The Sufi Path of Love with Ayeda Husain l S2E071

Ayeda Husain: 00:00:00

We're not trying to predict what's going to happen in the future. Because that's not up to us. What we are trying to do then uncover truths about ourselves. Why do we feel the way we feel? Why do we act maybe act? Why are they certain patterns in our life that keep on recurring. So it's a tool for self examination for an excavation of our inner beings, and for self knowledge, and the beauty of Sufism, and tarot and what brings them together the unifying factor to the love and hopefully that comes through in every card with the artwork with the write up. And with the fact that I'm I've sprinkled Stardust in every card. Every image has some element of stardust there. So if you look closely, you will see it. Do you know

Linda Orsini: 00:00:53

what Sufism is? Have you ever picked up a pack of tarot cards? Well, today's guest itis sin talks about both. She has created a deck called the Sufi Taro. There are gorgeous, the imagery is stunning. It's breathtaking. And the messages are so rich, rich in tradition, and inspiration and deep awakening of the heart. All this and more on a call for love.

Linda Orsini: 00:01:31

Welcomed to a call for love. Today I have a very special guest because she lives in my local area. And her name is Ayeda Huisain and she is a senior teacher and representative of the Sufi order she has belongs to a specific order so she will dive into that more but with a double Master's in journalism, and Eastern Studies from NYU. She specializes in Sufism, and if you don't know what that is, by the end of this talk, you will be well versed in it. She teaches Sufi meditation, chanting and philosophy. Focusing on one of my favorites, Rumi and his poetry for healing and growth. Ayeda has led Sufi centers in Lahore, Pakistan, Dubai, and she's presently living in Oakville, Ontario, where I live, it's such a blessing. We actually went out together a couple of weeks ago. And I'm so excited and honored to have her here. She conducts Sophie retreats globally, and has taught meditation to Buddhist monks and Tokyo and been invited to the United Nations as a spiritual leader. And this is the icing on the cake everyone. She is the author of The Amazing bestseller, The Sufi tarot cards. It is such a brilliant, beautiful, profound deck, I keep it by my bed, and I have been drawing cards one each morning. And the messages are speaking so profoundly to my heart. So I want to thank you for gifting this to the world.

Ayeda Husain: 00:03:17

Thank you, it means so much that it has touched you and moved you and that has brought us together today.

Linda Orsini: 00:03:25

You told me that you just came back from the Omega center. And if people do not know this place, it is a really special place. Can you tell us about it and what you did there?

Ayeda Husain: 00:03:36

Yes. So I was at omega Institute, upstate New York. CO leading the Sufi retreat with my membership, my Sufi teacher, who I met 20 years ago. And after 20 years, it was the biggest privilege for me to be able to be up on the stage, teaching co leading a retreat with him. And the name of the retreat was the Sufi art of love. And it's so interesting that we are here today on your podcast, which is a call for love. And I'm still still they they tied up in the beautiful energy of the Sophie pack of brown, and all the amazing teachings which are still kind of swirling in my mind. What does it mean? What is the Sufi path of love? How is love a verb and not a thing? Or is it something that we are constantly having to do? And how does that tie in with Sufism? Sufism is not a thing. It's not a noun. Sufi ism is a verb. So it's a process of becoming. It's a constant striving. It's a constant unfolding, sometimes a bit of an unraveling as well, but it's never a stagnant process or a destination. No, I'm enlightened Sufi will ever say, Oh, I'm a Sufi, because you're never really there. It's a process. We are aspiring on the Sufi path, but nobody is really there. And we aspire to the last breath. If

Linda Orsini: 00:05:17

you could summarize Sufism in one sentence just for the listeners, how would you really explain Sufism

Ayeda Husain: 00:05:27

to Sufism can be compared to alchemy, the alchemical process in which you take a metal, base metal, you burn it, and it transformed into gold. And in Latin, I'm going to be quick. In Latin the terms are catch and outro, which is the burning Salvi, in which the dissolving and then a coagulate in which something new is formed. So what happened in the Sufi part? That is your life puts you through these transformational processes in which one would otherwise think that Owen is a victim, life is falling apart? Why is this happening to me, but we view it as an alchemy of something being transformed. something new coming out of that which no longer exist, and we we let it go. We don't hold on to that which is dissolving. You surrender. Surrender is another way of describing what the Sufi path is about surrendering to a higher power that flows through you, hopefully touches your heart and awakens it. And then you live your life through the heart, as opposed to being stuck or constricted by the mind.

