Radiant Heart by Daniel Holeman www.awakenvisions.com
I had the privilege of attending Tim Freke’s New Year Mystery Experience retreat in Glastonbury from 30th December 2011 to 1st January 2012. I am so grateful to Tim and his lovely wife Debbie and their wonderful daughter Aya who made us all feel so welcome and for the other amazing and diverse group of people who opened their hearts and joined together to explore and experience the Mystery.
The Mystery Experience is the perfect title for this event. Tim shared his ‘both / and’ philosophy of ‘lucid living’ – being BOTH conscious of our essential nature of being one with all there is AND fully engaging with the personal adventure of our unique life. Tim sums this up in his book ’The Laughing Jesus’ written with Peter Gandy:
“Wake up! Rouse yourself from the collective coma you mistake for ‘real life’. See through the illusion of separateness and recognise that we are all essentially one. Although we appear to be isolated individuals, in reality there is one awareness dreaming itself to be everyone and everything. This is our shared essential nature. The simple secret to enjoying this dream we call ‘life’ is to wake up to oneness. Because, knowing you are one with all, you will find yourself in love with all. You will fall in love with living.”
This was not a new concept to me as through meditation and various spiritual explorations I had experienced being aware that I am both the observer and the observed, the creator and the created, the all and the one. However I had never experienced what happened next.
But before I describe the Experience I would like to set the scene. I had promised myself that this new year I would do something spiritual and meaningful to welcome in 2012. I felt driven to find a retreat where I could withdraw from my every day world and be somewhere where I could reflect and explore in a spiritual setting. I found the Mystery Experience whilst searching for a retreat on the internet and it sounded exactly what I was looking for and it was in Glastonbury, which was a place I yearned to visit. It was dark by the time I arrived at Abbey House in Glastonbury. I arrived at the same time as some other people who seemed to know the house and Tim’s daughter Aya who greeted us and took us to our rooms. It turned out that they had attended the Mystery Experience before. Aya had created beautiful name sheets for each door and name badges for us to wear, which I thought was a lovely touch. It suddenly struck me that I was going to be doing this retreat with other people. Of course I knew there would be other people but I hadn’t really thought about who they would be, what they would be like, what kind of interaction we would have or the social side of the event.
That evening, after a delicious vegetarian dinner, about 34 people gathered together in a large room with chairs set out in a semi-circle and after introductions Tim welcomed us and invited everyone to introduce ourselves and to explain our reasons for attending. As each person spoke it became clear how diverse the group was in every way and it was hard to imagine feeling intimately connected with everyone else. Which brings me to the Experience. After an hour or so of Tim sharing his philosophy he invited us into another room where we had our first experience of The Mystery Experience. I am not going to describe exactly what Tim does or what we did as a group as I think that’s something you really need to experience for yourself but what I will say is how I felt. I had the privilege of experiencing the first experience with Tim’s wife Debbie and I entered a beautiful, peaceful, emotional ocean of love. It was gorgeous and I could have stayed there…and I was amazed that we could enter such a state so quickly and easily.
The following day, Saturday 31st December, Tim led us through a mixture of more philosophical discussions and ‘experiences’. I thought perhaps that my experience the night before was so special because it had been with Debbie but throughout the day I found that the depth of feeling of oneness grew and grew with each interaction and I had an amazing connection with everyone and especially with a lady called Chris, who I felt I ‘knew’.
We had an early supper that evening after which we were given time to reflect and get ourselves ready for the New Year ‘initiation’ and celebrations. Tim asked us to come to the ‘initiation’ with sincere intention. Again I am not going to describe the preparation or initiation experience as this needs to be experienced personally. However I will tell you that I re-entered the ocean of oneness as if it were my most natural state and I bathed in the ocean of love for what seemed like forever. Whilst interacting with other participants in this process I had an extraordinary experience with almost everyone I was honoured to ‘meet’. I ‘saw’ connections from other ‘lives’. I have never had this experience before. It was like a knowing rather than a seeing although I did see too. I knew/saw my previous relationship(s) to and with each person on a deep emotional level rather than ‘in my head’. This experience made me realise that all the people in that room were connected not just as part of the oneness but also as individual expressions of the all – the human lives we had lived over centuries. I realised that we had all played out many dramas with each other and that we were all here to to heal, to know, to fall in love. And yes, I fell in love with everyone and everything. Another Both / And experience!
We followed the initiation by going outside and lighting chinese candles and letting them float up into the sky with our new year intentions and we lit sparklers and enjoyed being in the elements. I had the honour of meeting Tim’s amazing mother Ellen who was an inspiration and role model of living lucidly. We came back inside and welcomed in the new year with champagne and dancing.
I decided that I would set my alarm and walk up to Glastonbury Tor the next morning. It seemed like the perfect way to mark the beginning of the first day of 2012. It was extremely dark when I started out for the Tor and I walked the long way around and up to it. As I climbed up higher there was a wonderful view of the town of Glastonbury below with its twinkling lights still sparkling as the dawn was breaking. By the time I reached the top of the Tor and the fort like structure the sky was light and it was clear what a special place this is. I walked back down the shorter way to Abbey House feeling very much at peace with myself and the world. It was hard to believe that the Mystery Experience retreat was almost over and that we would all be leaving later that day. I tried to imprint upon my soul the feeling I had had during the previous day and evening and that I still felt in that moment so that I could visit it again whenever I needed to ‘recharge’ and ‘remind’ myself of who I really am, how connected I am to myself and importantly how connected I really am with everyone and everything else.
That morning we gathered together and everyone was invited to talk about their experience during the retreat and how they felt now. I completely surprised myself in this session as I really didn’t expect to tap into an old wound I had felt as a child, which I felt compelled to share with the group, who were incredibly supportive. Although talking about a wound, which was upsetting, at the same time I felt myself filled with forgiveness and gratitude and understanding. I know that several other people had similar ‘breakthrough experiences’. After our final delicious vegetarian lunch we had our last ‘experience’ together and once again I entered the ocean of big love, and was aware of my essential nature. It took a long time to leave and I was glad to share the journey back to London with Helena as it extended the magic of the week-end. Some people stayed over at Abbey House another night and I think I may do that next time.
Tim has spent years exploring and learning from the ancient Mystery School traditions. His Mystery Experience retreats offer an opportunity to participate in a 21st century expression of this tradition, which is an evolution of the perennial Gnostic wisdom into a radically new and immediately accessible form. Tim was a wonderful guide and mentor on our week-end journey. No matter where you are on your journey of spirituality or self actualisation I believe that everyone can ‘experience’ a deep awake state. The Mystery Experience retreat is playful, gentle and relaxed and if, like the people I met over New Year, you bring an open mind, open heart and generosity of spirit, I believe you too will experience a profound shift in consciousness.
Future Mystery Experience Retreats are listed on our Calendar of events. For more information and to book visit www.timothyfreke.com
What a lovely way to welcome the new year x