In Bali, the darkness and the light are interwoven into a balanced tapestry that profoundly affects all who visit this mystical land. The Balinese believe in the ultimate universal balance and that both light and dark must be allowed into one's life in equal measure. Only then can our lives be integrated and our spiritual quests be undistracted by the lure of that which we repress - our own darkness. This allowance for both the dark and light is evident in every aspect of society. The Balinese would not ever think of building a private home or business that did not have a temple devoted to each aspect of a trinity: God, Human, and the "Devil". Their philosophy is that if a temple is made for the darker forces and they are equally recognized as part of universal balance, those dark forces will not wreak havoc in our lives. This philosophy is compatible with many in the psychological profession - humans must acknowledge their darkness so it does not have power over them. Within the temples, the guards often wear the sacred black and white checked cloth that represents the integration and balance of dark and light. In their mythological stories this balance is always expressed, most notably through the Barong dance in which the battle rages on between the forces of light (the Barong) and the forces of darkness. In the story it is shown that the battle between the two will never end and that the only solution is by learning to live in harmony together. We in the western world are not used to living in such balance. We are used to repressing our darkness, ignoring it, trying to conquer it, and hoping it will go away. This, of course, is just an illusion for we too must resolve our own inner battles with the dark and light by learning tolerance, compassion, unconditional love for all aspects of creation, and ultimately complete integration and balance. Our group's journey in Bali was profound to say the least. We had many adventures and though the group had experiences as a whole, each and every person had their own experiences and their own private darkness to face. Each member was called upon to dig into the corners of their soul and bring out a part of him or herself that they had not wanted to face. In this article, we will discuss the group journey and the lessons learned amidst the backdrop of paradise - a land of mystery, magic, and deep spiritual healing. Week One: The Conference The conference during week one was held at the idyllic Nusa Dua Beach Hotel outside of Denpasar, Bali. We had 58 people, all English speakers. Most of the group was from the USA although there were some from Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan, England, and Austria. From the beginning everyone noticed the odd ratio of males to females. There were 9 men and 51 women! During the week at Nusa Dua, our time was divided between presentations by the teachers (Barbara Marciniak, Lyssa Royal, and Barbara Hand Clow), visits to temples, group activities, shopping expeditions, and free time. From the beginning, the tour sponsors (Power Places Tours) wanted to create a tour in which all the teachers worked together by attending each other's lectures and weaving their work together into one tapestry. These three teachers had worked together before and knew that they could work in harmony. At the end of the tour, participants commented how surprised they were that the teachers worked so well together with no competition and only genuine love and support of each other. As many know, this is a rarity. Each teacher was given individual time to teach and much time was given for group discussion and processing with the three teachers simultaneously. There were many themes that were addressed in the teachings during Week One but in a general way they would include: The Balancing of Dark and Light, Personal Empowerment, Activating Ancient Codes and Memories, Spiritual and Emotional Healing. From very early on it became obvious that the energy of Bali was affecting the entire group. As the days went by people's hearts began to open, first revealing old wounds and finally revealing the joy of living in perfect harmony with spirit and matter. To visit Bali is truly to enter the 4D reality. It is impossible to write about each and every revelation and experience, however, several stand out and so those will be shared. And this is only in week one! During one of the group processing sessions, a woman asked why there were so few men. This opened a whole can of worms! One by one each man stood up and revealed his pain and opened his heart to the group about how difficult it is to be a sensitive man in a society that does not support that kind of vulnerability. By the end of the sharing, there was hardly a dry eye in the house. From that moment on, the men received a lot of special attention! Shortly after this session, Lyssa gave a channeled session that was a total surprise to her. She channeled the archetypal Mother Goddess, who instructed the men to sit in a circle together. The women were then instructed to sit surrounding the men on all sides. The beautiful being then began to channel through a deep healing to the men via the human goddesses surrounding them. First the healing began personally for the men, encouraging them