Who can walk into unknown woods and head directly for the other side? Wandering for a spell sometimes makes the journey even more exciting.

~Vine Deloria Jr., The Metaphysics of Modern Existence

Together we may read and discuss the works of authors such as Hillman, Mindell, Merton, Jung, Eckhart, Deloria Jr., Gurdjieff, Howard Thurman, the Rhineland mystics, the Desert Fathers, Buddhist texts - and where ever our noses and bibliographies lead us.

I take thorough notes when I read to assure I am understanding the author's position.

I also use my marginalia and note taking to explore related ideas from other models and disciplines and identify commonalities from my own experience and previous studies. I distribute those notes to group members after each session.

Some of these texts will be new, or as good as new, to me as well  - and I am looking forward to unpacking them together, speaking the notes I scribble in the margins out-loud.

We will both plumb these writings for wisdom, and challenge their biases as we encounter them.

I like to argue with books, repurpose and refine what is useful, discard what feels obsolete or distorted, and occasionally surrender to them when they defeat my skepticism with truths that I may be resistant to.

For me, reading mystical theologies, and esoterica is like Jacob wrestling with the angel -  I hope that both myself and the ideas will be refined, confronted and transformed by the end of the encounter

I offer my services by "pay-what-you-can" contributions based on individual financial circumstances.

I imagine a "standard" fee of $35 for those who are financially secure enough to afford that.

For those in financial abundance, a larger donation will help to provide for those experiencing financial hardship.

What you donate will be based on your own assessments of your budget and the value of the group and my facilitation, on the honor system

Here is a list of the books we’ve read so far in order from the beginning of this reading group:

• Vine Deloria Jr., The World We Used to Live In

• Vine Deloria Jr., The Metaphysics of Modern Existence

• Martin Buber, I and Thou

• Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim

• Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited

• Howard Thurman, The Way of the Mystics

• Barbara Holmes, Crisis Contemplation

• Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

• Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu

• Matthew Fox, Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen

• Hildegard of Bingen, Selected Writings

• Meister Eckhart - The German Sermons

• Margaret Smith - Rabi’a The Mystic and Her Fellow Saints in Islam

I will cap membership for the group at fifteen members.

There will be natural exit and entrance points to bring in new members as we start new books.