40 Days / Night Sema Seminar
14 July 2008 – 23 August 2008
Photos
A participant´s letter: Tulay Ramoglu
I previously had calcification of hand and finger joints which, since years...
Click for the complete letter.
Hazreti Mevlana and Sema
700 years ago, lived in Anatolia, in Konya the genius holy man, mystic and philosopher, Hazreti Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi.
Mevlana was a virtuous person, a poet, a mystic, and a spiritual guide. He was an authority in the interpretation of the Holy Koran and in theology and a skilled man for mastering the problems of life. All this richness of his wisdom, his way of living found expression in the practice of Sema.
The praying person whirls from right to left towards his inner self, towards the depths of his heart, because the heart is the home of God. Trying to be ripped from himself in the search of his real self, the whirling person, attempts to go to the home of God within himself. As he whirls, he faces all the directions remembering the ‘ayet’ (verse of the Koran) 2:115, telling that wherever you turn there is the face of God. Slowly the arms and hands find their places. The right one upwards, accepting with respect the beneficence of God from above, from the sky; the left hand downwards, to the Earth, and everyone on her, giving and sharing. Thus the whirling person becomes a recipient, who exists between the sky and the earth.
He respects all the gifts of God, takes them and shares them with his fellow men and everything on the Earth. This way he becomes a good conductor of Virtue. When his ego is receding, a person can realise and accept other persons´ needs and desires. This is an auspicious way of living.
The Sema is a prayer, an invocation in dance form and has ritualistic elements and a step on the path of universal love. Without loosing the feeling of unity, the individual is among all the others and together with them. The Sema, at the same time symbolizes the divine love for God; and through this love one can learn to love all the other people.
Historic facts
Sema is a form of worship by whirling around oneself. Through the history of mankind for a lot of centuries we come across that form in different cultures. Whirling and the rhythmic movements are practices that alter the state of consciousness and thus provide a deeper contact to one´s own spiritual sources.
The dances and whirling prayers came to Anatolia from Central Asia. The idea behind these dances is that, each movement has a spiritual determination and conciousness.
Whirling movements as in a vortex are known to exist as far back the shamanic times. With the help of whirling, they went in ecstasy and changed the state of their conciousness. When a shaman went in such an ecstasy, he could have contact with other dimensions and could find answers to his questions and resolutions for the problems.
It is related about Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) that he prayed by dancing, when one of his friends recited a poem.
Our Seminar
During the lifetime of Hazreti Mevlana, a man called Sipehsalar, started to write a book about his life, the people around him, and their stories. Later Ahmet Eflaki finished this book, with the title: “Ariflerin Menk?beleri - menak?b-el-arifin” - legends of the wise men.
In this book we find information on how often and how long Mevlana performed Sema. According to this book, he performed it, sometimes continuously for three days and nights, sometimes seven days and nights, sometimes sixteen days and nights, and three times for forty days and nights.
Several years ago, we ventured into the experience of trying the original way of whirling, like Mevlana did 700 years before. We wanted to investigate the details and depths of our own spirituality.
In Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Austria, and Turkey we practiced in the last 5 years, 1x one day & night, 16 x 3 days & nights, 2 x 5 days and nights, 1 x 7 days & nights, and 2x 40 days & nights.
We had those 40 days and nights sema, last two years, during the same dates and at the same place.
During these experiences the music continued and at least two semazens were whirling all the time.
After our experiences with this form of spiritual work, based on the traditional way of Mevlana, we decided to venture another 40 days and nights, with music, sema, zikir and praying.
We hope that everyone finds in himself the essence of the meaning of sema while experiencing the educational aspects of the sema.
Organisation
In Yalova there is a cultural center. It belongs to Mehmet Rasim Mutlu. Last year the 40 days and nights sema was realised in this place, which is an ideal place for this practice.
You can sleep and eat individually during the forty days, at the seminar place, so you may listen to the music and the zikir 24 hours a day.
Oru? Guven? and Rasim Mutlu will be there, if you´ll have any questions.
Meals will be prepared for you.
For the spiritual work during the seminar it would be helpful to have some literature of Rumi with you.
Trip from Europe:
Atat?rk Airport in Istanbul,
In front of the airport you take a taxi to Yeni Kap?.
In Yeni Kap? you take the ferryboat to Yalova.
In Yalova you take the taxi or dolmu? (big taxi for many persons) to G?kcedere / Termal.
There you ask for the cultural center of Mehmet Rasim Mutlu.
Important!
After the seminar, especially for the persons who have stayed in the Center all through the 40 days and nights, it would be nice to stay some days more. May be it´s not so good to drive away at once.
This kind of spiritual work can be very intensive. In the medical sense it´s no therapy, although prayer and meditation are proven to have healing effects.
It´s everyone´s own responsibility to participate in this seminar and to decide for how long to stay.
Some practical points:
Please bring your own bedclothes or sleepingbag. Probably it will be very hot in July and August.
The Mehmet Rasim Mutlu Cultural Center is a two-storey building, upstairs is the ‘semahane’, the place for sema; and downstairs is the living area. In the living area there is one big room for men and another for women. You can stay either in these rooms, or in the semahane, or in the garden. If you prefer, you can also go to a pension or hotel in G?kcedere which is close to the Center. Then you would pay for your stay.
In the center there is a washing machine.
There is a thermal bath close to the Center. So don´t forget to bring swimming suits and towels.
The center is in the nature and it will be summer time, so there may be mosquitos. You´d better bring your mosquitospray.
The sun in summer in Turkey is very strong, so don´t forget your sunmilk.
Around the center there are nice paths to have walks in the forest.
Price:
Because the participants will come at different times and because the spiritual aspects of this work is more important than any other, we let it up to everyone what he or she is willing to give.
For us it will be a big help if you tell us what time you will come and how long you will stay. So please let us know the day of your arrival and departure.
Mehmet Rasim Mutlu Center of culture
Gökcedere-Thermal
Yalova / Turkey
Click for contact info.
December 30, 2008
A participant´s letter: Tulay Ramoglu
Greetings,
I am Tulay Ramoglu. Last summer I participated for around 20 days in the 40 days sema. There I witnessed the most beautiful manifestation of the feelings of unity and togetherness, I felt very happy. Many thanks to our masters and to you people. Meanwhile some physical recoveries that are very important for me took place and I would like to share them with you.
I previously had calcification of hand and finger joints which, since years, rendered me unable to fully make fist. Also because of a twist, I had a pain in my left toe since years. Although i took some physio theraphy for these problems, there had not been a significant recovery.
After returning from Gokcedere, I realised with in bewilderement that my fingers had become so relaxed that I was able to make fists. And the pain in my toe had disappeared. This state of well being is going on and I assume it as a responsibility to inform you about that. My faith in the healing power of unified music has become stronger.
With the wish that this energy would spread to the whole world
With my love and respect
Tulay Ramoglu