Diary, 3rd January 2017

Still on holiday and wishing you all a very blessed and prosperous, healthy and magnificent New Year. It is tradition in Japan over the first few days of New Year to visit the shrines and temples of Japan to offer thanks, prayers and offerings to the gods (Hindu shrines) and deities (Shinto shrines) and buddhas (Buddhist Temples) for the blessings of the New Year. Each day we have been to different temples and shrines so it is a real treat with lots of yummy food from the different localities to tempt our mortal palate afterwards. The temples have different goma or fire rituals to ward off any negative karma you may be carrying over from past lives or the past year. It stems from the Vedic Agnicayana Ritual, and is both trance-inducing and a very profound experience. One of them we were able to attend was at Guan Yin’s temple in the hills in a very isolated part of the countryside with Taiko drums beating and mass chanting of Guan Yin’s Heart Sutra by the priests so it was very moving. It is also a tradition to see a temple ‘reader’ who can read spirits or Tarot or palms or auras and energies so we have done the same over successive years. This year they commented on the power of our family connections, particularly the deep strong luck our daughter Maia is carrying with her this lifetime!

Love and blessings

Altair and Mother