Am sitting here with the scent of cempaka wafting up around my head. Cempaka is the type of blossom Lynda and I where each given after our private prayer time at the temple of the high priestess Ida yesterday. The blossom is placed behind your ear (along with several others that have been part of the prayer process) but the cempaka (pronounced chempaka) is the only one that I kept. The fragrance of it is so sweet and every time I move my head or a bit of breeze comes along I'm surrounded by the scent again.
I'd better back up a little and start by explaining just how it was that we came to be attending a water purification blessing with Bali's youngest and only female high priestess. My friend Jessika had been to Ida once before and wanted to see her for another blessing prior to her departure (which was today) so....it didn't take Lynda and I long to decide that we'd like to join Jessika and Angela.
Jati drove the four of us to the town of Bangli, a very traditional area of Bali about 30 minutes from Ubud. That is where Ida's family compound and temple is located. Her story is amazing on its own and I encourage you to google her if you'd like to know more but what I will tell you is that usually high priests are born into that role. In the case of Ida, she was selected by the spirits rather than her lineage. She comes from humble beginnings and her role as high priestess today puts her into an incredibly exclusive group. Add to that the fact that she is female and young and you have an incredible anomaly.
We arrived at Ida's family compound, which is where her temple is, well in advance of the 11:30 time that had been set aside for blessings that day. We donned our sarongs (required) as well as a sash around our middle. That sash is an important part of Balinese spiritual practice as it separates the top from the bottom and there is all kinds of symbolism attached to that practice.
We hung around the courtyard in front of Ida's house (there were about 20 of us in total) until she emerged and when she did she explained that first she would bless the water and then when we heard her ring the bell we were invited to join her in meditation until it was time for the water purification blessings to occur.
Her initial blessing of the water (to make it holy) consisted of her chanting and praying from her platform where she was seated facing away from us and toward the vessels and utensils that would be part of her blessings. This chanting and praying took at least 30 minutes and as much as it was amazing to have a front row seat to all of this I also couldn't help but wonder how it was that her feet didn't fall asleep! She was kneeling and sitting on top of her feet the entire time. I can't sit with my legs crossed let alone under me for much more than a couple of minutes!
After the water blessing we heard the bell ring which indicated that the meditation was about to begin. I thought that perhaps it would be a single chime of the bell but no....that bell rang non stop, and in perfect rhythm, for the next 45 minutes! It was a smallish bell that she held in and rang with her left hand and as much as I couldn't figure out how she was able to sit on her feet for that long neither could I figure out how she could ring that bell in perfect time for a full 45 minutes never missing or doubling up on a ring tone. As well, the entire time she was ringing the bell with her left hand she was doing a host of other things with her right. The sound of the bell was hypnotic and in no time it felt like I could feel the bell ringing inside of me. My body wasn't moving much but I could feel it moving ever so slightly in perfect time with that bell! I know it sounds a bit weird but honestly...it felt very very good. All of us (in the "audience) were seated on a raised platform very near the front of Ida's higher platform. Her platform was about 5 feet high and ours was about 3 feet off the ground. Everyone participated in the meditation until the bell stopped which was the sign that the water purification blessings were about to begin.
Once the bell had stopped, she had finished blessing the water, and the meditation was over she turned around to face us but all the while she was still sitting on her feet! Granted, she did have a round cushion that she was sitting on but still.....there was a long way to go before she'd be able to move and already she'd been sitting like that for at least 90 minutes.
Once she had turned to face us she put on a second holy apron and her assistants began to take their positions. A high priest (or priestess) has many assistants as they're not allowed to do much of anything for themselves once they're ordained. For example, Ida can never go into her own kitchen as she is not allowed to cook anything. Her clothes can not be worn by another - ever! She even has to have her own toilet that no one else can use. During ceremonies Ida has helpers to refill her water vessels, other priests to assist with prayers in the temple, and many many others who look after putting out the offerings before and during the process. Everyone knows their role and it runs like clockwork without a hitch. For them to have this role with the high priestess is an honour and part of what they are called to do in their culture/faith.
