Link: http://web.rollins.edu/~hedge/Cases%20Of%20Trance%20Possession%20in%20Bali%20IJP.pdf

A Google search for “Hoyt Edge Bali” turns up additional studies.

I am carrying seven small plastic Listerine bottles (cleansed, of course) full of Tirta, holy water, in my carry-on bag.  Dwi gave me a large glass jar full of holy water, but the airline won’t allow that much liquid in one container.  So everyone came to my rescue, contributing film canisters, mouthwash bottles, hand sanitizer bottles, juice bottles, and anything else they thought might be helpful (even duct tape, scotch tape, and rubber bands, which I didn’t end up needing).  Let’s hope the tirta makes it home safely.  I know I will.

So goodnight, Bali.  Sleep well.  Tomorrow is another day.  More spirits, more ritual, more wonder and delight.  I can’t wait to see my family.  I can’t wait to hold my wife and to hold my son.  Everything will pale in comparison to their love.  And then life will go on as it always has.  Only different.

“When my kids were real little I used to play a game with them. I’d give each one of them a stick and I’d say, ‘You break that.’ Of course they could real easy. Then I’d say, ‘Tie them sticks in a bundle and try to break that.’ Of course, they couldn’t. Then I’d say, ‘That bundle…that’s family.”

Today, after Dwi had helped me meet with a priest, had purchased an altar and cloth for me, had collected holy water from the priest for me, and had driven me not only to the priest but also to the elephant cave and back to the hotel, we invited me, my dad, Betty Alice, and Kathy to his home for dinner with his family.

We sat around with his daughters and his parents, and his wife Nyoman, and Zoyu (Kathy’s student from Beijing) and talked and laughed, and then were served the most amazing home-cooked Balinese meal.  After the meal, Dwi’s family gave me presents to bring back to Tamara and Mateus, and a handmade black, white, and red bracelet made by Ade for me.  I am so touched back their generosity, caring, helpfulness, and friendship.  They are truly family.

Dwi told the priest about my visions of the Barong and Wayang Kulit (shadow puppets), and the priest said they are good signs, and that it means that I am protected and watched over by spirits or gods.  The priest said that some day I may be a very holy man in Bali.

I was planning to ask the priest questions, including how to find holy water in America, but I didn’t get a chance to.  Dwi came to the rescue, though, suggesting a spot in California that he had felt to be a place where holy water might exist (when he visited).  He gave me instructions for blessing the holy water and for praying at home.  He also purchased an altar and yellow and white cloth for me to use at home.  I asked Dwi to drop me off at Goa Gajah (the elephant cave).  This is an ancient place of worship and, while it is quite impressive, I am more connected to the buddhist temple that was left behind in the small valley below the elephant cave.  The last time I was in Bali (in 2001), I had a strong feeling that I had been born there, and I had wanted to stay there a long time.  This time, I walked to the lotus pond in front of the buddhist temple, sat down, and prayed.  I then walked up the stairs to the site of the temple.  I felt an overwhelming sense of spirit.  There was a very powerful presence near the temple platform.  The power there was staggering.  It held me in place and made my breathing labored.  Again, I felt like I would like to spend a long time there.

As I left the elephant cave area, many Balinese people placed their palms together and bowed to me.  I am sure it was because I was dressed in temple clothes with rice on my forehead from the cleansing ceremony.

During the first massage, which was followed by a papaya and yogurt scrub and then a hot bath with flower petals (ahh…), he said that my lower back was not in good shape.  He asked if it hurt and I said that it sometimes did.  He said he would work on it after he finished the regular massage.  He spent about ten minutes on my lower back.  Well, not actually on lower back but on my legs.  He pushed and pinched the areas around my groin (yikes!), using his fingers and the bottom of his foot to get as much leverage as possible.  It is quite possibly the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced.  One reason I asked him so much about himself (where are you from, how did you learn massage, etc.) was because he did some painful and unorthodox (chiropractic adjustments) things to me.  I wanted to be sure I could trust him.  I felt like I could.  

I screamed and he stopped (sort of).  I screamed again and he stopped.  He also gave me what must be equivalent to a chiropractic adjustment (I’ve never had one).  He forcefully twisted and pushed and pulled my fingers, arms, head, and back until they crackled by popcorn.  He said that he could help me but that I should come back again because he couldn’t do the full treatment with my screaming the whole time.  Oh joy, another session!  Still, when he finished, he said that I would feel much better, a little bit each day, and that I would be fine riding home in an airplane.  He said not to swim for about a week to give my back a rest.  

The odd thing was that he told me not to tell his boss or anyone else at the Salon that he had worked on my back.  I figured it must not be sanctioned or something.

