The Dream Caravan: A Sufi teaching, a tarot card, and the question of when to leave

What does it mean to leave the caravan?

In this episode, Emily explores a Sufi teaching that stopped her in her tracks: the dream-caravan. Rooted in a fourteenth-century couplet by Bahaudin Naqshband, this teaching asks us to look honestly at the inherited paths we travel — and what it means when something in us starts pulling away from them.

After enrolling in a mysticism course offered through Brit Hartley of No Nonsense Spirituality and her Sufi teacher David, Emily unpacks the caravan as both collective habit and intentional spiritual path, and examines the two great dangers Sufi psychology names for the wandering seeker: clinging to a single profound experience as if it were the destination, and going it alone until the ego mistakes its own reflection for the divine.

From there, she makes a connection she couldn't shake: the Seven of Swords. Seen through the lens of the caravan teaching, this often-misread tarot archetype becomes something richer than deception — it becomes a mirror for anyone standing at a threshold, looking back.

Whether you've drifted from a path, questioned a caravan you were born into, or are mid-detour right now, this episode offers a gentler — and more honest — way to understand where you are.

Episode includes: Sufi mysticism and the Valley of Yearning, the Seven of Swords reframed, and five questions a mystic might ask you.

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Transcript

Why The Leaving Question Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Blooming Wand, your home for grounded spiritual content. I'm Emily O'Neill, Evidential Psychic Medium, Intuitive Healer and Mentor. And on today's episode, I want to talk about a Sufi teaching, a tarot card, and the question of when to leave. I've been following Britt Hartley's work for a while now, and if you haven't come across her, she runs No Nonsense Spirituality and does exactly what her name promises. She's no nonsense and she breaks down dense spiritual ideas and brings them down to like a clear, manageable concept or idea, a bite-sized, tasty little nugget for your brain. So you can learn a little bit about spirituality, her perspective on spirituality. But it also one of the things I love about her work is she taught me so, she does teach me so much about other people's sort of trailhead into spirituality and how different it is for all of us. We all come from different backgrounds and different spiritual experiences, not to be Captain Obvious or anything, but I think sometimes we forget that. And her work has always been a nice reminder for me to take other ideas and other perspectives and other experiences into consideration. I don't really come from a super strong religious background, so to speak, but I know that a lot of people who are in their midlife area like I am are really deconstructing some of their religious beliefs. I'm deconstructing beliefs that I have, obviously, but I'm not walking away from Mormonism. I'm not walking away from Catholicism. I was never really raised inside of any church, and that's going to be something I talk about down the road. But Britt is an ex-Mormon, and she did deconstruct a lot of her experience. I she's got lots of education, probably working on a doctorate, if I if I'm remembering correctly. And I think she has a book which I have on my shelf called No Nons Spirit No Nonsense Spirituality. Believe it's self-published. It's pretty good. I found it useful to me, but I really like her work, and I want to say that it was from her that this episode was inspired. We do come from different backgrounds. Our paths don't look the same from the outside, Britt's background and mine, but I recognize the same orientation, and I think this is why I appreciate her work. Ask hard questions, value direct experience, share what you're learning, and keep growing. So when she offered a course on mysticism with her own spiritual teacher, a Sufi mystic named David, I signed up, and I have to say it was a really thoughtful, deep class. I wasn't able to go to all the live sessions, but I was able to watch each class afterwards, and there was really some meaningful discussion and good ideas being shared and teachings that I hadn't thought about in a long time, frankly. So having spent years at the intersection of spirituality and direct experience, much of what was covered wasn't all that new to me. Even so, I had so much fun because it was really comforting to revisit teachings that I have set aside or completely forgotten about.

