Title : Nyepi 2011 at Shankari’s Bali Retreat

Location : Shankari’s Bali Retreat – Jl. Raya Denpasar – Gilimanuk Ds. Lalang Linggah, Tabanan Bali [ view map ]

Nyepi!
Such a strange word.
Try it and see!
It’s like yippee!!!! Only with an N in front!
I am planning to share the joy and powerful healing experience of Nyepi with the world!!!! Come and join me!
Last year I travelled all over Bali interviewing groups of men and boys of all ages from different villages who were busy making the Ogoh Ogoh for the Nyepi Festival.

I discovered the most interesting thing…..after interviewing some very old men….whereas, I thought the Ogoh Ogoh were a uniquely Balinese affair! Much to my surprise before the 60′s the people of Bali did not celebrate Nyipi with Ogoh Ogoh…. The Ogoh Ogoh or (more than one ) Ogre were introduced by enterprising European tourist/traveller accommodation Management who were most likely Dutch… Since the Dutch had been an Imperial Occupying force in Indonesia for over four hundred years…until the war of independence just after WW2.
Ogres are a common theme in all European Folk Tales.
In the ancient earth cultures the idea of cleansing ceremonies and renewal festivals are indeed a universal concept.

Now we know the Ogoh Ogoh in Bali are a cross pollination from Europe the doors are open to the world to experience Nyepi!!!

The men in the village take a month or more to build their Ogoh Ogoh. They work as a team and contribute about a day a week each… Usually Saturday or Sunday.
Everyone has a great time….Last year during Nyepi in Bali I gathered my friends and guests and we built a beautiful Ogoh Ogoh in five days. The men could not believe we did it! They really believed we’d fail!!!!! (I think it was because we were mostly women)!

I had an amazing moment of revelation when I heard my Balinese Silver Quality Control Team of beautiful women beg to be able to participate in carrying the monstrous dancing beast across the bridge (the Bali Java Highway usually uses that bridge!) Then down to the river beach…
What I discovered was…. this was the first ever female team of Ogoh Ogoh dancers…. The men usually get to have all the fun while the women work!
I am returning to Bali in mid February from Hawaii to prepare for this remarkable event. Come and join me in Bali!!!
Create living Earth Magic…. and help change the frequency of all the islands of the earth including yourself!

Nyepi culminates in The Night of Fires… Wild crazy, amazingly uplifting…. Burning the Ogoh Ogoh by the waters edge….. Letting the tide take the remnants out to sea for complete cleansing and release from the past year… With all its’ mistakes and regrets, failures and successes… .
Setting yourself and all those around you free!!!!

The principle of Nyepi is cleansing and resetting the clock to Zero!!! There is a lot to learn here, I believe… The Balinese take care of the health of the spirit of their land!
With this festival followed by the Day of Silence….
I am bringing this festival of renewal to Hawaii in August… To absorb all the negative (demonic) effects of the drug ‘Ice’ from the land. The devastation to families and children deserves our attention. I believe the magic of Bali can help the people of Hawaii…
Come and become part of the solution. Practice with me in Bali in March building the Ogoh Ogoh (usually a set of two or more giant bambu and paper mache puppets that are carried by thirty people on a large bambu frame)… and then let’s do it for the children and the earth spirit of the islands of Hawaii. Why not? Surely life is about joy, with everyone doing what they love and celebrating our abundance… ?
In appreciation for the earth our mother and in support of her children (that’s us and the 70,000 foster children in care in the Hawaiian Islands mostly due to Ice….)
If Ice is the the problem let’s bring the fire of purification and Nyepi to everyone!!!!!with JOY!!!!

The Day of Silence
The day following the Night of Fires is spent in silence.
In Bali they don’t even let planes land on that day!!!
A whole day with no cars on the roads and the only sounds you hear are children playing… Since apparently the demons cannot see children they are allowed to go out and play all day on the roads!!! Quite a sight!

