Green Hermeticism: Alchemy and Ecology

Green Hermeticism; Alchemy and Ecology
Pir Zia Inayat-Khan, Peter Lamborn Wilson and Christopher Bamford

Hermeticism, or alchemy, is the primordial science of nature by which human beings in all times and places have sought to unite Heaven and Earth—divinity, cosmos, earth and humanity—for the sake of the world. At once sacred cosmology and spiritual practice, art and science, it has accompanied each religious epoch and every revelation from India and China to the Abrahamic traditions of the West. Nevertheless, in the revival of spiritual traditions and practices, hermeticism and alchemy—like Nature herself—have been largely ignored. Green Hermeticism proposes that it is time to explore not only our ancient masters’ “inner” sciences, but also their sciences of Nature, in order to recover a healthy, truly holistic way of healing our relationship to nature, the Earth and the heavens. Pir Zia Inayat-Khan will introduce the topic and speak about the cosmology, angelology and practices of Sufi hermeticism. Peter Lamborn Wilson will speak about hermeticism in art, language and magic, and propose practical applications such as the creation of astrological gardens. Christopher Bamford will address hermeticism as the paradigm for a new eco-spirituality.

Co-sponsored with Seven Pillars: A Contemporary House of Wisdom, http://www.seven-pillars.org/.

A ONE-DAY SYMPOSIUM
Saturday, March 1, 10am–5:30pm
08WEC27S
Members: $100 / Nonmembers: $110

(Members of both the Open Center and the Sufi Order International are eligible for Members’ discount.)

Christopher Bamford, editor of SteinerBooks and Lindisfarne Books, is a writer and scholar of Western esotericism, esoteric Christianity and Anthroposophy. He is the author of, most recently, An Endless Trace: The Passionate Pursuit of Wisdom in the West.

Pir Zia Inayat-Khan is the spiritual leader of the Sufi Order International, a mystical and ecumenical fellowship rooted in the visionary legacy of his grandfather, Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. Pir Zia is Founder of Seven Pillars: A Contemporary House of Wisdom and holds a Doctoral degree in Religion from Duke University.

Peter Lamborn Wilson is a poet-scholar of Sufism and Western Hermeticism and a well-known radical anarchist social thinker. He is the author of, among others, Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of Islam and Escape from the Nineteenth Century.