ORDINARY MYSTICISM BOOK STUDY
Your Life as Sacred Ground
--A 4-Week Series Guided by Joseph Bailey---
Mondays | April 28 - May 19, 2025 6:30PM - 7:45PM
Marigold Sliding Scale $40 · $50 · $60
ABOUT THE BOOK STUDY
“Welcome to the temple of your life.” is the first sentence in Mirabai Starr’s newest book, Ordinary Mysticism. The sub-title for her introduction is Demystifying Mysticism. In a way, this is the premise of the whole book: mysticism is ordinary and it is accessible to all of us in our everyday life. Mirabai Starr is an experienced and deep practitioner who has studied with some of the well-known spiritual teachers of our time, like Ram Dass. During this book study we will discuss some of the principals she writes about and engage in accessible, guided, contemplative practices relevant to the reading. Throughout the study, you will have an opportunity to look at mysticism and spiritual practice in a unique way and expand your understanding of your practice and your life.
ABOUT Ordinary Mysticsim
Your Life As Sacred Ground
“This gorgeous, transformative, welcoming book is for anyone who longs to feel more present, more alive, more joyful and aware of the holiness of daily life.”—Anne Lamott, author of Dusk, Night, Dawn and Help, Thanks, Wow
Welcome to the temple of your regular life.
So begins beloved spiritual guide Mirabai Starr’s stunning exploration of finding the extraordinary in the everyday. In Ordinary Mysticism, she helps readers discover their own inner mystic and let go of the limiting belief that spiritual life exists only in traditional places of worship. Mysticism, she explains, is a direct experience of the sacred—no church or clergy required. Our everyday life can be an encounter with the sacred if we pay attention. Starr explores the magic of mundane life, from weeding in our humble gardens to a slow evening walk with a friend to a full kitchen table surrounded by family. Embracing mysticism in our everyday is a way of being more alive in the world, an awakening to the interconnectedness between all things.
You can visit an ashram in the Himalayas or kneel in a church pew to connect to the spirit or examine life’s big questions—but these aren’t the only opportunities to discover the sacred. Life, Starr reminds us, is holy ground. Lyrical and tender, filled with profound wisdom and mind-opening insights, Ordinary Mysticism is about finding wonder in regular life, grounded in lessons from spiritual teachers across the centuries—from Julian of Norwich to Ram Dass. Starr combines their ancient wisdom with the story of her own personal and spiritual journey—from surviving the heartbreak of her fourteen-year-old daughter’s death to growing up amid the 1960s counterculture that introduced her to mysticism to her self-made spiritual practice of today. Alongside storytelling and age-old teachings, Starr offers practices and writing prompts to help our souls seek holy ground.
When you decide to walk the path of the mystic, the mundane shows up as miraculous, the boring becomes fascinating, and your own shortcomings turn out to be your greatest gifts. May we all find meaning and wonder in our most ordinary moments.
PRAISE FOR ORDINARY MYSTICISM
“Ordinary Mysticism takes up the work of restoring the direct experience of our imperfect lives as our own sacred ground to walk upon. Like a good and learned friend, Mirabai Starr reconciles myths, rehumanizes saints, and doesn’t try to keep the credit for wisdom to herself. Whether religious or humanist, skeptical or seeking, Ordinary Mysticism assures us that no labels are required when the profound is accessible in the ordinary mystery that is you.” — Rev. angel Kyodo williams, author of Radical Dharma and founder of Transformative Change
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"Deeply wise and generous, Ordinary Mysticism is exactly the offering we need in these soul crushing times. A shimmering call to reclaim our direct connection to the sacred and beautiful." — V (formerly Eve Ensler), author of Reckoning and The Vagina Monologues
BOOK ACCESS
| BUY THE BOOK |
Grassroots Bookstore (Local!) | The Book Bin (Local!) | Thriftbook | Audiobooks.com |
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| BORROW THE BOOK | Corvallis Public Library | World Cat |
READING SCHEDULE
| Week 1 | April 28 |
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| Week 2 | May 5 |
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| Week 3 | May 12 |
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| Week 4 | May 19 |
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For ability-related accommodations, please email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 541-737-4785.
Joseph Bailey
Joseph Bailey’s wisdom traditions inquiry spans over 50 years. It began in the early 1960’s as a child living in Japan as a secular Christian within a military culture. Retreats in India in the early 80’s deepened his practice. The last 30 years’ primary focus has been in the Buddhist tantric and dozoghcen traditions (Tibetan and Indian). He completed a variety of foundational practices and long individual retreats within the Tibetan Buddhist Nyingma and Dzogchen paths.
Somatically his path includes a variety of hatha yoga, pranayama and other Indian and contemporary movement practices. The mid-80s found him teaching hatha yoga in the Iyengar and Ashtanga traditions. He has been a student of a variety of somatic practices and lately with Continuum and Imaginal and Ecstatic Movement. Through the 80s and 90s he was a mountain, river, and wilderness guide.
Over the last 5 years he has studied nada yoga (sound practice within the Tibetan and Indian traditions).
Currently he is interested in the tantric and dzogchen wisdom traditions, ancient and contemporary somatic and sounding practices, and mythopoetic inquiries that help people thrive in concert with the more-than-human-world.