DHO Update Report

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Dear family,

Our 20th anniversary celebration of the Federation of the Sufi Message just concluded – here in Charlottesville – where it all started 20 years ago. The energy was sweet and the participants were heart filled. Joy abounds. 

We began with a Remembrance Ceremony for those who have passed away this past year, plus some who were both the inspiration and guiding force for this coming together to actually occur. And ended with a healing ceremony for all of our Inayati family. 

Now to prepare for our Summer at Shnede, and our annual DHO gathering. This time at Mt Shasta – June 16-22, 2019. 

Murad has written that Shasta Abby has confirmed our visit and will open their meditation hall for us.  Yummy. And Mary Beth has mapped out our route to Widow Springs. So, it looks as though we are all set to go. 

If you are planning on join us, and haven’t yet registered, please inform Jude soon. There are motel overflows available, but tempis fugit (Time Flies). Early birds get the best spaces. 

All blessings
Hakim Saul uddin

PS – We are confirmed for Friday evening, June 14 at the San Francisco Theosophical Lodge. As previously mentioned, I will be bringing with me, the one physical object that connects Mother Mary, Murshid Sam, and Joe Miller.

809 Mason Street, San Francisco, 94108. Doors open at 6:00 pm.
Meeting starts at 7:00 pm.

Registration info:

If you stay in a motel, the Camp Fee from Sunday evening to Saturday afternoon is $310. Camp fee includes meals and everything else EXCEPT housing. You will be responsible for booking and paying for your own motel.

If possible, please send your full fee to Jude. You can also reserve your place with a $100 deposit. Please let us know if you have dietary needs (dairy free, gluten free, vegan). If you want dorm housing, there may be some space left in the dorm or you can ask to be on the wait list if we get cancellations. $455. Camp Fee includes on-site housing and on-site meals.

Contact information for the local motels:

  • Hi Lo Motel (Recommended) about ½ mile from college – HiLoMotel.com 530-938-2731
  • Town House motel across street from Hi Lo – 530-938-4431
  • Motel 6 about 1.5 mile north of the college – 530-938-4101
  • At the South Weed exit is a Siskiyou Inn, Comfort Inn and Quality Inn

All DHO staff are volunteers and pay full fees. Left over monies are donated to a local charity.

Questions? Murad (Camp Manager) or Jude (Registrar).

San Francisco Theosophical Lodge Meeting

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Dear family,   

As we begin our preparations for our Mount Shasta adventures, a note about our Godparents and a pre-Shasta meeting in San Francisco.

Looking back, I am still so grateful for the active support we were given, when we were suddenly handed Murshid Sam’s work to hold and continue. Our Godparents were a blessing and a strength, which enabled us to not only survive, but to mature and grow.  Joe and Guin Miller attended most of our yearly gatherings and literally sat there pumping out energy.  In addition to being our god parents, Joe and Guin were Theosophists, Buddhists and honorary Sufi Murshids. Joe was the only one of Sam’s intimates who never even hinted to me that he was the successor — but rather supported Moineddin and our work, both in general and in specific.

Upcoming before Shasta this June:
I have been asked to present at the Friday evening gathering at the San Francisco Theosophical Lodge, the Friday evening just prior to our Shasta retreat. Your participation is requested. It would be sweet to have some of us oldies around to remember and honor Joe and Guin. Meeting is without costs. And a dinner will be served afterwards.

Friday evening – June 14.
Doors open at 6:00 pm — Meeting starts at 7:00. pm
809 Mason Street, San Francisco, 94108  

I plan on bringing with me the one physical item which links Mother Mary, Murshid Sam and Joe Miller.   

Hope to see you at The Lodge, and later on at Shasta – June 16-22.
For Shasta registration, contact Jude — 922 Stanyan Street, SF, CA 94117

Yours in Service to the Real,
Hakim Sauluddin

DHO Meeting at Shasta 2019

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Acknowledging the Space Between the Dots:
The Metaphysical and Occult Transmissions of Our Lineage

Dear family,

Once again, we will dip into the Occult and Metaphysical portions of our transmission: Prophecy, intuition, inner sight, and the tools needed to train oneself: I Ching, Tarot, Numerology, Astrology, and the Bowl of Saki as ‘Openers’.

As we begin our preparations for our Shasta Retreat (June 16-21, 2019), it feels right to remind folks that Murshid Sam and Mother Mary were already connected through Basira and myself, although they had not met on this plane. Later on would come a few more mureeds from Shasta.

Murshid Sam made, in my presence, one of the most remarkable statements I’d ever heard from him: “I will take as my mureeds, any of her students who wish to be initiated.”