Feb 28 – March 8th (8 nights/ 9 days)
We will pick you up from the airport for free! Just let us know your itinerary. The journey is about 1.5 scenic hours up the West Coast of Rural Bali.
$65 per day per person Twin share. Or $125 per day
Single person in a Private room
There are only 14 rooms available in our Retreat Center…
Don’t miss out….
Book early!!!!
Can’t wait!
Blessings S xx

Price Includes:

- Continental Buffet Breakfast of fresh fruit and home made mueslii..All materials and
- Tuition for creating the Ogoh Ogoh
- Traditional costumes for attending ceremonies.
- Tour to the Crocodile Temple…. Like walking back in time!!!
- Pre Nyepi Feast in the Balian Palace Dining Room.
- Traditional Balinese Dance performances
- Yoga daily
- Crystal Bowl Healing Circle
- 10% discount on Talisman of Power Jewelry from Shankari’s Boutique.
- 6 months free subscription to The Stone Soup Moving Feast School of Modern Mysteries on line.

Places are limited. Let us know as soon as possible if you would like to come to Paradise in Bali for Nyepi 2011.
Blessings on all your adventures. Shankari the Alchemist.

Life is so interesting… don’t you think? In many ways everything is far more intense than it used to be and at the same time LOVE is held higher and higher in the scale of attainment, love of each other, love of the earths children and love (and forgiveness) of our selves…

I am choosing to hold this as the highest intent for those celebrating Valentines Day 2011…. Show how much you care, how much you appreciate those in your life that bring you the experience of love and joy…. This is a genuinely wise investment in your own future happiness…. As you know, love is the ultimate currency and what you send out returns to you multiplied.
Love generously, celebrate with abandon…. Allow the Divine to work through you, bringing more love into the earth plane every day!

Love and Gratitude are now being activated in a new way on a global scale… People everywhere are learning to express gratitude and appreciation for the loving souls in their life… this is a revolution!… Everyone used to be so tight lipped and reserved but that’s all over now!
This global celebration of Love has evolved well past romantic gratification… I know of daughters who gift their mothers on Valentines Day and Sons who have gifted their mothers and their girlfriends and wives… all at once!
We can expand this out as far as we choose, it’s our holiday… after all, we are the outcome of “the love generation”! Enjoy the moment and celebrate with a genuine ‘Talisman of Power’… designed by Shankari the Alchemist in Sacred Space in service to your highest path to love, joy and celebration on Valentines Day 2011.

Dear friends and family of Shankari.com please forgive my absence. I have not been able to write because I did not want to spread my sh*t around so to speak! My job is to inspire and lead… Not complain and explain….

Life is full of challenges and last year around this time I was in deep darkness! I have recovered I am happy to say, with the help of some excellent food and rest in Bali, wise counseling from Australia and a personal willingness to surrender to my true purpose with my whole heart. Finally I am at peace!

Not a half dead, lonely sort of peace…. I mean I am jumping out of my skin with excitement sort of peace… I am reactivated and enthusiastic again about life!!!!

I send healing light to all those who are still looking for the light to set their enthusiasm on fire with new inspiration!!!!

If you are wondering what I am up to now…. I am at last fully present to my work in Hawaii and Bali concurrently… Mastering the art of teleporting…. Or at least…. I am mastering the cosmic unspoken connection between myself and my soul family/ team in Bali…

The jewels are beautiful this year… They match the sky that is always whispering her secrets to me  at sunrise and sunset… I am present and conscious for both each day…

If you would like to feel a new inspiration then read some of the new descriptions on the jewels… I am back and on fire!!!! I am inspired to invite you to Christmas and New Year with me in Hawaii… Creating wondrous jewels in the lava desert of big Island… Lunar Rainbows… Shooting stars… Hot tub under the stars… Contact Lily if this seems like something that you would like to share… I am so happy to be alive at last I feel the clock is turning backwards and I have entered a new way of being… I am happy to share my inspiration with you…. Everything is always in Divine Right Order… Trusting that is the thing that is so hard to do and creates the grist for our mill of evolution….

I wish you all a glorious Solstice and a Sacred New Year of Abundance without greed and freedom without fear of abandonment. Yes yes yes!!!!! Lovingly being here now….. Shankari the Alchemist.

Not too long ago I was feeding 15 cats a night on my verandah in the lava fields of South West Hawaii. I had two caretakers who suddenly left and I was left with the dilemma of security at the end of the world in the middle of the night…… So I got a puppy…. A “throw away,” under a tree at the local market. I called him Zohan.

He has taught me a great deal about fear and illusion. He appears fearsome and is in fact a bumbling, clutz, teenage boy…. Who immediately responds to the fear in others.

