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Letter from Cressida Pryor
November 29, 2016
Samhain Letter 2016
Dear Friends,
This is, of course the time to remember those who have, sadly, passed on from this world. Our everyday world touches our ancestor’s legacy so often it is easy to over look its gift and impact. We drive down the many roads they’ve planned and made; we eat food grown from fields laid out, drained and fertilised over centuries by the toil and heart ache of our forebears. We have so much to be inspired by and offer gratitude for.
Three years ago our dear friend and inspirational founder Olivia slipped through to the ‘Summer Lands’, the next part of her journey...she, Derry and Pamela had the wisdom to set out the FOI’s foundational Manifesto in the 1970s on such strong ethical ground it is even more relevant now in the 21st century. We have cause for huge gratitude to them for this.
We have challenges now in the wider world that are reminiscent of the 1920s and 30’s with the growth of radical exclusionary politics and division...in the last century anger grew from perceived unjust war reparations, we now have anger grown from poverty caused by shifts in wealth and production from the ‘soft west’ to the ‘cheap east’. When we feel aggrieved our rage and anger, like a mother bird cleaning it’s nest, is jettisoned over the edge landing on the ‘others’ over there. It takes a lot to step away from the simpler ‘us and them’ position to the much more complex and challenging task of really listening and reaching out to the other.
The FOI looks beyond its own ‘nest’ recognising the intrinsic truth at the core of all world faiths. I am sure the founders would have been aware of Aldous Huxley’s exposition in 1944 of the ‘Perennial Tradition’, a universal and immemorial metaphysic. This encompasses the recurring themes in most if not all of the world’s religions and philosophies and is drawn from the single stream of initiatory teaching flowing through all the great schools of mysticism.
The distilled wisdom of the Perennial Tradition holds that there is a Divine Reality underneath and inherent in this material world. That there is in the human soul a natural capacity, similarity, and longing for this Divine Reality, and the final goal of existence is union with this Divine Reality.
The Manifesto starts: ‘Growing numbers of people are rediscovering their love for the Goddess. At first, this love may seem to be no more than an inner feeling. But soon it develops; it becomes a longing to help the Goddess actively in the manifestation of Her divine plan.’ This is in tune with and follows the basic tenet of the Perennial Tradition.
May our soul’s longing for Divine Reality recognise soul in whatever it sees: trees, creatures, soil, waters and fellow humans...even the ones we find difficult, who believe differently to us, who challenge our world view. To remain beacons of a more humane way we must maintain the strength our own spiritual practice, whether it be through meditation, contemplation, yoga or other forms...however you enter your interior castle, as described by Teresa of Avila....our journey from ego to true self is one this world is in such need of at this time.
Divine Isis, may you guide, support and challenge our stumbling steps towards wholeness,
may we find soul companions on our journey and give and receive fellowship with generosity and good humour and may Her Holy Mystery give us love and hope to feed our spirit along the way.
So in these challenging times I wish you all peace and the blessings of the Goddess.
Cressida
FOI Steward
FOI Letters & Correspondence
(Our thanks to Cressida for her letter!)
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