NEWS
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November 23 , 2007:
2008 Newsletter Now Available to Download
October 17 , 2007:
2008 Schedule of Workshops Now Online Highlights include:
For more information on all retreats, see the workshops page.
August 9, 2007:
"Blessings"-- New CD of Choral Settings of the Beatitudes and Prayer Choral settings of the teaching Jesus gave in the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitides, as they might have been understood by the listeners of his day. Sung, on this professional recording, by Voces Cantabiles, an internationally acclaimed choir, and based on English translations from the Aramaic by Neil Douglas-Klotz. Music by John Sutherland, Music Director at St Mary's Rydal in the English Lake District. "John Sutherland's inspired artistry brings fully into liturgical form the ability to hear Yeshua with Aramaic ears." -- Neil Douglas-Klotz "Deeply moving chant like pieces that weave a spell. Rich choral singing with a wonderfully steady top-line." --Andrew Seivwright, Emeritus Director of music at Carlisle Cathesdral). To listen to samples and for purchase information, go to the Sutherland Sounds website.
June 18 , 2007: Big Tape Closeout at the Abwoon Study Circle Store Still have a cassette player in your car or a good analogue deck at home? All Abwoon-produced tapes have now been reduced to $5 US plus shipping while supplies last. This is the end of the tapes, so order several now for the future!
May 10, 2007: Second USA Abwoon Interspiritual Leadership Group Announced Beginning April 2008 We are happy to
announce that a second group now begins formation in the Abwoon Interspiritual
Leadership Program to begin in April 2008! This program focuses upon preparation
for leadership in interspiritual settings studying with Neil Douglas-Klotz
through the range of his publications and resources developed over the past
25 years. For details of the program and dates of the second USA group, please click here.
May 8 , 2007: Abwoon Circles Manual Released
"We have a unique opportunity right now to assist a sea-change in the consciousness of humanity by joining together, beyond religious distinctions and differences, to share that deep peace which is called by many different names in many different traditions. With the Middle Eastern traditions at the centerpoint of the world’s awareness, those of us with experience in these traditions can take a bold step for humanity beyond the ethnic, racial, religious and nationalistic separations of the past." --From the Foreword by Neil Douglas-Klotz, Ph.D.
Open Arms Publishing (Shalem Center), 320 pages. ISBN 978-1-4243-3422-3
*January 30, 2007:
The Abwoon Interspiritual Leadership Program in the USA is now full. There is still space in the European Leadership Program which begins July 15 in Scotland (see Workshops) and continues twice-yearly in the spring and fall of 2008-2010. To be added to a waiting list for the US program, please email us. December 21 , 2006:2007 Newsletter now available to download: *Insert to newsletter with 2007 event calendar and leadership program description November 30, 2006:Abwoon Interspiritual Communities and New Leadership Program Announced:
A letter from Neil Douglas-Klotz:
The need of the world today reflects the deep desire of many people, across the traditional lines of religious communities, to pray, meditate and be of service together. According to one survey, since 9/11 interfaith activity has tripled everywhere. Respecting diversity, in the spirit of religious pluralism, means that we must risk an encounter with the “other.” And yet, our present culture of individuality and individual differences –religion, gender, color, sexual preference, ethnicity, nationality—cannot lessen the very human need to connect and to build genuine relationships. As the new insights in quantum physics have shown, “individuality” is a product of the way we view a thing, person or quality either inside or outside of us. We produce differences and distinctions in the way we tell our stories to ourselves. We have a unique opportunity right now to assist a sea change in the consciousness of humanity by joining together, beyond religious distinctions and differences, to share that deep peace which is called by many different names in many different traditions. With the Middle Eastern traditions at the center of the world’s awareness, those of us with experience in these traditions can take a bold step for humanity beyond the ethnic, racial, religious and nationalistic separations of the past. For 25 years, millions of people around the planet have supported this interspiritual impulse in themselves and others by chanting, praying and dancing the words of the Aramaic Prayer of Jesus in the cycle of Dances of Universal Peace brought through this person in 1982. They have used the translations in Prayers of the Cosmos and subsequent books I have written in their parishes, spiritual communities, congregations, retreat centers and families for ritual, rites of passage, comfort and support. As the body of work grew, the bridge that is the Aramaic Jesus showed the way to experience and understand more deeply the other riches of the Native Middle Eastern traditions, including the stories and spiritual practices expressed in ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Hebrew and classical Arabic. As the shared creation stories of these traditions express it, when we look ahead of us we need not see a limited, Newtonian view of cause-and-effect, a future predetermined by a narrow view of the past, in the selective reports of “history.” Instead, when we look ahead, we can see a shared moment of mystery at the beginning of the cosmos, a quantum moment before time itself, a moment of creative possibility that is always now. Beginning in 2007, the Abwoon Study Circle will renew its support for transformative,
creative work using the wealth of bridge-building resources birthed in the
last 25 years. We will actively support the formation of interspiritual communities,
groups and encounters using the translations, liturgies, rituals, body prayers
and spiritual practices sparked by the Abwoon work. Goals of the Abwoon Interspiritual Communities: • To realize and spread the global consciousness of unity;
al-Malik. In 2007, we are initiating three new projects to support this vision: • A manual of models, experiences and suggestions for grass roots, collaboratively-led, Abwoon Circles written by the Rev. Elizabeth Reed, to be released in April.