Linda Orsini: 00:06:45

I love that because Well, the book The Alchemist, so it makes me think of that. So clearly. It is the evolution of your growth and spirit and soul. You could say Correct. Oh, yeah, I love that. I love that I do not know a lot about Sufism. But I do feel when I saw your deck, and I met you at a show. And I was so drawn to the richness of the culture, the richness of the language, and the depth of the words that it really drew me in because this deck is very beautiful. If you could just share with us, it's called the Sufi tarot cards and deck. Can you tell us, you I had met you and you told me how it came about. But I really loved how you created this, this card deck.

Ayeda Husain: 00:07:42

This deck is the is the product of a lot of pain, but physical pain, I'd had an accident, and I had crushed most of my arm. And my arm had been cut open, and I couldn't move. And there was COVID. So I couldn't leave the house and I wasn't able to move much indoors. So there was a lot of meditation, a lot of contemplation, a lot of prayer, a lot of chanting, that really literally all I could do. And these images started coming to me. And I'm not a visual person. I'm a writer. And I was I was really kind of a nerd. And eventually I realized that these images kind of tie up with traditional Tarot. But traditional Tarot had always irked me in a way that did not feel represented visually. So when I went in, I research and I found the roots of Tarot were indeed, Egypt and the east and Persia and tend to in Asia, I was really called to bring out a deck, which would be healing, which would honor the Eastern origins, as well as the Western adaptations. Bring them together. So all the images that you see, came to me meditation, I would meditate, these images would come to me, but I'm not an artist. I knew exactly what I'd seen but I people begged me not to draw when I tried. So I found these two wonderful artists, young people who lived in Lahore, Pakistan, 2627 year old, they were two of them as a team of two. I would work with them on Zoom, creating these artistic briefs, delivering the briefs to them, and then having them make 500 changes until what they were doing looked exactly like what I've seen in my meditations. It was digital art. So everything you see here, it's all digital light, so we could work with the different layers. The Emperor guards will turn. Eventually when we were cleaning up all the layers. They were 250 layers. We had law changed the poor guy he had. We changed his face three times. First, he was too young when he was too old and stern. And then eventually we got the right, we got the right face, but a lot of micromanaging a lot of obsession with detail. But I needed the images to look exactly like what I've seen. Sometimes you would be on Zoom for 10 to 12 hours. And I'd be playing indigenous music from different cultures, because they're different culture that represent in the day. So we have Persian, we have Turkish Yes, you know, sophistication and grand your to be visibly present.

Linda Orsini: 00:10:45

Yeah, the imagery is is just so breathtaking. Actually. If the listener doesn't know what a taro card is, can you explain it because you marry these two, you marry the Sufi ism with the taro. And so we've discussed that Sufi ism is the transformation the alkalizing from one place of being to a higher level of being. But what about Tarot?

Ayeda Husain: 00:11:16

So they're so similar, and I was just blown away that nobody had ever made that connection before. Tarot comes from the word rook, which is an Arabic word, meaning the four ways. And the four ways are the four suits, but based on earth, water, fire, and air. Many people believe it that it came from the word karaoke, which is an Italian game, but it goes back even further to the rook and took also means the plural of Trica, which is the Sufi order, so the roots go back really deep. And what Tarot really evolved to be was a set of 78 cards, the 22, Major Arcana, which deal with life themes, and each one of them is an archetype. And then there are 56, Minor Arcana, which are based on the four suits of earth, water, fire, and air. And they have to do with day to day event. So we shuffle them, and we infuse them with that energy. And then we are not using them for divination. I write that in my book, I write that on my website, we're not trying to predict what's going to happen in the future. Because that's not up to us. What we are trying to do then uncover truths about ourselves, Why do we feel the way we feel? Why do we act to maybe act? Why are they certain patterns in our life that keep on recurring. So it's a tool for self examination for an excavation of our inner beings, and for self knowledge, and the beauty of Sufism, and tarot and what brings them together the unifying factor to the now. And hopefully that comes through in every card with the artwork with the write up. And with the fact that I'm, I've sprinkled Stardust in every card. Every image has some element of stardust in there. So if you look closely, you will see it.

