A Secret Literary Society in NYC? With everything so transparent these days, is this still possible?

I went to a “secret” literary lecture tonight at St Jean Baptiste Church on the Upper East Side (76th St. bet. Lex. And 3rd Ave.) in Manhattan. Well, it wasn’t a secret to the almost 250 people who attended and the speaker, but there is no name for the group, who meets only once a year (for the past 17 years) and they have no website or phone number. One is invited and then they get back in touch with you (via note cards where you fill out your info.) when they want to tell you about their next lecture.

I was invited by a new friend, an architect who I met at a party near Columbia University a few weeks ago. I didn’t know what to expect of the evening, but as we made our way from Grand Central Station with her good friend, a muralist, in tow, to the 6 train, to dinner at a diner near the Church, to the lecture hall, I realized that taking a risk and meeting new people can be just what one needs after a exhausting day at work.

The lecture hall was filling up fast – I had no idea that this many people were going to be interested in Eleanor of Aquitaine and Hildegard! I knew practically nothing about these two women, expect that Eleanor was a queen and Hildegard was a nun, and they lived a very long time ago.

What ensued was inspiring on many levels. The lecturer was this gorgeous, bohemian woman in her 30s or 40s with wavy dark hair and a cherubic face who had a rich, eloquent voice that made the subject matter come to life. She talked about how these two women’s lives crossed paths, and how they changed the world as we know it.

Eleanor was an educated young women whose father and other relatives were troubadours who had learned their art of singing and romance from the Muslims. As a young woman, she studied at Hildegard’s school for women (in a nunnery) and learned about the sacred feminine, about music, and dance, and art and philosophy. Did you know that she organized the Arthurian legends into the written word, from the oral tradition and that if it had not been for her that we would not have the stories of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot?

Hildegard was equally fascinating. Given to the house of God at the age of 8 (which was common for parents to do with their 10th child), she was sequestered with a nun and some monks in the abbey in southern France where she lived until she turned 38 years old when she became Abbess. She then, as they say “came into her own”. She had always had visions, but had been encouraged by a young monk for those many years to not hide them, but write about them. And she did just that, including composing music, creating elaborate art work, and building a school for women that would teach them to not be afraid of their power and intellect.

It was a truly inspiring talk and after it was over, a Harpist played for a minute and the speaker sang an old French song, in French, with an operatic voice. We were encouraged to come up to the organized and ask them questions, and this is where things got a little strange.

I went up to the women taking our note cards with our contact info., and I asked her “What is the name of your group or organization” and she said, “well, we don’t have one”. Then I went up to the woman who lectured and I asked her if she was a professor at a college or University in the City, and she seemed taken aback. I said that if she was, I would love to take one of her classes, and she seemed truly flattered, but she said she wasn’t teaching right now. Then I ran into the jovial man who had introduced her, and asked him more questions: how often do they meet, how can I let people know about it, and he said, that they contact people they think will be interested, but they only meet about once a year. They like to let things happen organically. And that they hope that the talks will inspire people and change their lives as well.

I’d never heard anything like this, but it was really interesting. Of course they had a ton of people come – they made it a secret, exclusive thing to even know about it.

My new friend had told me that she went to one of these lectures about a year ago and it was about Emerson and that it also was incredibly interesting. I have to say that my curiosity is still a hold of me. I have Googled the Church and still find nothing on this group. But, maybe the thing to do is to just allow myself to experience the evening and the event itself without needing to figure it all out.

I had met someone and made a second new friend in one evening, and I hope to get together with these two women again very soon. I heard, enjoyed, and learned a great deal at a lecture, and it was as if I was enrolled in an enthralling college class once again after many years. And if all of this has to be a secret, their secret is safe with me. So, yes, there are secret literary societies in NYC in 2009. And did it change my life for the better? Yes, to that too.