to go within their hearts and bring out the wounds for healing. Then the healing extended to the patriarchy throughout time. The women continually poured love into the men, some of who broke down in tears and moved through issues that they had not been able to touch until this time. Once the emotion subsided and the channeling ended, all the women embraced the male group physically. At that point, the group dropped even more resistance to the healing that Bali provides and surrendered to a commitment to nurture each other during the tour. As the days went by, hearts opened even further. This brief summary cannot even begin to capture the profound experience that happened this day. One evening, our group assembled in the on-site temple on the grounds of the hotel for a Pleiadian activation by Barbara Hand Clow. Barbara, who is part Cherokee, is known as being an amazingly powerful ceremonial leader and this night was no exception. Indonesia was experiencing a frightening drought, but during this ceremony the clouds broke, lighting shot across the sky, thunder shook our grass hut, and rain poured down-threatening to electrocute Barbara through her microphone! The next day we heard that the forest fires on an adjoining island had been extinguished from the rain. Coincidence or not, our ceremony was perfectly timed and amazingly powerful. The next day participants could tell something had changed deep within them but most did not have the words to describe the profound shift. During one of the several channelings given by Barbara Marciniak, the Pleiadians led the group through a connection and healing with their ancestral lineage. This experience affected each individual differently but was extremely powerful. After it was over, many participants were walking around with a stunned look on their faces. At this point, so much was happening in Bali that we had lost track of what was going on. The group simply surrendered to the process. Our first pilgrimage to a Balinese temple was to Tanah Lot - a breathtaking temple on the shore next to a pounding ocean. They were having a public ceremony and so we were required to dress in traditional Balinese costume to be allowed into the temple. Men had to wear sarongs and sashes and women had to wear sarongs, sashes, and long sleeve blouses or the traditional lace Kabaya that is worn by Balinese women. We soon got used to this costume (hot as it was) because since most of Bali is a temple, we had to dress this way for most of the trip! At Tanah Lot we filed in with the locals and sat on our knees in a tight group while the Balinese Hindu priests said prayers. In the background we heard the traditional melodic gamelon music that is quite trance inducing in itself. After the prayers, the priests went through the group anointing each person individually with holy water and rice. The combination of the gamelon music, the heat, the crowding, the costume and atmosphere led an exotic quality to the experience that helped us shed our resistance to the unknown so we could surrender to the moment. Many people have taken power place tours to sites such as Peru, Egypt, and the Yucatan. However, it is quite rare to take a power tour to a culture that is still living its tradition. It is even rarer still, as a western group, to be welcomed with open arms into indigenous ceremonies. As the weeks went by, our group learned more about custom and polished our wardrobe and our behavior. By the end of the tour, our very large group had become infamous in Bali (who does not receive many visitors that are spiritual seekers). Locals began tugging at our clothes and telling us how great we looked. The stares were polite, kind, and sometimes curious. We were always treated with the utmost respect. Our second temple visit was to Ulu Watu, the site where a Balinese Hindu priest ascended. This temple was high on a bluff overlooking a turbulent aquamarine shoreline. We were granted the privilege of the priest giving us a private ceremony. We assembled, in full costume, with great reverence. Comic relief was provided by the monkeys who have become so adept at thievery that they can sneak in and steal an earring or a set of eyeglasses without the owner noticing until it is too late. This site had a special frequency that was felt by all and was the final ceremony for the group who was departing after Week One. That night we went as a group to a restaurant and were given a private performance of Balinese dance. Some of the Balinese dancers are so adept that you can tell by their eyes that they are in a total trance as they dance. Somehow they have the ability to bring the other dimensions through their bodies as they dance. It is awesome to watch. That first week we were also privileged to see the Ramayana Dance (the story of Rama and Sita) and were also struck with the intensity of the dancers. During our very last group meeting together, we were blessed with a story that was shared by one of the participants about the passing of her soul mate from the physical plane. He was a shaman and practiced conscious living; however, this did not prepare her for his conscious death. He cured himself of cancer and once cured he told her it was time for him to leave. She resisted, but the next morning she