http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Travelling-Priestess/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Travelling Priestess en-us Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:22:50 +0000 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:22:50 +0000 After the asceticism and equanimity of the Vipassana experience I make my way to Glastonbury to celebrate one of the most important festivals in the Celtic calendar Beltane. Beltane is the festival of love of fertility of sexuality and the sacred marriage it is a time when the God and Goddess meet in sacred union and dance the wild sensual dance of creation. Flowers and trees are blossoming http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Somerset/Glastonbury/blog-397266.html lsquoWhy exactly did I choose to come herersquo I ask myself as the solemn sounds of a gong wake me from slumber at 4 am. I crawl out of bed have a quick wash and shuffle to the meditation hall in the dark rain dripping down my face. I find my place in the dimlylit hall and settle down for a twohour meditation session before breakfast. Today is my first day at a Vipassana meditation cent http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Herefordshire/Hereford/blog-394673.html The Brecon Beacons mountains located in southeast Wales are not exactly known to be a hotbed of shamanism at least not in this day and age. Or are they Primarily the beautiful and wild Brecon Beacons National Park is a revered hiker's paradise with an abundant range of outdoors activities. Yet if you dig a little deeper you will find that the area has a long history with evidence of Neolithi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Brecon/blog-345973.html Krishna has never been a God I could easily relate to. Out of all the Indian Gods and Goddesses he was the one I never paid much attention to. Partially this had to do with overexposure through the Krishna movement in the UK. Taking it down to the most basic and biased level I always thought that the Hare Krishna movement and in particular the 'Hare Krishna' chant you'd hear on a Sunday in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Somerset/Glastonbury/blog-343627.html Itrsquos Samhain morning. Tonight is the most important night in the Pagan calendar when the veils between the worlds are extraordinarily thin. The Celts celebrated lsquoAll Hallowtidersquo known as Halloween in the modern world as the lsquoFeast of the Deadrsquo when the dead revisited the mortal world. The festival marks the end of summer and the start of the winter months and th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Somerset/Glastonbury/blog-342011.html After a week of celebration dance and catharsis in Dorset I am ready for a somewhat more serene time and make my way across the picturesque Devon countryside to the market town of Totnes. Totnes so I am told is something of a spiritual hotbed not unlike Glastonbury and I look forward to exploring the place. My friend Khanga collects me at the train station. I have not actually seen Khanga fo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Devon/Totnes/blog-341631.html The morning after the AUM meditation I canrsquot speak. I have lost my voice. Completely. I canrsquot even croak. lsquoThis happens to everyone here sooner or laterrsquo says community member Mala sympathetically. I am fated to converse in sign language or through eye contact and writing notes. Itrsquos an interesting place to be in this enforced silence asking me to communicate and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Dorset/blog-338663.html Osho Leela is a friendly open and welcoming place. The large house consists of beautiful rooms with wooden floors and massive bay windows many of them converted into dorms for the visitors two kitchens a dining room reception rooms and large gardens where some of the residents live in caravans and pine lodges. A lot of the people an eclectic mix of men and women who live here are sannyasi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Dorset/blog-338659.html Irsquom back on the road. Or rather on the rail tracks. After my threemonth stint in rural Wales Irsquove come to the conclusion that settled life just doesnrsquot work for me at this point in time. In particular the solitary or semisolitary way of living wersquore so accustomed to in the West. Before I went travelling my friend Rob said that I might find it difficult to settle again http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Dorset/blog-338623.html Ilsquom not made for hermit life at least not for extended periods of time. With a personality like mine I donrsquot stay solitary for long despite the best of intentions. After one or two months of immersion in nearsolitude and spiritual practice I am starting to itch and want to get out there again. The explorer in me is far too curious about life land and people. When I told my good http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/blog-330130.html I am still travelling. But this is a different journey altogether. I am on a path that at times feels more perilous and treacherous to me than dodging bombs in Pakistan. It is called the Inner Journey.During my five day sadhana practice at Anand Prakash Ashram in Rishikesh I had a very strong intuition that I ought to go to Wales to do some work with a yogi and energy healer I had met under se http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/blog-315953.html There is a familiar saying that goes lsquoLife is what happens when you have other plansrsquo. Irsquove found this to be particular true in India a country in which the main lesson seems to be surrender. Things have a life and pace of their own here. You can make all the plans in the world but if Mother India isnrsquot ready to let you go something will happen to keep you just a little http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-283193.html After six days of sadhana in the ashram I take a walk to Ganga with my Canadian friend MJ on Beltane Eve. Itrsquos a warm night and glowworms lead our way as dusk sets in. When we get to my favourite Ganga beach I notice a fire in the bushes on the hill behind us. It basks everything in a golden glow and it feels as though this is our own personal Beltane fire. This is especially beautiful b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-273063.html It is Day One of my five day silent retreat and I am starting to lose my voice. We are sitting around the ceremonial fire for the second time today dripping with sweat in the afternoon heat count our japa malas a necklace of 108 beads which is used to count mantras one bead for each mantra feed the fire with copious amounts of ghee and herbs and chant the Sanskrit Miritunjay mantra over and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-273051.html I swear that Rishikesh's alter ego is an octopus. It must be. Every time I try to leave it wraps its sticky long tentacles around my restless soul and pulls me back into its comforting slightly claustrophobic embrace. It is now the end of April temperatures have soared up to 42 degrees Celsius and my longsuffering friends know that I already reach for a fan and cry for ice packs when itrsquo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-269129.html A lot has been moving and shifting for me in the month I have been staying at Anand Prakash Ashram www.anandprakashashram.com. Yes I have been strengthening my physical yoga practice but what is more important I have only now begun to understand what Yoga really means. Through practising Akhanda Yoga a holistic integral form of yoga with an emphasis on the balanced sequencing of asana post http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-259841.html It's Holi today. Holi is one of North India's most exuberant and playful festivals Hindus celebrate the beginning of spring by throwing gulal coloured powder and coloured water at anyone within range. This sounds fun I think and despite the doubtful looks of my fellow ashramites I decide to throw on some old clothes and brave the mayhem. 'Put some oil on your hair and body before you go out' http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-259851.html After several weeks of rest shanti and a certain amount of hesitation I have finally moved to an ashram. 'Have fun in your nice prison' says Hee as she helps me move my belongings to my new abode. My room is sparse but comfortable with two single beds a concrete shelving unit a bedside table and two plastic chairs. I have a private bathroom too and a sunny balcony with asomewhat restri http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-254686.html For the first time since I have left Amritsar I feel like I am actually in India. I have taken an overnight trip to Haridwar with Heike an acquaintance who is on her way to South India. Haridwar is located at the point where the Ganges emerges from the Himalaya and is Uttarakhand's holiest Hindu city. The city is remarkably different from Lakshman JhulaRishikesh which is about an hour's drive http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Haridwar/blog-250187.html On the evening of my visit to the Kali shrine I have an experience that is strangely in line with the day's energy. As I walk home from Nirakararsquos house at dusk I notice a large white car with a flatscreen TV screen in place of the rear mirror that creeps alongside me for a while. At first I donrsquot think anything of it as it looks as though the driver is looking for something or some http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-245832.html