fakirscanada.googlepages.com is my home-page and the web introduction to FakirsCA, Fakirs Canada and to me: Marnie Tunay.
My files are stored on my other main site:
http://fakirscanada.spaces.live.com/default.aspx
the blog part of which also provides notices of updates to my pages and sites, as well as posts on a variety of topics. It also has links to my other blogs, as well as to a few uber-bloggers on legal, socio-political, philosophical or relig-ious subjects. In addition, all of my web pages are set out on the top portion of the spaceslive site (above).
Marnie Tunay, spring, 2008
I own the name 'Fakirs Canada.' 'The word 'fakir,' or 'faqir,' is Arabic in origin. It has taken on several meanings over the centuries: "poor" (man or person); "dervish;" "wander-ing beggar;" or "magician" - that last, often with a rather disreputable connotation. It suits me.
Under that name, or, occasionally, as on You-Tube, FakirsCA, I publish materials that are usually on one of two broad topics: govern-ment accountability, particularly in Canada but also in the United States; and mysticism, parti-cularly Sufiism.
I also translate some Sufi materials from Turk-ish into English. I will be doing a lot more of that in the near future, I hope.
I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. You may contact me by mail:
Box 71027 RPO Northwood, Edmonton, AB, T5E 6J8
or by email: fakirscanada@shaw.ca
In addition to materials related to public ac-countability and mysticism, I occasionally pub-lish materials on other topics, particularly in the area of online publishing itself, and I ex-pect to do more along that line in the near fut-ure.
Some of the materials I publish blend mystic-ism and political activism. One of my blogs, http://fakirsca.blogspot.com/ is focused along those lines. One of my publishing endeavors, a (split) video on the martyrs of September 11, 2001, is an act of political activism which draws on the power of naming - an important area of 'real' magic:
Martyrs of September 11, 2001 Part One Martyrs of September 11, 2001 Part Two
I have touched upon the area of magic, will and gesture before: for example, in my page on the enneagram, in my page on readings from sacred texts, my page on the malamiyyah perspective in mysticism and most recently, in a post on strategy on the blog portion of my records storage site. I hope to do more in the near future on the elements of will, 'state of be-ing,' gesture and naming in acts of 'real' mag-ic. In particular, I look forward to making sig-nificant updates to my 'enneagram' page.
Underlying all of that are the major influences which shaped my spiritual and philosophical outlook: Number one among those would be my history as a student of George Gurdjieff , via the line of students from the thoroughly ecumenical John Godolphin Bennett, Clay-mont, the school he founded in West Virginia, where I attended a 'nine-month' residential course (Sept. '82 - June '83, the Eighth Basic Course, as it was called), and most of a three-week seminar on sacred dance in May, 1984. I also spent several months in Oregon with George and Mary Cornelius, who studied with both Gurdjieff and Mr. Bennett. My first int-roduction to Gurdjieff's teachings was in Lon-don, Ontario, where I was very fortunate to be taught by a group of graduates from Clay-mont's nine-month basic courses. Thanks to that group, led by Andrew Moyer and Li Fjer-estad, as she then was, I was the best-prepared arrival at my own nine-month basic course.
I am convinced that what I learned from the teachings of Gurdjieff and of his students has saved my life on numerous occasions. (I lead a quiet life now, but when I was younger, my guardian angel was seriously over-worked.) I have touched upon my history with Claymont on my Exorcism and the Way of Blame page. I have previously given an example of how the Gurdjieff teachings helped to save my life in a post: If there is a devil, is there a God? I have referred to the work of John G. Bennett in my pages on the Enneagram and my page Sacred Books - Selections.
The book that best conveys all of what Gurd-jieff taught and only what Gurdjieff taught, is still "In Search of the Miraculous," by Peter Ouspensky, who established another line of students and approach to the teachings, the arch-conservative Gurdjieff Foundation .
Anyway, I wish to pass on methods and pers-pectives from that teaching which I personally have found to be useful and reliable. I have begun a blog on what I found to be beneficial related to Gurdjieff/Fourth Way teachings: Fakirs Canada Fourth Way Forum
Last: I intend to pass on what I've learned on how to set up a web-site and blog, and how to create videos with music for free. I have begun this latter blog, on myspace. The URL is: 'At Home on the Net' Blog . June 13, 2009: I have just completed a video response to a letter I received from Alberta Advanced Education Minister Doug Horner, written, so he says, at the request of Premier Ed Stelmach, regarding Alberta Auditor General Fred Dunn's concerns about "the culture" and the "tone at the top" of Grant MacEwan College. Here is the URL:
Grant MacEwan College: a Culture of Deception?
And here is the companion blog-post to that video, also named: Grant MacEwan College: a Culture of Deception?