Summoning the Unseen 2022 – 8 Week Series

 

“There is an unseen 

presence we honor, 

that gives the gifts.” 

~ Rumi

 

“The poet is the priest of the invisible.”

~ Wallace Stevens

 

“do not choose the lesser life. do you hear me. do you hear me. choose the life that is. yours. the life that is seducing your lungs. that is dripping down your chin.” 

~ Nayyirah Waheed

 

In these bewildering times, both our inner and outer worlds are undergoing rapid change and unraveling. So much is unknown and yet to be seen. We may fear becoming overwhelmed or disconnected from the emotional, relational, creative, and spiritual resources we need most right now.

What if there is a dimension of experience always available right here, which is innately meaningful and vivid - without cause or condition? 

What if it's possible to tune ourselves to receiving and transmitting this poetic dimension of being human?

When we tune and open ourselves to the poetic dimension of life, we may access the world’s innate aliveness, teeming with unseen layers of imagery, intimacy, guidance, archetypal narratives and codes, as well as spacious awareness holding and infusing it all.

How do you tune to the poetic? Do you remember your ways as a child of connecting to this animate, breathing world?

In these times of rapid change, challenge, and opportunity, with an overwhelming flood of imagery, information, and disinformation flowing in from the outside, it is vital that we become both discerning about what we take in to our minds and psyches, as well as pro-active about sourcing the imagery and intelligence of our own souls, intuition, and deep being. 

It is vital that we connect in brave, supportive community to feed each other the wisdom and vision we receive when we turn our embodied gaze toward unseen, poetic dimensions folded into any and every moment of being alive.

It is vital to gently allow in to our awareness and nervous systems that which has been in shadow, individually and collectively, and - as in the teachings of activist, author, and lawyer, Valarie Kaur - to wonder about who we really are, what we must resist and dismantle to enact a revolutionary love, and also how we can reimagine something more beautiful, equitable, and life-giving for all. 

This may emerge for you in a short poem of forgiveness for yourself. It may manifest in a letter of apology to an estranged friend. Or it may become a vision for deep structural change at work. “To attend to the moment is to attend to eternity. To attend to the part is to attend to the whole,” asserts the maxim from the compilation of Jewish teachings, Pirke Avot.

In these transitional times, it is vital that we help each other feel and express the pain of injustice and loss. It is vital that we also feel the burn, ache and pleasure of longing for something more for ourselves and our world, something deeper in, something more alive, connected and intimate with the holy truth of death — something perhaps already here, but as yet untended or made manifest.

You are invited to enact, articulate and enjoy your vision of truth, beauty, and justice, presence and play, together in community, as a weekly ritual. 

By writing our way into and from our deep hearts, our untethered imaginings, and our solemn declarations of what we stand for in this life, we will create a blueprint for our living and relating with all of life in its sentience, wonder, grief, and mystery. 

We will summon the unseen forces around and within us to activate deep support, inspiration, and service, here and now.

 

“This course has been medicine for me.” 

~ Esi Wildcat, Artist & Priestess, Los Angeles, CA

 

"The sessions with Brooke and the community she gathers are gently powerful and powerfully gentle. After every session you have a sense of having had close friends for a visit and you would like them to stay, almost like when you were a kid, playing outside and being called in for dinner — you just want to play a little more, but no, you have to go... and you do it, because next week you will play again. Thank you Brooke for bringing soul, joy and presence to the sessions and the community. You are a gift.”

~ Igno Van Niekerk,
Author, Leadership Trainer, Photographer, Storyteller, South Africa

 

Poetry can usher us into the realm of soul, imagination, and the liminal where we remember or sense things we didn’t know we knew. A realm where we can receive vision or calibration not available through thinking or the conventional five senses alone. Where we may court and be courted by our muses. And where we can unfold and reveal bits of magic and insight simply by showing up to listen or bring pen to paper.

Meditation can harmonize body, mind, and breath, allowing deep letting go of unnecessary tension and revealing an ever present Awareness. This deeper nature is our birthright to realize, is not separate from any moment or expression of life, and is refuge when old reference points fall away.

In these bewildering times, let us gather together to engage these sacred rites: of imbibing and creating poetry, of meditation and falling into intimacy with what

matters most, and of being in community with the intention to be touched by worlds of unseen support and inspiration.

We are made to realize so much more than only apprehending
what we can touch.
Do you know why I’m asking us

to summon the Unseen? Because
the Unseen is summoning you

and me.