Greetings Beloveds! I am recently back from nearly a month
of traveling, catching up on life’s myriad details and ‘unpacking’ my
experiences in the American South, Singapore and Bali. Three very different
places, each with a unique energetic that triggered, revealed, delighted,
inspired and soothed depending on the day. I spent a lot of time on, near and
in water. I was fortunate to experience two different ceremonies with water in
Bali, one at Pura Besakih, the Hindu ‘Mother’ temple which is more than one thousand
years old, situated on the slopes of a vast volcano. We happened to visit on a
festival day so the temple was filled with families who we joined in prayer and
ceremony. There was a group of women sitting next to me on the ground – we were
the only foreigners as far as we could tell – who asked our driver why we were
there. He interpreted my answer (that we believe in and honor all gods), and
the woman closest to me smiled broadly as she looked into my eyes. They
included me in their group and I followed their actions as the priest came and
blessed us each individually with water and rice. We prayed with flowers as
offerings, which carries a sweetness that is hard to describe. Later in the
trip we went to the family compound of a high priest where we partook in a
Melacut, a purification and blessing with water. We arrived early which gave us
an opportunity to watch the group before us perform their ritual, which was for
the son’s birthday. Balinese people count ‘birthdays’ every six months from birth;
the family goes to the local high priest to mark the occasion with a
purification and blessing ceremony. The one with the birthday states his
intentions during this ceremony and the priest sanctifies them. What a powerful
practice!
Balinese people also have temples in their family compounds,
which they make very ceremoniously beautiful. They pray with offerings every
day, sometimes several times a day, and particularly when prayer is
specifically called for, like when a family member is ill, or trying for a new
job or making a journey. Their gods literally inhabit a physical form in their
houses, allowing for an intimate and consistent relationship, which shows up in
their energetic fields, hearts and faces. I have never seen such truly joyful
people as those in Bali. It was very humbling!
One thing I came away with is how powerful it is to be a
‘householder’. In Kundalini, the everyday practitioner who has a job (or two)
and maybe a family, who does daily sadhana and practice – however that looks -
is considered a householder. A holy person with one foot firmly planted in the
material world. I used to judge my daily practice -whether it was in fact
daily, how long I spent, how deep I went, how ‘holy’ I felt, how much of a
change I was making in the world. Now I just do what I do, with the purest
heart and intentions I can muster. I am a householder, being my best. Some days
I am not being my best and that’s okay too, as long as I am gentle with myself,
and get up the next day and begin anew to be my best. My love and devotion for
the Divine is unwavering; my God lives in my house. I am always aware on some
level of my connection to the Whole, even when a greater part of me is
momentarily captured by the material world. That’s what Bali felt like – a beautiful
balance of chaos and peace, noise and silence, action and stillness. All
wrapped in crazy, holy waters, flowers that hold the vibration of prayer, and
smiles as wide as a face can hold.
Osho said “Don’t seek, don’t search, don’t ask, don’t knock,
don’t demand. Relax. If you relax, it comes. If you relax, it is there. If you
relax, you start vibrating with it.”
Beginning in September, we have eclipse season, which is
always a powerful time to get quiet and still so that we may benefit from the
opportunities offered for Clarity, Illumination and Expansion. September 1st
(actually beginning at 11:15pm August 31st, ending at 5:00am on
September 1st) is an annular or partial solar eclipse that happens
on the New Moon in Virgo. While it will not be visible to us in North
America, it is a revelatory moment, where we are offered clarity in a backward
glance, toward our past, where we can perhaps gain understanding about who
we’ve been, how we’ve operated and how our choices have created our lives now.
This glance has the tone of a positive assessment, offering a leap forward in
self-understanding and consciousness (as opposed to a wallowing in mis-takes). We
can use this reality check to burn away any blocks or self-sabotaging behaviors
that keep us from our brightest being. We can also use it to burn off toxicity,
both physical and energetic, so consider a mini-cleanse and/or a sauna and/or a
purification ceremony to support that process. Solar eclipses have the
potential to sap us of physical vitality in the days prior (I feel like I’m
already there) so it can be helpful to notice energy drains so that we can let
those practices, behaviors, beliefs, foods, (people) go. In the outer world, as
the hidden becomes revealed through this backward glance, it may ratchet up the
intensity of the confusion, violence and imbalance we’ve been with globally for
many months. As always, it is our path to hold the center by holding ourselves
in stillness, in light, knowing the eternal truths of this world, of ourselves
and all beings. Our consciousness matters and we must wield it with purpose,
particularly at pivotal moments like eclipses.
The second eclipse of September happens on the 16th
(beginning 9:54am, ending 1:54pm), a penumbral or partial lunar eclipse that
happens on the Full Moon in Leo. Again, it will not be visible in North America
and yet we can feel its effects and work with its energy, which is similar to that
of the solar eclipse. This one will offer us a moment of huge release – of old
wounds and fears, allowing us an opportunity to transcend negative traits and
patterns. Lunar eclipses affect us on a deep internal level, where we can
facilitate substantial shifts in our hidden workings – a sea change as it were.
Illumination is always an inside job, generated from within us, and then
projected out into the world. This is just such a moment to fan the inner
flame, particularly after we free ourselves of emotional and energetic gunk
from the past. As always the moon affects us emotionally, and this eclipse will
likely stir up hidden emotional triggers, which we can work with consciously to
release. It’s important to stay as present as possible so that when we are
triggered, we can notice and work with the what and the why of the trigger
rather than just being triggered. When we can look past the phenomena of
the trigger itself and figure out exactly what in us got triggered, we can
begin to clear that energetic and thereby clear that trigger. This month will
be an important time to be vigilant in this work! To support yourself, do
whatever you can to be present. For me this means putting away my phone,
staying away from screens, working with my breath and moving my body in a
focused way. And of course a daily kundalini practice. Figure out whatever it
means for you and commit to it. Work with the geometries, they can shift and
perfect our fields in ways that are beyond language…
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