found him meditating with a blissful expression. He came back to say good-bye and gave her one last kiss and then departed. Since then he has made his presence known to her in the most humorous and poignant of ways. As she shared this story for the group, most of us were in tears. It was truly a lesson in conscious living and dying and the infinite nature of the spirit. What a way to end the first week of the tour! Week Two: The Journey Twenty of our group members left after the first week. Our numbers were down to 38. We prepared to travel inland to Ubud, the center of the arts and crafts of Bali. After the bus ride, we settled into our rustic accommodations at the Ananda Cottages in Ubud. During the second week we no longer had a conference as the focus of our time. Instead, we traveled to the many temples, experienced Balinese dance, arts, and music, explored Ubud, and had short sessions with the teachers. The absolute highlight of our adventures was a ceremony at Kasiman Village. It was the temple's birthday and people traveled from all over the island to attend this ceremony. Thousands of people jammed themselves into the temple grounds. Our guide Sugina prepared us for what we would see at this ceremony. In this ceremony, all universal energy was encouraged to enter whether dark or light. One part of the temple grounds was devoted to cockfighting. The bloodletting brought in the energy of darkness. The priests sat in the temple in deep meditation and the ceremony they held brought in the energies of light. The temple was filled with people participating in the priests' ceremony. During this ceremony, the energy brought in was so intense that many men and women spontaneously went into trance. They began to flail and yell. Priests, family, and friends restrained the person and took them out of the temple. Dozens were removed from the temple and paraded around the cockfighting arena, complete with music, prayer, and lots of priests sprinkling holy water. It was amazing to see these people opening to spirit and integrating the dark and light energies inside them. It felt as if they were doing it for the entire culture to insure the balance remains in check. No one around these people was alarmed by this behavior. They were acting as if it was something they saw every day. The climax of this trance experience was when they began to use the kris knife. Once the spirit inside them peaked, they reached for a kris knife (a curved and sharp ceremonial knife) and began trying to puncture their chest and heart with the knife. Being imbued with spirit, the knife does not puncture the skin. It is amazing to watch. One man (perhaps not imbued with enough spirit) indeed did puncture his skin and his shirt was covered in blood. When a frenzy was reached, the priest sprinkled them with holy water and they calmed down. These people were marched three times around the cockfighting arena and then brought back into the temple. By this time most of them were more calm, but were still in trance. The priest then said prayers, sprinkled holy water, and they emerged from their trance state. After the trance ceremony was over, they had a processional out of the temple. A particularly profound moment occurred at the end when the women left the temple carrying a huge cord made up of the black and white checked cloth. The woman at the end (perhaps acting as the energetic ground) was shaking and crying from the energy. At that moment we had a realization that perhaps females ground and integrate the polarized energy on Earth and perhaps this was a symbolic interpretation of that idea. Everyone in our group was deeply affected by this experience. Not only did we stand in full costume in the high humidity and heat, squeezed into a crowd of thousands, but we too were exposed to the energy they were attempting to channel and integrate. It changed us on very profound levels. We also journeyed to such sacred spots as the Elephant Cave, Monkey Forest (with a powerful temple to Shiva), Lake Bratan and its temple Pura Ulun Danau (possibly one of the most idyllic spots on Earth-pictured above), the temple at Mengwi, the Bat Cave (the entrance to the Balinese underworld), Mt. Besakih, and more. Our final hotel was right on the beach at Candi Dasa, another idyllic spot, before our overnight in Malaysia and the long journey home. There is economic crisis going on in Indonesia at the moment and even rioting in Jakarta. However, the island of Bali remains untouched by this chaos and still remains an important destination for spiritual seekers who want to experience a living culture with all its mysteries. Though so much happened to our group during our stay in Bali, the most significant lesson was the importance of the integration of the dark and light energies. We were shown a living culture in which darkness can be integrated so it does not have to create chaos in daily life. This culture walks in spirit twenty-four hours a day through their constant offerings and prayer. To visit Bali is to enter the 4D on Earth. Those who visit cannot remain untouched and when they return to their 3D lives they will always bring a little bit of the balance of Bali back home with them. Copyright 1998 and 2009 by Royal Priest Research. All Rights Reserved.