Holy Tree

THE BANYAN TREE

The Banyan tree (also known as the Peepal and Bodhi Tree), is an ancient fig found in and around India and Asia. It is the national symbol of India and figures prominently in several Asian and Pacific religions and myths as well as in Homer's great Greek tragedy, The Odyssey.

There are famous Banyan trees planted at Buddhist temples, including one called Bodh Gaya at the original site where Buddha was said to have meditated and found enlightenment. The original tree was destroyed a number of times but replaced by another holy Bodhi tree, using saplings from the original lineage. There's also a famous tree in Sri Lanka called Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, which is the oldest living thing, planted by humans. It has a plant date from 288BC and the tree originated from the southern branch of the famous Bodhi tree that Buddha himself meditated under. 

This tree has healing properties, and great significance in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Yoga philosophy.

Festival Magic

BLOWING OFF STEAM

It's essential to let our hair down occasionally so we want to throw off our worries and feel some freedom from a modern conformist way of life, but it can at times, take us close to insanity as we shut off our minds to fully experience a state of abandon. And that's the way of a good festival. 

Dancing around in a field with a good set of close friends and like-minded strangers, all getting a bit too twisted on the hooch, forgoing sleep and taking on very little food for a few days - can bring about a magical mindset that resets the mind and brings about this much needed sense of freedom that we can only get through carefree abandon.

We see this practice in many older cultures too, where trance-induced drum beating and mind altering potions are taken to bring about these altered states - for joining communities together, healing the sick or connecting to the greater forces in the universe. Nothing has really changed in that regard as is evident with the modern dance music scene that's influenced our hedonistic culture - a rite of passage that so many of us go through to lose ourselves at the many festivals across the world. 

Spirit Guides

POWER ANIMAL

For thousands of years, human beings have been on the quest to understand and discover the meaning of life. We've been looking to the stars, searching inside though the practice of meditation, following religious teachings and some seek their answers to life from palm readings or in the tea leaves.

This weekend I was with a friend who's taken a Shamanic course. Being a very spiritual type herself, I thought this particular course suited her well. I was also intrigued to learn more about this ancient practice and how it's ideas could help those who seem lost without any 'spiritual' guidance in modern society. 

Many cultures throughout time have had spiritual 'holy men', 'witch doctors' or 'Shaman' who are recognised to have a closer connection to a spirit world. A place of dreams where only these select few can interpret the strange goings on that most cannot find logical explanations for.

We tend to go to our GP or talk with friends and family about ailments, job issues, relationship concerns etc. but with a predominantly secular society in the UK, who can we go to for more spiritual help, guidance and soul healing. Maybe that is the reason why so many corners of London are now occupied by megaphone toting evangelical maniacs or leaflet/magazine pushers from all the major religions. It's likely that they're finding more and more lost souls. 

Spirit Guides

What I really liked about my first shamanic experience was that I got to meet up with my spirit guide. Whether it really was just my imagination making up the orange and blue snake that I talked with or there was some portal being opened up to me, the idea that I had a spirit guide creature looking out for me, left me feeling more secure and hopeful.

The dogma of organised religion has no appeal for me at all and so, like many others, I have my own very personal agnostic version of what spirituality means to me. And the idea of having someone who is very spiritually connected - a modern day Shamanic guide, being able to assist us on our journey through life - just as they have done in many other non-western cultures for millennia, does have an appeal for me. I can see this trend picking up more, maybe even becoming more integrated with the practice of Yoga, Qi Gong and other martial arts as a way to bring spirit, mind and body back into equilibrium.