The Dream Caravan Feeling

SPEAKER_00 3:21

But when David shared the Sufi teaching about the dream caravan, I was really, really drawn into that. And the teaching was completely new to me, which is odd. And I'll tell you why it's odd in a second. It was, I feel like I should have heard it before. Maybe I haven't, I had forgotten it, but before I dive into the meaning of the dream caravan, I want to start with the feeling that the caravan story or metaphor or whatever brought up for me, because I bet you're kind of familiar with it. It goes something like this: you're living your life, you're doing what you're supposed to do, moving in the direction kind of everyone else is going, hitting all those life milestones, or maybe kind of hitting them. And then something begins to pull at you. It's not always dramatic, it's often quiet, a persistent sense that the path you're on isn't quite yours, or maybe you don't want to be on it anymore. Maybe it's the religion you grew up in, a relationship, a career, or a rigid set of beliefs about what healing looks like. Could be anything, but you just you get this feeling like you're going through life, you're on the caravan of dreams, and you're like, okay, but something's not quite right. And the caravan keeps moving, the people around you seem fine, and you start to wonder, am I the problem? Or am I just seeing something that they haven't yet? In other words, you start asking yourself hard questions and the answers don't come easily. That feeling has a name in the Sufi tradition called Talap or the Valley of Yearning. It is the moment the soul wakes up and realizes that it can no longer walk blindly with the crowd. And while I was thinking about the dream caravan, I couldn't help but make a connection to the tarot. And I'll be sharing with you how that connection came to me and how it's deepened my understanding of an important aspect of our spiritual landscape, but more on that later.

Sufism And The Caravan Path

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Now, Sufism is the mystical tradition within Islam. It's the branch most concerned with direct inner experience of the divine rather than external observances. Sufi practitioners pursue closeness with the sacred through poetry, movement, chanting, story, and contemplation. All my favorite things. And they're perhaps best known in the West through Rumi. And that's why I was so shocked. I was like, Em, you've not heard about the dream caravan? When so many people have shared so many of Rumi's work with me. A lot of my spiritual teachers have referenced the work of Rumi. I read Rumi's poems all the time. So I was like, that's kind of one of the reasons why I was like, the dream caravan. Is that new to me, or have I just not thought about it? But I think it was the way that David described it that struck me, and there was a newness in my connection to it and just the way he told the story, but also the the discussions that were had in the class around it. So it's kind of interesting, and we're gonna dive into that. Now, Sufi teachings have been shared for over a thousand years, and and we mostly know about obviously Sufiism or Sufi mysticism or Sufi teachings through Rumi, but it's so much more vast than that. I don't want to distill it into just that because I think that that would not be doing the teachings service. But the reality is in the Western framework, most of us have heard about it through Rumi. But they've been around a long time, and the stories are often passed down from teachers to students, which I really like this idea of sharing stories and talking about life stuff without having to come to conclusions or answers, but just sharing ideas, which is why I really liked this mysticism class that Britt from No Nonsense No Nonsense Spirituality put on. But the caravan teaching comes from Sufi mysticism, it comes from this world. And its oldest written trace is a couplet attributed to Bahudin Nakhband, a 14th century mystic from what is now Uzbekistan and the founder of one of the most widespread Sufi orders in history. And he wrote, and I think some of you will find this familiar because it had a ring of familiarity to me. So he wrote, Here we are, all of us, in a dream caravan. A caravan but a dream, a dream but a caravan. And we know which are the dreams, and therein lies the hope. The image of this caravan would have landed immediately for its original audience. Acros across the ancient Middle East, the caravan was the organizing structure of life, trade, pilgrimage, and survival. And every new everybody knew