Books
Coming soon – Becoming Honey: A Sufi’s Journey into the Grace and Mysticism of the Aramaic Hail Mary Prayer.
Welcome,
There is not a moment of the day or night that the Hail Mary Prayer is not being spoken or sung into life somewhere on this planet. Wow!! Despite its profound popularity as one of the most well known and beloved of prayers, few people know its origin and the depth of meaning and wisdom that it contains. This understanding is what makes my book, Becoming Honey: A Sufi’s Journey into the Grace and Mysticism of the Aramaic Hail, unique.
Exploring the prayer through the sound mysticism of the Aramaic language is one of the most potent ways to understand its hidden meanings, in that the sound speaks, reveals, and resonates its messages to us on many levels at once. Like other ancient sacred languages, it is the sound itself that IS the meaning. With the application of our breath and devotion, this sound-wisdom works directly upon our hearts, imaginations and bones to shed light upon sacred dimensions of reality that often go unseen and unfelt.
This book is a love letter of deep gratitude and devotion to Our Mother, Our Lady, Our Beloved Mariam (Mary). Becoming Honey is a richly layered and earth-centered exploration into an expanded view of the Hail Mary prayer, The Holy Mother, and of our own blessed humanity. This book was written for all of us who are interested in the sacred feminine, who are curious about cultivating a relationship of direct experience with the Holy Mother, and who value imagination and the potency of the spoken/sung word to transform our hearts and reality. You do not need to be a Christian, a Sufi, or a devotee of Mariam/Mary to enjoy or receive benefit from this book. Those interested in feminine spirituality, Christian mysticism, and the various Goddess traditions will be at home here, but all are welcome.
For me, this journey has been about finding ways to wake up and strengthen the dormant muscles of the heart, ears, eyes and imagination in order to feel, hear, see and dream what has always been right in front of me, but has also been mysteriously hidden. In Sufism, we call this an “Open Secret.” This type of readied vision, which can see below and inside the surface of life, arises through the effort of cultivating sacred longing while simultaneously, learning how to surrender. This opens the possibility for the bestowal of Grace, the magical elixir that pollenates the deepest levels of the heart and being.
This book offers practical ways to engage in this ancient tradition of sacred investigation, of looking for and experiencing the Divine in our everyday lives, however mundane they may seem. As we surrender deeper into the Love that this kind of adoration invites, we are reminded that how we do things matters, how creativity and imagination open the heart and vision take us deeper into devotion and into creation itself. Through story, revelation, practice, music and deep creative inquiry into the meanings of words and their sounds this book offers the seeker food for re-imagining the spiritual life and inspiration for re-igniting aliveness in the life of the soul.
Advanced praise for Becoming Honey:
“A wholly original memoir, written as a praise song to childhood and all its attendant wonders as a daughter sifts through memories with her mother to honor the roots of her own deeply engaged and flowering spirituality. A delightful journey for seekers everywhere!” – Kate McElroy
“Jahanara’s stories seem to operate on several different levels. She narrates a remarkable inner journey of awakening and discovery, of mystical encounters that changed the course of her spiritual path and that resonate with me on a personal level. But the most wondrous thing happens if you become still and let her words percolate into the layers below conscious awareness: something benevolent and unseen, perhaps a deity or spirit who’s been trying to reach you for years, avails of the story as a vessel to finally come sailing unexpectedly into your life! It is remarkable how, as she guides us with her teachings and personal experiences, the recounting itself becomes a trail by which messengers of the sacred can find and speak to us individually, kindling memory flickers and dream sparks that are invitations to begin our own dialogue with the divine.” – Lisa Lawrence
“Jahanara is a brilliant writer whose wordsmithing makes me feel inside the story, under the trees, on the floorboards, in the junk shop! The musical breaks that she incorporates, with encouragement to move, makes the story fly for this listener who does better with less sitting.” – Annamaria