He obviously considered her, as we did, to be a deep wellspring of spiritual blessings. And those who were attracted to her as real students on the path.

There are many stories around her, and her relationship to Inayat Khan – through her dear friend Murshida Bhakti Engle. I look forwards to sharing them on the Mountain. And, am sure that Jeff Whittier (Mother Mary’s biographer, holder of her sacred objects and guest presenter at our meeting) has many others.

Along with stories, encounters, practices, rituals, and our long awaited ‘frolicking amongst the trees,’ we shall visit Shasta Abbey. Shasta Abbey was founded by our Godmother, Jiu Kennet Roshi. She and SAM were graduates of the same Buddhist monastery in Japan, and became our Godmother after his passing. We plan to meditate in their fabulous meditation room and do the Prajna Parameta Sutra around her cenotaph along with leaders of Shasta Abbey. We also plan a day trip to the Mountain: Widow Springs and more.

So much to do, and see, and become.

Until we meet again Bodhisatva. See you on The Mountain.

Only love and blessings,
Hakim Sauluddin

SHASTA June 16-21, 2019 – Information for Registration

This year, we will be meeting at the College of the Siskyous in Weed, CA – highly recommended by our local DHO folks.

There will be 2 housing options:

1) On-site housing in the dorms – double rooms with shared bathrooms on each floor. There is a limited number of these rooms available. If you want one, reserve early.
If you stay in the dorms at the college, the Camp Fee from Sunday evening to Saturday afternoon is $455. Camp Fee includes on-site housing and on-site meals.

2) Off-site housing in a local motel – If you want a single room with your own bathroom, there are a number of motels within walking distance of the college. We will be arranging shuttles from the HiLo Motel to the College for those who need them.
If you stay in a motel, the Camp Fee from Sunday evening to Saturday afternoon is $310. Camp fee includes meals and everything else EXCEPT housing. You will be responsible for booking and paying for your own motel.

Please note: all DHO staff are volunteers, and pay full fees. Left over monies are donated to a local charity. 

Contact information for the local motels
Hi Lo Motel (Recommended) about ½ mile from college – HiLoMotel.com 530-938-2731
Town House motel across street from Hi Lo – 530-938-4431
Motel 6 about 1.5 mile north of the college – 530-938-4101
At the South Weed exit is a Siskiyou Inn, Comfort Inn and Quality Inn

If possible, please send your full fee to Jude at 922 Stanyan Street, SF, CA 94117. You can also reserve your place with a $100 deposit. Please let us know if you have dietary needs (dairy free, gluten free, vegan) and if your housing in the dorm has to be on the first floor (no elevators).

Questions? Murad (Camp Manager) or Jude (Registrar)

Letter From Saul

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Dearest family,

Greetings of the Season. As the old year winds down, and the Winter Solstice beckons, I am moved to share some concentrations to help the coming year move in a more peaceful and loving manner.

Most Important:
Do not despair. Despair only blocks the heart, and impedes the flow of baraka. Always know that you are not alone. Your initiation links you with multitudes of realized souls who can be called upon to share light, and love and happiness. Start with your initiator, and work backwards. Sometimes, just repeating their names as a mantra can be most beneficial.

Also important:
Do not surrender, or abandon your Concentration of Peace manifesting through the agency of Love, Harmony & Beauty.
Our founders (Sufi Inayat Khan, Murshid Sam, and Pir Moineddin) all had major disappointments in their lives; but did not allow the darkness to cloud their inner vision and never curtailed their work for The Message.

Always remember the great question:

‘If not me, then who?
If not now, then when?’

On a personal note: all is well in Virginia. Snow is melting, and our hearts are warm. Looking forward to soon being a fully retired former tribal textile person.

AND: June DHO approaches – June 16-21

Shasta amidst the re-growing greenery, and regrown ice pack.

Once again, we will dip into the Occult and Metaphysical portions of our transmission:

  • Mother Mary May Meyer, Swami Jugud Bundu, The Great White Brotherhood, Ascended Masters, secret machinery within the mountain, flying saucers, aliens, – Wow! and that’s just a portion of it:
  • Prophecy, intuition, inner sight, and the tools needed to train oneself: I Ching, Tarot, Numerology, Astrology, and the Bowl of Saki as ‘Openers’.
  • We plan on visiting Shasta Abby & Jiu Kennet Roshi (our God Mother), doing the Praja Paramati Sutra at her cenotaph, and remembering our times together.
  • Inshallah! Panther Meadows will be open and available. If not there’s Bunny Flats.
  • Widow Springs for the healing waters, and the headwaters of the Sacramento River.
  • And, hopefully, our dear brother Jeff Whittier (holder of Mother Mary’s physical treasures, and author of her biography – ‘ Good is Never Lost ‘) is planning on joining us.
  • Many, many stories to share – from The I Am Society to Jack Schwartz.

