MYSTICS MAKING LOVE WITH THE DIVINE

​Anyone who spends much time with me will know that I love to read poetry of the mystics! I carry my Kindle at all times, for any moment can invite the possibility of a poem! Mystics are those who, in spite of being part of a formalised religion, have moved beyond the limiting dogma of the system and moved into a direct union with the Divine. They are in fact the divine lovers…in a deep love affair with God!

Rumi, Hafiz and other Sufi mystics have long been favourites of mine. But recently I started to read the poems of some Christian mystics. I am amazed at just how deep the love affair with the divine can be. Indeed, I have heard it said that St Teresa of Avila was in a state of ecstasy with God for much of the time. I was also reading St John of the Cross, and discovered him questioning why sex is banned to monks such as himself…he could see the divine potential of love-making.

They took the Christian path as that was the only vehicle for divine experience in their time and place. But it is incredible to see how naturally tantric they were! We are so blessed in this current time to have such access to vehicles from many lineages. I am so grateful myself that I have access to Tantra and Tao. Of course we can see from the writings of many traditions, that mystics all reach the same place no matter what path they took!

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“I look
at your body, dear;
I am talking about a woman’s,
and I question my vows deeply. For all around me
are making
love.
Beauty is exciting the tree’s limbs; look how sweet
they act and sway, they pretend to by shy, then laugh and yield,
as I want to with
you.
Most yield to love when its power awakes.
My hands could kneel upon you. An altar I see your breasts.
And is not every part of me sacred too, worthy of His mouth,
worthy of the earth’s homage, worthy of giving
communion.
An altar is every pore and hair on every body-
confess that, dear God,
confess;
why make us suffer your silence any longer
about such a vital
truth?
Still, I shall maintain for reasons beyond all morals,
my blessed vow of
chastity.”

​And here is one in which St Teresa talks of touching herself:

​“I thought of putting my hand where I could tell no one,
on that part of my soul that is always warm.
I knew a sacred liquid there could
flow and give me
peace.
And my soul, I have come to see
is both spirit and flesh.”

​St Teresa also writes poetry of ecstasy:

“When my mouth touched His I became
invisible,
the way the earth would if the sun
took it into
its arms.
This ecstatic death I know. What can touch
His exquisite form
is not anything that can
be seen.
How do we make love to God;
How does the soul make love to God?
How does the soul make love to God?
The heart has divine instincts;
it just needs to be turned lose in the sky.

And a simple one, suggesting Divine Union… such as some Tantric meditations lead to:

“I slept with my Lord one night,
now all that is luminous
I know we
conceived.”

And a famous quote from St Teresa:

“Any real ecstasy is a sign
you are moving
in the right
direction,
don’t let any prude tell
you otherwise.”

​And a poem from Hafiz to remind us of the divinity of the body:

“Every desire of your body is holy;
Every desire of your body is holy.
Dear one,
Why wait until you are dying
To discover that divine
Truth?”

 And finally, I found something I wrote myself during a silent tantric retreat:

“Perhaps I only made myself appear separate from God, from True Nature, in order that I could experience being His lover.
In the ecstatic rapture as I dance or shake or pray or sing or orgasm,
I merge with Him,
and at that moment I am the lover, the loved and the Source of all love.”