We invite your prayers, support and participation in whatever way you feel moved to offer. May all we do and are benefit the unfolding Reality of the cosmos! Love and blessings, Neil Douglas-Klotz
July 1, 2006:The Tent of Abraham Published by Beacon Press to Rave Reviews:
The Tent of Abraham: by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Joan Chittister, OSB and Foreword by Karen Armstrong In recent years there has been an explosion of curiosity and debate about The Tent of Abraham provides readers with stories that can bring all the The Tent of Abraham is the first book to tell the whole story of Abraham
as Joan Chittister, OSB, is a lecturer and best-selling author of numerous books, including Called to Question. She lives in Erie, Pennsylvania. Rabbi Arthur Waskow is the director of The Shalom Center in Philadelphia and author of numerous books, including Seasons of Our Joy (Beacon/ 3611-0/ $18.00 pb) and Down-to-Earth Judaism. Murshid Saadi Shakur Chishti (Neil Douglas-Klotz) is an internationally known Sufi scholar and writer. His most recent book is The Sufi Book of Life. Reviews: “The Palestinian/Israeli conflict has elicited many books exhorting
political and religious peace in the Middle East, but none has appealed to
individual minds and hearts quite like this one… Delicate in telling
but bold in message, the book encourages every reader to take an inner pilgrimage
to understand better others’ viewpoints.” “This book will open your eyes to the possibilities for collaborative
work between our traditions, and is a must-read for those doing interfaith
peacework.” “[A] celebration of religious diversity that is likely to leave readers
more optimistic about the potential for peace.” "At a time when we have seen too much certainty, The Tent of Abraham To purchase, go directly to our secure online shop.
May 1 , 2006:Blessing of the Cosmos (Book with CD) Released by Sounds True
Blessings of the Cosmos: by Neil Douglas-Klotz Aramaic—the language of Jesus and his disciples—has captured the imagination of seekers from every faith and spiritual tradition. Since the publication of his bestseller Prayers of the Cosmos, Aramaic scholar Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz has become a foremost expert at uncovering the rich layers of meaning found in Jesus' native wisdom sayings. Now, in Blessings of the Cosmos, this renowned author presents a collection of all-new translations of Jesus' best-loved benedictions and invocations for peace, healing, divine connection, and more including:
Whether for personal inspiration or use in communal worship and rites of passage, Blessings of the Cosmos offers you a heart-opening prayerbook that will guide you toward an ever deepening, daily experience of the divine. Book, 112 pages plus CD, 1 ¼ hours. US$ 18.95 together. See the Abwoon Study Circle online shop for immediate ordering
November 24 , 2005:2006 Abwoon Study Circle Annual Newsletter Now OnlineOctober 13, 2005:2006 Workshop and Retreat Schedule Now OnlineMay 20 , 2005 :Just Released--"Beginnings: A Modern Oratorio Inspired by theShared Creation Stories of the Middle East"
A Musical Collaboration: Neil Douglas-Klotz, Abraham Sussman and Friends. Inspired by the work of Neil Douglas-Klotz in The Genesis Meditations and the cycles of Chants and Dances of Universal Peace that arose from it. The New CD from Sound and Music in Boston. Now available at abwoon.com For more information, click here. To buy a copy at our secure online store, click here. January 11, 2005 :Web-based Meditation Course on the Aramaic Prayer of JesusNow OnlineBased on the books and tapes of Neil Douglas-Klotz, this 20-session individual meditation course was edited and supplemented by Rev. Elizabeth Munira Reed. You can choose to receive the e-mail lessons either twice a week, once a week or every other week. Produced by Self-Healing Expressions. If you sign up through our website, by going through the link below, the Abwoon Study Circle receives a commission. The link below will take you to the course's homepage, which contains a full desciption:
November 29, 2004:2005 Abwoon Study Circle Newsletter Now Available to DownloadDear Friends, Our 2005 Abwoon Study Circle Newsletter is now posted for download. Our annual newsletter lists an updated catalog of resources, next year's schedule of events, news about our listservs, details of the annual 10-day intensive in Scotland, and an article by Neil Douglas-Klotz on his forthcoming work. For the free software to view the newsletter in Adobe pdf (portable document format), see www.adobe.com November 1, 2004:2005 Workshop and Retreat Schedule Now Online
Highlights of next year?s schedule include:
All of the Scottish retreats may now be booked online, thereby saving bank fees for those residing outside of the UK. Please click the workshops button above for full details.
