“A Temple, A Teacher and some Time to Think……..”
I know I’m one of the lucky ones.
Lucky because I have a husband I can share everything with.
And although it’s not easy at times, what ensues through disharmony and grief is profound and deep healing.
Lucky because although he doesn’t completely understand, he is in tune enough to see that my internal struggle has to be brought to the surface to be healed.
It takes time to heal and is unpleasant at times.
It is much easier to bury and suppress feelings rather than to stare them in the face, bring them up, honour them and let them go gracefully.
I packed my bags, filled it with incense, candles, notebooks, paints, Oracle cards, everything I needed to tackle the next four days under Indonesian skies.
I would head to Ubud.
The only plan I had was to visit Tirta Empul, the Holy Spring Temple.
I was told about it by a friend of my son’s who said I had to one day go and visit this Sacred Site. As usual any direct guidance like that I take heed and file it away on my little “List of Spiritual Things I must Do”.
I organised a driver with the hotel I was staying at and made no other plans.
I found a hotel by the river Ayung, deep within the forest, hidden from the world, protected by a vast canopy of leaves.
There is no doubt about it, I feel instantly soothed and calmed when I hit the outskirts of Ubud.
As with all things Balinese, my relatively cheap hotel was beautiful.
A frangipani on my pillow, an outdoor bath bathed in the glow of the full moon, and a view overlooking the river. The swaying, glistening rice stalks could just be made out in the rice fields beyond.
Out to my right I could see the silhouette of a volcano lightly brushed against the sky.
I opened every window in my room to let the evening storm in and didn’t disrupt my thoughts with television or music instead preferring just to gaze out the window and relish the time alone.
At 8am the next morning I met my driver who would take me to the Temple.
Arga was a beautiful man and remains my good friend to this day.
On the one hour drive to the Temple we discussed all things spiritual.
He was a wise man.
A gifted healer.
We arrived at the Temple and he patiently spent the next three hours guiding me through this very ancient and sacred site.
I would cleanse, purify and receive a blessing.
And I would heal.
After I made my way through the Holy Spring, taking my time to honour each water spout with a ritual Arga had taught me, I made my way out of the spring.
I was so physically and emotionally exhausted, I needed Arga to help me walk to the edge of the Holy Spring to sit down with him.
We sat in silence for what appeared to be a good length of time before he placed one hand on my head and one on my leg, aiding me in releasing and healing.
While I sat and cried, Arga sat patiently, supporting me.
Soon we were back in the car and on the way back to the hotel.
I had experienced my first big spiritual shift and would come to realise later that my frequent trips away by myself were divinely guided and inspired and were essential steps in the process of my ascension.