The first people up for their water purification was a Balinese family of five. As is the case with most traditional Balinese practices (like balian healings or ceremonies), everyone present is witness to everything that goes on. Initially the five of them lined up, two in front and three in the back. Ida pours holy water over them from silver pots that are continually refilled by one of her assistants. The first pot of water was shared between all of them but within a short time the focus of her blessing began to fall to one of the men. He was doused in pot after pot of water and instructed to stamp his feet and to let whatever he felt out. When he was finished and sent off to the temple behind the priestess for private prayer time with the priests back there, Ida turned her attention to the young woman that was part of their family. This young woman's experience through the blessing actually moved me to tears. I could feel her anguish (I can think of no other word to describe it) as she released her emotions during her purification/blessing. Ida keeps the water coming and all the while she is chanting in a tone that is almost other-worldly. Eventually the young woman's blessing was finished and she too moved to the back temple. Then came the rest of the family and they all had their blessing standing side by side. Once finished they moved to the back temple too.
Next up, Ida called Lynda and I to come forward. We'd both just watched the process but neither of us really knew what to expect. Ida instructed us to close our eyes and to let out whatever we were feeling throughout the purification process. She began to chant and pour the water over us, each in turn. Just when I thought it was finished it would start all over again. I could feel a host of emotions raging through me. I stamped my feet and heard Ida's instruction to wash my head, face and body with the water as she poured it over me. Honestly there were a couple of moments where I didn't know if I'd be able to breathe and I'm pretty sure I breathed in some of that water but by the end of it all when Ida was finished with both Lynda and I, I heard very clearly her instruction to now go forth into the world and spread peace and harmony wherever we go. She then invited us to go into her temple for a private prayer and it was there that her two assistant priests helped Lynda and I go through the motions of what to do and how to do it and what flowers and grasses to put behind our ears and who eventually...gave us each a cempaka blossom to wear behind our ear for the rest of the day. Just when we thought we were finished and that it was time to get up off the ground where we were seated in our soaking wet sarongs....one of the priests took a pinch of partially cooked rice and pressed it onto the centre of each of our foreheads. This rice (and the flowers behind our ears) is a symbol of acknowledgement that we've made our prayers today. The idea is to leave it all there until it falls off on its own. Interestingly....it lasts a very long time. My rice eventually fell off when I was wiping sweat from my brow about 45 minutes later in the market as we were waiting for our lunch to be cooked. My flowers were still there when we arrived home a couple hours later.
So there I was in the market, wearing soaking wet clothes because I neglected to bring another pair of pants (foolishly I thought the sarong would keep my pants dry enough). Soaking wet clothes, rice pasted onto my forehead, flowers and grass behind my ears....yep.....must have looked quite the sight! LOL! Interestingly, no one seemed to notice anything odd about any of us. Lynda, Jessika and Angela also had flowers and rice. They however, had known to bring a complete change of clothes so they were dry!
Anyway, lunch in the market was great and I am hopeful that I will have another opportunity to see the high priestess one more time before heading for home in 5 weeks.
Yes.....we are just 5 weeks away from our return date now. It seems impossible to believe but we've moved from measuring our time in months to counting it down in weeks. The next and final stage will be when we move to days!
The feeling of lightness and gratitude that we felt from our water blessing stayed with all four of us right through dinner as we toasted Jessika on her last night in Bali. We'd decided that we'd celebrate our visit to Ida as well as our time together by going for dinner at a fantastic Italian place, Il Gardin, and it didn't disappoint! Dinner was fantastic, the company was incredible and the four of us continued to revel in the good fortune of our lives.
Today I decided to continue the theme and went to see a Chakra healer. Again, it was an incredible experience. I will say here that I am feeling very proud of myself for honouring my commitment to be really intentional about my self-care during my time here in Bali. I have done, and will continue to do, exactly whatever it is that I feel moved to do that day. From a tarot reading and sound healing in a pyramid to reflexology and massage topped off by regular exercise, great food, a water purification and now chakra healing....I'm feeling really good about the whole business!
