This account of the Sufi order of Mevlevi dervishes and its founder, the poet and mystic Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, presents the esoteric wisdom of the Sufis as it has been handed down from the great teachers of the past without alienating the modern reader. In addition to Rumi's life story, accounts of dervishes past and present are included. Featured are excerpts from Rumi's poetry, teachings of other Sufi masters, descriptions of the dervish lodges and the symbolism of the dervish ceremony, and an overview of the music that accompanies the Mevlevis' dances. Haunting, evocative pictures of the order's dancers clad in traditional dress provide a glimpse of ceremonies usually closed to the public.