Straight culture has long trafficked in a handful of gay stereotypes, but if we were to look beyond these limiting and often negative images, what would we see? On Gay Mysticism, scholar and bestselling author Andrew Harvey offers a compelling vision of what may be the most influential – and consistently overlooked – of all figures in the history of same sex love: the gay mystic.

Of the world’s true mystics – seekers who achieve direct union with God – a staggering proportion have lived and loved as gay men and women. How can this be explained? Andrew Harvey shows that, far from being rejected, homosexuals in pre-Christian cultures were seen as divine and even priestly: a mysterious fusion of masculine and feminine qualities. Drawing from sources as diverse as Riane Eisler and Aristophanes, Andrew Harvey uncovers the rich and long hidden history of our most important gay mystics, daring to return to us this “ancient glory,” along with its promise for a just and all embracing society based on a sacred democracy.

Inspirational and timely, Gay Mysticism is an unprecedented opportunity to share in the lives of these “spiritual adventurers,” while drinking in some of the most ecstatic and hallucinatory love poetry the world has ever known.

2 CASSETTES

3 HOURS

1-56455-622-0

AW00392

USD$ 18.95

Andrew Harvey is a poet, writer, teacher, and mystic. He is a former fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, and has taught at Cornell University, Hobart College, and the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is the author and editor of many books, including Hidden Journey; The Return of the Mother; A Journey in Ladakh; The Essential Mystics; The Son of Man and his latest book, The Direct Path.