what it meant to be part of a caravan. And everyone knew the brutal reality of the desert outside of it. So the metaphor didn't need explaining to folks way back in the day. The couplet points at something most of us recognize once it's named. We are born into a caravan we didn't choose. Well, that's something that I'm I feel, and a set of inheritive assumptions about what's real, what matters, and what life is for. The caravan moves, it has momentum, and because everyone around us is on it, it can feel like reality itself rather than just one specific path through the world. We don't question it, we just travel. And in Sufiism, the caravan also represents something more intentional than collective habit. The traditional spiritual path called the Tariqah moves through stages of inner purification and it's one slow, unglamorous step at a time, at a time, rather, guided by a teacher. And the caravan in this sense is a struct, it's structured and it's purposeful, and it exists precisely because the desert is dangerous and nobody should cross it alone. So while teaching about the caravan, David mentioned that at some point, and this is where I really got interested, most of us will question our place in it. It's like, where are we going? Why are we going? Where are we going? Who decided this direction? And for some people, that questioning is a quiet, persistent kind of wondering that lives alongside ordinary life. And for others, it becomes a pull towards something else entirely, a side quest, a detour, a different path that's kind of glimpsed out of the corner of the eye. And sometimes that detour is exactly what's needed. And sometimes it's a mirage dressed up as a calling. And David didn't romanticize either possibility. He was naming a conundrum that I think many of us face. And Sufi teachers have taught thoughtfully and carefully about this. And what they offer isn't as simple as a warning or a blessing. It's something that's more complex, probably more human and more interesting as well. And one of the most common reasons a seeker drifts from the path or the caravan is mistaking a temporary spiritual experience for a permanent arrival. I've got the answers, I know all the things, that kind of thing. You have a profound vision, a moment of deep ecstasy, or a dream that cracks something open in you and it feels like you've reached the destination. So you stop, you leave the caravan to dwell in that experience. But Sufi guides teach that these moments called haul are passing gifts rather than permanent stations. The feeling isn't false. The mistake is believing that you've arrived when you've only been given a glimpse of what's possible if you keep going. So clinging to a single spiritual experience, however real, can stall the very growth that it is pointing towards. The other danger they name is kind of lonelier. When a seeker leaves the caravan to pursue the divine entirely on their own terms, without a guide, without fellow travelers, the desert has a way of producing mirages. What looks like water is sand, what feels like revelation may be the nafs or the ego in very convincing spiritual clothing. Sufi philosophy is unflinching about how deceptive the ego can be, especially in isolation and especially when there's no one around to offer a reality check. And that isn't a warning against independent thinking, it's a warning against mistaking your own reflection for God or thinking that you know all there is to know or that you've arrived at an answer or the answer. It's a reminder that we need other ideas and viewpoints to refine and challenge our own. The tradition is clear that leaving the caravan for whatever reason, whether by choice, exhaustion, distraction, or simply falling behind, is not the end of the story. And there's a verse that's often attributed to Rumi, though the authorship is genuinely uncertain, that most people have encountered somewhere without realizing that it belongs to this teaching. And it goes like this come, come, whoever you are, wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn't matter. Come even if you have broken your vow a thousand times. Come yet again, come, come. And I remember that first line come, come whoever you are, wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. I remember that. I've seen that. I've heard that. I wonder if you have too. The true caravan of seekers never actually closes its doors. Falling away is expected, human weakness is a given. The question the tradition asks isn't whether you left, it's whether you have the humility to find your way back.