Linda Orsini: 00:13:19

Yeah, I love that. I love that because it's the light. It's the light that is being shown and reflected in each imagery, and each message. It's so interesting, because I am a great steadier and life secret. And I study a lot. But there is so much that I still don't know. And that's why I love this podcast, and I love meeting people, but I try not to really dissect it and just say, Oh, this is resonating with me. Let's just go further into this. There are many tarot cards, many. And this one really speaks to me, You talk a lot about the heart, which is a perfect marriage here with a call for love and your mission. But what does it mean, in your opinion, to have an open heart? Because that's the message that you really were expressing at the Omega center, right? And now you're expressing it here. So what does it mean to have an open heart?

Ayeda Husain: 00:14:25

So an open heart is what we call the awakened heart. Heart that does not choose slumber, or numbing over a form of vulnerability. A choice to experience whatever life gives you sometimes is joy, sometimes there's pain, but when we shield ourselves and we camp up, we repel the good as well as difficult. The Sufi order that I belong to the night here was comes from hazard and I killed the man who brought Sufism to the West in the early 1900s. And somebody asked him once well, how can how do you say everything is beautiful? When there's so much suffering? There's so much pain, and there's so much injustice, and how can we remain open? How can we remain trusting? How can we surrender? And his response was, would you rather be Iraq? Yes, so to to have an open heart to have an awakened heart is to connect with your authentic nature, which has to do with an open heart, not a closed heart? Do we choose fair? Or do we choose trust? Do we choose constriction? Or do we choose to live in this space of expansion and vulnerability, the vulnerability that comes with an open heart.

Linda Orsini: 00:16:02

It's so interesting, you say that, because I lead workshops and in mindfulness, they call it Backdraft. When you begin to open your heart, because some of us close it, it's just just too painful, whatever experience, then there can be like this Backdraft, this oxygen that really fuels, the suffering or the emotion. And so if we know that, and I always say it's like opening a blind, you know, open a little, then you know, and then then comfort yourself, do what you need, talking to somebody or whatever that may look like for you, and then open a little bit more. But the goal here is what you're saying, and which is the whole mission of a call for love, is to awaken the heart, I love that just awaken it, it's there, but it's hidden or asleeping or neglected. And it's to awaken.

Ayeda Husain: 00:17:02

Yeah, Rumi said, our aim on the spiritual path is to polish the mirror of the heart, so that we can see the reflection of the Divine. So polishing refers to not the physical scrubbing, but all this all the work on the spiritual work that we do. And in the Sufi tradition, we have chanting, we have meditation, we have contemplation, we have breathing, we have certain movements we do with our chanting. And all of these practices together, allow us to really begin the awakening process, because it's easier to just numb something which can feel pain. And that becomes a coping mechanism. And the older we get, the more we realize that we have put all these layers, all these veils on our heart, the one by one, we start lifting the veils, the polishing begin that is the lifetime process, but to be able to just be out in nature, and feel pure joy and pure love. That is what we are aiming for.

Linda Orsini: 00:18:13

Absolutely. When I had walked with you a couple of weeks ago by the water, which was so beautiful, you told me a little bit about the history of Rumi Can you just tell me to share with the listeners the the story of Rumi because one of my favorite poets of all time.

