Gay Mysticism

Discover the Holy Passion of Gay Mystics

Of the world's true mystics—seekers who achieve a direct union with God—a staggering proportion have lived and loved as gay men and women. Through their sumptuous love poetry, their daring explorations of Tantra (sacred sex), and heroic devotion to their faith—despite their estranged status within society—gay mystics have permanently altered and enriched the spiritual landscape of our time. Now scholar and bestselling author Andrew Harvey illuminates the lives and loves of these mystical outsiders on Gay Mysticism.

Looking back to the dawn of Western religion, Harvey shows that, far from being rejected, homosexuals in pre-Christian cultures were seen as divine and even priestly—a mysterious fusion of masculine and feminine qualities. Drawing from many sources, Harvey uncovers the rich and long-hidden history of our most important gay mystics, including the Sufi poet Rumi, the American poet and social worker Walt Whitman, the English essayist Edward Carpenter, Plato, and others. Here is the never-before-told story of these “spiritual adventurers” and the sacred democracy they bravely explored, framed by the most ecstatic and hallucinatory love poetry the world has ever known.