Seven Of Swords As A Threshold

SPEAKER_00 13:35

And when David described this, I felt something kind of shift in my mind and an image surfaced immediately. And that's the image from the tarot of the seven of swords. So I'm just holding it up here for those of you watching to have a look. For those of you that are listening and not watching, the Seven of Swords in the Smithwaite Tarot deck as illustrated by Pamela Coleman Smith has a figure walking away from an encampment. You see tents in the background, you see a couple of figures in the background around a fire. There's smoke. The figure is tiptoeing away with red little Sockies and a red hat. They're carrying five swords and they're leaving two behind. So if you get the newsletter, you're gonna get a picture of this card in the newsletter so you can look at it more closely. Now, this connection between the tarot and this idea of the dream caravan was it just kind of came in that moment when David was telling the story. I was like, I know that feeling, and I feel like it's represented by the Seven of Swords. And it wasn't that I thought the tarot, the Seven of Swords, was like secretly an ancient Sufi teaching. I I didn't think that. It's just, it was more that the caravan caravan metaphor suddenly illuminated something that I'd always sensed in that card or that archetype, but didn't have words for. And it opened a question that I couldn't let go of, and I'm still thinking about it. What if someone leaves the dream caravan? What does that look like? And why would somebody do that? And what does it cost them, if anything? So again, if you know the writer Smithwaite tarot deck, you know the image. A figure slips through the encampment carrying five swords, leaving two behind, glancing back over their shoulder. And the traditional interpretation does lean towards deception, cunning, and theft. Interesting is like we when we leave the dream caravan, if we're leaning into the Seven of Swords feeling, are we deceiving ourselves? Are we trying to bypass something that we should actually be going through? I don't know, but I do think there's some interesting stuff to unpack here. But I do want to say that this idea of deception, cunning, and theft, I think that falls a little too short for what this image is holding, especially when we connect it to the idea of the dream caravan. When we look at the setting, the figure is in a desert, and the camp behind them represents warmth, community, collective survival, and a structured path. You can tell their structure there. But walking away, this figure is not necessarily slipping into safety. They're perhaps entering a harsh wilderness, the desert, that they may not survive alone. They're going out on their own. They're breaking from the group. And in this light, those swords are not stolen goods. They may be the sharp tools of spiritual discernment that are going to be needed to cut through illusion. They are the heavy truths that this figure trusts for their survival. The two weapons left behind are not abandoned carelessly. I mean, if you look at the picture, they're perfectly balanced and placed in the ground. They're left because they this figure can only carry the truth that they can live by. And even then in this act of leaving, he knows his own limits. Now, finally, that backward glance isn't necessarily born of guilt. It could be, but perhaps it's the look of a waking soul looking back at those who are still asleep. Is it the expression of someone who understands exactly what they're walking away from? Maybe that they've weighed the stakes and they've chosen to leave anyway. Seen through the caravan teaching, this figure could be any one of us at a turning point. It could be the seeker who has genuinely been called forward, trusting an awakening that they can't name. I gotta go, I gotta do the thing. It could be the wanderer who has a profound experience and mistook the brief glimpse of whatever for the final destination. Is it the isolated ego acting out of a fierce, defensive, self-reliance whom the desert is about to teach a very hard lesson? Is it the soul who left, who got lost, and is looking back with the first stirrings of readiness to return? I don't know. I think there could be even other ways of looking at this figure. But the card can hold it all, and so can the story of the dream caravan. It doesn't tell you which story you're currently in or where you're really at. That backward glance is the very question I feel like David left in the room. It's not an accusation, nor is it a warning. It's just an honest invitation to look really clearly at yourself. What called you away from the path you were on? Can you think of times in your life where you, quote, left the caravan? And was it a genuine summons or a beautiful mirage that experience? What did you learn? And are you still out there relying entirely on your own weapons, so to speak? Or is it time to drop your defenses and find the caravan again? What does the caravan even mean to you? Where does the caravan exist in your life? Is it something to find within? Is it something to find in external realms? Is it a little bit of both? Now the card and the teachings don't answer that. They just name the threshold and hand it back to you and wait, which I think is what the best teachings always do is sort of say, that's for you to figure out.

Journaling Exercise With Symbolic Imagery

SPEAKER_00 19:25

So I'll leave you with some questions that I think a Sufi mystic might ask. So you'll have to check these out and let me know what you think. I'm not a Sufi mystic, but for the purposes of this episode, I thought, well, I wonder what a Sufi mystic would say about this. So what caravan were you born into and who told you this is the road? What is your yearning pointing towards, and have you been mistaking the finger for the moon? Are you leaving because you have some seen something true or because the journey has become uncomfortable? What are you carrying that was never yours to carry? And what would it cost your pride to ask for guidance? So I want to ask you guys, have you ever heard of the dream caravan? And what do you think about this spiritual concept? And when you look at the Seven of Swords, which even if you don't use tarot, I invite you, symbolic imagery is so helpful for self-discovery. I invite you to look at the image and just describe what you see. And perhaps your reaction to this archetype says something about your relationship to the caravan at this time. So there's an exercise I always like to do with any kind of symbolic imagery. You can do it with a painting, you can do it with a tarot or oracle cards, but I would invite you to look at the image of the seven of swords and write down what you literally see. Just write down every little thing that you see. There's a yellow background, there's a figure that's walking away, that's sneaking away, they have a red cap. So you just describe it. When you think you've described everything, try to go a little bit further and then take everything that you've written down that is just there's this, there's that, and say, I am. And as you embody what you wrote, turning those there are phrases into I am, notice if you have any reactions or if any feelings come up in your in your body, and just to be like, oh, like I don't like this card, or I'm vibing with this person that just wants to leave and blaze their own trail. Just notice because that can be really good spiritual information for you.

Closing Questions To Sit With

SPEAKER_00 21:35

So I hoped you enjoyed kind of talking about this Sufi teaching that I just learned about from Brit Hartley's course on mysticism that she taught with her Sufi mystic teacher, David. Just to reference again, Britt Hartley is the author of No Nonsense Spirituality, and she also has several social media channels, I believe, under that exact name. And what do you think the dream caravan is? And what ideas does it awaken within you? You know what I always say take good care of yourselves, get those journals out, and I'll see you soon.