Dear friends,

Following the announcement of the new seminar series, “Alchemy with Shadow Emotions,” over the past week I have received dozens of emails from you filled with love and affection, opening a new window for our future acquaintance and friendship. The intimacy of your words and the stories many of you shared about the unique journeys of your lives, up to the point where our paths have crossed, touched me so deeply that I will carry in my heart the hope of one day meeting each of you and shaking your hand.

Although, because of the number of messages received in a short period, it was not possible to reply individually to each email, I know that in the future we will write to one another more often. I deeply believe in this statement attributed here to C. S. Lewis, author of the beautiful Chronicles of Narnia:

“Friendship, like philosophy and art, may not be something necessary for survival. Countless people live without all three and complete their lives without experiencing them. Yet while none of these three may have an independent value for survival, they are among the most fundamental things that make life worth living.”

I am honoured to have received this affection and friendship from villages in Sistan in the southeast of this vast land to Mahabad in the northwest, from the south and north of the Iranian lands, and, outside Iran, from several cities and countries across three continents. Despite the geographical distances between us, our friendship has formed at shared coordinates in the realm of thought, a place that can make us companions bound by a common commitment on the journey of our lives.

Given the number of interested participants—nearly one hundred applications so far—and their geographical spread, the time that appears most suitable for enabling the greatest number of friends to take part is:

*** Our first session will be held on Saturday, 6 August 2022, corresponding to 15 Mordad 1401, at 11:30 p.m. Sydney time and 6:00 p.m. Tehran time.

Sessions will be held monthly, usually on the first Saturday of each month.

The sessions will be conducted via Zoom and the link will be sent to members before each meeting. Given Zoom’s capacity limit of one hundred participants, the course is currently full, and applications received after 17/7/22 will be placed on a waiting list for a future iteration of the course.

Your friend and admirer,
Aydin Areta