Have sent in my deposit. Looking forwards to see you all in June.

all blessings and love
Hakim Sauluddin
North Garden, Virginia
December 21, 2018

SHASTA June 16-21, 2019

Information for Registration:
We will be meeting and staying at the College of the Siskiyou’s in Weed, CA. Costs are still being worked on, but please send a $100 deposit to to reserve your space. Housing at the College is limited.

Send to Jude Sargent, 922 Stanyan, SF, CA 95117-3807.
Questions? Email – Murad or Jude

Please note: all DHO staff are volunteers, and pay full fees. Left over monies are donated to a local charity.

Report: DHO at Lama 2018

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Dear family,

Our Lama pilgrimage is now part of the ‘living history’ of Murshid Sam’s legacy.

Firstly, I am so happy to report that Murshid is alive and present, and vocal.

About 70 of us gathered for our week together, and his blessings were palpable. Alhamdulliah! The Lama community was as gracious as ever, and we felt welcomed and honored.

Five of Murshid Sam’s original mureeds were present:
Siddiq, Mansur, Fawn (Nasima), Surya (Less), and myself

We held 2 formal processions up to the grave site, and did the Absent Healing Ritual there twice. What a rush of blessings.

Ananda was with us – Yeah! – and led deeply touching sung zikr in both the Lama dome, and at the grave site itself. 

So many inner instructions were given: 

I was told to make 3 more Shafayats: Jude Sargent, Michael Endlich and Nazzruddin Eddie Greenberg. And, Siddiq was recognized for his many, many years of unselfish devotion with the title of Vakil (the Guardian). I loved his comment, when asked if he wanted this public or private -“I’ve been doing this for so many years, it might as well be public.”

Mashallah!

Nasima came to me to share her instructions from Murshid. She had avoided the grave site, and was working in the kitchen. “He told me to be initiated,” she said. So, I initiated her as a healing conductor, and she will hold that post at Lama.

At our gathering, there were so many of our family who can hold both the inner and outer space, that we opened up the meeting to many presenters:
Although I opened with the first of the Absent Healing Ritual, each morning had a different conductor, ending with our newest initiated conductor. 

Our brother Aslan is undergoing Chemo Therapy, so there was no choir.

With more time to pray together, we increased our regular offerings: 

  • Ahura Grace took over the dance night. and, Ya Shakur! she held the energy very well.
  • Murad led an evening of Sufi Qigong/Healing Zikr that had us extending our fingers of light with wazifa and clearing blockages and pain from our bodies. A number of people reported amazing elimination of pain.
  • Ahura Grace led us in a powerful evening of zikr that was joined by the neighboring Lama community.
  • In addition, our brother Noel Hanuman was feeling too frail for high altitudes and uneven ground, so Richard took over the post of honoring Hanuman, and did a superb job. Ram! Ram! Ram!
  • 1001 Bead Zikr at the grave site (Murshida Mariam),
  • Sufi Qigong 3.0 (Murad),
  • Morning Yoga (Richard),
  • Tea (Siddiq & Sakina),
  • the Kuan Yin Aspect (Sarfaraz),
  • Dream Diving (Azima),
  • The Hidden Jewel in the Amulet (Micheal Endlich),
  • Writing Down the Bones (in honor of Elaine Sutton-Ayesha),
  • Shamanistic Journey (River)
  • Mansur read excerpts from his newest book of memories of what Murshid felt and did in his presence. He is calling it “The Bowl of Saki” – with his commentary and memories following each entry. He remarked that he had so many more memories to share that were not in his book Murshid.
  • And, there were walks
  • Ram Nam
  • The Kali Mantra
  • The Maha Mudra
  • bed time stories, and homework. 
  • Plus a lot of new reminiscences from folks who were with Murshid. I loved Nasima’s story of how she got her name…

We followed Lama’s Friday night Shabbos celebration, with some Hebrew Tassawuri walks, a few stories I recalled from my youth, and then Nazruddin enlivened the evening with Humor as a tool for healing the heart. Funny! as usual. And, better yet, it worked.

Some of the Old Timers came by for a howdy too – Rahaman was a stand out in memory. 

Special Kudos to Murad who oversaw the Pilgrimage – from inception, through planning and into reality, to Jude, who kept us in check and arranged transport and ride sharing, and to Jamil, our Lama contact, who assisted in holding such a welcoming and loving space for us to gather together. Ya Shakur.