The cats have become three… Since these are the three fearless animals willing to love and share the space with the dog! These ones ….they turn out to get the most treats, the most affection and the most opportunities for love…  I have decided to remember this and practice everyday being fearless in the face of the big fearsome looking “dogs” in my path to success….. We are all puppies at heart!!! Go out and love your way to success through fearless acceptance of everyone around you…. We are after all…. All made from the same breath of God!

Or so I thought!

In fact, traveling is how I built my business and these days how I sustain relations with all my children and grandchildren… of which there are five and six respectively… scattered across the planet… living in Hokkaido Japan, Bali, Sydney, Karatha West Australia, until recently, Chiang Mai, Thailand and myself on Big Island Hawaii.

There would be a very small percentage of people who have traveled more than I have in my fifty odd years on earth.

So this experience I am sharing with you was particularly humbling and extremely instructional to my soul self… I’ve considered the occurrence at length and I want to share my observations with you… so you can laugh with me at myself… and maybe gain some insight into how powerful we are as humans, creating our experience to match our expectations ….Even those we successfully hide from ourselves on a daily basis.

I was on my way to my son’s high school graduation ceremony in Chiang Mai Thailand. I left my home in Ka’u… down south on Big Island, Hawaii just after dawn for an hour and half drive to Kona airport… for a domestic flight to Honolulu. My body had been out of balance for the whole of past week with alternating chills and sweats… so I was trying to be quiet and careful along the way, I did not want to arrive in Chiang Mai incapable of enjoying myself.

I had to wait around a while in Honolulu before boarding a flight to Seoul, Korea. I was very tired, not well at all… Six hours later, I was in Seoul, with a three hour lay over ahead. I had manifested a bad cough on the flight as a result of the cold air so I was exhausted when I disembarked.

Deliriously tired… concerned I would lose track of time and miss this crucial flight, I reset my Blackberry to Korea time.

All went well, I made it to the flight to Bangkok in good order and had an uneventful journey over five hours to Thailand… arriving at midnight for a nine hour lay over, before catching the domestic flight to the North, where two of my sons were waiting for me…

My cough had me awake throughout the flight… but the movies, food and service were fine and I was comfortable, relaxed and ready for adventure when I arrived.

Bangkok was a shock to my system!
It was so hot I was sweating from my eye lids… after midnight… on the bus to the hotel!

The hotel was comfortable and those at the front desk were charming.
They offered to call me at 9am for the shuttle bus that left at 9.30am.
My flight was to leave at 10.15am for Chiang Mai… the airport was ten minutes away.

It was hot….! So hot…. I like it hot, but it was really, really hot… I was slithering around the bed in a sea of my own sweat most of the night… there was an air conditioning unit… it blasted freezing cold air into the room… with a great deal of zeal and noise…. the last thing I wanted was another chill… I refrained from using the ‘AC’ more than once to cool down the room.

After a restless night, sweating and coughing, I half opened my eyes and realized it was bright daylight outside… I came to full consciousness… sat bolt upright in a pile of damp bedding and went straight into total panic … what’s the time?

No one woke me up!

I fumbled around for my Blackberry and squinted my eyes sufficiently to see the time… it said 10:01 am!!!

This information absolutely matched my need to panic… I was right! They had all let me down and now I was in trouble..

“Oh God I am going to miss my plane! I’m not going to make it to the graduation…. Oh God what to do…..???”

In fact I prayed furiously, intently, the whole time I packed and dressed… Dear God… make the plane wait… please allow me to be there in time… dear God let me make it to the plane on time may there be a miracle that allows this to happen !

There was and I did!

However….

At this point I want you to know I am including what happened in my emotional body as a result of this momentary experience of potential failure… I wrote them out in point form at the end… so I could see them clearly in the third dimension and not dismiss them in any way. I thought I had dealt with them, but there they were in all their glory chocking me with fear of failure on a Saturday morning in Bangkok… !!!

What happened?

In certainty of abandonment and failure I hurled all my damp clothes into my bag, quickly dressed, scanned the room for what I might have forgotten and rushed down the three flights of stairs carrying all my luggage at once…(about 35kg or 77lbs) it was a super human effort and had me sweating in fountains, (from places I never knew could sweat.)

