christian mystics: John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, and addresses some of the misconceptions… Continue reading Review: The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald May
Last time we looked at the language of deification in the Unitive State. Here we finish the extracts from Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism with the second style of language used by mystics to describe the experience of union, that of spiritual marriage, and explore the source of the mystic’s joy: “At this point we begin to… Continue reading The Mystic Way 15: Spiritual Marriage and Joy
Last time we looked at the characteristics of the Unitive Life. Here we continue the extracts from Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism to explore the first style of language used by mystics to describe the experience of union, that of deification: “We have said that the mystic of the impersonal type, the seeker of a Transcendent Absolute,… Continue reading The Mystic Way 14: Deification in Union
Last time we looked at ego death in the dark night of the soul. Here we continue the extracts from Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism to explore the true goal of the Mystic Way: Union. This isn’t the same as the earlier illumination stage, but the final stage where the mystic is one with the Absolute. So… Continue reading The Mystic Way 13: The Unitive Life
Uranus spends about seven years in each sign and this year he begins to transition into Taurus. It’s not a comfortable meeting for either Uranus or Taurus. As a fixed earth sign, Taurus doesn’t like change, especially when it happens fast. It likes stability and certainty, but there’s not going to be much of that… Continue reading Uranus in Taurus: Revolution of Values and Security
Last time we looked at some of the forms of the Dark Night of the Soul. Here we continue the extracts from Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism to explore the final and most challenging step of the dark night, that of the death of the self: “The various torments and desolations of the Dark Night constitute this… Continue reading The Mystic Way 12: Ego Death in the Dark Night
Last time we introduced the fourth phase of the Mystic Way, that of the Dark Night of the Soul. Here we continue the extracts from Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism to explore some of the forms which the dark night can take during this process of the purification of the self: “(A) To those temperaments in which… Continue reading The Mystic Way 11: Forms of the Dark Night
Last time we looked at the experience of Voices and Visions. Here we continue the extracts from Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism to explore the fourth phase of the Mystic Way, as outlined in part 1. This phase marks the final and complete purification of the Self, often called the Dark Night of the Soul: “The most… Continue reading The Mystic Way 10: The Dark Night of the Soul
In the post on Aries Myths we met the Sumerian battle goddess Inanna: a fertility goddess and force of nature with roots that extend back into prehistory. She’s not a figure you would expect to pop up in a Hollywood movie, but then along came Wonder Woman. Unlike many superhero movies, it isn’t afflicted with… Continue reading Wonder Woman: the Descent and Return of the Goddess
Jessica Davidson 