We also spoke about our ‘special donation’ to Lama:
Lama is planning on renovating the old kitchen, which is now unusable, and they are raising funds for it. I did not want our donation to go into a large pool, but wanted it to go towards a single specific purpose, as we have done in the past. They want a new entrance door to the renovated kitchen, and donating a door (way) feels so much DHO. I envisioned a blend of design on the outer side – New Mexico and Sufi – and a Zen theme on the inner side – so that when one enters – one is aware of where one is, and when one leaves – one is made aware of leaving the inner, and re-entering the outer (world). I would also love to see a small inscription on the bottom of the outer side –

“Samuel L. Lewis Memorial Doorway to Inner Peace”

Lama has contact with a gifted local woodworker…so it is a possibility. Depending on what he charges, we may have enough in trust to cover it. Inshallah!

Topping it all off, 30 of us joined Murshida Darvesha, on Sunday – the next day – for a celebration of The Dances turning 50 years old. About 125 folks showed up for the afternoon. It was rocking.

Photos of Lama – https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2ld8edpzgpwzi1v/AAB1q3Am2QdZG1xk4OdX5Yxja?dl=0

AND:

We are hoping for Mt. Shasta in 2019 – June 16 to 21
Mark your calendars.

Mother Mary. The Great White Brotherhood. The Order of Melchizadek.
Flying Saucers. Widow Springs. The Zen Mission Society. Jiu Kennett Roshi.
Panther Meadows. and so much more of the Esoteric Transmission of our lineage.

The proposed housing is not expensive, and they are happy to work with us on food.

More soon.

Am now resting up at home in Virginia
sending love and hugs

your in Service to the Real
Hakim Sauluddin
Happy Freedom Day – July 4, 2018

 

The Hidden Gift of Cancer – by Aslan Scott

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Dear Ones,

The folks at the Center for Spiritual Living recorded my recent talk on the hidden gift of cancer and placed it online at:

https://soundcloud.com/eurekaspiritualcenter/thoughts-on-mortality-the-hidden-benefits-of-cancer

It lasts about 20 minutes and then there are a couple of questions from the group.  I thought you might like the reference, as I’d be happy to talk more about this aspect of life any time…

Much love,
Scott

On the Walk of Saturn

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On the Walk of Saturn

Astrologically, Saturn is usually presented, at first, as representing obstacle, difficulty, and frustration. “You can’t always get what you want.” Not only that, but in its extreme, you can’t even get anything you want. My first formal lesson in the astrology of Saturn left me feeling, “That represents life on this earth.” And for me, that was the case at the time. Much later, Murshid Sam looked at my chart and said, “You’ve been thwarted a lot.” (Sun and moon conjunct Saturn square Pluto).

The first introduction to the walk of Saturn is similar. The movement is stunted, or stifled, if you will, and progress seems to come only with great difficulty, like a person with serious muscular disability, yet frustrated with his or her ability to move. Gravity seems stronger.

By way of articulating the other side of it, Saturn exalted, I mention my favorite Japanese scroll that we sometimes hang in our Tea Room. It has a single character, KAN, which means barrier, obstacle, gate. But it also means threshold, and implies passage.

Between the outer and inner Tea gardens there is a gate that is purely symbolic, and can be seen as a “Gateless Gate,” which is the title of the Mumonkan, a collection of 48 Zen koans, compiled from the teachings of early Chan masters in China. Here again, passage is implied by a symbolic barrier.

So, rightly understood, the gate or barrier becomes, with inner work, a threshold and a passage. Saturn, too, is a barrier, testing not only one’s resolve and acceptance, but skill and courage in meeting the challenge of the moment. As such it is also a gate, opening to a passage.

Gurdjieff held that Nature is not conducive to awakening, that is to say, awakening is not natural. It requires human effort, which in turn requires aspiration, and also discontent with being a pawn of nature, subject to all the frustrations that Saturn represents in its ordinary manifestations.

And Saturn exalted? The challenges remain, gravity remains, obstacles are inevitable — but one has mastered them, walking skillfully, upright with deliberation, albeit slowly. One has not overcome them, as one might overcome an enemy in battle, or a rival in competition. One has learned to work constructively with them. And one is stronger for it.

One is not “free” in the superficial sense of the word, but free in a deeper sense. Saturn has no room for sentimentality, or love without strength and skill. It demands that one cannot fly until one has fully mastered gravity. And it knows that birth and death are simply two aspects of life on this earth, forgetting neither.

Most of us cannot manifest exalted Saturn in our daily lives, any more than we can manifest the masters, saints, and prophets. We walk AS IF we had that mastery, and in all the spiritual walks gain a deeper understanding of our aspiration.

—Siddiq Hans von Briesen; March 9, 2015