Cosmic Well

We talk about faith a lot in our house, which is perhaps to be expected for a multi-religious queer convert couple navigating Jewish and Muslim holy days in an increasingly puritanical country while building a life in the American South.

For us faith has been – together and individually – a place to rest, a place to challenge, and, most importantly, a source of live-giving verve. In short, a well to draw from. We both chose – or rather, were chosen by – our respective faiths. In the few (at the time of posting) years since we took our first steps into Islam and Judaism respectively, we have been blessed with stories about the magic and power of the well that answered Hajar’s prayers as she and her son nearly died of thirst in the desert, and the wells dug by Miriam that kept her people from a similar fate. 

Our parallel conversion journeys opened us to the knowledge that Divinity is, itself, a well, one any of us can draw from as little or as much as we need at any time. Sometimes the waters are poured into a carafe called “Islam,” other times, a cup called “Judaism,” and still more containers of many names. But the cool, deep, divine source is the same and is available to all. What’s more, we don’t just draw from the Cosmic Well. We add to its waters also.

Our approach to faith necessarily means that we question conventional leadership generally and spiritual leadership in particular. We have both, to varying degrees, felt the sting of the failures of faith organizations – some more official, some less – to support and hold and nurture us. One element of this struggle to find spiritual home is that while we have found Jewish spaces that welcome a Muslim spouse, and Muslim spaces that welcome a Jewish spouse, we haven’t really found anywhere that is what we might call a “Jewslim” space – somewhere (a place, a community) that holds the beauty and richness of our sister faiths together. This is something we are fostering in a small way in our home/marriage, and we are excited to share how, as we know we are not the only ones thirsty for meaningful, mutli-religious, boundary-breaking ritual.

For us, existence itself can be a ritual. We both find ourselves nurtured by sensuous and sensual (and, yes, even sexual) experience as worship. We recognize the homespace must be its own reliably deep well for the most draining of times.

As two writers with theatre degrees and self-identified fangirls, we are deep lovers of storytelling in all its forms, and big believers in the power of narrative as a space for enjoyment, provocation, and exploration be it spiritual or otherwise. One narrative world we often (daily) engage with – with faithful fervor – is Star Wars. We had initially hoped to launch this blog on May the Fourth (be with you), a semi-official Star Wars holiday, but being a neurodivergent couple means always being prepared to let plans change. Still, these stories from a Galaxy Far Far Away are another well we draw from. Or rather, we are particularly intrigued by how they draw from the Cosmic Well. Most intriguing to us are the concepts of Dark and Light, the way that the myriad of storytellers and architects of the franchise have interpreted these archetypes, and how we might complicate them further as fans and scholars and people of faith.

Light can be life giving warmth and heat, the sun that keeps the circle of life going, or so blindingly bright it burns.

Darkness can be frightening and brutal, or nourishing, a safe quiet place like a womb or the earth where seeds wait to sprout to life.

There cannot be either without the other, and they must be in balance.

Whether it the Force, Allat, Shekhinah,Ar-Rahman, Hashem, or any other of the myriad names for the Divine, we all can lower a vessel into waters deep and dark, or reflecting light so brightly they seem to be made of it, and be nourished. 

There is so much we want to share with you about our relationships to nature, to art-making, to scholarship and disability and liberation and queerness and each other, but, well, it can’t all fit in one blog post.

It’s important to us that you know we do not position ourselves as experts. Our wells of knowledge – both together and individually – are living waters, constantly changing, shifting, and re-shaping. But we felt it was time, at last, to build a little respite for ourselves and our fellow wanderers down the spiritual path. This is a place for us to share as we grow and learn, to stumble and hope that both we and others learn from the mistakes we will surely make. We have many hopes for Cosmic Well, and the vibrant, complex, multi-religious community we know is out there and needs a home as much as we do. We endeavor to be our full selves in this space; you can expect to see the most serious musings on cosmology and the nature of G-d and the silliest of conversations about how long it takes to travel from one planet to another via hyperspace. If what we have to share speaks to you, we hope you will sit with us a while, and quench your thirst. May the Force be with You.

DUA A’ NOOR (Prayer of Light, a favorite prayer of the Prophet Muhammad as reported by his daughter, Lady Fatima)

O Allah! Grant me light in my heart, light in my grave,
Light in front of me, light behind me,
Light to my right, light to my left,Light above me, light below me,
Light in my ears, light in my eyes,
Light on my skin, light in my hair,
Light within my flesh, light in my blood, light in my bones.

O Allah! Increase my light everywhere!
O Allah! Grant me light in my heart, light on my tongue,
Light in my eyes, light in my ears,
Light to my right, light to my left,
Light above me, light below me,
Light in front of me, Light behind me
And light within myself.
Increase my light!

PRAYER FOR TEHOM (A Prayer of the Dark Deep, by Kochav)

Oh Shekhinha, In-Dwelling, you are the divine spark of darkness in all things.

I acknowledge the darkness in this world.
I acknowledge the darkness dwelling-in me.
I acknowledge that darkness can never be eradicated, but it can change
May the dark, hidden places in me be places of:

Safety
Rest
Growth
Possibility

Grant me the strength to face the darkness as a teacher
Not to run from its mysteries in fear.
Grant me the strength to swim through tehom,
Chaotic dark womb of all being,
Let me sink into the waters and emerge changed again and again and again.
From darkness all things come,
To darkness all things return.

~Kate and Olivia Sonell

*All writing and artwork is produced by us unless otherwise noted. We do not use generative AI.