I met Winnie during my time hanging out at SolSeed cafe in Pisac, Peru. This place always had curious events going on, attracted interesting people from all walks of life, and to me, as a new comer to the Sacred Valley, it was a local hub – where I naturally gravitated.
SolSeed cafe boasted a variety of events and workshops – from breathwork to lectures (where my other guest, Molly Hickey presented her work in psylocybin research), somatic movement practices and awesome ecstatic dance parties around the communal fire.
It would certainly take an interesting human with a truly interesting worldview to create a place like this – so I began start asking Winnie, its founder, questions –particularly about the eclectic library. With books covering philosophy, plant medicine, meditation, mysticism, and more, I wasn’t short on questions and she wasn’t short on answers with a veil of enigma and lightness to her replies. So I decided to peek through veil and ask direct questions about indirect subjects – at Winnie’s home in Pisac village.
A follower of Gnosis—a path of knowledge that delves into spiritual mysteries—Winnie shared her journey into mystical and esoteric studies and offered her perspective on today’s world through that lens.
To ease into the topic of mysticism, I decided to look up its definition. Not surprisingly, it splits into two:
“belief that union with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or the spiritual apprehension of knowledge inaccessible to the intellect, may be attained through contemplation and self-surrender“
OR
“vague or ill-defined religious or spiritual belief, especially as associated with a belief in the occult
I find it ironic that the felt and the mystical, the unseen and the intangible – is dismissed as “too vague” by the down-to-earth material perception.
The linear mind, the driver of today’s material science, craves certainty and clarity—preferring the straight-cut to the curvy, because dealing with the unfamiliar is effort. But where do you place the mystery in a world that demands definition? Neatly placed in “clear and certain”, where do you put “the mystery”?
When it comes to mysticism, more than your brain and its 5 senses get involved. Suddenly inviting you to zoom in to what can only be felt and experienced – by the observer (i.e. you) yourself. A nightmare from a scientific standpoint, where repeatability is king—each person might have their own unique understanding of mysticism.
But if science rejects the notions of divinity and mystery, how can it ever define, let alone understand them?
Check out more of Winnie’s work through SolSeed school website and Instagram.
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