September 15 , 2004 New review of The Genesis Meditations from the United Kingdom:
--Network Review: Journal of the Scientific and Medical Network, Summer 2004
August 23 , 2004 Our new publications section and on-line store are now up and running. Click the publications link above to browse full information and reviews of our main books, as well as to order securely online from our main office in California or via email from Abwoon Study Circles internationally.
June 16 , 2004 New reviews of The Genesis Meditations from the United Kingdom:
April 29, 2004 New Interview with Matthew Fox and Neil Douglas-Klotz posted online
March 8, 2004 Now Available: The Healing Breath: Body-based Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus
Published by Sounds True. Click here to hear at 10-minute excerpt. Available at abwoon.com in cassette ($59.95) or CD ($69.95) format. Click here to go to secure publications ordering at abwoon.com for The Healing Breath. The next retreat based on this teaching will be May 7-9 in Scotland--
February 25, 2004 Interview with Neil Douglas-Klotz about the Aramaic interpretation of Jesus' words in the wake of Mel Gibson's film Passion: A
passion for ancient languages:
December 10, 2003 Dear Friends, Our 2004 Abwoon Study Circle Newsletter is now posted for download. Our annual newsletter lists an updated catalog of resources, next year's schedule of events, news about our listservs, details of the annual 10-day intensive in Scotland, and an article by Neil Douglas-Klotz on on Middle East peacemaking. For the free software to view the newsletter in Adobe pdf (portable document format), see www.adobe.com Download the newsletter in pdf.
November 12, 2003
The
Genesis Meditations voted one of the "Christianity, Judaism, and Islam share a common beginning, and spiritual practices that focus on that meeting point create understanding among the three traditions. After reading this very welcome resource, you will want to join Douglas-Klotz in exclaiming: "Genesis Now!"