Today was my second session with him.  It was just as painful and he spent more of the session doing his own brand of Rolfing/Chirpractic/whatever.  It seemed to help.  Strangely, Kathy had made the reservation for me, and when I showed up at Nur Salon, the woman said I must want the deep healing massage (I think it even said it was painful in the brochure).  So I guess Made isn’t that hidden because people request his deep healing.  Still, maybe some aspect of it he felt he couldn’t let his employers know about.

Several other members of our group also had massages with Made and found them to be healing.

Dwi’s wife, Nyoman — with the help of their daughters, Ade and Ari — taught us how to make offerings.  The Balinese make 125 offerings every day, which is unfathomable when you consider that it took me ten minutes to make one.  We learned to fold a long piece of banana leaf into a square box and then thread pieces of hard grass through it to stitch it together.  We then connected wide pieces of banana leaf to the sides of the box to make the bottom.  The final touch was to add flowers and shredded pandanus leaves (and later food).  We also watched as Nyoman created a tower of fruit to be worn on her head for special ceremonies every six months.

The night time during Nyepi had a quality so different from every other night on this trip.  The energy of the island was completely different without the evil spirits.  Several people commented that they could see more clearly without all of the noise, but couldn’t explain why this might be so.  I noticed the same thing.  The trees were sharper in detail, the air was cleaner.  I also had no anticipation, no tingling skin, and nothing out of the ordinary happened during Nyepi (day or night).

Some quotes from our hypnosis/trance workshop:

“Good body, every morning.”  - (as opposed to “Good morning, every body”) spoken by a witty French man with a good grasp of the English language and its subtleties.

“I’d really like to be free from most of this pain.”  ”Wouldn’t it be nice to walk on this leg without so much discomfort.” – my dad, describing how you can self-suggest recovery for physical injuries and pain.

“I want people to do what they need to do [to change], but to do it in my time [period].” – Betty Alice.

“People have to decide for themselves [to change].” – Betty Alice.

“Set yourself face to face with reality.  If you don’t, the nightmares will become worse.” – my dad, describing what I take to mean acceptance of things unusual and unexpected.

And one from Dwi:

“Visitors are the messengers of the gods.”  I remember Dwi saying this on my first trip to Bali in 2001.  It struck me as just as amazing then as now.  He said this when describing the housing structure and village life in Bali.  He was encouraging us to just walk into a Balinese compound (house) and look around.  It was nearly impossible for any of us in the group to feel comfortable doing so, to feel we weren’t intruding.  But Dwi calmly, and with that wonderful smile, assured us that we would be accepted with open arms.

After it ended, we went back to the restaurant to finally have our entrees.  I sat down with my dad and two other members of our group, and my dad said something like, “Isn’t it nice to have a cool, civilized meal.”  (Obviously in comparison to the craze of the fire throwing.)  Right after he said that, there was an explosion at our table.  The oil candle on the table blew up and caught fire.  I quickly blew it out, but we later deduced what had happened.  The wick had been floating in the oil to provide light at our table.  Somehow……. the wick flew out of the oil and landed outside of the glass container.  It then caught on fire.  A bunch of oil was also sprayed on our table and in my drinking glass.  It was so bizarre.  And it was the candle “throwing fire.”

The day before Nyepi (day of silence), each village meets at an intersection of roads in order to balance and harmonize the community and the gods.  This is their new year celebration.  Because of the Balinese 210 day calendar and various other calendars they use, it is officially 1931 in their country.  This I can’t explain.

Dwi’s village, Peliatan, had a ceremony complete with gamelan music, Topeng masked dancers, ritual sacrifice, and a long prayer.  I prayed with his village and was sprinkled with holy water.

Inside of the inner courtyard is a stone altar that is not Hindu in nature. Rather, it is animalistic, the original religion of Bali. I decided to sit on the slightly raised platform and meditate in front of the altar. I began to go into trance and my body began to spin. It felt as though the platform was rotating very fast. At one point, it spun around so that I was facing (in trance) the opposite way, away from the alter. I asked, “What am I supposed to be seeing,” but I didn’t get an answer. After about five minutes, I came out of trance, said thank you to the gods, and rejoined the group.

The walk through the rice fields was stunningly beautiful. Not many tourists take the time to walk this path, as was evidenced by the number of tourists we met at the top who had simply driven there from their hotels to take pictures. The walk took us about an hour and was flat with some uphill spots. We passed rice terrace after rice terrace, eventually getting to the top where we could see the whole valley we had walked through.

To top off the day, after dinner we saw a performance of the Ramayana at the Ubud palace. It’s probably THE dance for tourists to see, but if was expertly choreographed and danced, so we all enjoyed it very much. Hanoman is the star of the show and always the best dancer — balancing and leaping across the stage.