An Introductory Ramble

I promise to not have too many of these long hauled rambles, but I do want to begin by introducing me, this site, and my intentions.

I've been fascinated with mysticism since as long as I can remember. As a child I gobbled books by the dozen that had to do with fantasy and science fiction, and by the time I made it to junior high school I had a keen interest in the occult. I started to realize that magic is an ever present aspect of everyday life and that it's actually possible to to encourage its presence through awareness, intention and spirituality. This became the focus of my university education as i studied performance, religion, shamanism, and their connections to healing.

Now to take a little aside here to discuss spirituality. This is a word loaded with meaning, that is used much too frivolously and simultaneously much too seriously. By spirituality I am not referring to frou frou new age capitalism, nicely packaged and sold to the public as true religion, and I'm not talking about dogmatic institutions that claim theirs is the only way; I'm referring to the underlying soul of humanity. I'm talking about the archetypes that can be found in every culture, inevitably pointing us in the right direction. I'm talking about a personal exploration of reality and reflection of the self, other, and the universal whole. A journey to be taken lightly, with joy and compassion as well as depth, determination, and commitment.

So what is health and healing and how does it fit into a spiritual paradigm? What is the role of religion (which I define as a belief system regardless of organisation or lack of) in healing and healing in religion? This is one of the questions I'm on a journey to investigate. I expect to find polarity, dichotomy, dualism, and unification - Answers? Maybe. A journey? Definitely.

I now prepare to head to India where I plan to explore Homeopathic Medicine, Ayurveda, Yoga, Tai Chi (I'm aware it's not of Indian origin but my spectacular Tai Chi teacher lives in Goa), Devotionalism, Prayer, Tantra, and anything else that may fall in my path.

In the meantime as I prepare you will find ramblings, philosophy and the results of my research.

one last thing the picture above is of a bedouin I encountered in Petra, Jordan who was sharing with us some medicinal plants (not just the ones he's smoking)

I look forward to comments, so please feel free to add yours