Holding Aloft the Light of Truth
Spiritual Directors
Liz Sharifa Hodges and Zahir Moree
August 2–7, 2026 in Vernonia, Oregon
Welcome and Vision Statement of 2026 Spiritual Directors
Toward the One!
As we bring our caravan together again at Camp Cedar Ridge, we focus this year on the theme, “Holding Aloft the Light of Truth.” We hope to explore that deep, unchanging Truth which can sustain us: sincere and living engagement with others and the natural world; a flexibility and openness to change, even as we sink our roots deep into tradition; a brave ability to look at the shadows which can emerge when we embrace the Light.
We find ourselves living in strange and challenging times, where change can be rapid, confusing, unsettling. Thankfully, we have a treasure of teachings, practices, art and lived experience to shine Light on our path. The teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, and others in our long line of beloved Sufi guides, show us that each generation must grapple with understanding the nature of Reality, finding ways to connect to what is eternal, true, and unchanging, even as we dance with the cycles of birth, death, generation, and decay.
We hope you will join us in fellowship with a playful and joyful spirit; to embrace all the ways that wisdom can grow and blossom across each stage of our lives.
This year we chose to invite teaching staff elders, steeped in life wisdom and the rich traditions of Sufism, and other friends on the Path similarly blessed with experience and talent, but who may not have had the opportunity to teach at NWSC. Some teachers are bringing well-known and beloved classes; others have developed new classes or approaches not yet seen in our camp curriculum. As you move through your own unique experience of camp, we hope you will be challenged, nurtured, and enriched by this time together. We know that much of the magic of Sufi camp happens “between the lines,” when and through methods we may least expect.
It is such a privilege to be able to give back to a community from which we have received so much! Who knew, back in 2003, when Zahir first came to NWSC knowing almost nothing about Sufism and was greeted so warmly, that one day he would be asked to collaborate with Liz in shaping the spiritual direction for camp. Who knew that Liz, a child running amok through the camp with the tornado of other kids, would after being elsewhere for so many years, collaborate on tending her home-camp, the atmosphere and community that so shaped her life!
We feel an urgency in these times to “Hold Aloft the Light of Truth” by providing a camp with space to deepen our relationship with the Truth and find ways, small or large, to hold that Light up to shine on the path not just for ourselves, but for others as well.
We seek to explore together many ways to be of service to humanity, all sentient beings, and our planet. We welcome all people to camp, and continue the tradition of offering kids camp for younger attendees from ages 4-19. We hope you will join us in fellowship this summer in Vernonia, Oregon.
In service of Love, Harmony, and Beauty,
Liz and Zahir
Liz Sharifa Hodges(she, her)
A native Portlandian, I grew up going to NWSC nearly every summer. One of my earliest memories is of being in the musicians circle at a zikr, laying with my head on my mothers lap while the music washed over me. I took a break from camps in my late teens and early 20’s, focusing on my individual spiritual practice. In the last few years I’ve felt called to be more involved in community practice again. I’m honored to join you at camp this year as co-spiritual director and to be a friend on the garden path of spiritual growth.
Zahir Moree (he, him)
Zahir first attended NW Sufi Camp in 2003, on the invitation of his dear friend Jamshed Storer, of blessed memory. Since that time, Zahir has been privileged to study and practice with a variety of gifted and generous teachers and colleagues, and to serve the Sufi community as a dance leader, dance mentor-in-training, cherag (interfaith minister), and musician. Zahir has been deeply inspired by the person and work of Hazrat Inayat Khan, and especially by the teaching of the essential truth and unity underlying all of the world’s great spiritual traditions. Especially in these challenging times, Zahir continues to be inspired by “all those who have held aloft the light of Truth through the darkness of human ignorance” (from HIK’s Universal Worship Service), by sitting with the Sacred Manuscript of Nature; and by making music, dance and zikr in loving community. It is Zahir’s great pleasure to serve this NW Sufi Camp community of lovers, poets, mystics, musicians, dancers and dervishes!
In the blessing stream of
Hazrat Inayat Khan
“A soul who is not close to nature is far away from what is called spirituality. In order to be spiritual one must communicate, and especially one must communicate with nature; one must feel nature.”