By the time I arrived at reception, I was wringing wet and breathless, hardly the put together, stylish world traveler I usually present…

Let’s be clear here… I live in Asia. I am part Asian myself. I own a hotel. I know what crazy tourists are like. I know how Asians are…

And yet, there I was, sweating, panicking, emotional… babbling something about missing my plane and no one keeping their promise to wake me up… By now, everyone is looking at me like I have lost my mind. Asians have this really immutable smile they plaster across their face when things are getting out of their control or understanding… they simply smile and nod and hope you go away soon because you are disturbing the peace… it is the most frustrating look you can imagine… and just as I was about to launch into a new stream of unintelligible emotional madness focused on the innocent receptionist, I noticed the clock on the wall behind her…. It said 8:10 am.

I got the joke immediately…

…my blackberry was still set on Korea time and I was not late… in fact I was very early!

Nothing I imagined was true, was real…

I had made it all up in an instant… I had punished myself for no reason… simply because I was out of present time!

Including the miracle of God answering my prayers and allowing me to be on that plane!

My greatest fears

1. No one cares

2. People promise to help but don’t

3. Not because they don’t want to but because they are so stupid

4. Everyone blames everyone else and no one is actually accountable… and I am left unsupported

5. I will fail the ones I love and they will see I am unworthy of their love and respect…

6. I will do more than my best and still fail because I will be sabotaged… by the ones whom I trusted when they said they would help me!

7. There is not enough time…. I can’t make it, I need a miracle!

8. They have made it impossible to succeed and its not my fault

9. They are amused and entertained by my failure…

10. They have no compassion for me, I appear to be from another planet, they hardly know what I am talking about and do not feel responsible…

11. I am on my own, not even the normal support systems can help me… I am ready to believe the shuttle bus left without me… !

12. I have to try harder than everyone else…. And I have to do it on my own… other people get help, have partners who love them but not me! I am alone and unaided… bound to fail!

13. If I don’t arrive on time everyone will blame me for not caring enough.

14. If I fail to arrive for the graduation everyone will be right that I don’t really care about anyone but myself….

15. Whatever I do it’s never enough… I am not strong enough or clever enough or smart enough or lovable enough to get it right… to receive support, to be nurtured and loved with gentleness along the way.

And on and on and on I could go with the barrage of self criticism that came through my mind and heart and every cell of my body over that nine minutes… only nine minutes!

Can you imagine?!

I entered a kind of purgatory, self inflicted for nine minutes and my whole life flashed before me… every painful unkept promise, every sad lonely moment of fear of failure… hopefully it came to the surface for the purpose of release and healing! Like a big boil… bursting forth with the hidden poisons of my unconscious beliefs.

On reflection I feel it was a setup by my Guides and Angels so I could have the experience and get the lesson.

Every other time, in every other country I would simply set my own alarm if I had a connection to make. I was tricked in a moment of weakness to allow myself to be vulnerable to my own greatest fears… on arrival at reception so late in the evening, I was feeling fragile and was touched by the young Thai woman’s warm smile and offer of a wake up call I did not do what I would usually do and take care of myself… after all, I am the need nothing want nothing child of an alcoholic household and I don’t usually trust anyone to take care of me…. It was a set up to show me where I am unhealed… or perhaps how much power I have to create what I “expect”… so… the secret must lay in changing what I expect… at the deepest level.

My question is this…

How can I train my unconscious to believe wonderful things about myself and my lovability?
To expect the best!
How can I use it to create a successful Creative Arts festival in Ocean View Hawaii?
How can I use it to share the excitement of building Oga Oga in Bali next March during Nyipi?
How can I share my true and deep love for my fellow travelers on Earth’s highways?
How can we use our power of “expectation” in service to The Greater Good?
How can I refocus this power of manifestation of expectations to the attraction of all I need to fulfill all my dreams for peace and prosperity on earth for everyone?

I’m working on it… you can too!

I’ll let you know how it turns out… feel free to let me know how it turns out for you too… perhaps this is the greatest power of the common man ?

Our expectations manifest our reality…

….make sure you stay in present time and love yourself and everyone else, unconditionally!

Blazing tales of wonder, your sister through chaos and comfort, … remembering all we have ever been and are about to become…
Blessings from Shankari the Alchemist xxxx

Last night I was given the gift of overview.
I have been very hard on myself lately because I have high expectations.