October 14, 2003 Dear Friends, My new book The Genesis Meditations is now out. For the next six weeks my partner Kamae Amrapali and I will be touring the US with it. We hope to see many of the friends of Abwoon Study Circle along the way. For full information, see the workshops section of our website. Please tell your friends about the book and direct them for information to the book's website: www.genesismeditations.com. The site contains more information, interviews and articles about the book, including a 10-minute audio excerpt with an interview with Dr. Matthew Fox, the founder of the University of Creation Spirituality. In addition, there are links to full color renditions of the books artwork by Sufi artist Fatima Lassar. At the end of this week, we will also be releasing a CD of 14 chants in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic that accompany the meditations in the book. As a special offer to friends of Abwoon, we are offering until December 31, a special package of the first edition of Genesis Meditations book and CD together for $33 from our US Abwoon Central office. You can order this from the secure part of our publications pages. This is a savings of $7 and equivalent to the discounts that the online book discounters are giving. Thank you for supporting us all these years and for supporting the work to create bridges of understanding and peace between Jews, Christians and Muslims. In addition, our complete workshop schedule is now up for 2004. Our summer 10-day retreat at Wiston Lodge in the beautiful Borders of Scotland will again provide the best opportunity for those who wish to go deeply into the experience of this work. Many other weekends are also available next year in Europe and the USA. Please join us--all are welcome! Yours in peace, Neil Douglas-Klotz
Evening of the full harvest moon in September 2003. Dear Friends, In a few weeks, my new book will be out, an outgrowth of my work with translating the Aramaic words of Jesus. It's called: The Genesis Meditations: It will be published by Quest Books. The Sufi artist Fatima Lassar has done some wonderful art to illustrate the inner side of the creation practices, stories and wisdom in it, which have been gathered from the scriptures and mystics of the three traditions. More information, examples of the art, audio clips of Dances of Universal Peace and interviews and the tour schedule can be found at the website: www.genesismeditations.com Please send prayers that the book will find its way into the hands of those whom it can help, and that Kamae Amrapali and I have a safe six-week tour with the book beginning next month and running until the end of November. We hope to see many of you during this time. At the same time, Quest is publishing a new edition of Nur Lex Hixon's book Heart of the Quran, which I edited, commented upon and re-arranged by subject. Quite simply, this is the best way into the Quran short of learning Arabic. Sheikh Nur Hixon (who unfortunately passed away in 1994) rendered a large part of the Quran with the same multi-leveled sensitivity with which I have handled the Aramaic of Jesus and the Hebrew of Genesis and Proverbs. Both books, as well as the teaching CD of 14 new chants that accompany Genesis Meditations, are available from the abwoon website publications area as well. At this time of great distress in the Middle East, we need to keep affirming the inner glue of love and spirituality that unites us. Love and blessings, 2nd
July 2003 We are living into a time when increased religious devotion is often giving rise to worse religious conflict. How do we draw on the resources of the three great Abrahamic faiths for peacemaking and compassion, rather than for hostility and hatred? How do we renew love and mending and forgiveness in our own individual and family lives? How do we create more understanding between our faith communities and among all who share the wounded earth? To relearn the practices of reflection, "turning," and compassion, we will gather in retreat the weekend of September 12-14 -- please note, just after the 2d anniversary of 9/11. We will gather at Garrison Institute, a retreat center one hour north of New York, literally on the Hudson River, a beautiful and comfortable place with a spiritual ambiance that welcomes many faith traditions. We will draw on Jewish, Muslim, and Christian teachings and understandings of the Abraham/Hagar/Sarah/Ishmael/Isaac saga as a focus for contemplation and open-ended engagement/exploration, and on a combination of prayer, meditation, and experiential exercises in healing and compassion. The retreat will be guided by four skilled spiritual leaders:
(See more detailed biographies, below.) The cost of the retreat is $365. Numbers are limited so as to provide for individual attention and growth. We expect the numbers to be filled quickly, and urge that to secure a place you make a deposit now of $185 by credit card through the Shalom Center Website at http://www.shalomctr.org/index.cfm/action/donate.html or send a check for $185 to The Shalom Center, 6711 Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia PA 19119. Deposits must be received by August 1. The remainder will be due by September 1. The retreat guides:
Since
the early 1980s, she has been a leading Jewish-renewal liturgist, Berman is studying for the rabbinate, expecting to be ordained in January 2004.
Douglas-Klotz founded the International Network for Dances of Universal Peace in 1982 and from 1986 to 1996 taught on the Faculty of the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality. A board member of the InternationalAssociation of Sufism, he has led spiritually rooted peace-seeking journeys to Syria, Jordan, and Israel, and teaches throughout Europe and North America. He has been a mureed of the Sufi path for 27 years. He is also currently co-chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion.
