A few weeks ago Felix and I had a nourishing and catalysing chat about using the word "mystic" to describe our work. While visiting Ireland, Taylor and I continued that conversation as we celebrated our Mystical co-Baptism and co-created the first Mystic Mass. Recently Edi had an Instagram poll on the same topic. It is at the forefront of our shared consciousness.
Altar from our first Mystic Mass held in September 2024
I have been so hesitant to claim the word "mystic" because I know that embracing names and labels is a sticky honey trap for the ego.
As well as that, in Christian lineages "mystic" has a rarified air of exclusivity that implies only one person in a million had such an embodied, unifying encounter with God.
Perhaps it was once that way, but my embodied experience and the countless mystically inclined friends I have led me to think that what was once a rarified frequency is now becoming a more available and present experience within the collective consciousness.
I did a big internal piece around the power of labels when I decided to receive the title of "Reverend" as I was ordained in 2022. In and of itself, the title simply means that I have chosen to "live with reverence for the Divine & all of Life."
Words hold so much power.
They must be wielded with mindful precision and care.
In acknowledging that power, I've found myself contemplating how potently, liberating language can be. Language can also become a cage that needs no jailer to keep us prisoner.
Words are tools that mold the stories we tell each other.
Those stories, in turn, shape our culture and our world.
In a modern world that is largely devoid of spirit, a world where holy and reverent acts are sneered at and belittled, misunderstood, and judged, we *need* our mythopoetic use of language to conjure and invoke the archetypes that have been missing.
The Mystic is an essential character needed for the new story we are weaving into our times.
As I have said many times before;
We are cultural doulas.
We are death-doulaing the old ways.
We are midwiving the new ways.
We are the ones writing this new story.
We are either co-writing it consciously or unconsciously.
And so, with my pen, and my words, I am choosing to write the mystic deeply into the fabric of our changing world. I am letting Her be embedded in the fabric of my work, my writing, and my being.
By definition:
A mystic is a person who seeks, through contemplation and self-surrender, to obtain unity with the Divine, the Heart of God. The mystic believes that with a sincere seeking heart, we can access a spiritual Truth that lives beyond the intellect's capacity to comprehend.
When I define it, it seems obvious…
Of course,
We are Mystics.
There has been a wave of awakening over the past few years,
It has been sequential and it's trackable.
I have been lucky enough to meet several people whose journeys share similar crucible markers to my own. The similarity of dates and experiences is extra-ordinary
In 2016 many of us experienced intense spiritual awakenings.
From 2017 - 2019 we were in deep study, training, and ego disillusionment processes.
From 2020 to 2022 we were learning to piece ourselves together again, deepening into our training and revealing our gifts.
In 2023 many of us had full-bodied, mystical encounters with Christ. We have been in a deep realignment process since, a time of purification where aspects of our lives that were not in alignment with the purest, clearest source of Love have been stripped away.
This is a collective phenomenon.
We are not particularly special to have experienced it but it certainly is mystical as we come closer and closer to the heart of God needing no intermediary but our own felt sense.
In claiming the term mystic we own the Truth that we have surrendered our lives to be in service to God.
When we say mystic we are affirming that we have braided the threads of our lives to the brightest Heart of Love.
As mystics, constantly seeking God's hearts, we are warriors of love laboring to birth Truth back into culture during a post-truth era.
False humility is nothing to be proud of.
Rather, a healthy acceptance of who we are and what our gifts are is needed to steward the mission that Love has placed on each of our hearts.
Words are always limited.
Words always have the power to entrap our minds and ensnare our senses.
Words can never describe the ineffable.
Yet, we have a ceaseless human urge to try.
We relentlessly try to communicate the indescribable so that we might share the felt presence of God’s Love and live in a conscious remembrance of that Truth.
In being open to the term mystic we must also be open to constantly bringing it all back to God.
We must willingly humble ourselves before the vast power of our Creator again and again. (This is an act that can never be portarayed in the realm of social media. It’s not a game we should even try to play. Some things can only be offered in the landscape of devotion that exists between you and God.)
Thankfully our felt presence can be felt be those who meet us.
Then, from that space...
Words can be played with.
Words can be tools of liberation.
Words can be subversive ways to alchemise and transmute our realities.
So, let us say…
We are mystics
We are mystical pilgrims on the wild edge of Love.
We are also imperfect humans who mess up.
We find ourselves humbled daily.
We are fully human and fully divine.
It's all part of the journey.
Today, at least,
I am allowing mystic to be a word I embrace and play with.
I am a mystic,
I seek to be one with God every day, as often as I can.
Some days I am more present than others,
but my heart is sincere as she seeks the Face of God.
If you are reading this
you are likely that way inclined to.
Perhaps you too are a mystic, living in a world that needs your mystic heart more than you can ever know.
We are Mystics, on the Way of Love.
Halleluja.
Falling Star by Witold Pruszkowski, 1884
I would love to hear how you have been embracing, rejecting and/or sitting with the term mystic in your own life. Please join me in the comments below and we continue to co-write a new story for our times.
Le grá,
Melanie xx
GOODNESS SISTER 🔥 Full-body chills reading this - I can feel the Presence more alive in me. You are such a gem. So thankful to be connected. THANK YOU for the work you do and your devotion to the path you're walking.