The overview came in the form of a transmission from a friend from another dimension.
It went like this…

“There must be preparation for the times to come.

Internally and externally. To prepare you, we have been working on your energy field lately which is why you seem discombobulated! You are not the only one. There are many powerful Light Workers who are being ‘conditioned’ for the next stage. You are being forced out of the field of 6th Ray consciousness… that consciousness that celebrates illusion… sickness, healing and healers…  exalting the relationship between the master and the student and the energy that comes with personal attachments…”
If you want to know more about the 7 Rays (I am not an expert by any means ) check out “Tapestry of the Gods” by Michael D. Robbins, Ph.D…

Kicking and screaming, against our wishes (but not our soul’s will ) we are being forced into 7th Ray consciousness!

It’s time to grow up! Into our uniqueness!

We’ve been moving through a frequency that for its own purposes has had us growing down!
Forcing us into a world of sameness and illusion… The Matrix!

What is the energy of Ray 7?

Community consciousness at it’s highest intent, absolute equality…   7th Ray energy is the energy of the Great Mystery Schools of antiquity, a world of community consciousness at its highest frequency, that allows for everyone’s uniqueness.

Just to be very clear… one of the greatest teaching aspects of the 6th Ray is illusion whereas one of the greatest teaching aspects of the 7th Ray is uniqueness.

I am living here in Hawaii, on the Big Island, a place called Ocean View… It is almost at the edge of the known world, looking out to the ocean from the side of a volcano… 5,000 years ago there was a great temple here and a powerful Mystery School, now it is buried under the lava. I am here as custodian to the energy… awaiting the triggers that will allow us all to express our genius…

Just before this exchange explaining about the energy of the 7 Rays I was beginning to doubt myself and my purpose… I knew there was something wrong with me… I couldn’t get into a balance and be the normally super productive person I am.

I know now that if I had not stopped and gone home to Bali to recover my center I would have literally died which was not in the plan!

I am writing this to give everyone hope.

It will be okay.

We have to change… Internally and externally…

In order to carry more cosmic force and be of more service to ourselves and our beautiful blue planet, we need to grow up! look up! Allow our hearts to be lifted up for no good reason and celebrate!

What are we celebrating?

Change

And is there a scarier thing in the world?

Blazing Tales of wonder,

Remembering all we have ever been and are about to become,

Your sister through chaos and comfort,

Shankari the Alchemist.

Hawaii May7 2010

After five months of nurturing in Bali, I have returned to Hawaii, starting my new project.
Returned to long views and whistling trade winds… and the excitement of what I am planning to create here.

I am developing the Ocean View Creative Arts Festival Hawaii… the OVCA Festival…

My vision is to bring the powerful process I have experienced in Bali with the creation of the “Ogoh- Ogoh” and the way they absorb negative energy from the island of Bali annually.

…For more info on the Ogoh-Ogoh… please read “The Original Burning Man”

They are created by the village, and then burned after they have absorbed all the demonic energy floating around the island.
I want to bring this process here to Hawaii and teach the kids in Foster Care how to build these monsters from bamboo and Paper Mache so they can absorb all the demonic energy on the island. Especially the energy created and sustained by the use of the drugs like Meth which is sadly epidemic on the island of Hawaii.

This could be very powerful magic by the people for the people…

In the creation and then the burning of these effigies of darkness we can do a great service to the energy of the whole island chain.

There will be crystals on exhibition and for sale, art competitions and sale.
An “Earth Oven” baking bread, live music carried on the wind… good feelings all round.
Healing modalities of all sorts

A Sound healing Stage with Crystal Bowls, Flute, Chanting, Brass Bowls, Guided Meditations…
Renewable energy ideas showcased.  Alternative building materials and techniques displayed, recycling and zero carbon footprint intention…

Food stalls from all over the world, organics and honey, bee keeping workshops…
Stage for live theatrical pieces, Dance performance,  Poetry Out Loud performances,  Live music, guitars… perhaps a song writing competition? Gardening competitions throughout the district… tours of the winning gardens…

I have so many ideas I am going to burst, if there is anyone out there in my audience who has experience with such things or would like to come and spend time in Hawaii helping me get this together for August 2011 please do not hesitate to contact me and let me know how we can work together to make magic happen in Hawaii .