Ayeda Husain: 00:18:34

It's an incredible story Rumi came from Afghanistan. And when the Mongols attacked his family fled to Konya, which is in present day Turkey. And his father was a very, very well respected religious cleric of Maulana and Rumi, of course, inherited the mantle. And he was the, you know, the cleric theologian, but if I may say, so a bit of a dry theologian, and one day his whole life transformed, he was just walking in the marketplace. And this I don't want to use the word dirty, but it's very and camped offensive, who looked like a beggar, but really wasn't but the parents of a beggar like, came up to him. And he saw that he was walking alongside his donkey, which had all the books in that saddle back. And this offensive man would unbrushed here and unwashed bass, took all his books, and he threw them in a nearby pond. And Rumi said, What have you done? This is my life's work of knowledge. And this man whose name was chumps, which means fire, the fire of the sun, instead of that all your life's knowledge was then you really haven't learned much. And in that moment, there was a connection of the cases. And Rumi realized that this is the only man who can teach Be more than I know. And Trump's realized that he's the only man that I can actually teach. And thus began this partnership in which they they transformed each other. But that transformation was again a bit of an unraveling for Rumi. He stopped being as Orthodox and following some of the traditional rules he had followed. And people were not happy with him. And eventually champs was murdered by somebody in Rumi's inner circle. People believe it was his son, because his wife was complaining you never come home anymore. Everything had been turned upside down. So sharps was removed. We still don't know where he's buried. Some people believe that he was killed and thrown in a well near where Rumi lived. But what actually happened, the transformation the alchemy, lead, Rumi's heart to shutter. But out of that shattering came the Shear Genius. That everything that we know of Rumi today is what he did after the shattering of the heart. Everything he did before, no one knows, no one cares. It just more academic work, which we all have a lot of. You can see there are a lot of books on a bookshelf. But what Rumi did, those 24,000 kits which make up the Muscovy, is collection of poetry is the most soul poetry in the United States today. And 800 years after his death, the whirling he began, everything he taught is as alive as ever, I teach welding, as well. And it's all because he allowed his heart to awaken. He allowed the pain of separation to awaken his heart. And through that awakened heart, he was able to touch people, because everyone can relate to what comes from the heart. If one begins to create with the mind, it's a different kind of relation, one will have those who pick up your book or whatever you're creating. But when you're creating through the heart, especially one which has been broken, there is no limit. There is no limit to what can flow through you.

Linda Orsini: 00:22:22

And it's such a powerful story. I got so many chills while you are sharing that.

Ayeda Husain: 00:22:27

If I can just tell you they quickly about the opening Poem of the mastery. He speaks about the Reed Flute. Lane. Yes, yeah. And he says, listen to the song of the Reed Flute, you think it's singing, but it's actually crying, because it was growing somewhere. And it was cut and removed from his place of origin. And then they poked holes into it, and scooped out the inside. And they chopped it up and threw it in the oven and burnt it. And because it allowed itself to be emptied. Now this bread blows through it. And with that breath, you think that the reader thinking but it's not the Regis allowed, it's never to be empty. The breath is the Divine breath. So he's saying in a way that I didn't really create what I created it all just coming through me because I allowed my pain to empty so I can I can be a receptacle for the divine inspiration that just encapsulate the meaning of life for me.

Linda Orsini: 00:23:38

Rumi poetry is so powerful. And so you're saying it's because his heart was broken open, to allow all this beauty to shine through?

Ayeda Husain: 00:23:50

Absolutely. One can allow pain to turn into something dark and dismal. And a bit negative. Or one can allow the pain to purify oneself, an empty one said. Now I know in the Western tradition, the term empty has a negative connotation. But on the spiritual path, the aim is to become empty. So you allow pain and challenges to empty you. And when we sing empty we are emptying ourselves of our ego, have a preconceived notions of how life has to be of good and bad and right and wrong and you know if I got my master's in a subject I need to do that my whole life, it turning around of everything that you believed really was written in stone. My teachers father, be reliant, used to say, shatter your illusions on the rock of truth.

