November 28, 2007 
Volume 1, Issue 10

"We do not have to do big things, just small things with great love."
— Mother Teresa

Welcome to the HeartStream Pulse Newsletter!
The HeartStream Pulse is sent as a service to our HeartStream Sufi Community as a communications forum. The Pulse will include: notices whenever a personal need arises, services to offer, housing available, items for sale, notices about interest/discussion groups, and community-related information to share.

We dedicate the HeartStream Pulse this month to the world's communities gathering together to share abundance and gratitude.

We also honor all celebrations of gratitude in all countries and all cultures, including the traditional North American Thanksgiving Day celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November in the US and on the 2nd Monday of October in Canada. We remember the early settlers of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts who were grateful to Squanto, the Native American who taught them to catch eel and grow corn and served as their interpreter, enabling them to survive in the new world. Immediately after their first harvest in the Autumn of 1621, they celebrated with 3 days of feasting and praising God in the company of their Native American friends.

The HeartStream Visioning Circle meets on the 4th Thursday of each month.
Greetings HeartStream Community! Our last Visioning gathering was deeply productive and inspiring. We discussed what it might look like in our community to have a structure and a process in place to assist those in need. Discussions ranged from some wonderful ideas for fund raising to having a core group of individuals trained to assist those individuals and families dealing with hospitals, insurance, etc. Please join us for our next Visioning Circle to find out more about what's cooking and make your contribution to this very important subject that affects all of our lives. If for any reason you cannot attend, feel free to e-mail Laura Bathrick at laurabathrick@sbcglobal.net or call me at 251-1808 for more information. We meet the 4th Thursday, Nov. 29th at 7pm. Refreshments will be served.

This month's HeartStream Pulse may have events not yet posted on the current
HeartStream Local Events Calendar.

Community Events

Friday Night Zhikr - Miriam Baker to Lead on Nov. 30th
Zhikr and the Practice of Rememberance of the Beloved

Mark your calendars for the 5th Friday of November when Mariam Baker will join Anwar and Tofah for our Friday Night of Zhikr (Nov. 30th, 7 PM) at the Garden.

Please come gather with your Sufi community of souls every 2nd, 3rd and 4th Friday as we deepen our experience of Sufi Zhikr and Rememberance of the Beloved.

Sufi Women's Play Day

HeartStream Women - You are invited to join in your Sufi Women's Community in a Play Day each month where we joyously celebrate being community! The December schedule will be announced. On our November Play Day, we brought finger food to share as always, and baked cookies together and made holiday wreaths which went to the Holiday Bazaar at the Nov. 17th Sufi 'Gathering'.

And in October, we had a Beautiful day on our bicycle ride on the 'Skyline-to-the-Sea' trail. We rode from Wadell Creek at the beach, 6.5 miles into Big Basin State Park where we enjoyed a wonderful picnic lunch together, and then returned on our bicycles to the beach at Wadell Creek.

Adora Deva is organizing the monthly Sufi Women’s Play Day. December Play Day is December 12th, 7pm at Laura Bathrick's house. Contact Adora at 566-9678 for more information, with play ideas, and for ride sharing to our Play Day activities.

Sufi Heritage
Come Learn About HeartStream Sufi Studies

The HeartStream Sufi Community offers an ongoing, structured course of study given by local teachers of the wisdom of Pir O Murshid Inayat Khan's initiatic path of Universal Sufism.

All current HeartStream Sufi Studies course course details, times and contact information are available using the links below. Please note that discussion with the individual teacher is required before attending these classes.

If you have questions or wish to learn more about Sufi studies, readings, practices and/or initiation, you may contact any of the teachers listed below.

The Sacred Interior Life - Women’s Sufi Practices - Tofah Eileen
Every Soul is Creating its Own World - Ziraat and Mental Purification - Junayad & Fehrunnisa
Deepening in Presence and Love - Esoteric Study Group - Jilani Esterly
Poetry of the Sufi Mystics


Send email to
sunlight-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
for a daily Rumi poem.

Receive a daily quote from
Hazrat Inayat Khan's Bowl of Saki
plus commentary here.

O seeker,
These thoughts have such power over you.
From nothing you become sad.
From nothing you become happy.

You are burning in the flames
But I will not let you out
until you are fully baked,
fully wise,
and fully yourself.
~~~

In this world of love
we are the hidden treasure,
we are the owners of eternity.

The love affair with this body is over.
Having tasted the water of life
We've become the immortal Sufi.
~~~