His
Freedom Seder, Seasons of Our Joy, Godwrestling, Godwrestling -
Round 2,
and Down-to-Earth Judaism, his work in helping create a Shabbat morning 7 March 2003 Dear Friends of Abwoon, I recommend for your attention the following "poem" by our friend, the Rumi translator Coleman Barks. His plan echoes that of Samuel L. Lewis. I would be happy to sign up today. Yours in peace, Neil Douglas-Klotz -----> Coleman Barks, well-known Rumi translator, was at the National Cathedral nave in Washington, DC, on Feb. 26, reading Rumi's poetry with a cello accompanist. He offered one of his own "not very poetic" poems. A poem from Coleman Barks, the translator of Rumi, to the US President: Just This Once President Bush, before you order air strikes, imagine the first cruise missile as a direct hit on your closest friend. That might be Laura. Then twenty-five other family and friends. There are no survivors. Now
imagine some other way to do it. Quadruple the inspectors, or put
a thousand and one U.N. people in. Then call for peace activists
to volunteer to go to Iraq for two weeks each. Flood that country
with well-meaning tourists, people curious about the land that
produced the great saints, Gilani, Hallaj, and Rabia. Set up hostels
near those tombs. Encourage peace people to spend a bunch of money
in shops, to bring rugs home and samovars by the bushel. Send an
Arabic translator with every your peace activists. Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, and my friend, Jonathan Granoff at the U.N., will be the core organization team. No one knows what might come of this. Maybe nothing, or maybe it would convince some Iraqis and some of the world that we really do not wish to kill anybody, and that we truly are not out to appropriate oil reserves. We're working on building a hydrogen vehicle as fast as we can, aren't we? Put no limit on the number of activists from all over that might want to hang out and explore Iraq for two weeks. Is anything left of Babylon? There could be informal courses for college credit and pickup soccer games every evening at five. Long leisurely suppers. The U. S.government furnishes air transportation, that is, hires airliners from the country of origin and back for each peace tourist, who must carry and spend the equivalent of $1001 US inside Iraq. Keep part of the invasion force nearby as police, but let those who claim to deeply detest war try something else just this once, for one year. Call our bluff. If this madman Saddam's WMD threat is not, somehow, eliminated by next February, you can go in with special cops, and do it that way. Medical services, transportation inside Iraq, lots of big colorful buses--let the pilgrims paint them!--along with many other ideas that will be thought of later during the course of this innocently, blatantly, foolish project will all also be funded by the U.S. government. There's a practice known as sama, a deep listening to poetry and music, with sometimes movement involved. We could experiment with whole nights of that, staying up until dawn, sleeping in tents during the day. So instead of war there's a peace period from March 2003 through February 2004. It could be as though war had already happened, as it has, and the healing and rebuilding. Now we're in the celebration afterward. I'll be the first to volunteer for two weeks of wandering winter desert and reading Hallaj, Abdul Qadir Gilani, dear Rabia, and the life-saving 1001 Arabian Nights. I am Coleman Barks, a retired English professor living in Athens, Georgia, and I don't really consider this proposal foolish. Coleman
Barks Posted
20th December 2002 Eth-phatah!
Love and blessings, 30 May 2002 Dear Friends, The
CD of Sura Fateha: A
Prayer for Peace is now ready. These melodies came through while
on retreat during the passing of my own Sufi guide, Moineddin
Jablonski, in February 2001 and are dedicated to him. He embodied
the Sufi way with a self-effacement that embraced both both the As I heard a Persian Sufi, Dr. Javad Nurbaksh, say more than 20 years ago, when we chant and meditate on sacred phrases in Arabic, with the original intention on peace and unity, then we help to purify thephrases that are, in his words, ?polluted? by those who say them with hate towards others. Both the spiritual and psychic effects are very real. The CD was able to be produced at reduced cost, due to more ecological packaging, and is $12 (US Dollars) or £8 (UK pounds). Love and blessings, Neil Douglas-Klotz
from Kamae A Miller: "As
an outgrowth of the 2001 Jesus and Ecology trip to Israel, I have
started a business to help bring the crafts of Middle Eastern women
to the West. I have silk shawls, purses, pocketbooks, knapsacks
and scarves, all hand-embroidered or crocheted. "For
years I have had the words "Asherah Rising" come to me over and
over again, especially at Aramaic retreats. But I got busy with
other things and let them disappear from my consciousness. Early
last year when I was ill, they came to me again. Finally last May
at the valley near Murad Hassil in Holland, where Inayat Khan said
that if you wish something there it will come true if it is the
heart's desire, I felt I wanted to do something that benefited
women. In Israel, shortly afterwards, we met several people who
need material help. It came to me that I could sell, in person
and through our web site, handwork made by Druze, Christian and
Bedouin women that would Click
here for samples of the woven bags and purses available. Exact
stock changes often. |
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Phyllis
Berman, Director of the summer program of Elat Chayyim and founder/Director
of the multi-ethnic Riverside Language Program;