....  just one of the pungent, useful couplets in The Conference of the Birds the 12th century poem by Persian Sufi Farid Attar that we’ll be working with in a weekend retreat May 19-21 at the Southwest Sufi Community’s Voice of the Turtle retreat center.

Participants in the weekend retreat will have read the poem (preferably in the 1984 Penguin Classics translation by Afkham Darbandi and Dick Davis) and be ready to talk together about the parts that meant most to them. Much of our time will be outdoors, where the Bear Creek riparian area should offer great birding in this prime migration tim

For the sake of simple living, the retreat is limited to 12 participants,. Cost is $60.

LoraKim Joyner, one of the retreat leaders, writes:  

What I can do with birds, is well, see them and share them. I have dedicated my life to birds and I see the world through avian symbols. I also happen to see them rather well in the wild - I just can't always ID them.  But being a bird vet for 12 years (actively) I sort of have them in my soul, merged, and forever giving me the light of love and interconnection.  I am a UU minister because of birds - they are the core of my ministry.  So I love the Conference of the Birds and have always wanted to take part in a gathering of people along this reading. I am also a Sufi initiate

I can barely tell one end of a bird from the other. I’m a word lover. This wise, funny poem is so rich, so useful for getting one’s spiritual bearings, I want to sit down with a few people who have responded to it and see what happens. I’m a resident of the SSC, and want to share this wild land with others, too.

The Southwest Sufi Community is 45 beautiful, rugged minutes outside of Silver City, NM

For more information please e-mail hayranur@southwestsuficommunity.org
For registration e-mail basira@southwestsuficommunity.org, or call her at 505-538-5034