Blazing tales of wonder remembering all we have ever been and are about to become

Your sister through chaos and comfort

Shankari the Alchemist

Balian March 2010

I’ve been away quite a while…seems like years… journeying with the White Rabbit…

At the end of the tunnel of darkness, I discovered I’d returned to the beginning once again…

Darrrh !!!

On the journey I explored my weakness, my illusions, my denial…

But still I arrived back at the beginning…  No great revelation, the simple truth…whether the banks are collapsing, the sky is caving in or the water on the earth is polluted…

Each of us is responsible for our own feelings.

We create our own feelings by the way that we perceive, we interpret, we see our experiences; shaped by the influences and experiences of our lives and the resulting sense of self.

Who am I and what am I worth in the grand scheme?

Am I important and why?
How do I fail myself… why do I get so disempowered?

It’s so simple I could choke!

I thought I already knew, but somehow I had forgotten…

I am released from the responsibility of meeting anyone’s emotional needs…

Everyone is responsible for their own feelings and reality.

I am not responsible for the feelings of others…

BUT… I am 100% responsible for my own feelings…

I will no longer be available for abuse… self inflicted or by invitation…
I will be free, to love unconditionally and creatively, to work with passion and celebration…

And then to rest, in the certain knowledge,

I am a child of Infinite Source (IS)…
I am a conduit of Light into the Earth,
I will fulfill my mission with Grace and Ease,
I am that!

Blessings for the Balinese New Year,
the Equinox and the beginning of the rest of your precious,
potentially potent, life on Earth!
S xxx

During these past months I have been experiencing huge waves of grief, followed by new levels of awareness.

I am becoming more conscious of  in every way how much my parents love or lack of it created who I am today…

The universe abhors a void so every time something is removed or deemed ineffective or unworthy, something else of a higher frequency appears to replace it…

I had a vision the other night… it was 3am on my roof grid in the Balian Palace…
A vision of the universal polarity, between male and female…
A wild visual experience of expansion, contraction, enmeshment and liberation.

Vivid colors accompanied the images as I watched what seemed to be The Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine struggle through the erotic, outrageous dance of relationship… the journey to the bliss of integration…

I had a revelation of forgiveness.

How to free myself from the grinding process of humanization, forced upon me by my parents obvious (and some not so obvious) dysfunctions… Since I am not of this earth originally, I find the process of humanization daunting!

The integration process… a mystery…

Then I had a clear awakening.
It does not need to be a process of intellectual analysis… it can be a transpersonal experience beyond mind…
How to achieve this?

Ceremony and ritual…

Do it the way it has always been done… It’s worked for centuries…
Experience the marriage of the dark and the light, the male and the female…

Imbue the Ogoh – Ogoh with all the dysfunctional patterns of your parents…
Of yourself…
See them married and integrating in the ever Divine Ceremonial Dance of life death and rebirth…

Load them up with all the pain, frustration, rage, grief, disappointment, and resentment you can find inside you, then set the whole thing ablaze… on the river beach in the dark of night, at the perfect time for liberation!

This year in March leading up to the Equinox…
We are laying the groundwork for a new experience on Earth!
A new form of relationship that will clear the way for each of us to experience true love and devotion from a worthy partner….

If that is your ambition or your quest, I highly recommend this incredible event….

Nyepi 2010

Bali… a land of deep healing and infinite wisdom, ancient ceremonies support the evolution of modern mystics… Come and experience this for yourself…
You will not be disappointed!

Shankari the Alchemist is a master magician, trained in many traditions, she has worked with the priests of Bali for 22 years.

She has a deep understanding of the elemental powers and how to harness them in service to the healing and ‘enlightening’ of your Being.

Dance laugh and sing… long into the velvet night

Experience the integration of your child-self with your adult-self…

Be present for the marriage of ‘the dark and the light’
The integration of the positive and negative, the past and the future….

Within yourself and the greater cosmos…. Experience …Magic in action…

There is the extraordinary opportunity here… for 22 individuals… to learn and practice powerful magic for transformation…from a master teacher and practitioner of the arts.

Individuals who are willing to step forward and explore the mysterious terrain of personal alchemy….’The Alchemy of Enlightenment’ with Shankari, your humble servant in the dance….

All profit from this event will be used in the creation of the Sacred Dance Mystery School and Divine Mother Soup Kitchen, Big Island Hawaii…. Ah hui ho!

