Under Cypress Trees in Istanbul, ‘Whirling Dervishes’ Spin Toward the Divine Across Centuries

Cypress trees stand tall in the garden of an Islamist Sufi lodge in Istanbul, just as in 1841 when the Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen visited there and watched the dance of “whirling dervishes.” Almost two hundred years later, I was under the same trees, after watching, as Andersen had, a “sema,” the ceremony of devotees seeking connection with the divine. Unexpectedly, as I lingered after the ceremony, an individual approached and introduced himself as “Jamal,” and a dervish, who had just participated in the ceremony. I had not imagined that a dervish so easily emerged back into civilian life, nor that one might actually be encountered. Yet here was Jamal, speaking, returned to the world. <a href="https://medium.com/@artgeorge74/under-cypress-trees-in-istanbul-whirling-dervishes-spin-toward-the-divine-across-centuries-2f5668973a49">Read More</a>