My greatest adventure prior to my America trip commenced yesterday when just after midday I left home for the 1-hour drive down to Jarrahdale then up an obscure dirt road through forests to a property nestled deep in the forests of Jarrahdale. There I set up camp along with other like-minded souls, my new 3-man dome tent being put to use for the first time. I bought this tent for my America trip where I will be spending up to 4 nights at a time camping out inbetween my motel stays.
As I sat in my tent out in the middle of nowhere on that Saturday afternoon I began to seriously question my sanity, as in, what's in hell's name have I gotten into!!! This Virgo could not have been any further out of his comfort zone if he tried!! I know this is 2016 but this is getting ridiculous!! Furthermore thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon and evening. Here in the worst place possible in a thunderstorm - in a paddock with trees all around and no shelter!!! And I could think of better ways of getting back to Taygeta than via being struck by lightning!!
For the purpose of the ceremony, the men would remain on the property while the women would spend the afternoon at a house in town.
Later that afternoon us men gathered for a practice run of the ceremony. Then a storm came through, so I headed for my car as I hear the car is the safest place to be in a storm in the absence of buildings, except that my car was parked under a tree - the worst place possible in a storm!!!! OK this is really a test of my protection. I've always said I am protected, evidenced by miraculous events in the past. But you know, each time danger comes, one does question one's faith, it is just a part of life on planet Earth!!! Well as it turned out the storm passed without incident, indeed it kinda passed around us with not much impact at our campsite.
So I thought the threat of storms were over at least for the time being.... until I checked on my phone my weather app!! It turned out I still had internet access albeit at certain locations around the property, just have to be at the right spot!! So when I checked my weather app, the radar showed a bigger and more intense storm headed straight for us!!!! OK if its my time to go back to Taygeta, well its my time, but I did kinda want to visit America first!!!!
The ceremony organizers also became aware of the storm and so decided to commence the ceremony a little earlier...... still after sunset.... OK there may be a very real possibility of me going back to Taygeta via a lightning strike but at least I will get to experience the ceremony first!!!! The ceremony is basically a celebration of the masculine and feminine, hence the different roles of the men and women in the ceremony. The fire was lit in the middle and the men formed a circle around the fire, and basically waited for the women to arrive.
The moment the women arrived were absolutely magical. They were all dressed in their various costumes, they marched around the outside of the circle then each woman stood in front of each man. The woman who stood in front of me looked like an absolute goddess with feathers in her hair. The men then chanted "Welcome women welcome all", then we bowed to the women in honor, very easy for me to do cos the woman in front of me looked like a goddess!!!!! She was totally gorgeous in her costumes and tribal markings on her body. We spent several minutes bowing to the women in front of us.
Each woman carried a candle, and each men carried a small bunch of sage leaves. Sage is used for "smudging" that is the clearing of negative energies, either in a room or over a person. The leaves are lit then are just left smoking, and the smoke from the sage is what cleanses the space. So after the bowing, we each lit our sage from the candles the women were carrying, then briefly waved the smoking sage over ourselves then spending the next few minutes waving the sage over the women in front of us.
Then the women moved to the inside of the circle, and the men just "held space" around the outside while the women began doing their thing inside. The idea behind this is that women were often not allowed to express themselves and are often judged for it. So now we "hold space" in support of them in silence while they expressed themselves, danced, chanted, etc for several minutes.
Then the women took their place again in front of the men, the goddess with the feather in her hair in front of me, this time inside the circle. Then the women bowed in front of the men but for not as long. Then the women gave a gift to the men. This was perhaps the most intense moment of the ceremony, when the goddess woman placed her gift in my hands, some herbs wrapped in fabric of several colors. Very simple gift but precious beyond words.
Then she took my hands, and commenced our "eye gazing", a means of energy exchange via looking into each other's eyes. It is often used for healing and other spiritual purposes. Anyway, goddess woman and me commenced our eye gazing for another several minutes, such a time passed by quickly!!!
The ceremony ended with prayers by the woman and man organizers of the ceremony...... then we all hugged each other, almost like the "Convergence hug" - the very long tight lingering hugs experienced at the Convergence festival in New Zealand. I never experienced such hugs anywhere else, but it came pretty close to the Convergence hugs here at the Tribal Fire Ceremony.
Then we spent the rest of the night dancing and celebrating around the fire. A few of us had various traditional tribal instruments such as Native American style drums which added to the celebrations. I love my dancing so I spent much of the time dancing around the fire. Then someone handed me a traditional instrument, known as "tapping sticks", basically two sticks about 2 inch diameter and six inches or so long, and we just tap them together to create the musical sounds. The sticks designed for specific sounds. So I spent the rest of the night playing these sticks.
As for the storm, well it turned out to be a non-event. Throughout the ceremony we were treated to a display of lightning in the sky, but basically the storm passed around us once again. We did get a little bit of rain towards the end of the ceremony but nothing much. So once again it seems we were protected.
Near midnight I settled in for a night in my tent. There were no more storms though there were storms all around us, but the wind really picked up to gale force after midnight. I slept for only about two hours. I was wondering if my tent would hold up against the wind as I saw if flexing massively in the wind, very interesting from INSIDE the tent!!!! But I guess these tents are designed to flex in the wind, and it did survive the night!!!! All those pegs I hammered into the ground stood up very well indeed.
And now back in my comfy warm bed!!!! This was a test for my America trip. Of course it was only one night in the tent. During my America trip I will spend up to FOUR nights at a time in this same tent!!!!
Now a calendar month before I leave for America..... the adventures are not over yet!!!! Two weeks from now I attend the Lemurian DNA Activation ceremony. Thankfully this takes place within the comfortable confines of a building within the metropolitan area and with no overnight stays involved, nevertheless, still very much an adventure. Meanwhile my weekly Ecstatic Dancing sessions on Thursdays..........
The football tipping...... my results normally doesn't come in on my email until the day after the end of the matches, which means, usually Mondays when I get the results. So from now on I will report on the catastrophes in a separate blog usually on a Monday........
Challenging the universe........
UFO watching in my childhood.....
Inside the mind of a Virgo......
This I can relate to......
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