The Power of Freestyle-Bodypainting

Body painting is such a great powerful empowering experience, you might not imagine that. Its not so much about being able to make wonderful artwork on your body as you sometimes see it on the web or to have the bravity to make an artist do that. Yes, that can be part of it, but its not the core.

Bodypainting is such a sacred and powerful experience, because you honor your body while doing it. It is like you blow off the dust from your body and see the glimmer and radiance which was below. Although you actually painted something on your body it feels like you unearthed it – you and others are able to see the actual beauty of your body. Painting is honoring, expressing and revealing this indiscribable (and maybe unrecognized) beauty. And as it is something we are not familiar with, it takes some bravety to be a little “odd”.

Depending on your intention you can make this a really sacred experience. Think of all these ritual body art all over the world. Color and patterns can so much help you to see your beauty, to feel the sacredness, to feel so special as you are. You can even paint something on your body to feel differerent -  to pretend you are an antique priestess or a brave warrier – and it works! You really can use it to awaken these and other powers inside yourself as well as the bravety to do something that was forbidden to you as a child – this is very healing too. And you don´t even need to show it someone!

It is perfect for a sacred date with yourself or a unforgettable meeting of your women circle.  It is a very powerful and healing sacred and yet simple action.

And here are some ideas how and what you can do:

• Paint your hands with body painters (yes, you can use henna, too, but thats far more complicated).
• Paint your feet with body painters.
• ornament your whole body and enjoy
• Using colors feels different: you can paint your face in your own tribal style.
• you can ask your best friend to paint yourself powerful (yes you can do the fairystyle too, but try out the powerful one).
• You can experience the archaic power of red color on the body and in the face and how that makes you feel.
• or you can try out our own rainbow- joy-therapie by becoming really rainbowish and so so much more

This article is part of the Soul and Spice Body Blog Wave.

Look at this fabulous Holi Festival of Colors – which is a spiring festival, celebrated in India. This is really inspiring about the power and joy of colors and a color body experience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPDR0ZMwSag

P.S. Want some fotos? Come over to Flickr

Christmas, Disney´s Lion King and Honouring the Sacred

So Christmas is ahead once more. As it is with all the wellknown big holidays, Christmas means something different for everyone. I always liked these wellcrafted mangers, where you see Baby Jesus surrounded by Mary and Joseph and can watch the Shepards and the Holy Kings. I love the idea of the kings coming from all around the world to honour the newborn, as well as the shepards. Although I today think, they should honour the mother first (but thats another topic)

Well, Jesus was a special baby and all those who knew this, came to show him their respect.
This always remindes me of the scene in the Disney movie “Lion King”. You know the entering scene, where the lionbaby is born and is – in a ritual – shown to the cherring animals to honour him (or her in the second movie) and bow down in the crescendo of the „Circle of Life“-song.
So what is this all about? This was a „special“ baby, too, it was the son (or daughter) of the king. And there always have been rituals about introducing kings.

In italy theres the lore of a witch or an old women, her name is Befana, who went to honour Baby Jesus but she was to late, and she couldn´t find him. So she travelled all over the land and gifted each child she met instead. All these sceneries do speak to me on the level of the powerful unconsciousness.

There is this sacred time of birth. The child actually entering the world, through his and his mother´s work (labor). A whole new being, an old or new soul now manifested on the planet. And that really IS a moment for the angels to sing. Everyone who ever only attended a birth, knows this. Its a completly touching moment – and sometimes when you listen open enough inside you CAN the angels hear rejoice.

There is another tale that matches well with this topic of honouring birth and the person born: A king gathered his people, telling them, that he exchanged his child with a child of his people. And that he will watch how they treat the child and will call them to account, they should treat his child appropiate. No one knew which child was the child of the king and so the people started to treat every single child as if it was a prince: They treated them with respect and love and did their very best with every single child. The children grew up and the city and the land was blooming, the people were happy and rich. Because they all treated every single child as worthful as it was. How wonderful is this?

So thats the reason why I love those pictures of the ritual honouring the babies like Baby-Jesus or Baby Lion King. They speak to my soul. They show honouring the Greatness of birth, Hounouring the new arrived soul. We all should get such a honouring ceremony at birth. In some cultures this is tradition, but it is not soo farspread. Probably because in former times, so many babies died before growing up, not every culture has those rituals. I am not talking about the Christining, this is a babyritual but with an complete other setting and direction. I talk about honouring the Baby for coming and introducing it to its family and community. Honouring Live itself and honouring these special persons (thats what the “Circle of Life” scene is showing, isn´t it).
This is a great touching ritual for parents to do. But its unfortunatly not a easy one. Because mother and child are really tired and need rest the stress that comes with hosting a big family or communityritual is far too much and its not that easy to delegate it. So I know familys who did a  Blessing ritual, but not  in the first month of their baby. It is really touching and worthy.

I think these stories not only give us a clue how to celebrate the Baby coming into our live, but also – and that is at least as important – they remind us that we need to be honoured as well. Thats something most of us did not experience and miss. Every child coming to this earth is perfect, worthful, wonderful and a gift and so are we. We also came to this earth as a perfect wonderful worthful child. And we still are. We are full of value, beauty and love, because we are. (Not because of what we think or do, or work or archieved). We are worthful beings. Most of us forgot about it and we oftend learned the opposite, when we grew up, but thats not the truth. And now its a good time to remember.

Fotos: flickr: otina82, flickr, vigilant20; Nora Amala B.