The Hippie Files

There's magic in the air.

Everywhere you look there is a new shamanic master at work - from the ubiqutous yoga instructor to the more obscure guided ayahuasca journey and everything in between.

I may be mistaken of course. It could be that I've fallen down a rabbit hole of crystal proportions, but it seems like there is a search on. We've lost our religion, we've thrown ourselves into work, consumerism and technology - and we've suddenly realised that something is very much amiss.
We've lost connection. With ourselves, with others, with nature, with the meaning of life and with

The Big Questions.

If priests and elders no longer the people we look to for guidance  - where do we find it?

I first dipped my henna painted toe into the world of hippiedom in my twenties. Not content with a yoga class down the road I went straight to the source instead: Byron Bay in Australia. Home of the Hippie and magnet of alternative wanderers. I set up camp with a raggle taggle crew gathered from various parts of Europe, and we immersed ourselves in fire twirling loveliness. We wore beads in our hair and walked barefoot everywhere for months on end. We thought we had all the answers and life was so much simpler. It was wonderful and I wouldn't change the experience for anything (which is fortunate as I traded a large part of my financial future for it....) but really I was caught up in the 'alternativeness' of it all, not the soulful deep dive of the Self that I'd be seeking now.

But lately I've been doing just that. Down the mystical rabbit hole I mentioned. I've been Yin Yoga-ed, floated off on guided meditations, explored crystal healing, and danced to mother cacao in a ceremony that was part Sharon Horgan hidden camera sitcom, part heart opening ceremonial celebration... (I'll come back to you on that one).

The thing is - once you find yourself at one of these happenings, a whole world of other ones come to light - each more strange or beautiful or intriguing than the next.

So if you're interested in coming along on a hippie trail to find out what some of these weird and wonderful events and therapies are all about then jump aboard.  First up will be Soul Society's Crystal Meditation evenings.

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TRUST THE NIGGLE. Sometimes you have to work out whether you don't want to do The Thing because it's hard, or because it just isn't sitting right with you. But either way, it's always worth exploring that niggle. . . . #lifelessons #angelcards #ipbig #epig #soulsociety #wellness

A post shared by Kate Gunn (@katetakes5) on Jan 17, 2020 at 11:46am PST

Then I might even be brave enough to share that cacoa experience. Well maybe...