But back to my Chakra healing. It took almost 90 minutes and the fee was 150,000 ($15). I won't go into detail about the healing but I will tell you that my chakras are all healthy and I don't think I've ever felt so relaxed! On the way home from my chakra healing today I felt so good that I stopped in to make two appointments for tomorrow. An hour of reflexology at 3 (which is right after my yoga and tai chi times) and then an hour of 4 hand massage at 4:30. Yep...by this time tomorrow night it is very likely that I will fall into bed a very happy girl!
But what else have we been doing since I last wrote a little more than a week ago? Well..... we spent another day at that gorgeous pool we found at the Cendana Resort just up the street from where we live. We've also been keeping up with our respective yoga routines. Lynda adds 100 stairs to her 3 times weekly practice but I continue to prefer to do mine in the privacy and comfort of my own room. We're religious about our every morning stretching routine that I put on youtube almost before I even get out of bed and of course...we have to walk everywhere we go here so that keeps us moving too.
We continue to be spoiled beyond belief with dinner out every single night, laundry being done for us, room being cleaned, breakfast being made and served....and yes....even a driver any time we want to go anywhere further than our feet want to take us.
Lynda has finally accepted her role as princess and has shifted into changing the colour of her toenail polish just because she is tired of it...not because she needs a pedicure! And she hasn't even had her chocolate massage yet! Imagine what will happen to her once she engages in that decadent activity!?
In addition to all of this amazing self-care we've also been playing cards.....in fact we've played so many games of cards that we've actually worn out several decks! LOL...yes....have any of you ever worn out a deck of cards? Well, it is possible and we're living proof that it is! We've also read quite a few books. Every time we go into a new hotel lobby or restaurant we eyeball their shelves to see if they've got any decent books in english. So far we've been pretty lucky and have only had to buy about 4 or 5 books. In fact, Lynda was doing the happy dance this afternoon when she came across a Jack Reacher novel and I'm also looking forward to getting it from her when she is finished.
The other night we went to the show again. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before but Paradiso is a movie house where you sit on couches and can order dinner or drinks during the movie. We both love it there and since there was a good movie on....it didn't take much convincing to make the decision to go. We saw Warren Beatty's "Rules Don't Apply" about the later life of Howard Hughes. Don't know if it was so enjoyable because we haven't seen TV or much in the way of movies for quite a few months now or if it was really that good but we both enjoyed it very much.
So as you can see....life continues to be full for us here in Ubud. As much as we're still loving every day here, we are also both feeling like we will be ready to come home when the time comes. In Bali, there are no coincidences and so we are going to continue to roll with whatever presents itself to us over the coming weeks.
One of the things that will be presenting itself to us in just a couple days is a friend from home. Barb will be arriving here on the 9th, the same day that the king of Saudi is scheduled to depart. I am going to go to the airport with Jati to pick her up and neither of us are looking forward to the craziness that might go along with his departure. We can't find out what time he is scheduled to leave so we've got our fingers and toes all crossed that it is early the morning of the 9th in which case they'll be all gone from the airport area by the time we get there for her early afternoon arrival. How do we know it will be crazy you wonder? Well....the fact that he's bringing 1500 staff with him is one clue and then there is the fact that he has an escalator fit for the plane to bring him down to the tarmack at landing and takeoff. And of course there is the ever present high level security that will go along with a VIP of that rank. So yes....I'm pretty sure security will be heightened at every turn and the airport is likely going to be on high alert. But heh....it will be a new experience/adventure right?! :-)
With Barb here for a month it will be a great excuse to revisit some of our favourite spots so we plan to do exactly that. In fact we've started a list that seems to grow longer each day so we don't miss out on any of the great things we want to do while she is here. We've saved a couple of highlights for her visit as we didn't want to do them twice and one of them is the Monkey Forest itself so after living on Monkey Forest road all these months we're finally going to venture into the forest itself in the next week or so.
That's about it for this night so....until next time.....we'll continue to take big bites out of whatever Bali has to offer. :-)
L & L
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