The Song of the Pleiades
Lecture, meditation, music and Universal Worship w/ Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Townhall Gersfeld (Rhön), Germany, Schloßplatz 9 and Online via Zoom
March 28th to April 1st, 2024
The soul’s unfoldment, the legacy of all of the world’s prophets, the kinship of all beings, the greening of inner and outer worlds, the healing of wounds, the honing of integrity, and the music of the spheres: these are the Seven Sisters whose time has come to lead ourselves and our world into a present moment alive with Divine resplendence. In this spring retreat, through discourse, meditation, music, and prayer, we will explore how the rays of these seven stars illuminate the path that leads, step by step, to the fulfillment of life’s purpose. – Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Programme (Time CET)
Thursday, March 28th
9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 – 12.30 pm: Program of the Inayatiyya branches: Kinship and experience reports with the Confraternity prayers (without Zoom transmission)
Lunchbreak
2.00 – 2.45 pm: Choir practice with Ophiel (no Zoom broadcast)
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
8.00 pm: General meeting of Inayatiyya Deutschland e.V. (Zoom-Link for members)
Parallel: Sufi music with Mehmet Ungan (no Zoom broadcast)
Friday, March 29th (day of silence)
7.00 – 8.00 am: Morning meditation with Zumurrud Butta
9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 – 12.30 pm: Program of the Inayatiyya branches: Universal Worship and Inner School (without Zoom transmission)
Lunchbreak
2.00 – 2.45 pm: Choir practice with Ophiel (no Zoom broadcast)
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
8.00 pm: Concert (open stage with the musicians present)
Saturday, March 30th (day of silence)
7.00 – 8.00 am: Morning meditation with Zumurrud Butta
9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 – 12.30 pm: Program of the Inayatiyya branches: Chivalry and Music (without Zoom transmission)
Lunchbreak
2.00 – 2.45 pm: Choir practice with Ophiel (no Zoom broadcast)
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
8.00 pm: Zikr evening
Easter Sunday, March 31st
7.00 – 8.00 am: Morning meditation with Zumurrud Butta
9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 – 12.30 pm: Program of the Inayatiyya branches: Healing and Zira’at (without Zoom transmission)
Lunchbreak
2.00 – 2.45 pm: Choir practice with Ophiel (no Zoom broadcast)
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
8.00 pm: Dances of Universal Peace (no Zoom broadcast)
Easter Monday, April 1st
7.00 – 8.00 am: Morning meditation with Zumurrud Butta
Break
10.00 – 12.30 pm: Universal Worship (open to public, guests are very welcome)
Registration
The Easter seminar will take place in the Stadthalle Gersfeld (presence) – alternatively you can participate live via Zoom (online). In addition, the entire retreat will be recorded and published as a video (available 30 minutes after the live session). You can therefore take part in the retreat in real time or at any time you wish.
To register as an online participant, please contact Nura under seminare@inayatiyya.de.
Payment options:
1. transfer of the seminar fee to the account of Inayatiyya Deutschland e. V.: GLS Bank Bochum, IBAN DE77 4306 0967 8204 4188 03 / BIC GENODEM1GLS
Please state your full name, your e-mail address and the reference Easter 2024-Online or Easter 2024-Presence on the bank transfer.
2. Alternatively, you can make your transfer here via Paypal.
In the “Add message” field, please enter your full name, your e-mail address and Easter 2024-Online or Easter 2024-Presence.
Seminar fee:
Regular price: € 295
Early birds until 15.02.2024 and members: € 275
Reduced price for people with low income € 150
Logistics
Accommodation:
The tourist information office in Gersfeld will be happy to help with the search: 06654 – 1780 Online via www.gersfeld.de (button “Activate accommodation search”)
Youth hostel:
A limited number of sleeping places are available.
Overnight stay with breakfast 34,10 €
with half board 39,80 € / with full board 44 €
These prices only apply to those under 26 years of age. All older guests pay a surcharge of € 7.50, i.e. € 41.60 for bed and breakfast plus visitor’s tax of € 2.10.
There is the possibility of a subsidy of 20 € / night for people on low incomes. Bookings for the youth hostel are only possible via seminare@inayatiyya.de.
Other affordable accommodations:
The future village Sonnerden am Wachtküppel (10 minutes by car from Gersfeld) offers inexpensive accommodation in single, double and multi-bed rooms, mattress dormitories, places for cars/buses/campers. www.sonnerden.de
For further information, please contact the seminar organizer Nura Silvia Kunkies: seminare@inayatiyya.de. Phone: +49 – (0) 5506 999 11 69
Biographies
Pir Zia Inayat Khan carries the Sufi lineage of his grandfather, Hazrat Inayat Khan. He received his Ph.D. in Religion from Duke University. His books include Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity, and the Mystical Quest, Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions, and Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan. Pir Zia is president of the Inayatiyya and founder of Suluk Academy. Now based in Richmond, Virginia, he and his family live both in the United States and France.
Zumurrud Butta serves as Vice President of the Inner School of the Inayatiyya in Europe and leads the Inner School in Germany. She offers individual and group retreats and retreat guide training, has taught at Suluk Academy in North America and Europe and is serving on the Suluk Global Committee. Zumurrud teaches courses on Sufi mysticism in Europe and online, with a focus on the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Ibn ´Arabi and the female transmission of mysticism.
Mehmet Ungan is a sociologist, musician, lecturer and chairman of the board of the Oriental Music Academy in Mannheim, Germany. As a lecturer at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Mehmet Ungan teaches Islamic-mystical music. At the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, he teaches transcultural music in social work. With his Sufi music group Hosh Neva he gives guest performances at intercultural and interreligious events all over Europe. He owes his virtuosity on his instruments Ud and Ney to his two teachers Necati Çelik and Ömer Erdogdular (pupil of the legendary Ney master Niyazi Sayin). Mehmet Ungan studied with Oruç Güvenç and for decades has dedicated his life to healing through sound.
Ophiel Maarten van Leer is a conductor, singer and music teacher with many years of experience in the fields of music and meditation. He is the Vice-President for Europe for the new Inayatiyya Music Activity. He comes from a musical family; His mother introduced him to the Sufi message. At 17, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan became his inspiring teacher. He studied conducting and school music-teaching in Utrecht. For many years he has led seminars in ensemble singing, musical improvisation and meditation. He teaches music at a Rudolf Steiner School and directs various choirs in the Rhine-Main area around Frankfurt, Germany.