I have been in Bali for the last two months… it’s wonderful to be in such a nurturing environment….

It soothes the soul and reconnects the human spirit to the natural world.

I feel so blessed to be here and to feel the healing power of the earth… here in this spot, by the river, looking down to the sea.

When you arrive in Bali as a stranger you will be surprised how warm, happy and welcoming the people are…

They are genuinely loving and inclusive… how can this be so…. after centuries of slavery and mistreatment, by their own Maharajah’s, the Dutch plantation owners, the Japanese invaders and now the abusive Multi National Corporations?

I believe it’s because the Balinese have a secret.

As a culture (not Indonesia) the Balinese are truly the last Magicians on earth working in the old ways….

This is why we understand each other…. this is why it is such a healing environment for me…

Do you remember the Bali Bomb Attack?

One year, one month and one day after 9/11…. Manufactured by the same force as 9/11 for the same purpose…. to get the troops to Iraq… to protect the oil owned by some very greedy irresponsible individuals called corporations who have the power through control of the media to command governments…

After that bomb which killed 220 people and engaged 88 countries in a huge international interconnected healing process….

The Balinese Priests found in their ancient records a prophesy, about  just such a catastrophic event and a clear list of instructions for the priests on how to ‘space clear’ and ‘restart and heal the heart’ of the island!

It was transcribed six hundred years earlier, from a vision by a priestess while praying in the Temple high up on Batu Karo, the nearest volcanic mountain to the retreat center.

Yes that’s right! Bali is truly a land of organic magic.

The priests of the old land based religion found the instructions for the ceremonies to be performed to restart the heart of the island…

Everyone joined in….. for months large groups of men clad in black shirts and a black and white checked sarongs (the black and white checked sarongs representing the integration of the dark and the light,)  walked the back streets of villages with big wooden bells on their chests, holding them with both hands, in unison they would shake the bell and make the sound of an enormous heart beat that traveled out over the land through the villages, the rice fields, the coconut plantations and down through the rivers onto the beaches….

The sound seemed to reactivate all parts of the island….

It was a truly thrilling experience, to be in the midst of such single minded devotion to the energetic health of mother earth, ‘Dewi Sri’ in Balinese.

As an active alchemist and ritual magician I was fascinated by the highly organized ceremonies prepared and carried out in a rolling fashion across the island… by a cultural system dedicated to the energetic health of their land and the inner health and harmony of their people.  Such love and devotion with no promotion or advertising or resistance was amazing to watch…..

How do the people of Bali stay so calm and so clearly happy despite being enslaved and abused in all manner of ways for centuries?

There are perhaps a variety of answers to this question….

One of their secrets,  is they have developed annual space clearing rituals as a context for whole communities to express their creativity coupled with rage and fear appropriately… rather than in petty ways, against each other and more importantly they wisely created ‘time’ to integrate the outcome…. A change in frequency… How amazing is that!?

The time of year they chose to perform this profound social ritual for peace by expressing creative rage aligns with Easter in the Christian experience, the Passover for the Jewish community, it includes the ideas of the Wicker Man and in more recent times the modern American Mystics of ‘Burning Man’…. in US underground culture.

The rule is … if you don’t let loose once a year, your negative energy will overcome you and disturb the harmony of the village…
Now we all know that’s true!

I have been thinking about this for a while and now I am going to do something about it!

I’m going to stop trying so hard and relax, play, dance, sing and swim in the sacred dance of ceremonial life in Bali for ten days….

We get to build two giant size bamboo puppets from all local materials. They are known as ‘The Ogoh Ogoh’ (literal translation ‘more than one Ogre’). The night of the burning…. On the river beach…. We get to scream and rage with the village and set them on fire…..

By the end of the “Night of Fires”, ‘The Ogoh Ogoh’ have finished their important work… they are a cosmic sponge for all forms of evil, all forms of disharmony in the body, mind and spirit of communities and the individuals.

Join me… let’s find out what we can do together…
Nyepi 2010… read all about the workshop, what we will be doing and how to join in here…

I’m ready to have fun, play and create with my soul family, I’m ready to express my feelings and find a new level of inner peace on the day of silence… are you interested?

Blazing tales of wonder,
Remembering all we have ever been and are about to become…… S xxx