Monday 21st of August, is an auspicious day according to the Balinese calendar, and probably the best day to start our Adventure.
We are on the way to Tabanan regency to encounter ……. a priest.
This holy man is a Kebayan. According to the tradition, the Kebayan originated from India and were the first pilgrims to arrive in Bali, a long time before the Javanese.
Kebayan is also the name given to all the priests in that clan who have achieved the spiritual level of Dhiksa, the "Second Truth" or the "Second Birth”.
I must admit that the time that it took to drive to his compound seemed like an eternity to this excited lady!
I felt like a performer about to go on stage, and as soon as we arrived I decided to dive right in, as his silhouette moved towards me.
The reassuring presence by my side of Aimery Joëssel and Bayu Wirayaudha, our mediator, helped me a lot.
He started with what sounded like a prophecy: “The problem with Bali nowadays is that people are going back to sectarism, believing in only one Dewa (one God manifestation), instead of recognising that all God manifestations have an equaly important role, depending on your needs!” before he invited us to join his daily meditation which he led with fervour and deep devotion.
At the end of the meditation he told me that one can only gain knowledge by being relaxed - and gradually I came to understand that he was going to be the one who would conduct the interview and that he was not going to answer any of the questions that I had planned.
I lent myself with good grace to some visualisation practices that undoubtedly settled me and made me gain confidence in myself… it was only then that he invited me to sit beside him, facing the shrine. Lightly, he took my hand to place it on the sole of his left foot, asking me to see, feel… the journey began in earnest! I felt that I was connected to an underground world where streams flow in emerald-green caves bathed by natural light through a sky-dome, reflecting the full spectrum of the colours of a rainbow. As if he wanted to seal that part of the journey he raised my hand to my heart, while the tips of my thumb and index finger on my left hand where put together in a gesture of knowledge - unity between the Fire - the universal consciousness, and the Air - the individual consciousness.
Then, without further ado, he placed my right hand against the sole of his right foot, inviting me to a new destination, that of the upper world, in a stellar swirl, flying above the highest mountain peaks from which I observed the sun giving way to the moon, before he sealed again that journey into my heart.
By the end of this spiritual journey through the soles of a priest’s feet, I had realised that he had answered each of the questions that I had wanted to ask him regarding the relationship between his feet and his native land, his culture.
It was obvious that his left foot is connected to the Spiritual underworld, being the place of darkness but also a place where the essence of all things resides; and his right foot is connected to the upper world, the Divine world, where we turn for spiritual guidance and wisdom.
Beyond my deductions from our conversation, there was one thing that he stated clearly – using the feet to transmit Energy is very powerful. How unusual, because most healers transmit Energy through their hands! His left foot was there to catch the negativity coming from the underworld in order to destroy it, and then send the Energy though his right foot, coming from the upper-world down though his 7th chakra.
However, I still had two questions to ask him… and the answers were no surprise. To the question about the colour he would give to each foot he said that they were all colours, coming from the eight directions towards the centre, becoming One. And on what he could say about his feet he answered in an obvious, simple and amused manner by stating that “without them he couldn’t go anywhere!”
Our meeting was drawing to a close, there was just time for Aimery to take a few photographs and for the priest to evoke the wounds experienced by his feet over the years.
The next stage is for me to assess his feet, by studying the photos that I took of his toes, sole etc. I have a strong feeling that this study will add more to our encounter, give more information about him, his personality, his aspirations. The technique is called “Toe Reading”, but you will have to wait for the results – watch this space!!
That first encounter went well beyond my expectations, I couldn’t hope for more!