Linda Orsini: 00:25:00

That's beautiful. Shatter your illusions on the raka truth of

Ayeda Husain: 00:25:04

truth. And the empty process has to do with the shattering of illusions. And they're just not putting it up with something else but leaving it empty. Leaving is empty. But then the divine to fill it up, you know, we have the analogy of the cup, if it already filled with like, dirty water, how can it be filled up with the divine network? So we're trying to empty it to eventually, divine inspiration can flow through us.

Linda Orsini: 00:25:36

That's beautiful. That's really beautiful. I thank you, as we begin to close, I mean, we could talk forever, there's, you're just a wealth of knowledge. And it's just mind boggling, because I want to know it all and learn about it. But there is a question that I like to ask my guests. And, you know, a call for love is all about noticing how you're living. And I know you're very in tune, and allow that knowledge and your deep sense of practice, to flow to you, and through you and from you. But when you're in a place of suffering, or in a place of unease, how do you switch? How do you become a vessel of love? How do you open your heart? How do you awaken your heart?

Ayeda Husain: 00:26:32

That's such a good question. Because a lot of people believe that the moment you have difficult emotion, need to cover it up with the positive part. That's called spiritual bypassing. We're not going to do that. First step is to really acknowledge whatever feeling has come up. Is it pain? Are you triggered by something disturbing you saw which perhaps connected to something that happened in the past, really stick with the feeling, and then we try to release it, you're going to feel the difficult emotion without getting caught up in it. Of course, we have our methods of moving past it, I can tell you what I do. Please, for me, sacred music will lift me up out of any dark place I'm ever in meditation, and my zikr zikr Zi KR, is Sufi chanting. To one of the things which are added to and we are chanting different names, which are quality than attributes is a seeker for a broken heart is a thicker to cultivate more compassion is a thicker to cultivate more power. So we dive into these names to guide us.

Linda Orsini: 00:27:54

Are these names sound vibrations? Yes,

Ayeda Husain: 00:27:57

absolutely. You know, oil. Arabic is a root language, that means it was not created by humans. And these are all sound which are revealed. So often, you may not even know what the sound mean. Or the words mean, but just chanting them has a healing effect on your entire being not just your body, but your mind, your body, your heart and your soul. The incredible healing that takes place through the chanting,

Linda Orsini: 00:28:27

Jews whirling.

Ayeda Husain: 00:28:30

I do use wedding. Not as much as I do the other modality but I teach welding. And I do work. And welding is incredible. Because if you think about what's happening, you have one hand facing up, one hand facing down, your head to the right to the heart of the exposed, and you're turning, that means you're receiving from the Divine, your conduit you're giving to the world. And the heart is where everything is coming. So when you turn counterclockwise, you are turning same direction as the way the planet circle the sun, the atom, the molecules, everything in the world is circling counterclockwise. So you're again becoming in sync with the divine nature. And you say that your heart is a sun and your body is a planet. You're going to circulate again. It all comes back to the heart. Every practice anything we can really dissect it. Everything in Sufism comes back to the heart. You're going to circle your heart. That means the heart comes before mind knowledge. The heart is the center of the universe. The heart is what we pay homage to. The heart is what be listened to.

Linda Orsini: 00:29:55

Love is the only lasting thing at the end of the day. What What else matters? Ayeda thank you for being on a call for love. I learned so much. And I want to join one of your whirling events.

Ayeda Husain: 00:30:11

You know, next time we have one. Yes,

Linda Orsini: 00:30:13

absolutely. But I will place all your links in the show notes, and even the link to purchase your cards if anyone's interested. They are super beautiful. I really thank you for opening your heart and sharing your knowledge because it's a tradition to carry this forward, it really brings it to life. And I just love being in the midst of such sacred knowledge.

Ayeda Husain: 00:30:43

It is sacred because that brings us all together. But thank you, thank you for for doing this. Thank you for your call for love. And thank you for all the healing that you are such a catalyst for in your podcasts

Linda Orsini: 00:31:01

will be very kind very kind. So thank you and listeners all the links will be in the show notes. So until next time, from my heart to yours, and I can speak for Ayeda from our heart to yours. Namaste