See the caravan of camels
loaded up with sugar? -
His eyes contain that much sweetness.
But don't look into His eyes
unless you're ready to loose all sight of your own.
~~~

— Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi

Poets, Poetry and Story

As Death Approaches
- by Susan Deborah King (from One-Breasted Woman©)

I can't believe I'm laughing!
I'd have sworn I'd be
shaking or sniveling.
And I sure didn't expect
a limousine.
I've never been in a limousine.
No biggy.
I've had better than fame.
Who needs the pressure?
As for fortune, I'm filthy.
That's why I'm laughing.
I've had so much love:
the giving, the getting.
It's shameful.
It's embarrassing.
And it's too late.
No one can take it away!
And I've had the pain
to help me appreciate it.
Thank God for the pain!
Easy for me to say
now that I'm going!
But no, seriously,
the kicks in the teeth,
the gut, the rugs
pulled out, slammed doors,
setbacks, snubs.
Without them, I'd
never have recognized
Love, bedraggled,
plain eyes shining,
happy to see me.
Do I want more?
Of course I want more!
I always want more
of everything: money, hugs,
lovemaking, art, butter,
woods, flowers, the sea,
M&Ms, chips, tops, bottoms,
trips — I did give up drinking —
time, sure, and yes,
I'd like to see
my grandchildren,
if there are any.
I'd like to see my books
but more has never
been good for me anyway.
Enough — that's what I've
always needed to learn,
and is there a better way?
So this laughter
I had to work up to
through so many tears,
it just keeps coming
like a fountain, a spray.
Let it light on you
refreshment, benediction,
as I'm driven away.

Faces of the Beloved

Miriam Baker - Biographical Portrait
Devoted Teacher of Women's Studies and Sufi Spirituality

World traveler, student, mother of five children, Mariam Baker is a treasure hunter for tools of personal and planetary growth and healing. Her work is imbued with passion and devotion.

She serves as a specialist in women's and religious studies, and embodied spirituality, presenting lectures and workshops throughout the United States, Canada, Russia, Europe and Australia.

Mariam also functions as Atesh Baz - senior teacher in the Mevlevi Order of the whirling dervishes of Turkey, and is a senior teacher and center leader for the Mevlevi Order of America, facilitating classes internationally in the great whirling dance, the practice of turn and other meditative practices in the tradition of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi.

An initiate in the Inayati Chistia lineage of Sufism through Hazrat Inayat Khan and Murshid Samuel Lewis, Miriam was a student and friend of the late Moineddin Jablonski. She received his transmission to continue Sufi Soulwork© - a marriage of psychological and spiritual tools which open pathways to the integration of being human.

She is an active member of the Sufi Ruhaniat International and leader of the Dances of Universal Peace since 1974 and former director of Theater of Healing and author of Woman as Divine, Tales of the Goddess, published in 1981, one of the first books illuminating the Sacred Feminine.

HeartStream Pulse Welcomes Rahmat
Our New Volunteer Staff Member and Web Site Facilitator

 We warmly and heartfully welcome Rahmat who generously has accepted the position of Web Site Facilitator for the HeartStream Sufi Community.

Wayne Hoff will assist bringing Rahmat up to speed in the details of maintaining the Sufi Calendar of Events and using HeartStream's web-management programs.

Welcome Rahmat!

Sharing Baraca - The Talking Stick

Sharing Baraca/The Talking Stick – (with your story title and name here – yes!) Do you know someone in our community who is up to something spiritual? We want to hear what inspires you, fills your heart, opens your eyes, elicits your passion, and makes you go Ahhhhhla. Please submit your story or idea for a story for an upcoming issue to Tofah Eileen at tofaheileen@cruzio.com

HeartStream Sufi Community Volunteer Partners
Will You Share Your Time and Practice Your Skills with Us?

The HeartStream Sufi Community is a completely volunteer organization and we rely on your donations and participation to provide our services. Please come partner with us. Your monitary donations are tax deductable.

You can Download the HeartStream Partnership Brochure and discover some of the partnership areas in which you can share your heart and grow your wings. Fill out the partnership form and mail it to:
HeartStream Sufi Community, 3070 Prather Lane, Santa Cruz, CA 95065, Attn: Leela

Links to the Other Sufi Communities
Are you interested in some of the other active Sufi groups in the Greater Bay Area and Globally? Just visit HeartStream's Links Page.

For other Northern California Sufi event calenders, please see:
HeartStream's Northern California Calendars.

— Community Wish List —

Someone with Accounting and PR Skills: The Heartstream Pulse newsletter is looking for someone who has accounting and PR skills. Any amount of time is a great blessing and will be fun!! Call Tofah at 479-9278 or email tofaheileen@cruzio.com

Digital projector and screen: We are looking for a digital projector and screen that we can use at Sufi Events to show past events and movies. Call Tofah at 479-9278 or email tofaheileen@cruzio.com
— HeartStream Pulse Classified Ads —

Vedic Astrology Consultations
With Willa Keizer at The Garden. Health, Spirituality, Relationships, Career. Mantra prescriptions based on your chart. 726-3190 www.homeopathyhealer.com

Piano Lessons Offered
Beginning or intermediate levels. Many years experience with children and adults. Current openings on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please call Nancy at 336-8461 for more info.
Room for Rent Near Cabrillo
One room for rent, 1-mile from Cabrillo, minutes from Seacliff State Beach, and Nizene Marks Park. Perfect for the full-time professional, or student. The room is spacious, clean, light, cozy, carpeted with window and closet. Kitchen and bath are shared with 1-other. Looking for happy, clean, considerate person, ND, NS, NA. No pets. Rent includes all utilities, private parking. Available Dec 1st. Can be seen now. $775/mo plus last and $275 dep; refs. Please leave name and number and best time to reach you, 689-0238, 234-7763.
Home Health Care Provider
Do you know someone who may be needing assistance at home? I have many years experience as a Home Health Care Provider, offering companionship, personal care, help with exercises, laundry, meals, shopping, light housekeeping and yard work. Call Pam Hoadley at 471-9493.
Room Wanted
Quiet room in Santa Cruz area for Sufi woman. Willing to trade work for rent: House-sitting. Pet-sitting, Assisted Care. Call Cat at 805-441-2856.

To Place Your Ad Here
Do you have a need, something to sell, a service to offer or something to share? The cost of running your Classified Ad in the HeartStream Pulse is $5 per month. Please keep your Ad to about 100 words or less including contact info, so we can fit it into the newsletter, thanks. And let us know if you want your Ad run for another month – monthly rate applies. If you are interested, just contact Tofah Eileen 479-9278 or tofaheileen@cruzio.com  

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SUFI EVENTS

Copyright, ©2007, HeartStream Sufi Community, 3070 Prather Lane, Santa Cruz, CA 95065