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THE SANCTUARY

WITH SIMON J. E. DREW

THE WAY

A Prayer of Ascent

I. Enter on this path, all ye who would ascend to the peak of God’s Holy Mountain. Yay, walk with me, and let us speak Wisdom to each other on our way, even The Way.

II. This is the Way of God, delivered to me through my pen, even that I might share The Way with all who would listen and hear, and do. 

III. Decide that thou wouldst seek the peak of the mountain.

IV. Seekest thou a path.

V. Seek knowledge of the commonalities between the various paths that lead up the mountain.

VI. Know what would lead thee down.

VII. Know the difference between following a path down the mountain and following a path that must go down in order to go up.

VIII. Take time to reflect on the view at each point of your ascent.

IX. If thou shouldst pass fellow travellers along thy way, greet them with the joy of a fool, and the discernment of a wise man, for then shall there be no strife between thee. And make no fuss whether thy fellow travellers ascend or descend the Mountain. Simply follow The Way. 

X. If a seeker should wish to ascend with thee, welcome them with open arms—if they be true—, for it is good to be strengthened by the community of a kindred soul.

XI. If a fellow traveller should wish to turn back, or to follow a path that appears counter to The Way, discern well, and then walk in the way that thou hath discerned appropriate. 

XII. Saying farewell to a once-loved travelling partner is a pain to the heart, but remember that there is joy also in solitude.

XIII. When thou seeth a peak but arrive to find another, thou art near indeed to God’s dwelling place.

XIV. When thy vision is clear, and when thou seeth far and wide o’er the Garden of Life, thou wilt know that it is God who led thee here to thy Home.

XV. Here, ye shall commune with Him, having nothing left unsaid between thee, and nothing undisclosed between God and thee.

XVI. Here, thou shalt commit thyself to follow God’s way—The Way—in all thy days, never looking back, and never seeking to know more than is required.

XVII. Here, thou wilt be Aligned.

XVIII. Here, thou wilt be Whole. 

Amen

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TO THOSE I SERVE

A Covenantal Prayer

  1. Once, when my mind was dull, and my body was weak, and my senses lacking, and my spark faint, I had it not in me to speak of Wisdom, nor of things Divine, nor of Truth, and even less of Beauty. 
  2. But, my friends, I have happened upon a path, as have ye, and we call this path many, for it leads in four directions, even Virtue, Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding.
  3. At the centre of the Garden, at the peak of the Holy Mountain, there grows a Golden Tree, whose roots descend deep into the Well of Eternal Knowledge, and whose branches reach high above us into the Big Amazing, as my friend and teacher Sharon Lebell would say. 
  4. From the seed of this Tree has grown seven branches, even the Deep, the Root, the Seed, the Branch, the Wind, the Heights, and the ALL. 
  5. As above, so below. 
  6. Lo, there is a place where the river meets the sky,
    And there but for the grace of God go I,
    And if it would be right for me to prophesy, 
    It’s surely there where we all shall die. 
  7. So now, let us speak of Wisdom, for it is She who will guide us safely o’er the distant and unknown horizons. Yay, it is She who will calm the storm-tossed seas, and even She who has carefully stitched together the upper and the lower fabrics on God’s garment, and She who now paves the Golden Way before us all. 
  8. Lo, it is the humanities that will teach us Wisdom, for they will show us the many ways to return to our Father when we are lost, to rescue the damsel when She is in despair, and to become the Light when darkness surrounds.
  9. Those who have sought communion with the Muses and Daemons of our past will have Knowledge, for the Kingdom is theirs, and the bountiful harvest for their storehouse. 
  10. Those who commune with the Muses and Daemons of our past will join the Angels who now plough their Golden Fields in the Heavenly realms, and sweet remembrance will be theirs of their unity with the seven realms they have travelled, and this they will come to know as Understanding. 
  11. And all this will be a revelation, made possible by the very face that the Angels discovered, for in the mirror and face of the Cosmos, we see ourselves, and our selves see us, for it is by the light that burns within each of us that our selves are made to see. 
  12. When a soul has seen, it desires not to return to the realms it once wandered, for not only is such an awakening so great that it radiates in the being of the beholder with prolonged intensity, but also because to do so would be to commit a kind of spiritual suicide.  
  13. At such a time, the True Seeker becomes the Finder, and the Finder the Sage, and the Sage the fool, and the fool the King, and the King the tyrant, and the tyrant the beggar, and the beggar the rich ran, and the rich man the Poor, and the poor the Receivers, and the Receivers the robbed. 
  14. And so, my Friend, let us walk together, talk together, learn together, grow together, worship what is beautiful together, plant seeds together, and harvest what we have planted together. 
 

AMEN

GARDENS, DESERTS, & THE TEMPLE WITHIN MY SOUL

This 43 minute piano improvisation was inspired by my exploration of the deep symbolism of sanctuary that exists within the biblical narratives of the Old Testament, particularly in Genesis. You’ll hear periods of stunning meditative flow, broken by interludes of chaos and “wandering through the desert”. As you listen, consider reading the poetry below and contemplating the mandala artwork. The music, poetry and artwork on this page should all be experienced together in order to best awaken your own insights regarding the sanctuary in which we all aspire to dwell.

MANDALAS OF THE HOLY MOUNT

These mandalas were created using the same image of stunning wildflowers growing atop Mount Beerwah, a sacred mountain on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. The mandalas feature four sides, representing the four rivers of Eden. In the centre is a golden tree mandala featuring the tree of life that grows at the peak of the Holy Mountain. There are seven branches on the tree, representing the seven hermetic principles: Mentality, Correspondance, Vibration, Polarity, Gender, Rhythm, and Cause & Effect.

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"I'll play it first and tell you what it is later."
- Miles Davis
"There's a rhythm in my heart... Incredible."
- The Musician
"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."
- Marcus Aurelius
"To heed is to have faith in one’s own ability to be transformed."
- The King
"Things are not all as graspable and sayable as we are led to believe."
- Rainer Maria Rilke
"To the distant hills we go, with philosophy as our guide."
- The Poet
"If I had not been admitted to these studies it would not have been worth while to have been born."
- Seneca
"The Logos hath risen."
- The Philosopher
"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
- Henry David Thoreau
"The key is offered to all, and yet not all have opened the door to peer within."
- The Prophet
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