Luminous Darkness:

An Experiential Book Club Journey

A month of reading, reflection, and embodied practice around the Winter Solstice inspired by Deborah Eden Tull’s luminous teachings on Endarkenment.

Overview

Join Matece on Sunday evenings in December at 6:00pm for a four-week, experiential exploration of Luminous Darkness: An Engaged Buddhist Approach to Embracing the Unknown by Deborah Eden Tull.

This isn’t a typical book club. Together, we will read and reflect, yes, and we’ll also practice the teachings through meditation, silence, and gentle somatic inquiry. Each gathering includes time for guided meditation, journaling, and heartfelt dialogue as we learn to sit with the dark as teacher, companion, and gateway to wholeness.

Through this shared journey, we will cultivate the courage to turn toward the unknown, soften our resistance, and embody the wisdom that arises from stillness, shadow, and mystery.

Week 1: Dec 14 – The Journey Into Endarkenment  Chapters 1-2

This part invites us into the spirit of possibility. We will explore the role of darkness within the natural world and the overlighting of our planet. We will explore some of our associations with the dark and open our minds to redefining darkness and endarkenment. We will turn within to connect with the divine darkness.

Week 2: Dec 21 – Fruitful Darkness & the Realm of Emotional Intelligence Chapters 3-4

The chapters of this week offer teachings about fierce compassion and emotional intelligence. What are the repercussions of perceiving some human emotions as negative and “dark”? How can such challenging emotions become messengers and a threshold to spiritual growth?

Week 3: Dec 28 – The Spiritual Teachings of Divine Darkness Chapters 5 – 7

The dominant paradigm assumes that the light, fast, active, and yang aspects of nature are superior to the dark, slow, receptive, and yin aspects. This week is about exploring the counterintuitive wisdom and spiritual teachings of darkness and the yin element of nature.

Week 4: Jan 4 – Collective Endarkenment Chapters 8 – 10

This week is about exploring darkness as a source of wisdom for our collective in changing times and speaks of human relationship, leadership, moral imagination, and the imperative to befriend and let go of fear in order to embrace emergence.